Magnetic Fields interview
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The Magnetic Fields Interview

TMagnetic Fields ~ 69 Love Songs cover

Allan Kemler talks to Magnetic Field's manager/drummer, Claudia Gonson about the future of bible heroes, the Magnetic Fields and the end of post-gig babes and busty blowjobs.

26/03/2002

With the Magnetic Fields about to play the lush theatre of the libido that is The 69 Love Songs at the Lincoln Theatre at the end of March for the very last time and a brand new Future Bible Heroes album with Merrit just completed, anybody would think Magnetic Field's drummer and vocalist, Claudia Gonson would be just sitting around with nothing to do. But the end of one thing is invariably the start of something else. Especially in the case of the profilific 'Fields. Whether or not anything else will be met with the same rapturous applause of the 69 Love Songs remains to be seen, but as Allan Kemler finds out, nothing is impossible in the world of Gonson and Merrit. Save for tickets to actually see the final show, perhaps.

Crud: How did you meet Stephin and get involved in the MF's?
I met Stephin back in 1983, when we attended nearby high schools in the Boston area. The other Magnetic Fields were also schoolmates; Sam, the cellist, went to my high school, and then Sam went to Harvard, where we officially started the band with Stephin. John, our guitarist, was a friend of Sam's from Harvard, but he didn't join until 1993, when we all came to New York.

Crud: What's the best thing about being in the MF's?
Regular blowjobs backstage, mountains of cocaine and busty girls.

Crud: You're getting set to play 69 Love Songs for the last time in it's entirety at the Lincoln Centre in March, does that mean we'll never hear those songs again? What's to become of the MF"s?
This is a confusion which I seem to be correcting over and over. The "last show" does not mean that our band is breaking up. On the contrary, we just signed a two-album deal with Nonesuch Records. What I meant to say was that Stephin is not interested in performing our "69 Love Songs" show again, or at least not any time soon. He has a bunch of projects on his plate, including making a new TMF album. He wants us to move into performing new material, rather than continuing to re-perform the album from 1999.

Crud: You have, perhaps the loveliest voice in all of indie rockdom, are you a formally trained vocalist?
Thanks. I am not formally trained (I have had 2 lessons, spaced about 3 years apart). But I have been singing since childhood, mostly in school choruses.

Crud: You did the arrangement for Busby Berkeley Dreams, which parts did you arrange? Do you think your audience knows who he is?
I imagine that some younger people don't know Busby Berkeley, but it's nice to think that we might propel them to rent some Esther Williams movies. My mom is a high-school teacher, and apparently when she asked her class if they knew who Busby Berkeley was, one person said "no, but there's a Magnetic Fields song written about him"! I arranged all the parts for the song (piano, cello and guitar).

Crud: Do you like Busby Berkeley-choregraphed films?
I've always hated Yankee Doodle Dandy, that's him right. Yuck! I confess that my knowledge of his films is limited, mostly "greatest hits" montages in films like "That's Entertainment!". That's a good way to see his best scenes back-to-back. Of course there's the million rip-offs of his signature aerial choreography, from Gap commercials to "Singin' in the Rain".

Crud: What's next for you? Any new projects?
Just yesterday (March 20, 2002), I finished the new Future Bible Heroes album, on which I am the singer. Stephin has been doing a lot of projects, including scoring a modern-version of an ancient Chinese Opera for Lincoln Center, co-writing a musical film, performing at Lincoln Centre and writing the new Magnetic Fields and Future Bible Heroes albums. He's also recording theme songs for the audio versions of the childrens' books "A Series of Unfortunate Events", by Lemony Snicket. He will record the Magnetic Fields album this year, for an early 2002 release.

Crud: I know you're taking classes, what for? Where?
I am working slowly on getting a PhD in English, at CUNY (City University of New York).

Crud: What other creative pursuits do you engage in?
I enjoy making Ukranian Easter Eggs and painting clay pots. But really, my main daily work is music management. I manage Stephin and his many bands. It's a full time job, and while not particularly artistic, it demands a lot of creative thinking and is a full time job.

Crud: Are you more at home playing live or in the studio? Why?
I don't actually participate much on Stephin's albums. He records many of his songs by himself. I enjoy performing live.

Crud: Were you a horny teenager?
Probably average.

Crud: What's your idea of an ideal day?
Getting to a yoga class, getting a lot of band work done (rather than spinning around in circles with dialogues that go nowhere), and still having some number of quiet hours for reading. Cooking at home. And falling asleep to the BBC World Service.

Crud: Where will you be and what do you hope to be doing 10 years from now?
I wouldn't mind being Stephin's manager all my life. It's a job which changes and modifies as time goes by, so it never gets tiring. Even if we stop being a live band, as we grow older and "rock" life becomes unfitting, I still feel that my work with him as manager will continue to be vital and interesting. Like Mark Mothersbaugh or Randy Newman, or more currently They Might be Giants, I see Stephin already moving from being more of a performing artist to being more of a composer.

Crud: Your musical training or history?
I was a classical pianist from age 3-18, and took up drums at 16. I quit the piano after high school, and played drums with Stephin in various bands from age 16 until the present. About 3 years ago I switched from drums to piano. It's been nice to return to the piano, although sadly I don't have the technical expertise I once had, due to the decade off. The other band I played drums in was a folk-country-rock combo called Lazy Susan, from Boston (there's a new Lazy Susan now, in New York, but they're different). I was with them from 1986-88. They consisted of two female singer-songwriters, one of them Shirley Simms, who sang on "69 Love Songs".

Crud: What's the secret to not becoming discouraged for lack of exposure and therefore receiving feedback . How do you handle that?
It's a hard question to answer simply, there's a lot of facets to it: One's family, one's personal outlook on the world, one's gender, one's age and the place in which one is raised, etc. It does help to work with others, who you can share your enjoyment with. It is also good to recognize the fun in making art; like you said, we do it because we want to communicate something to the world, and not purely for commercial success. Many people who have the "make it big" attitude never seem fulfilled. Ultimately there really isn't a goal to reach, other than your own satisfaction (unless you depend on your artwork for a living, in which case money is another goal). It's good to do art because it can bring a sense of joy and satisfaction, and the bonus comes from hearing good feedback from others.

Allan Kemler for Crud Magazine 2002©



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January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002


 
 
 

 

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