TIMBER TIMBRE – Photo by Jeff Bierk
Mystic palm, gem and tarot / A few escape your magic arrow/
I saw you reel them in for miles / Each captivated crooked smile
If you are a fan of Breaking Bad, you’ve probably heard these lyrics before. They belong to TIMBER TIMBRE‘s song Magic Arrow and can be heard in the cult series’ episode Caballo Sin Nombre.
TIMBER TIMBRE‘s music – vintage blues meets ghostly folk – definitely is more than suited to give a film scene the certain something or even a whole movie. In 2012 the Canadian band scored the film Foxfire by the French director Laurent Cantet. Beyond that the songs Black Water and Demon Host were used in the soundtracks for the comedy For a Good Time, Call… and The Last Exorcism 2.
It was Taylor Kirk who founded the project in 2005. He is writing the songs and together with the more or less permanent members Simon Trottier und Mika Posen responsible for the instrumentation. On April 1 their fifths record Hot Dreams will be released via Arts & Crafts.
NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION met Taylor Kirk and Simon Trottier in Berlin to speak about photographers with silly ideas, the ghost of JIM MORRISON and ended up watching a GEORGE MICHAEL video.
Your new album ‘Hot Dreams’ will be out soon. Compared to your last work ‘Creep On Creepin’ On’ are there any changes?
Taylor Kirk: I would describe it as warmer, brighter, more lush and friendlier. (looks at Simon)
Simon Trottier: Western, Hollywood…
T: …American.
S: Cinematic.
T: Oh yes, cinematic.
That is exactly what the press release says.
S: Because we told them what to say. (laughs)
Sounds more like you were looking what it says and just repeat it. So is this your opinion as well?
S: It is less dark than the one before, it’s friendlier and warmer. So I think that’s true.
Is there a certain topic?
T: I was in California and there is a very different, exotic kind of landscape. I was thinking a lot about this. Even just simply the vegetation and the weather, the cars, the people and the industry there. The kind of mythology around that place was really interesting.
You spent time at Laurel Canyon which was and is a notorious hotspot for celebrities like Orson Welles, Frank Zappa, Iggy Pop and Jim Morrison. Can you say that the spirit of those great minds lives on there, maybe Jim Morrison’s ghost hanging around?
T: Yeah, I was possessed by the ghost of Jim Morrison. He came to me.
What did he say to you?
T (quotes from the famous DOORS song The End): He said ‘ride the snake. To the lake’. He said ‘the west is the best’. No, I’m just kidding. He said ‘the killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on, and he took a face…’ sorry (laughs).
I was thinking about that a lot because that music was important to me at a very formative time. I actually wasn’t thinking about that when I left to go there. I was just leaving winter behind and going somewhere to have a restful holiday. But yeah. It was unavoidable, there is an energy to that place and without sounding too esoteric, it was inspirational.
Some of your songs have been used for soundtracks and your music in general is very cinematic. Is it because you were a film student?
T: Sure. I really always wanted to do filmscores. I never wanted to be in a band or sing. When I was in film school, I used to make films and then I would make the music for them.
This time Simon was more involved in composing and arranging the music. What did your working process look like?
T: We both had some ideas that we accumulated over a couple of years. We worked on them independently and we set a date to go to a recording / writing facility in Western Canada in the Rocky Mountains.
S: In the middle of a wood surround by very big mountains.
T: So we went there and they gave us a work space and we worked for six days, combined ideas and just mapped it out. Then we went to the studio and recorded. It was very fluent, natural.
If you are working is it good for you to be in nature and away from cities and people?
S: We wanted to put all the concentration in the work. I think the goal was to be away from any kind of distraction and away from…I wanted to say away from bars but we found a bar. (laughs)
Right now you are touring to play some gigs and promote your album. What do you miss most, when you are on tour?
S: My girlfriend.
T: Well, I don’t have a girlfriend. I miss just being autonomous.
Is it important for you to get feedback from your fans or your family?
S: Of course. When I’m done with any project I am working on, I love going to see my brother and having his feedback or better his appreciation. He is a big music lover. It’s nice to get a good feedback. We pretend that we don’t want to read reviews and so on but we do it. It’s flattering when people like it. And when they don’t like it… Every taste is in the nature I guess. (grins)
So you are looking for what the critics are writing when you have a new album out or had a gig?
S: Yes I do. (laughs) I’m like: ‘Did they take a picture of me?’
That’s hope and passion actually. It’s the best saxophone line in rock’n’roll music. Or softrock music.
Speaking of pictures – you didn’t want us to take pictures of you. Why are you not comfortable with that?
T: There are just lousy photographers around. Yesterday we worked with a photographer in Paris from a big French music magazine. He just had us doing silly, silly things.
S: Like: ‘You Gonna be the mirror of him, move your hands at the same time!’ This was not us at all. And after that we find those pictures on the internet, forever. If you search the band name, the first picture you see is a stupid one some paper took in Toronto of us on a picnic table. It doesn’t represent the band at all.
Why did you do it then?
S: Because the people who work for us are pushing us to do it. Because everybody is doing that for promotion. Sorry about that.
It’s okay, I totally understand that. You are right, it is not ‘just a photo’ because it’s in the internet forever and I see that it annoys you.
What do ‘hope’ and ‘passion’ mean to you?
T: I think I have the answer to this. (taps on his smartphone)
Are you asking Google right now?
T (plays ‘Careless Whisper’ by GEORGE MICHAEL): That’s hope and passion actually. It’s the best saxophone line in rock’n’roll music. Or softrock music.
That’s both hope and passion?
T: Well, this is passion more than hope. We gonna find hope.
Taylor looks for a song matching hope. The three of us are thinking.
Maybe Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. ‘Hang on.’
S: That would be a good one.
T (absorbed in his phone): I can’t believe it. Can’t find one.
For the record: Taylor couldn’t find a song for hope, just one for passion.
T: I’m hopeless.
We give up. Taylor plays the ‘Careless Whisper’ video again and we end the interview watching it.
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