Calliope Musicals: AMA!

cul8er said:
Thanks for joining us here to chat! Thanks @bfly for introducing this great group of musicians!

I have a rather technical question, if you don't know, that's alright. For the vinyl version of Color/Sweat, there are some scribbles in the runouts that I cannot figure out. It kind of looks like a cursive script "All Plum." Do you know what it actually is? And if so does it mean anything? Sometimes the engineers who do the mastering or lacquer cutting scratch their initials in there.

Have you had the chance to get back on stage this year? What are some of your favorite stages to play?
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oooo! fun! idk what that scribble is--i just looked at one of my copies and see what you're referring to. i'll say, our label was in charge of the C/S pressing, so they might have better insight on that, although, i'm not gonna reach out and ask haha :)

we played a show for about 50 folks on our deck in our backyard and it was paradise.

i have lots of favorite stages--in Austin I love Cheer Up Charlie's, it's more the vibe there that i love...OKC has this amazing venue called Tower Theater which is massively cool and sounds amazing and the folks are really kind. i love a festival stage--namely this wild fest in Canada called Evolve and Joshua Tree Music Festival and Utopia Fest. I'll say the people and audience tend to make the stage for me. We had this house called the Glitter Pit, and we did house shows there and that was my favorite stage for a while.
 
Hello... When I listened at first I noticed a bit of similarity to music like "what would the odd do" by guerrilla toss.. what kind of modern acts do you feel either inspire you or just would be great if you like this album
 
debianlinux said:
Q: On average, how many hours of music do you listen to in a given week? Do you lean more towards discovery or replays?
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oh wow, it definitely varies. i've actually been finding myself in silence a lot lately. i think i'm losing it maybe?! i am very bad at time, and i couldn't even give you an educated guess.

i LOVE a new discovery, but then i quickly listen to it repeatedly, so it morphs v quickly into replays. this is kinda a boring answer, so i'll include what i've been listening to lately.

laurie anderson - big science (just rereleased on vinyl)
radiant children - there's only being yourself
annette peacock - i'm the one
madonna - music (only god can judge me)
david byrne - everything that happens will happen today
carole king - tapestry
celine dion's greatest hits (for singing at the top of my lungs)
 
Colonel_Angus said:
Though Color/Sweat touches on conceptual themes throughout, it wouldn't be defined in the traditional sense as a 'concept album'. Have there been any desires to tackle that traditional approach yet, and if so, anything you'd be willing to share?
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hi colonel!!! i've been "working on" an album called the girl with saturn for a head but a bunch of grown ups scared me from putting too much time into it. i'm over their opinions now, and maybe i'll pick back up with this. i already have the commemorative tattoo, so i guess i kinda have to!

it's a pretty traditional love story (out of my wheelhouse a bit) about a girls whose head is saturn and she falls in love with A Man in a Suit (basically the men in black) and they have some trouble because her head is a planet and he is supposed to destroy her.

i think i wanted to approach this bc of my history as a planet myself.
 
Colonel_Angus said:
So for whatever reason, this next question has always been posed to artist(s) who've participated in these AMA's with us:

Top 5 Fruits and Ranked
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1. perfect watermelon (crisp and bright and light pink and not too sweet)
2. peaches
3. strawberries almost a day too late, dark dark red
4. tangerines (so cheap and juicy)
5. raspberries
 
Indymisanthrope said:
A lot of articles/reviews about the band describe you as (paraphrasing here) "psychedelic but not what you think." Agree or disagree? Is this a case of the language just not having the vocabulary to categorize you?
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i think all sorts of shit is psychedelic. i'm one of those people who is like..."fruit.....trippy man" "fish are living in 4D mannnnn"

i think by nature it's pretty "far out" that we exist at all and that everything we need is right here on the planet.

i know that when i make music, it can be a pretty psychedelic experience for me, so i identify with our music being labeled as psych adjacent. but i feel like when someone says psych, people imagine and expect drone-y and reverb-y music where everyone looks down, so people get confused when they hear us described that way. i think the word "trippy" is a bit more fitting for us. it takes itself less seriously and doesn't have any rules or expectations when it comes to how people hear music, but still implies "shrooms" lol 😝
 
calliopemusicals said:
i think all sorts of shit is psychedelic. i'm one of those people who is like..."fruit.....trippy man" "fish are living in 4D mannnnn"

i think by nature it's pretty "far out" that we exist at all and that everything we need is right here on the planet.

i know that when i make music, it can be a pretty psychedelic experience for me, so i identify with our music being labeled as psych adjacent. but i feel like when someone says psych, people imagine and expect drone-y and reverb-y music where everyone looks down, so people get confused when they hear us described that way. i think the word "trippy" is a bit more fitting for us. it takes itself less seriously and doesn't have any rules or expectations when it comes to how people hear music, but still implies "shrooms" lol 😝
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I felt like there were a lot of parallels to your music and what Flaming Lips does. I hope that comes across as a compliment.
 
duke86fan said:
Hello... When I listened at first I noticed a bit of similarity to music like "what would the odd do" by guerrilla toss.. what kind of modern acts do you feel either inspire you or just would be great if you like this album
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oooo cool question! i saw that in the previous thread about our album and i enjoyed that band guerrilla toss very much! thanks for the new listen!! :)

hmmmmm....welll inspiration for me isn't always about similarities in the end result, so i'm not sure if this will be a great RIYL, but rather an index for my personal creation of the album

definitely inspired by St. Vincent, especially Strange Mercy (which is not modern at this point, maybe), Kikagaku Moyo's textures and emotional movement is power and beautiful. Pelvis Wrestley is an Austin based artist, and the call to action in their music is 10/10 for me, although this album came out after ours, i watched them live many times during the creation of this record. I love Claypool-Lennon Delirium and how they also don't take themselves too seriously. I love their dissonance and theatrics. Tune Yards angular fearlessness touches me deeply and we get compared to Rubblebucket and of Montreal a lot, which is an absolute HONOR.
 
duke86fan said:
You had to pick only 5 albums to listen to.. what would they be?
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oops i gave you my top 10

1. laurie anderson - big science (this album heals me and makes me feel like i belong)
2. do make say think - & yet & yet (endless possibilities)
3. flaming lips - embryonic (for sex!)
4. st vincent and david byrne - love this giant (i thought this would be the future of music)
5. mf doom - mm..food (wtf this album is so good, i never tire)

6. roberto cacciapaglia - the ann steel album
7. talking heads - fear of music
8. edward sharpe - up from below
9. david bowie - scary monsters
10. kikagaku moyo - house in the tall grass
 
Hello @calliopemusicals! I overslept so I don't know if I'm too late to jump in on this but figure it wouldn't hurt to try to get some late questions in 🙂 also hope I am not asking any repeat questions

1. What is the first music you can recall hearing that you felt spoke uniquely to your tastes?

2. I am somewhat oddly obsessed with the format of the "album" and how one comes together. In your experience, does an album come together over time throughout multiple experiences or is it more reflective of a singular focused point in time?
 
Also, a perhaps strange question from a sonic standpoint - to me, Color/Sweat sounds very "big", like there is so much going on inside the production and the music feels very alive. I admire albums that have a grandiose quality to them, I'm curious if you have any insight on how the sound of the record evolved from a production standpoint?
 
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bfly said:
@calliopemusicals - do y'all keep a type of work schedule for keeping up with songwriting in between shows, Free Lunch, and everything else? or do the songs just happen when they happen? I know y'all have mentioned lyrics from dreams before.
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bethhhhh <3 thank you for having me and introducing me to all yer buds!!

scheduling: i wish i was kidding when i said i just stress over everything and hope that the tension is enough to have me keeping up with everything, and anytime i wanna rest, i try to do so without feeling bad about it. i make a schedule and keep up with it for three weeks and then forget where i put it for three weeks and kinda go off and on like that.

as far as songwriting goes, i write lots of songs when i'm doing other things--so i might be cooking or driving or about to fall asleep and have an idea and record a voice memo to explore and expand upon later on.

we do gather as a band for about 15hrs/week to rehearse and record and we've been doing these 10 day recording retreats, and the rest of the time i write on my own. obviously during the pandemic we had way more of these hours, but since things have started to level out again, this is where we're at timewise.

when it comes to making music, i do feel like i'm kinda always on duty. for me it's all about synthesizing my day to day into art that gives me peace or makes me laugh and feel good about all the insanity. <3
 
gaporter said:
Also, a perhaps strange question from a sonic standpoint - to me, Color/Sweat sounds very "big", like there is so much going on inside the production and the music feels very alive. I admire albums that have a grandiose quality to them, I'm curious if you have any insight on how the sound of the record evolved from a production standpoint?
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thanks, that is exactly how we hoped this would come across! yeah, there are all sorts of special treats in these recordings. in addition to drums and bass, there are always at least 4 guitar tracks, 2-4 synth tracks, and an ungodly number of vocal harmonies. frenchie has a magical way of mixing that keeps things from sounding too scrunched up, but perfectly full. he never told us there was "no room" for more ideas. when it comes to production, the studio removes all human requirements, and we can briefly turn into super heroes with octopus arms, playing multiple tones at the same time, double tracking guitars and vocals in almost every song. if you have questions about specific songs, i am down to dive in to specifics, but this is an answer in a broader sense!
 
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