Terri-Lee Adendorff and Nich Mulgrew started their band, Life of Riley, three years ago when they were Rhodes University first years. After three years of hard work, the band is going places. I chatted to them recently when they launched their debut album, The Golden Age of Us, in Grahamstown's very own Slipstream sports bar.
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| Photo by Tarryn Liddell |
1) Gabi Falanga: When did your band start?
Terri –Lee Adendorff: First year at serenades, in res. Well, that’s when we met.
Nich Mulgrew: We played our first show in August 2008.
TLA: it was terrible.
NM: We played at the old Gaol.
TLA: And the first song we wrote was the worst song ever written, it was terrible, I still shudder to think of it. But, we like to think that maybe they’ve got better since then. (Laughs)
GF: So serenades, elaborate on that.
NM: So basically, I was in Botha house and she was in Jameson. And the boys from Botha serenaded the Jamies girls. And it turned out that I picked Terri’s key out of the pile for the meet and greet thing and so we chatted about music and stuff and we liked the same stuff.
TLA: And I said I said I kind of sing and he said I kind of play the guitar, and so we kind of `got together and kind of wrote a terrible song and it went from there.
GF: So what was the terrible song?
TLA & NM: Oh Jesus, Oh god
TLA: It was called Fucking Pearls more than Price. And it was horrible and sad and terrible. It was so bad. I’ve blocked it from my mind.
NM: 80% of our songs are about long distance relationships and that was one of them and it’s the worst.
GF: Why about long distance?
NM: We were both in long distance relationships for a very long time.
TLA: And then mine finally got resolved now, coz Mitch is living with me because he moved over here, and so now some of the songs are about actual relationships. Not about unrequited love, but about love.
2) GF: How many instruments do you play and what are they?
TLA: I can play the guitar and the clarinet.
NM: I play a lot. I play guitar, bass, banjo, glockenspiel. I dabble in a few other things as well. I try to play as many instruments as I can.
3) GF: Tell me more about your instruments? Do they have names? Specific brands?
TLA: The first guitar that we played with, my Crafter, was called Black Molly. But more recently my dad spray painted it glitter silver and he did this really cool mural on the back with these skulls with hearts for eyes and little hair bows. It’s really cool, it’s kind of a porno guitar now. It used to be just plain black and cream.
GF: Have you ever used it in shows?
TLA: Ja, we used it in a couple, it looks real good in the spotlight, but Nick always feels a little emasculated playing it.
NM: I hate the idea of giving your instruments names. Instruments are instruments.
TLA: I think someone who was listening to us, named my guitar black molly and it kind of stuck.
4) GF: Describe your style?
TLA: We like to call it folk pop. Because it’s kind of short happy songs that you can clap along to and sway gently to. We don’t pretend to be deep and meaningful. It’s pop. I think it makes people smile.
NM: It’s pop with folk underpinnings.
5) GF: How does it feel to be going from a supporting act to a headlining act in Grahamstown?
NM: Great!
TLA: Ja great! It finally happened!
NM: Yeah, it’s good. It’s a nice feeling because we spent a lot of time opening for really, really good bands and we’d like to think that maybe we can be as good as them one day.
TLA: Well, I think this is like the first gig in grahams town where we’ll actually be headlining. No bodies actually ever asked us to headline before. So we’ll just headline at our own album launch.
6) GF: Tell me about your new album?
NM: It’s called The Golden Age of Us. It’s a mixture of songs we’ve been playing for a while and songs that are brand new.
TLA: There are 4 brand new songs, no covers.
NM: They are all very personal songs. None of the sentimental... Really, things that we’ve gone through and things about people who have loved us, used to love us and will never love us. (Both laugh)
TLA: And the album design which Nick did, is brilliant and it’s really personal. We’ve got a photo that Nick took on the front of Mitch and our first dog in Nick’s apartment. It’s really, a lot of us went into that album. They’re handmade by Nick. We did everything for the album and we couldn’t have done it without our producer Corrine, she’s excellent. But ja, there’s a lot of us in that album and when you listen to the album I think you get to know us a lot better because of it.
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| Photo by Tarryn Liddell |
7) GF: And then Splashy Fen. What was that like?
NM: ( Laughs)
TLA: Awesome. The night before, because I was really nervous because I hadn’t played in a long time. And the night before we played at the Hooters tent and that was a great gig and that just gave us so much energy and people really liked us. The tent was pretty full, the marquee where we played. People really enjoyed it. It’s always so weird having people who don’t know you come up to you afterwards and saying that they enjoyed it.
NM: Wow, that’s what a real band feels like!
T LA: Ja wow! It’s always so surreal. It went so quickly though. Coz we’d finished all our songs and I was like fuck these songs are short, I didn’t remember them being this short. So at the end we did our three favourite covers just to fill up time. It just felt so surreal to be there and to have even been invited was a real honour. And it was all very relaxed, everyone was sitting down. You know when the hand claps come. The first hand clap was just all our friends clapped. And then on the next clap, everyone clapped and I was just like... (Laughs) amazed.
NM: It was really fun. All sorts of people there. It’s just nice to be able to get out and play some place different. But at the same time it’s really nice to come back to slipstream and play another show here.
TLA: It’s our first gig at slipstream in 8 months, so we’re really excited, this is like where we started out.
NM: Ja, so we thought we’d bring it back here.
TLA: Ja, and Mike has always been extremely supportive, everyone at slipstream has always been behind us. It’s been nice to have someone supporting us.
8) GF: You live in different places this year. How and where and when do you rehearse?
TLA: It’s been difficult, especially with the album, Nicks had to come down a couple of times.
GF: Have you used Corrine’s recording studio?
NM: Yes, and she’s a phenomenal person.
TLA: She’s excellent.
NM: It’s been challenging, but it hasn’t been too horrible. But it’s something that we’ve wanted to do so obviously we’re going to put in the sacrifices. And you know living apart this year hasn’t been that bad, I mean we still see each other semi-regularly.
TLA: We also, because we’ve been playing together so long, we’ve learnt how to be sort of intuitive about each other, especially on stage. I know it can’t be too bad a fuck up, because Nick will kind of follow up on what I’m doing, coz we’ve spent so much time together and we’re kind of in sync a little bit more than we were in the beginning.
NM: We know each other so well.
TLA: Even if I decide on the spur of the moment on stage to take a song in a different direction, Nick follows through with it. It’s a nice thing to be able to know each other intuitively like that.
NM: I think that’s something that not a lot of bands have, I feel very fortunate to have. And if something does go wrong you can be like, what the hell man?
9) GF: Do you carry any lucky charms with you when you perform or have any pre-show rituals?
NM: No
TLA: A black label. (Both laugh) That’s always on stage with us. And a little freak out before and then nothing. We always have so much fun when we’re on stage, it’s really like the most fin we ever have. I’m always nervous, I hope I never don’t get nervous.
10) GF: Ok, then on the nervous note. Do you ever get stage fright? And if so how do you deal with it?
NM: I’m never frightened on stage, I’m always frightened before.
TLA: Ja, the fright always goes away for me half way through the first song we play, then I’m like what happen, happens, we’ll make the best of it, we’ll find a way through this, all I have to do is get out of this set alive and it’ll be ok.
11) GF: Describe your music making, your creative process?
TLA: The chorus for “Buttered side down” I got while I was cooking and I just thought of this even you must have a crush on you, about how I’ve always been unlucky in love, until now, and my toast always falls with... down, fuck, my life is horrible. And I just came up with that while I was cooking, and then I’ll usually write a very simple melody because I’m a very average guitarist and then I’ll give it to Nick who just does beautiful things with the guitar and makes it sound a bit more cohesive and melodic.
NM: We share our duties. She writes most of the songs and then I flesh them out and compose.
T LA: Ja, you sort of make them come into fruition.
GF: So, do the lyrics usually come first and then the music?
NM: It’s a spontaneous thing really.
TLA: Ja, it just happens to you, you can’t really say I’m gonna sit down and I’m gonna have an hour and I’m gonna write a song in an hour. It’s kind of something will come to you through an experience. I usually make notes on my phone about a verse or something and then give it to Nick to look at.
12) GF: What is each of your favourite Life of Riley song and why?
TLA: There’s this song we do called “Progressive”. And it’s our angry song on stage. It’s really angry and emotional and I sing really loudly. But on the album it’s this beautiful, haunting, melodic ballad, with piano and I sing really high and really sweetly, so I think that’s may favourite song just because it’s evolved.
NM: My favourite song is probably a song called “High Heels and Package Deals”.
TLA: Ja Nich, why do you like that song so much?
NM: I don’t know. It’s just, on the album especially, there’s a very nice interplay of notes. And it’s very country and very sensitive. The imagery is very, very unique. It’s a fun song for me to play.
TLA: I love that song as well. That was a really personal song, it’s also about Mitch. He wrote me a book, with all our emails in that we’d ever sent to each other, and he’d written a page about everyday we’d known each other. And he’d got it self-published into an actual book and gave it to me as a surprise. It was the most beautiful thing. And in that book he said, I want to be the one who pulls you through when you’re at your shittiest moments. And so the words in the song’s are like, when the road is long and my feet are sore, you’ll be the only reason I walk anymore. and that’s kind of from that book he gave me and it’s very personal to us.
NM: It’s weird, sometimes I feel like I’m intruding on your relationship when I’m...
TLA: (Laughs) Never, you’re an integral part of it Nich.
13) GF: What has your favourite or most memorable gig been?
NM: We played a show with a Slovenian band, Red Five Point Star. And um, Ah God, it wasn’t a very good show, but what happened afterwards.... And... we... Um... Wow! We got really drunk with them and we went back to our apartment and they had this huge campervan. And the one sober guy, but he was Slovenian and he could hardly speak English, and we were trying to figure out where to park this campervan and we just ended up parking it inside our complex and parked every single car in the complex into their spots. They bought about 2 cases of beer and three bottles of Jack Daniels and we just went back to our apartments and ah, breaked it. I don’t know how I survived that night! We’re not rock stars or anything, but that night was just (whistles),. It was something esle.
But splashy fen has been my favourite show, so far. Just because everything was so relaxed and we had a really good time and it felt good. We had a professional team around us, and everybody was doing things to make sure we put on the best show possible.
14) GF: How and when did each of you get into/start playing music?
NM: I’ve always written. And by always written, I mean always written. When I lived in New Zealand as a kid, story writing was a subject. But as far as music goes, I started playing guitar at 14, so I’ve been playing guitar for 7 years now.
TLA: My first little gig, was when I was about 5 and a half and I stood on my table at home with a plastic blue guitar and I sang knocking on heavens door for my whole family. I got my first guitar when I was 15 and just started singing from then and all my school friends loved it when I used to sing, so I kind of got into it then. I went to a singing school for about 3 weeks and I hated every minute, it was terrible. And I just realised an untrained voice is better for the type of music we do.
NM: I maybe went for a few lessons when I was 15, but I’ve taught myself everything. I’ve developed my own style and I play guitar very differently to a lot of people. Not to say better, just differently.
15) GF: Who or what has influenced your music the most?
TLA: I don’t try to, but I think I write a bit like Kate Nash. In that it’s simple and there’s rhyming couplets and it’s kind of personal and in a song you’ll have an inside joke reference, but it makes sense in the greater scheme of things.
NM: Musically, I’m very influenced by a man called Sufjan Stevens. Just, he’s all round great. He’s a brilliant song writer, excellent musician, multi-instrumentalist, he produces. He’s really phenomenal. I base a lot of my guitar playing on him. He’s got a very soft, very nuanced sort of style. Not complicated, just very sensitive. And banjo playing as well. So I’m influenced on many fronts by him.
TLA: And then lately, I just love Florence and the Machine. When I sing that cover, Kiss with a fist, it’s the most challenging song I have to sing, and it inspires me to grow a pair of balls and sing, really sing.
GF: Why is it so challenging?
TLA: Ooh, there’s this last note, where every time I sing it, it’s a leap of faith (Tries to demonstrate). She’s the most insane vocalist, she really has so much talent and it really inspires me to just sing harder, try harder.
16) GF: Is there someone you would like to work with or share a stage with?
NM: We’ve shared stages with some really, really great musicians. One of my favourite bands locally, Wrestlerish, we’ve played with them a couple of times and they’re a very, very special band.
TLA: It was really cool, the last time we played, opened for Wrestlerish, we were one of the first opening bands and they were only supposed to play after the band that came after us, but they said no, no, we wanna play after you guys. Because our music is kind of the same atmosphere.
NM: Sort of same country, sort of influences. And that was, they such great guys. And I mean we’ve played with most bands that I can think of that we suit locally. Like Farrel Perkis and we played with Ashtray Electric and Taxi Violence.
TLA: Wow, that gig with Ashtray Electric and Taxi Violence was really awesome, they were great.
NM: And, you know whatever opportunities we get to play, I mean I’m never going to be picky.
TLA: Ja, (laughs) whenever we get to play, we’re always really happy about it.
NM: It’s just, whoever we play with is, is great.
17) GF: Are you guys, individually, a closet fan of any particularly embarrassing bands or artists?
TLA: I’m a Gaga fan. I don’t like her latest stuff. But “Pokerface” will always go down as one of the great pop songs for me, I think.
NM: Um, Toto. Toto and Journey. And AHA.
TLA: And ABBA
NM: Aaah, I used to be into ABBA.
GF: So are you a closet ABBA fan?
TLA: Ah, I’m a huge ABBA fan. Dancing Queen was my first favourite song, when I was real little.
NM: I have a big sort of music crush on this band called The Rocket Summer. Um, it’s this guy from Texas and he plays everything himself. But the songs are so cheesy and happy and stuff and I feel ashamed to .... (can’t hear)
18) GF: What has your funniest or most embarrassing moment on stage been?
TLA: My mic became unplugged at a 2nd year battle of the bands. And it took me a good line or two to notice it (laughs). Um, But I just plugged it back in and soldiered on. That was really embarrassing though.
NM: I’m embarrassed all the time.
TLA: Ja, I’m always quite bashful on stage.
19) GF: Can you guys tell me something that people don’t know about you?
(Both think about it)
TLA: I have to dogs. Who are awesome. One of them is on the cover of the album. Jack. He turned one year old on the 20th of April. My baby.
NM: Um, I’ve had three near death experiences. And when I say near-death experience, I mean that it’s actually almost dead.
20) GF: Ok, last question... Anything else?
(Both laugh)
TLA: We hope people will buy the album. Pleeeeease buy the album! Because, you know, we have debts t play, otherwise people will break our knees. And we need our knees to play. They’re an integral part.
NM: Um, yeah, we would just really, really love it if people could buy our album. Um, we’ll probably try and get them into shops near by.
TLA: And we’re always really grateful for anyone who doesn’t hate us. We love everyone.
NM: And just thanks to everyone who’s been there for us over the years.
TLA: In any capacity, as well. Just for clapping along. Especially Mike.
TLA: In any capacity, as well. Just for clapping along. Especially Mike.
Abbreviated interview published in Grocott's Mail on 13 May 2011.
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| Photo by Tarryn Liddell |
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