Like a fine piano that's been left in the East River, or perhaps a string quartet with an identity crisis, the Australian band FourPlay hears no boundaries when it comes to their music. Be it punk rock or grunge, metal or doom, genres that classify most anything can be thrown out the window and re-learned after hearing this "classical" ensemble.
With an upcoming tour through the States and England--with Neil Gaiman at Carnegie Hall, no less--Classicalite caught up with the string-benders to get some notes on their sound, what's to come for the band, etc.
Yes, this is a band...not your average "string quartet," indeed.
Classicalite: The conventions of string quartets are usually reserved for learned classical listeners. FourPlay seems wont to break these boundaries and limitations as much as possible. Do you agree?
FourPlay: We are classically trained musicians playing classical instruments, however, FourPlay is not a classical ensemble. The band started when we did a few covers of rock songs from Jimi Hendrix, Metallica and Jeff Buckley--exploring the instruments to create the sound of a rock band, from distorted guitars to drums to vocals. We then explored the possibilities of effects pedals, looping pedals and extended techiques. FourPlay has two violas, unlike most string quartets, and it is difficult to classify us into any genre. We love to rock out on stage and audiences respond to that energy.
Classicalite: You compose your own works, very admirable in a world governed by bands that generally "outsource" their songs to various songwriters and producers. Where do you derive the inspiration?
We listen to a huge range of music: Baroque to Post Rock, Gypsy to Electronica, Jazz to Rock. And we really do write with inspiration from all of these influences. We write as a band, together, improvising and refining those ideas into songs and pieces of instrumental music.
Classicalite: For all the attention that you've gotten for standing out among your peers, how do you feel your music transcends the classical notion of a "string quartet" proper?
As far as we are aware, there is no other string quartet working in quite the same fashion as we do. We really do work as a band, just with a string quartet instrumentation. It's almost a red herring to think of us as a string quartet, rather than a band. When we write together, we create our own parts, but they are never scored. We write by jamming, and we improvise both in the writing process and often performance. Our sound and our style is unique. All of us, as musicians outside of FourPlay, work in the pop, rock, jazz, electronic, experimental world of music and not in the classical world, despite our continuing love for it.
Classicalite: You've done some work with Neil Gaiman, quite a celebrated writer and artist, himself. How was that experience? How do you think it spoke to the quartet?
People have commented for years about the cinematic nature of our music. It was a natural progression for us to write with the framework of a story. It was hugely inspirational to work with Neil's script, and then in person to perform our music with him for the first time, was simply a great fit. The 'Truth Is A Cave in The Black Mountains...' is a dense, rich and evocative story with so much opportunity to colour with our music, and support and enhance the experience with sound.
As with [Prokofiev's] 'Peter and The Wolf' or [Stravinsky's] 'The Soldier's Tale,' we have written motifs which represent characters and other thematic aspects of the story. This has been a new and challenging experience for us which has actually helped our songwriting. Neil is a joy to work with, and there was a synergy between us immediately. We have gone on to collaborate many times. And we are thrilled to be bringing this show around the world.
Classicalite: Most importantly, FourPlay is on tour in the U.S. and U.K. this June and July, headlining shows in New York, Delaware, London...and Classicalite's own studios for an exclusive Clite A.V. Club performance on July 1. What do you want to do on this tour, as opposed to previous ones?
One of the secrets of FourPlay's success is the fact that we have a lot of fun with our music and with our audiences. We are excited to be performing to wider audiences both with the show with Neil Gaiman in theaters like Carnegie Hall, as well as our own shows which will give us the opportunity to showcase our full range of creativity. It's a fun, energetic show which takes audiences on a journey.
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