Indie 101: Magic & Fur (with video).
May 22nd, 2009 by Aly Carr in Indie 101
Magic & Fur is a London-based sextet made up of Chris Wilde, Gary Legend, Gavin Ellis, Julian Simon, Artur Dyjecinski, and Dom Ryan. This week, the band launched their debut single, “Christine,” and in the midst of the celebration madness, Chris found some time to talk with me about who in the heck Christine is, what’s in store for the band in the future, Leonard Cohen and, of course, prescription drugs.
Who is Christine? And how did you decide that “Christine“ was going to be the first single?
Christine is the big red car from the Stephen King book. It’s also the name of the little girl who drowns at the start of the film Don’t Look Now. The song is about an old ex-girlfriend who was more than just a little bit confused. I didn’t want to use her real name, so I used a name with a few omens attached to it. (I don’t think there’s any Christine’s in The Omen, though right? Hmmmm…) It’s got a lot of energy, so it seemed like the obvious choice for a debut single.
So now that you’ve released the single, will you be releasing a full-length or an EP anytime soon?
We currently have all the songs to make an album but are constantly writing to try and better what we’ve got. It’s early days. All of us have been in bands before and know how important it is to keep pushing onward creatively while the vibe is good and we’re not clawing each others eyes out.
As far as forthcoming releases go, next up is a free download, sometime very soon. We’re currently clawing each others eyes out as to what that’s going to be.
How would you describe your sound?
Our main themes are love, lust and prescription drugs. We want it to sound like a soundtrack to all three.
What do you want people to get out of listening to your music?
Your main aim is to give people gooseflesh, right? Cheesy as it sounds. I don’t really get any band who doesn’t set out to do that in some way. I’m not saying we achieve it every time but its always what Gary and me aspire to when we begin writing a song. It’s a pretty solid starting point.
Who/what are your biggest influences?
It varies across the board. Scott Walker’s a big hero of mine, as is Lou Reed and P.J. Harvey. Gary’s pretty obsessed with Wire. I could bore the arse off you now with a massive list of obscurities, both living and dead, but it would probably lull the pair of us into a coma. We both like Leonard Cohen.
As if launching their single wasn’t exciting enough, Chris told me his friends at Duckeye just made a video for “Christine.” He describes this generous gift from his film buddies as the band’s best moment so far and says “I think it’s totally mind blowing. Psychedelic whirly weirdness, man!”
Magic & Fur – Christine from Magic & Fur on Vimeo.
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