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Band of the Week: ‘Cinema Novo’ + Interview

Check out Cinema Novo’s new video for their song: ‘Vehement Suspicion’..

Cinema Novo is a 3 piece instrumental group, fronted by guitarist Chris Richardson.. Their first release as a trio, ‘Solstice’ has been recorded and will be released in the upcoming months.. From their press kit: ‘Cinema Novo began as a recording project of guitarist Christopher Richardson. After several years writing and recording arrangements for a large band proved unfruitful, Christopher brought in drummer Shawn Moeckly and stripped-down an original collection of songs for an EP to be recorded and performed as a duo, with electric guitar and drums. These songs were almost 5 years in the making, and were very close to never leaving the confines of a hard drive.’

Read the interview BeAtlanta did with Chris below:

B: What pedals do you use? What effects do you use the most? Delay, distortion?

Let’s see, I’ve seen a bunch come and go over the years, but the main sounds of my Cinema set up comes from the Boss Harmonizer, a Keeley Modded Tube Screamer, MXR Carbon Copy, MXR Phase 90, and perhaps most indispensable, the Line 6 DL4. I like to think I’ve kept it pretty simple, but I’m always tinkering.

I rely on my faithful Tube Screamer and the natural roar of my amp to push loud and gritty when I want, but delays are probably something I can’t do without. Starting off in a band with just two people, and having big ideas about soundscapes and lush enveloping noise and frantic progressions and all that overly-ambitious stuff…some of those ideas had to get put on the back burner, but I was damned determined to try to bring some of that to life. I figured that by using loops and delays, I could complicate our arrangements and make us sound larger than we were, and luckily it seemed to work. 

Now that we have our bassist Matthew — who is spectacular by the way — I have all this freedom again, and we’re able to pull a lot of ideas back down out of the attic and see how they fly. It’s like moving into a bigger house and getting to use a bunch of cool furniture you had in some storage locker.

B: Do you use a tube amp?

I do. I had an amp die on me a couple weeks before a show last year, and a really good friend of mine found a 70s Twin Reverb in a used music shop that some guy was desperate to get rid of. It’s been incredibly good to me and a really good fit for this band. It’s even got wheels, which is good, because it’s heavier than some of the stuff Shawn listens to.

B: Do you prefer distortion or overdrive?

Hm. Well, if I’m stranded on an island (with electricity and a guy that could make guitar strings), I guess I’d go with overdrive. I’ve grown to love how menacing and big I can make my guitar sound with some old fashioned OD. Distortion’s cool too and very applicable to some of our sounds, but it can be too much of an adulterant at times, and finding the right sound can be taxing, let alone the right pedal. But as much as I could talk about gear and pedals and the like, I actually don’t find myself spending a lot of time thinking about them. I’ve got way too much to do!

B: What kind of amps do you use?

Well, I guess in the vein of what I was just talking about, I wouldn’t say I’m a “Vox guy” or an “Orange aficionado.” I dunno. I’ve had my “Oh that sounds pretty killer” moments, but like most musicians, most of my money can’t go to gear and most of my time’s spent helping run a band. I like old combo amps. The dustier and heavier the better. I like Twins. Orange has some pretty sweet sounding amps. But to the point, if the speakers aren’t blown and I can plug into it, I’ll try to make something work. There’s so much work to get done and so many ideas waiting to be captured that sometimes it’s counterproductive for folks to get too hung up on gear.

B: What kind of drumset?

Alright, I know I just waxed about not drooling over gear, so don’t laugh, but Shawn’s drums are beautiful. He recently acquired a different kit, it’s white DW Performance Series five piece. They sound really big, and tonally very…I dunno, appropriate? They do him justice. It’s great to look over and see him practically laughing like some psychotic neanderthal setting off civil war canons.

B: What inspires your music?

I think, in a word, maybe gratitude? I’m thankful for this band all the time, every practice, every show, it’s all special and could have easily never happened. So, to think back on sitting alone in a tiny apartment 5 or 6 years ago plucking away at some of these songs, hoping for the off-chance that one day I might be able to get a group of people together to bring them to life, is crazy to me. I haven’t lost sight of that yet and I hope I don’t ever forget those years, because I think it pushes us forward. I think that can be a real motivating factor for a lot of bands, you know, that idea that just being able to get a few people together in a garage or a spare room or a basement and just create is a privilege. I mean, that’s rock and roll, right? Isn’t that the dream? So yeah, I remember a time when I would’ve done anything to have that, and now I do, so I think we all appreciate it and it helps propel us. I know it can’t last forever.

B: Who are some bands that you listen to? 

Well…we all kind of attack from different angles, but with a lot of overlap, which is cool. Shawn’s roots are in the midwest; his drumming is the product of a bunch of punk and metal, though Matt and I know he’s got a softer side. Converge, Refused, Between the Buried And Me are some of his faves, but you could still totally catch him rocking out to Florence + The Machine in the shower. Matt and I share a bunch of influences and bridge the gap between old school prog stuff like Yes, Floyd, King Crimson — and of course standbys like Zeppelin and The Who — to newer stuff like The Mars Volta, Queens of the Stone Age, Mutemath, Hella, The Locust…other bands that have zero similarities to us? Just kidding. I think what works is, Shawn’s sort of “straight heavy,” I’m sort of “straight experimental”, and Matt helps glue it together by being all “experimental-heavy.” Er, something like that.

 B: Where was the new album recorded?

We recorded at a studio called The War Room north of town. We wanted a place close to our rehearsal space where we could set up and track an entire EP live. This record was kind of an experiment for us actually. We got this idea to do an album on the day of the Winter Solstice — we wanted to capture how our sound had changed with the addition of a bassist and we were pretty excited by the challenge of recording in the same room entirely live, no overdubs or swapping takes or anything like that. We just had to go in and play the shit out our songs, and it worked. I think that whole strike-while-the-iron’s-hot mentality I talked about earlier helped out a lot too, because we ended up tracking the thing in around 5 or 6 hours, and with at least a couple of the songs on the record you’re gonna be hearing the first take. There’s one I remember we only did a single take of, we were just complete in the moment and it was beautiful. It was I’m really excited for this to get released, and I know we’re all really proud of it.

On the album: ‘Solstice was recorded entirely live on December 21st, 2013, and marks Cinema Novo’s first release as a trio, with the addition of bassist Matthew Klem. The album is a furiously-paced sensory vignette directed by a passionate group that strives to create scenes with sound. Several songs of the album were performed in a single take, and the entire project was tracked in under 6 hours, aided by the band’s strong DIY spirit and high energy live performances.’

For more on Cinema Novo, check out their website HERE and their FaceBook HERE..