Last month Australian funk rockers Parcels, who are based in Berlin, released an in-studio live album, ‘Live Vol 1’ that was recorded at legendary Hansa Studio, via their French record label Kitsuné.
Like the rest of the world, the group have been forced into lockdown but this hasn’t meant they’ve stopped interacting with their fans and music lovers alike. Instead they’ve shared a number of instrumental tutorials of their songs for punters to jam to.The Blender on scenestr TV recently caught up with the band’s bass player Noah Hill from his home in Berlin. Here are a few highlights from the unedited interview.
“We had this live album that was about to be released and we were already planning the release of this live album for a long time,” Noah says.
“But as the coronavirus hit, it felt very insensitive and not aware to be releasing anything that wasn’t in some way connected to the coronavirus ‘cause that was encapsulating everyone’s thoughts and really the only thing people could think about, and you had to be sensitive to that fact.
“So the tutorials were a fun way of showing the song and showing us in our own bedrooms, playing music that was what we were doing in our own isolation and maybe giving people a chance to do that as well in their our own isolation, quarantine.
“It was a fun way to interact in such an isolating time with the live album.”
When it came time to write the album ‘Live Vol 1’, Noah admits the hard work had really been done in the preceding 12 months with all the touring they’d done.
“By the time we got to doing the album, we’d written it as live as we could but this live album is all based on the amount of touring we had done, the amount of jamming, practising we had done.
“The songs have all been heavily changed with new intros and outros, and all sorts of melding of songs to create a festival set and a live set.
“So when it came to recording the live album, it really encapsulates the last year or two of touring for us, so it was quite a simple process really to play that in the studio, to have the rehearsed set.”
Noah also says that while non-creatives may think being stuck in isolation would be the ideal environment for artistic juices to flow, it’s simply not the case for himself.
“It had the opposite affect on us and a lot of people I know. Everyone was saying ‘this is so good for artists; they’re just going to stay indoors writing, doing their art and they’re going to have all this time; imagine all the art that is going to come out of this [pandemic]’.
“But for me and a lot of people, it was not an environment that was conducive to creativity, ‘cause there was a repressive mind state that does not really help with the creative flow or inspiration that is needed [to create].
“The last couple of months things have slowed more than we would have expected creatively; for starters, we’re not allowed to meet and gather for practice and to write. Now as things have slightly shifted and it’s changing; I think in the next few weeks and months, I can feel the inspiration flowing again.”
As we all look to more social distancing restrictions being lifted, one thing we can all agree on is that the parties that happen once lockdown ends will be epic. “It’s going to be some of the biggest parties ever,” Noah enthuses.
“This is the craziest repression that has happened for a very long time, and with repression comes crazy parties and no better place to be than Berlin when this all opens up… the parties are going to be great; parties everywhere are going to be great.”
