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PS of Warner C
Coepta Twins
Robin Guthrie wouldn't
elaborate on the day's events,
but they didn't exactly predis-
pose him to gabbiness. But then,
the guitarist for the British band
the Cocteau Twins has never
exactly been an easy interview.
No, let's just say the best you
could hope for from this guy is
politely informative. Which is
pretty much what he was on the
phone from London when this
staff writer spoke with him.
You may ask yourself: who are
the Cocteau Twins? There are
three twins. They are not really
twins, nor even triplets (their
name comes from the lyrics of an
old Simple Minds song). You
know how bands are always
claiming that their music can't be
categorized? In the case of the
Cocteau Twins, that happens to
be true. The sound consists of
lush, complex, intricate layers of
guitar and percussion, topped.
with some otherworldly vocals.
Call it ambient music for hipsters.
It's groovy, yet in its own delicate
way, it can rip through your mind
like a chainsaw.
Aside from Guthrie, the
Cocteau Twins are comprised of
Elizabeth Fraser on vocals and
Simon Raymonde on bass and
percussion. Although Robin and
Liz are originally from Scotland
(where they first met), the trio
currently resides in London,
where they have their own
recording studio.
Fairly well-known and popular
in Europe and Japan, the trio
have released five albums since
Garlands, their 1982 debut. One
of their singles, the haunting
"Pearly Dewdrops Drops" has
reportedly sold over 100,000
copies. Until last year their re-
cords had all been released on
English independent label 4AD,
but are now available in America
on the Relativity label. The
Cocteaus are about to start work-
ing on a new album and they
plan to tour this winter.
Say what you will about this
shy and mysterious band, but
what it all comes down to is
the music-more specifically
Fraser's startling vocals, weav-
ing in and out of those trillions
of instrument tracks. I mean, you
can't even figure out what the
hell she's singing, and a lack of
lyric sheets doesn't help. It's her
sound that makes your ears prick
up and your scalp tingle: she
goes from delicate to brittle to
harsh, from gently soothing to
disturbingly alien, all in one song.
Yet, despite the fact that you
don't really understand what
she's singing, her vocals bring
vivid images to life in your mind.
I tend to think of (I'm blushing
here) airy, fluffy things (like
clouds) and dreamy, romantic
things (I'm not saying). Well, with
song titles like "Little Spacey"
"Fluffy Tufts," "Pepper-Tree"
and "Sigh's Sweet Smell of
Farewell," what would you
conjure up? Rats in paradise?
On the phone, Guthrie re-
called with horror a hot, crowded-
as-a-sardine-tin club date in San
Francisco the last time they
played in America. Liz looked
terrified throughout; an on-stage
tape machine playing drum
tracks that broke down in mid-
song a couple times didn't help.
He explained that such problems
are not common to the band.
"That was awful," he ex-
plained. "That was disgusting.
I'm never going to San Francisco
again if we're going to get treated
like that. It was the people pro-
moting the concert...they just
treat you like shit and you sort of
come into their city to make them
lots of money...It was awful,
and the stage problems came
from not getting the equipment
we were promised."
Despite that incident, the
Cocteaus still use the tapes as
a "fourth band member."
"We still always use them on
stage. I mean, why not? If we
played with a drummer, we'd still
have to tell him what to do and
when and where exactly to stand.
It's just easier. I mean, there's not
all that much on the tapes
anyway," he explained.
"
Guthrie claims that as far as
playing goes, we don't
actually plan anything. It just all
sort of happens. As far as live
goes, we don't 'put on a show,"
we just come out and play. We're
not the most visual band in the
world."
The Cocteaus employ the
same "just come out and play"
approach to record making. Hard
to believe, but those intricate
sounds are not entirely pre-
planned and don't require the
band to be in the studio for
months on end.
"At first we didn't know what
it was about. Back in '83 we
started producing ourselves;
now we own our own studio.
There's not actually anyone else
involved in the Cocteau effort at
all. There was (production help)
on the first one, but there wasn't
actually any production done...
the whole thing was done in
about five days. This will shock
a lot of people, but they still do
not take very long. maybe a
few days."
In the end, isn't their aim the
same as that of everyone else in
this fame-mad world: to become
pop stars?
"Well, we're not aiming to
become pop stars. We would just
like people to listen to our
records. Really, we're just try-
ing to get 14-year-old girls to
come to our shows," he joked.
"We're just messing about.
We just want to play. We're just
doing what we like doing."
Joni Hollar
89