FCK DN CRLSN - Close To The Squirting End Of The Entering Piece

By Shawn McKelvie

There's something frightening about a band like Love Life...but just what is it? Is it the controlled insanity? The plotting bass? The tribal, (almost) chant-inducing drums? The surgical guitar lines? Or, the drunken vocals of one Katrina Ford? More than likely, the "something" is a combination and culmination of all the aforementioned traits. Love Life is a band that demands attention, concentration, and more importantly...*respect*. Love Life is Katrina Ford (vox), Anthony S. Malat (bass), Sean Antanaitis (guitar/organ), and Dave Bergander (drums).

I first experienced Love Life at a show at the Continental in New York City. I knew nothing about the band beforehand, so when they took the stage I wasn't prepared. Katrina Ford *owned* that stage, she owned every person in that audience. She ripped out every person's soul...questioned it...then put it back without so much as a blink of the eye. Songs slithered from the stage, into every shadow, crack, and corner of that bar...and I remember every challenging bellow that came from her mouth.

There are thousands upon thousands of bands...few "make it," few matter, and few *mean* it. Love Life mean it. I sat down with the band at the Fireside Bowl in Chicago a couple tours ago to conduct an interview. I had two options...conduct the interview that day/in-person with the whole band or conduct it with Katrina Ford via e-mail (chicken shit). I took the latter (chicken shit) approach. Here are the results (for better or worse).

Love Life [SM]: How did your recent U.S. tour go? Did you get a good reaction on tour?

[Katrina]: Mixed reactions.

[SM]: Did people seem interested in the songs?

[Katrina]: I don't think people ever completely understand us on the first listen; however, I hope our music makes people *think a little* more than relax. I don't want to seem stuck up, but we have to stand our ground on our sound.

[SM]: Did you take my advice and start passing out Ritalin before each set? Sad to say...but it seems some people need it (bastards). The more I go to shows, the more I realize just how apathetic people are getting towards music. Have you noticed this at all, and if you have, what is your reaction?

[Katrina]: Americans seem pretty apathetic to the arts in general. Everything is handed to them without any mystery. Americans are treated like they aren't intelligent, so they have become lazy.

[SM]: What are your thoughts on touring? Do you enjoy it, or would you like to do without it?

[Katrina]: Mixed feelings. I love to play live. I hate promoters who don't "promote."

[SM]: Love Life are a unique band, this is true. Do you have a certain niche in Baltimore, or do you kind of stand apart from the "scene"?

[Katrina]: We just live there, we don't really have anything to do with what's "going on" in Baltimore.

[SM]: Are there any bands that you view as peers?

[Katrina]: No and yes.

[SM]: You mentioned to me at your show in Chicago that in large part, your audience is made up of older people. These people tend to have more patience, and allow the music to develop rather than looking for a quick fix. Did you find more evidence of this throughout the U.S. tour?

[Katrina]: Yes.

[SM]: Were the "kids" opening up a bit to the sounds of Love Life?

[Katrina]: Not really, we're too musically patient...they are not.

[SM]: When I first saw you guys play, it was in NYC for the CMJ fest. I was instantly transfixed by the image before me; it was quite somber and dark, chaotic yet controlled. It was a very intriguing mixture of style and substance. Is there a conscious effort to convey a certain sense of image or mood?

[Katrina]: No. We don't give people what they want.

[SM]: Do you think the music takes care of it just fine?

[Katrina]: Yes, it's all natural. The combination of four very different personalities with mutual musical respect, and a divine mission to convey the Love Life.

[SM]: On a related note, I have to say that your stage presence is *amazing*. You definitely take control via your eye contact with the audience. It's almost like a staring contest from way back when. Is one of your goals to challenge the people in the audience? If it is...I'd have to say you achieve it nightly.

[Katrina]: No. I can't see anybody's faces. I am channeling a force outside myself to convey my message. The "soul" that I channel is without gender, it is the entity that is the collective "Love Life."

[SM]: Much has been made of the unique instrument that Sean has in his possession. I believe it's called a "guitorgan," a rare hybrid of guitar and organ. How much of a role does this instrument play in Love Life?

[Katrina]: It's a big part of what we're doing.

[SM]: Would you be able to achieve the same sounds via another guitar/organ combination, or is the sound of the "guitorgan" so unique that it can't be replicated?

[Katrina]: We've never thought of this what-if question. It isn't an option.

Katrina Ford [SM]: When I talked with you at your show in Chicago, I asked about the sound you were going for on your album. You mentioned that you consciously went away from the name-brand Steve Albini approach that most bands seem to go for. I believe you said you wanted the album to sound like it was recorded in one room. Did you mean you were going for a warmer or more organic sound? Please explain.

[Katrina]: I wanted the "audience" to feel the actual shape of the room and the spatial relationship of the instruments.

[SM]: How do you view the "Albini sound"? I think it would work greatly for Love Life.

[Katrina]: I'm sure it would. I'm impressed with the accurate sound he gets, but I think that it becomes very generically "him," and his name usually shifts focus from the band to the engineer. We want to consecrate our own ground, and change and challenge the idea of what a recording "should" sound like.

[SM]: Obviously, there are a lot more things going on in Love Life besides guitar, bass and drums. Were you afraid the other instruments would get buried in the mix if your recording technique(s) were different?

[Katrina]: No, we write our songs with other instruments in mind. Sometimes we hear strings and horns or orchestral instrumentations of our pieces and we have to translate to the instruments we use.

[SM]: I'm curious about your songwriting process. Do you write as a group, or does everyone bring in separate parts and then converge?

[Katrina]: We create spontaneously together; channeling the Love Life forces.

[SM]: When you record, do you have the songs written prior to entering the studio or do the songs tend to take shape in the studio?

[Katrina]: Most of the basic song is written, then we work in the extras, and sometimes we spontaneously create on tape, like the song "Tradewinds" on the album.

[SM]: Do you solely write the lyrics, and if so, what is your inspiration? Are they written out of fact or fiction? Personal experience or observation?

[Katrina]: I write them all, they come from observation, personal experience, and the universal intelligence that I channel.

[SM]: What are the plans for the near future? Can we expect a new album soon? How much material do you have recorded for a new album, ep, or 7" at this point?

[Katrina]: We have a lot of new material, nothing recorded yet...we are working towards that goal.

[SM]: About the new stuff...does it continue in the vein of The Rose He Lied By?

[Katrina]: We never look back. We never walk backwards.

[SM]: If people want to check out Love Life as a result of this interview, do you know of a place they can sample songs online?

[Katrina]: Yes, but I don't know the site name!?

[SM]: Any plans for a Love Life website?

[Katrina]: Yes, we are working on templeoflovelife.com.

[SM]: Well, I really appreciate you answering my questions. I hope you've had a bit of fun and that you're not too bored as a result of this line of questioning. I wish you well in the future and look forward to hearing the new material! Thanks and take care.

[Katrina]: My pleasure. Love, Love Life.

Love Life's new album, Here is Night, Brothers, Here the Birds Burn, is out July 16th.