Blonde Redhead talk music and fashion
Blonde Redhead just dropped the new video for ‘Dripping’ in collaboration with British fashion label AllSaints. From their “Barragán” album released earlier this year, the film (above) captures the haunting moods and tripped out atmospherics that are at the core of their music. Something You Said’s Chloe Mayne chats to Amedeo Pace from the band, to find out more:
How did the collaboration come to be? What were your initial reactions to working with a label? Blonde Redhead began two decades ago, but this is the first time you’ve collaborated with a fashion house…
AllSaints approached us while we were touring Europe to try this project together. It was overall a really nice experience to work with them. It was quite unusual for us to collaborate with a fashion label as we had really never done so before.
Would you say that you have a particular interest in fashion, personally? To extend that, where do you tend to find significant inspiration outside of music; for example, do you read or draw?
I don’t know. I like beautiful things of course but have a lot of different ideas about fashion and about what is important for me to wear and stand by. I get inspired when I feel good and relaxed and free. Everything affects what I do musically of course but it is really always hard to define as it is so much not in my control.
One recent quote that I found particularly interesting was the following: “I have never really followed fashion but have always appreciated good style, whether it came from poverty or wealth… I found it always very interesting, but thought that it should come from personal limitations rather than from an abundance of resources”. Could you expand on this a little? Do you think the notion of working with limitation carries across into other creative pursuits as well?
Of course. In a way I think limitation is the key to development of oneself. It is a blessing in disguise and a way to develop a certain personal style. In music it has always been there for me and has always forced me to explore a detail of who I am.
How would you describe your connection to the visual component of Blonde Redhead? Is this something that you choose to have a lot of input in? I know this varies between bands a lot – some draw and create every detail, others are happy with more loose collaborations and re-interpretations of their work…
We are very aware of it and in a way very affected by it. In a way we are always looking into a mirror which is maybe the hardest part of being a band, both musically and visually.
How did the song itself, ‘Dripping’, come about – do you remember anything specific about its creation? I think it’s my favourite track from the recent record. It has this almost watery, submerged quality to it…
It came from a mixture of moments in a day. One was listening to a Liars remix we had done for a compilation called We are the Works
in Progress and the other just listening to the Bee Gees in my friends coffee place. I just got home and put some ideas down. The melody later came through playing it together in practice.
You’ve been making music together for a long time now – are there any patterns in how you write and create as a group? Has your creative process managed to remain organic despite the number of records you’ve seen out together? How has the dynamic changed over time?
We write in many different ways. Things happen slowly for us. We sometimes work on an idea for a long time before realizing where it needs to be. But sometimes things happen immediately. It has always been a abstract process which we never really understood. I guess that’s what makes it so interesting and new for us even after doing it for this long.
Interview by Chloe Mayne
