Ian - When we first started the band there were about twelve of us. We argued for about a month, and went through a million different band members, and at some point this was the only name any of us could even slightly agree upon.-If you have been in other bands, how did your time in that/those other bands influence the music you make today?
Tobias - Anyway, FABLES fits. The songs form part of a collective story - if you arrange them in the right order they make some sort of sense. We're still writing episodes...
Ian - Tobias and I used to be in another band (Bolt Action Five). I guess FABLES grew out of a conversation we had about wanting to make a really big, timeless band, rather than a little, cool one tied to a specific scene. We wanted to do something epic and ambitious.-Do you think where you grew up had a large impact on the music you make today? Did you grow up in very musically charged homes?
Ian - I didn't. I haven't asked around, but I think Marnie and Grant may have.-What was your first instrument?
Tobias - I didn't. I grew up in Cornwall - the imagery of Cornwall has more of an effect on the music.
Ian - Bass. I only started playing when I was 16 because being in a band sounded cool.-When did you know you were going to be musicians? What did you listen to?
Tobias - I used to play the organ. I was shit!
Tobias - I wanted to be a lumberjack. I hate being a musician.-How do you come up with your music? Where do you get your content from?
Ian - We're not musicians - we're dream catchers....
Tobias - Interpreting modern day events into fairy stories. Mass industry, political movements, lost love, Magic mirrors and the Kraken.-Any good tour stories?
Ian - We've only played four gigs so far - our fifth is coming up this weekend, so no big tour stories yet! Besides, there's too many of us to fit in the car...
It's been a while, so to kick off the newest round of interviews right, we have for you, Example! This amazing rapper from Fulham (yes, Fulham) has a sense of humor that is to be reckoned with. His grinningly good album "What We Made" is not only highly entertaining, but has a considerable amount of substance and is just an all 'round taste of what Example is about. Luckily enough he is on tour at the moment, be sure to go to his page and find a show near you. Personally we can't wait to hear what comes form this genius in the future. Well I attempted to make some music when I was 11. On my casio keyboard with my sister doin' backing vocals. But making proper music that’s worthy of release maybe 6 years.What made you want to be a musician/did you grow up in a very musically charged home?
My sister and I learned to play Piano when were both in our early teens. We got to a pretty decent standard. I used to fuck about with an old drumkit as well for a while. My dad was always singing around the house though really loudly to Motown and The Rolling Stones.When did you know you wanted to me a musician?
Dunno, maybe 2003, I wanted to be an actor or director before thatWhat kind of music did you listen to growing up?
Whatever was in the charts. I used to buy loadsa compilations. I went through a Michael Jackson stage, a Wu-Tang stage, a Nirvana stage, I’ve consistently listened to rap and motown though my whole life.What is touring like for you?
What have been some of your favorite moments. Touring is the best part of my job. That and the freebies. I love seeing the fans reactions to my stuff.What place do you really want to play/ go on tour?
Australia, Canada, parts of the US. I have already visited these places but want to see the crowds reactions. I know I have fans in all these places.Do you enjoy larger or smaller venues?
Smaller venues are more fun. The buzz at festivals though cant be matched.What's the worst place you've played? What happened there?
A place called Hartlepool which is in the north of England in the middle of nowhere. Nobody came. I was watched by 8 people. And all the locals were downstairs fighting each other and throwing beer and pizza.What's the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you during a show?
Someones wife got up on stage and tried to take the mic off me. I took the piss out of her and her husband tried to fight me. Also we had a guy in a chicken suit dancing at a festival last year. I found out after that 5 different people changed into that suit throughout the show and I didn’t even notice.Through outlets such as Beat Stevie we have been able to catch a glimpses of what your life is like. What would you like people to know about you that they might not know from just watching Beat Stevie?
My life is actually the opposite of Beat Stevie. We play up for the cameras. It is a warped perspective. The magic of tv editing!! I actually spend 90% of my life in meetings and down the gym.Have there ever been moments where you wanted to through in the towel?
Never. I have one of the best jobs in the worldWhat would you be doing if you weren't making music?
Making films or doing stand-up comedy.Where do you get your inspiration?
Are many of the characters in your songs based in reality? Well a lot of my stories are based on books or articles I’ve read in magazines. Only a small percentage of my songs are based on real people and situations – like Me & Mandy and Birthday cardDo you ever worry about the publics/parents reaction to some of your lyrics?
Nah not at all. I would never release something I wasn’t happy withIn historical perspective where do you see yourself in 10-20 years?
On a beach relaxing. Maybe with a pen and notepad writing a few songs.How do you feel about today's culture, what would you change if you could?
I’d like John Lennon’s song Imagine to become reality.What kind of music do you think you would be able to go the rest of your life without listening to again?
Death Metal.As people from an internet site how do you think the web affects the music industry?
It’s now more important that tv advertising and magazines in a lot of respects. The web is always changing though. One minute your video, myspace or blog is the hottest thing in the world, but you can soon be forgotten. You have to keep up with what the kids are doing these days. They know where its at.You're a very political man, what issue peaks an interest in you the most? If you could make one large political/environmental change what would it be?
This is a misconception. Im not that political. My songs are more observational than preachy.If you could live in any movie what would it be? Who would you be playing?
I would like to be in a film like Waterworld. Lots of people think that’s a shit movie but I would love the adventure of trying to find the last piece of dry land on the planet.If you could sum yourself up in a few words, what would they be?
Example (myspace)Gives short answers in Interviews
This Friday make sure to come and see The Terrordactyls, coming all the way from Vashon, WA. With supporting acts by St. Mannequins from NYC and local band Madam Lee. The show will be at The Tinder Box, Friday Oct. 17th, 8pm and there is a $5 suggested donation. It's going to be amazing.
Drop Magazine is happy to bring you Drew Danburry, supporting will be The Alterations, and Marty Cain. If you're in the area make sure to come by, it's going to be a great show, promise.
We wanted something that gave the sense of movement, of elevation. We’re both terribly afraid of flying, so when you think about it, it’s quite strange.How/when did you two meet?
We met up at high school, and almost emidiatelly the mischief began. We listened to dreamy music, and behaved like popstars. We were always being creative in some way, everyday was a new adventure, new barriers to cross and new levels of being disorderly to be reached. We were often told to try to calm down by the principal.Do you think where you grew up had a large impact on the music you make today?
We grew up in small towns, which had it’s pros and cons. The surroundings were beautiful; streams, bright landscapes, forests, glowing sunsets, but also a lot of frustration, boredom and conflict. It was easy not to fit in, and we were treated as such. About a year ago the local paper wanted to interview us, but it soon turned into a farse. The questions were silly, so we gave silly answers, and next thing you know there’s a hateful article about us that our parents had to read for breakfast. It’s funny now, but our folks keep a low profile nowadays haha.Do you think where you reside today has a large impact on your music?
Gothenburg is bigger, but by no means big. It’s an industrial city with a lot of rain most of the year, so it’s only natural that the creativity is blooming here, even though most of what comes out of this city is utter rubbish. This place, when comparing to Stockholm, is more relaxed, more humble minded, cheaper, which makes it easier to spend most of your time on art.Where do you get your ideas, and inspiration from? What's the driving force behind your music?
Ingmar Bergman once said that he could only make happy films when he was miserable, and dark films when he was happy, and that’s kind of how we operate as well. We don’t bury ourselves in self pity and gloom when making music, we try do turn the feeling around, but there’s always some of the melancholy left in there.What is your creative process like? Do you have an idea of what your want to the product to sound like when you start?
No, there’s never any goal we try to achieve, the songs takes us where they are supposed to be. We don’t want to close any routes, we need to keep that naïve attitude about life, there’s no closed doors. You can tell straight away if a song is mapped out, perfectly executed from start to finish. It’s hollow.If you could do a show anywhere, where would you play?
On a beach somewhere in front of a sunset that goes on forever. Or on the roof top of a light house. Or in an old wooden boat house. Or on a cricket field below a harvest moon. Anywhere, as long as it’s not indoors.What's the weirdest thing that has ever happened during a show?
Actually, we have only done one performance as of yet, last summer. It was a freak show. Henning of the Tough Alliance stormed the stage with a drum and took the whole thing over, girls gried his name and climbed the stage and Joel got kicked out from his own concert by the security and the technicians pulled the plug after two songs. At least that’s what we’ve been told, can’t remember a thing haha, we need a bit more practise I think.During your downtime, what do you enjoy to do?
Flying kites, sailing, badminton, swimming. Have you ever seen a sad person at a beach? Like, apart from a kid who got stung by a wasp? No.How do you think the internet affects the music industry?
In the beginning we were happy, beacuse downloading meant the major labels would get a wake up call, but in the end it hurts small time labels even more. What worried us most though, was that the context of the music would get lost in the sea of mp3s, but you’ve just have got to find another way of working with it. Music is only 50% of Air France. We use text, images, geography, anything really, to create other levels of what we want to convey.What kind of music could you go the rest of your days without listening?
We don’t care for most types of rock. There’s no playfullness in most of it, just stupidity, machoism, conservatism.Favorite Expression?
Why have roots, when you have feet? Haha it’s better in Swedish when it rhymes.If you could sum yourself up in a few words, what would they be?
Erratic and erotic.
It never sucks to find yourself outside of The Tinder Box in downtown Brattleboro as parades of punks and hippies and all the in-betweens drift amongst the music in something close to harmony, but it is even better if you find yourself there with people who are making some of the most interesting music out there right now. Washington’s T.v. Coahran creates music that, if it existed in a material form, would resemble some sort of drugged-out carnival. There would be bright colors, shapes that had no name and made no sense, sounds with mysterious origins, a vaguely unsettling and paranoid vibe. These things may come close to frightening you, if they weren’t so damn captivating. Plus, it all carries an exhilarating brand of fun. The lads of T.v. are no less fascinating than the music; Trent Vernon Coahran , the origin of the name and the mastermind at work in creating the psychedelic busted-up-merry-go-round pop jams, approached us wearing a leather pilot’s cap and a Charlie Chaplin-style mustache. Trent was joined by Charles Leo Gebhardt IV, or Leo, and Mike De Leon, a photographer who learned drums quickly for the purpose of joining the group for the tour and had been playing for only three months by the time he reached Brattleboro. Check out the interview we grabbed before their show back in April, and head over to their Myspace to hear and download some of their tracks. They may just make more familiar forms of pop music seem like a waste of time.
