|
CHARLIE
ROMIJN
and Terrascope go back a long way, to when a
fledgling Thought Forms used to rehearse at
Editor Phil McMullen’s place (praise be for
thick, sandstone walls and benevolent or
else deaf neighbours) [they sold up and
left! - Ed] As a principal organiser of
Woolf Music in 2013 Charlie can also share
credit/vilification for helping kick start
the most recent spate of Terrascope gig
activity, which culminated, appropriately
enough, in 2019’s Woolf II.
As
well as Thought Forms, Charlie records and
performs as Silver Stairs of Ketchikan,
whose long-awaited debut album, EDEIDA, is
soon to be released, and which we were
delighted to be the first to review (see
April reviews pages). She recently
chatted with IAN FRASER about the album, why
it’s taken her until now... and Richard
Brautigan
It’s
been a funny old year. How is Charlie faring and
what has she been up to?
“I’m
pretty good right now, all things considered!
I’ve been lucky that my job has kept on going
throughout and have been using the extra
downtime to try and sort my shit out, go a bit
slower and be outside - as well as recording
this album and having much fun in the studio
with Thought Forms too”.
Charlie’s
solo project, the wonderfully named Silver Stars
of Ketchikan (SSOK), has been percolating for a
long while now. When and how did it come about?
“I
started using the name in 2006 just to “house”
some of the recordings I was making at home - I
was recording a lot of really free-form, one
take improvised stuff that was never meant to be
repeated and was really just for my own
amusement. I just liked exploring sounds and
feeling my way without worrying about what it
would be or taking it too seriously”.
So
what does this allow her to do that she can’t in
band format?
“Technically,
there’s nothing I couldn’t
do with Thought Forms - there are no rules with
the band! But the music that comes to me either
feels like Thought Forms or not and I know it’s
the same for the others. It just comes down to
the feeling, you have to obey that”.
It
begs the question as to why keep it pretty much
under the radar until now?
“I
always used the excuse that I was simply too
busy with Thought Forms to take SSOK any further
than a shadowy bedroom project, as there was a
period of about ten years straight where we were
recording / touring / rehearsing pretty much
constantly - not to mention all of the less fun
time consuming “behind the scenes” admin stuff I
do for that band.
I
guess that’s not really an “excuse” because I was
really busy with that and work, too, but if I’m
telling the whole truth I also found playing
solo shows incredibly scary and stressful so I
was quite happy to put it all on the back
burner.
I
knew that if I was ever going to bother doing
more solo music then I wanted to do it
“properly” - as in, recording something that was
closer to how the songs I was writing sounded in
my head than I could achieve at home by myself
with a handheld Zoom recorder”.
Despite
the project’s longevity, EDEIDA
is the first “proper” SSOK album. What had
inspired Charlie to make it and why now?
“This
has felt like the perfect time for me to record
and release these songs - some of which I wrote
/ started playing live as long ago as 2009 -
because with Thought Forms not having been as
active (largely due to some health problems of
mine which had been left undiagnosed) and then
covid hitting, there wasn’t much else I could do
(creatively or otherwise) other than RECORD!
My
husband Jim (who also plays bass in Thought
Forms and Get The Blessing) owns J & J
Studio here in Bristol, so while he couldn’t
have clients due to lockdown restrictions, we
could work on stuff together. I literally had no
excuse not to get on with it. Now or never, as
they say”.
There
is in fact a body of intriguing, online
digital-only releases from which the album
differs in some key respects
“All
the Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan that I’d
previously released online were improvised / one
take / basic home recordings done quickly and I
still really like those recordings, but EDEIDA
is a whole different thing; the songs were
meticulously crafted and developed and then
painstakingly recorded over many, many months”.
To
what extent, we wondered, did the lengthy,
existential hiatus prompted by Covid impact on
the mood of EDEIDA?
“All
of the songs were actually written before Covid
hit so I don’t know how much the mood was
impacted beyond the enforced intimacy and
restriction it placed on the recording process;
Suvi, Jake and Pete all recorded their parts
remotely and I actually loved that, the
excitement of just being sent something that
somebody has taken the time to create weave into
my music, loving it instantly”.
 The
name Silver Stairs of Ketchikan comes from a
poem of the same name by Richard Brautigan,
famous for his surrealist, black humour and
emotional bluntness. What, if any influence has
he had on Charlie beyond the project name?
“The
first time I came across Richard Brautigan was
actually in Phil’s front room. We’d often go and
sit with him after he’d tolerated us making a
noise upstairs and there were always so many
great records and books to have a good old nose
at. ‘The Pill Vs The Springhill Mining Disaster’
really captured my attention and as luck would
have it, he had two copies and a generous
spirit. I fell in love with the way he wrote and
the raw, direct emotion and humour. It was
hugely influential to realise that it was
actually ok to write like that - some of the
poems are only about a sentence long. It gave me
a sense that maybe the scribblings in my
notebook were something, and something that
didn’t have to remain private.
From
this distance, the emotions (both lyrically and
musically) seem quite raw and personal. Is this
a fair comment, or is Terrascope heading into
the fridge with that one?
“I’d
say that’s a fair comment. I like that the music
feels emotionally raw, that’s always a good
thing. As mentioned above, these songs span
quite a number of years, that’s a big part of
life. When I was listening back to the masters
so I could write out the words for the release I
was quite surprised at how powerful it felt”.
So
when it comes to composition, is Charlie a music
first or lyrics first person?
“I
wish I could remember, it would make the whole
business of writing new songs a lot easier”.
There
are some familiar names on the playing credits
for EDEIDA.
Is there a danger it could be misconstrued as a
pseudonymous Thought Forms album rather than a
self-determined solo effort and was she tempted
to form new alliances outside
the immediate musical family?
“When
you’re a woman in music there’s absolutely
always a danger that your work will be credited
to any men you may have chosen to play with, but
with regards to me inviting my Thought Forms
band mates to play on EDEIDA - Guy plays drums
on two and a half songs and Deej does some
screaming and guitar on half a song. While their
contributions to my album are absolutely
brilliant, I think they’d actually be quite
offended if people thought they had so little to
do with the making of a Thought Forms record.
I
played the majority of the parts myself but
occasionally there’s something in my head (for
instance a guttural scream, free jazz drums,
double bass, soaring horns) that I know just the
person for; I definitely don’t feel the need to
break away from talented people I love just
because I’ve worked with them before. (It also
sounds like quite a lot of hassle).
That
said there is actually one
new alliance on the album, in the form of
Finnish-born/Bristol-based composer Suvi-Eeva
Äikäs who contributed the beautiful
lap-steel part on Pylon. Two new alliances if
you count my dad Paul, who played the tambourine
on Old God’s Tongue in his recording debut”.
On
a broader note, Bristol has always seemed to
have a great music scene and one that’s quite
mutually supportive. Does Charlie see it
surviving all the upheaval of the past twelve
months and if so how does she see it evolving?
“Bristol
has always had a really strong scene and musical
community - there’s so much stuff going on that
I’m only peripherally aware of and I don’t see
that changing. I honestly think the music scene
here is more at risk from housing developers
than from Covid. I think, or hope, that Covid
will just make everybody appreciate what we have
a lot more when we can start going out to gigs
again - I know I won’t be taking it for granted
again”.
There’ll
be more SSOK releases...won’t there?
“I
daresay… though it’s high time to release some
Thought Forms first!”
Having
almost cleared Terrascope customs, was there
anything else she wanted to declare before
leaving?
“Be excellent to each  other”.
(photo:
Phil McM & Charlie R at Woolf II by
Andrew Young)
EDEIDA
by Silver Stairs of Ketchikan is released on 5th
June. Get it here
Silver
Stairs Of Ketchikan (bandcamp.com)
|
