Words with: Wendy in the Mountains and the Caves with the Slaves

Wendy in the Mountains and the Caves with the Slaves were set to play their final gig at the Brisbane tomorrow night beside Kindwinds and Rentboy, but things happen, plans change, and Wendy won't be playing their final show tomorrow night (Thursday 24th June). Instead, they seem to be disappearing - from the live scene, at least. No farewell, no fireworks, just fade away.

Still, Wendy in the Mountains and the Caves with the Slaves have plans to record their music, sooner or later. Artefacts to bookmark their existence, beyond (unreliable?) memories and a few personal bootlegged tapes. (I shouldn't get too romantic - a fairly good quality live recording of the band is available for listening on Tassie Is Live.)

I spoke to Jesse Clank from the band last week, at a time that they were still on the bill for the Brisbane show:

NWTS: What was the impulse for the four of you to create Wendy? (Why these people? Just simply your friends or do they all share similar ideas?)

JC: Yeh, we are all friends and that certainly makes making music a lot easier. Especially as far as organization goes. But also as far as being able to communicate ideas goes - it's easier to do so with people that you tend to talk to anyway. The concept behind Wendy - which was always pretty nebulous - was one that I felt that Ben + Simon + Lisa shared. That I probably don't share with too many other people. I guess, you become friends with people for many reasons, but the main one is that you have some connection with them. And you make music with people for the same reason. So, the people that you can successfully make music with, are generally going to be people you are already friends with (or perhaps, people you would have been friends with regardless of making music with them). Of course this isn't always the case.

NWTS: What are your feelings/thoughts about this process [of recording an album], prior to preparing for it?

JC: Excitement, joy, etc. To be honest, it'll be nice just to work on something at our own (ridiculously slow) pace.

 NWTS: Will the show on the 24th of June be the last live show for Wendy In The Mountains? Or do you plan to play live in the future for record launches etc?

JC: Well, I'm going to say that it's probably our last show ever. I'm not going to swear it, because it might not be and then I'd be a liar. I don't feel like playing with Wendy in front of an audience at all anymore, mainly because as I said above we work at a really slow pace, and playing gigs tends to mess with that. For example I had originally envisaged playing a completely new set every show we did. Things didn't turn out like that, and that's pretty disappointing, for me. But that's the kind of compromise you make when you set yourself arbitrary guidelines (like, for example, being ready to play a show in two weeks). Making music is one of the very few human endeavours where compromise is not only unnecessary, it is actually counterproductive. So anything that leads to compromise is a bad idea.

NWTS: The aesthetic/visual style for all Wendy related posters/paraphernalia is quite interesting - are these all found images?

JC: Anything I've had a hand in would have included found images, because I can't draw. I'm pretty sure there are some posters designed by Simon and Dave [from Drunk Elk] for gigs that we've played at that they would have illustrated, however.

NWTS: You recently participated in the first live show of the Hobart Improvisation Collective - how did this turn out, from your perspective?

JC: I thought it was pretty rubbish, to be honest. Too many strings.

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The upcoming show features Kindwinds and Rentboy, and will be the second sighting for the aforementioned Hobart Improvisation Collective who are replacing Wendy. It's at the Brisbane Hotel, on the 24th of June - that's this Thursday. Tomorrow. By the time you've read this, it's probably already passed. It's only $5.