TLOBF Interview :: Alessi's Ark

On a lovely May spring evening I head from the grimey surroundings of Hackney and cut across town to London’s affluent Holland Park for an engagement with one of TLOBF’s favourite new artists – Alessi Laurent-Marke. Still only a baby at 18, Alessi carries herself as someone a lot older than her years – her lyrics and compositions show a maturity of someone perhaps twice her age. Roaming through the leafy pathways we talk about the making of debut album Notes From The Treehouse, her early influences, her brief foray into music journalism and her love of Heartless Bastards.

So you’ve just got back from a fairly extensive tour of the UK… How was that?
It was a lot of fun. I think our most favourite town was actually Middlesborough.. The reception was unbelievably warm and loving and generous. We played in this family pub called Mohans and the promoters were just extraordinary. I think the company is called ‘The Kids Are Solid Gold’ or something like that… The ringleader was a guy called Andy and he is such a music enthusiast – his ears are tapped in to such gorgeous music.

I don’t know how he came across The Ark but he made such a big deal about us coming into town. They put up lots of fun lights and stuff, and I think it was our only sold out date of the whole tour.

Another great show was Brighton. Some good cats put on that night – the Willkommen Collective. But it was just nice to have such attentive audiences – nobody was too chatty. It was nice.

You worked with Mike Mogis on the album which must have been a huge deal for you. How did you initially come into contact with Mike?
Well. I’d been a long time believer and boffin of Bright Eyes and the people that he has worked with. And when I signed with Virgin, they asked me who would be the ultimate dream person to work with… So I thought, it’s a flippin’ long shot but I said Mike Mogis! You know, out of all the sleeve art from the albums that I love he was always in there…

Yeah I can imagine I’m Wide Awake and It’s Morning being one of your favourite records surely?
Yeah yeah yeah! Of course!

But with the whole meeting Mike thing… the stars must have aligned, as he was in town playing Shepherds Bush Empire and I live in Hammersmith with my family so it wasn’t too far to meet up with him.

So we hooked up at a hotel in Shepherds Bush and I gave him some fanzines and some demos and I liked him straight away. I mean, I was very nervous but he’s a very special man and very like minded so I felt quite at ease.

Even though I thought the chances were slim of actually working with him, he found a block of time that September (2008) so I went out to Nebraska with my mum – cos being a minor you’re not supposed to really work or travel that young.

Of course, cos you have to be 21 to do anything in the States!
Well exactly! It’s ridiculous – you know; you can drive, get married, drive a car at 15! But everything else you need to be 21 for.. I mean I don’t even know how to drive. I’m terrified – I watched that Mike Leigh (spelling) film ‘Happy Go Lucky’ the other night and it scared the crap out of me!

I have my provisional license and everything – I just don’t trust myself in those ways! I mean, I play drums so you’d think my coordination would be quite good – but there you go….

Did you meet Mr Oberst when you were over there…?
Yeah!

How’s he? He seems like rather an elusive character…
Yeah, I don’t really know him very well. He’s extremely polite. I got to know his cousin a lot better actually. He comes from a good gang! All lovely people. But yeah, Conor was knocking around the studio getting ready for his last solo-ish record with The Mystic Valley Band. He was practicing whilst I was putting the album together. It’s funny…in the time it’s taken me to get one album out, he’s released two!

So the album was pretty much recorded in one month then? During the September of 2008. That’s pretty quick work!
A lot of it was… But there turned out to be a lot of backwards and forwards as once I’d got settled in to recording I had to go and play End Of The Road which was great fun but it broke the recording up a bit. I actually went back until roundabout February time when I thought the record was pretty much done and dusted.. But that was the time when it was all looking a bit cloudy at EMI and the release date kept getting pushed back and pushed back.

So I just spent my time playing lots of shows, trying to put some kind of incarnation of ‘The Ark’ together. I like to think it as a sort of collective rather than a band… One lineup consisted of Ben and Winston from Mumford and Sons and also Phil who plays in Cherbourg now… Then the label came down to see us and they heard some of my newer songs and they suggested as we had no clue when the record was going to be released we may as well go back to the States and record them!

Didn’t feel too comfortable about doing that at the time, as the original songs were one body of work you know? But I called up Mogis and he seemed to think it was a pretty good idea. So we recorded ‘The Dog’ and ‘Hummingbird’ which were newer creatures. And now, because the album does feel quite old those songs to me keep the album nice and fresh – which is a nice thing for me.

What’s your favourite song on the album?
Erm………….. (taps fingers on table) Erm…… haha, I don’t know!

They all obviously do something for me. I really like how ‘Hummingbird’ turned out. And there is something I love about ‘The Dog’ too. Yeah I guess the two newer songs. But it’s hard to choose…. I wanted the whole album to feel like a long hug!

I’m interested in the way that you write lyrics. There’s kind of like a world weariness to a lot of them, and also a lot of cynicism. The line in ‘Over The Hill’ for example: “it’s just a shame that from the very beginning you’ve always been her man”. Quite an odd line to come from someone so young. Were you scorned from an early age?
Hmmm, well ‘Over The Hill’ is one of the oldest songs on the record actually. When I wrote it I wasn’t thinking so much from my own point of view, more observing a friend. Thinking about it, I guess it was a nasty way of thinking about a relationship or whatever – but it was done in a protecting way y’know? As if I was looking at a certain relationship as working as detriment of a friend as opposed to enhancing their life in a beautiful way.

But the songs…. to be honest, I don’t really know where they come from. All I know is that I feel a similar kind of warm glow in me when I’m playing them.

They’re all quite simple songs too right? The guitar work for example isn’t too involved.
Oh absolutely. I am not waving a flag of musicianship believe me!

Well I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. Sometimes I think the most simplest of songs can affect a person more.. There is something very human about your music…
Well I just like honest music. So the songs are a mixture of my own experiences mixed in with things that have happened to friends and family. Plus a load of stuff that I could only imagine! Stuff that’s entirely fictional. I like to keep things vague! Haha.

I read somewhere that you took up the drums because of Meg White?
Yeah absolutely! I thought that she was great. I always liked the look of drumming – I always thought it looked like fun. I went to an all girl school, so I was always looking for people to look up to and I went to see White Stripes at Alexandra Palace and just thought they were fantastic.

So around that time I started playing drums because in the school that I went to you had to enroll with the knowledge of two instruments. The only thing I’d learned was steel pans and the recorder! And….. the recorder was kind of frowned upon so I thought that drums looked like the most fun thing. So in conjunction with that and the fact that my dad had bought everything The White Stripes had done up to the time I saw them, and watching Meg play I thought to myself well, y’know ‘girls can do it too’. Plus I got into Autolux who were quite grungy and loud and I saw them a few times.. Carla Azar was so charismatic you know? She had this John Bonham-like strength but with such a wee frame and I thought how on earth can she make all that noise!

So those are the two drumming women I like – Carla and Meg.

So how old were you when you took up the drums then ~ 12…13?
Erm… I guess I was 13. Yeah 13.

I guess that was a really important time for you.. They were the main influences on you as a kid? Everyone has that one important band when they’re growing up… Would you say yours was the White Stripes?
Yeah I think The White Stripes… and of course there were The Strokes. I guess you could say they were the first bands where I thought ‘coooooor this is great music’…

I think the first show I ever went to was Pete Yorn on my 13th birthday – which was pretty nice. I started going to shows with my dad actually.. Maybe four or fives times a week we’d be pounding up and down Camden. We’d always be in the Barfly or one of those venues. But it used to be pretty hard to get into the shows I wanted to see, actually. So having your dad there was pretty helpful. He was my musical friend…. still is!

That’s really nice though to have that kind of musical relationship with your parents. My dad was always trying to force me to like Lonnie Donnegan! He pretty much failed.
I don’t even know who that is!

Exactly!
I like the name though….. It sounds like Daniel O’Donnell.

As you originally come from a drumming background, when did you suddenly think “aah ok – I can sing, I can play guitar – I’m gonna start writing music”. Was it a natural progression?
I started playing on my sisters guitar. I think it was most probably out of tune for about 12 months or so. First thing I wrote was something called ‘Treehouse’ and…. oh god, some stuff that’s really uncomfortable to listen to!

Are there any recordings in existence?!
Oh yeah!

But anyway! Moving on! I started really thinking about singing when I was writing my GCSE composition but I started playing guitar when I was about 14. It wasn’t in tune and I didn’t really know any chords… My sisters friend came over once and taught me a couple – E minor and A minor. I probably have an early song with just those two chords in.. I ROCK those chords!

The Brain Bulletin (Alessi’s fan-zine)…. Was that your first foray into the world of music…?
Oooooh yeah. Well I started writing that when I was 14. I made 9 issues…Well, 9 and a half. I started on the tenth when I was in Omaha but didn’t finish it.

Explain a little bit about what it is for our readers…
Well it was a paper fanzine. No more than 20 pages that I used to staple together. I was really inspired by my parents joint love for music. My dad had some copies of Sniffing Glue and Maximum Speed and some other fun fanzines in a box.. Now, I didn’t think I had the voice of God or anything. I just wanted to try and find people that were like minded y’know? I never really had that many friends and I just thought that what I was listening to at the time was really precious music that has GOT to be talked about.

Loads of bands that I wrote about didn’t really take off, but a few did for sure… Rilo Kiley, Modest Mouse, Bright Eyes… A lot of small record shops really supported the fan-zine which was cool.

You should write a column for The Line Of Best Fit!
Ok! Maybe I will!

My tip for the moment is Heartless Bastards.

*At this point Alessi and TLOBF high 5 in agreement*

Yeah I saw them last night and they are just unbelievable. They blew my f’ing socks off.

Something I find really adorable about Brain Bulletin and your music in fact, is the art work that accompanies it. Even down to your MySpace page… It’s so – I dunno – personal.
Awwww I really hope it is.

Yeah – you mentioned earlier about the record being like a giant hug? Well you go on to your MySpace page and it’s kind of like going round to your Grandma’s house for a cup of tea.
Good! Like a continuation of the hug??

Yeah! And it probably smells of warm toast and… I dunno, mint humbugs.
And toasted tea cakes!

Ok… To wrap things up, name some bands that you’re into that our readers should check out.
Whispertown 2000!

They’re a bit rubbish though aren’t they..
Oh! Ok… Haha.

Erm… Who else.. Magic Magic. Mariee Sioux from Nevada City, she’s got a lovely voice. Coal Beautiere… Miniature Tigers – they’re great. Also, Alvin Band are great. And I really like Vetiver in fact pretty much anything Bella Union put out at the moment…

Alessi’s Ark on MySpace