Having first seen the Australian psychedelic pop/rockers nail their headline spot last September at End of The Road Festival, I was more than happy to see the announcement of them taking to the stage at London's Alexandra Palace two nights in a row.
Fellow Australian rock three-piece Jagwar Ma supported the show, getting the party started with bass fuelled rock anthems such as 'Man I Need' and 'Come Save Me'. I often feel that booking agents get it wrong with support acts being nothing of a similar genre to the main artist but this was spot on. They set the buzzing atmosphere, teasing the crowd with the highly anticipated sounds of fun dreamy rock. We were also stood right next to the sound deck, so had the added treat of watching the engineer make the sound of electronic trancey hooks echo around the venue.
Being my first experience of live music at Ally Pally, Tame Impala certainly set the bar high for future gigs there. They opened the set with appropriately named 'Intro' accompanied by mesmerising graphics as a backdrop, before transitioning into the explosive seven minute hit 'Let It Happen'. They refreshed my memory of how great they were last time I saw them, encapsulating everything that is remembered about the 'Summer of Love' 70s psychedelic era.
You could feel that the band, fronted by Kevin Parker, were investing all their energy and love into the last night of their European tour and the crowd were emulating that same energy back, with the sound of every fan roaring along to the whole set list. Not only were the band on point but the lighting and sound engineers played a big part in making the night an experience as opposed to an ordinary gig. The colours and streams of light suited the mood of each track along with the music floating from left to right out of the speakers at just the right points in the songs.
I didn't have myself down as a huge fan of psychedelic rock, but Tame Impala have become the exception.
Colorado based experimental singer/songwriter, producer and musician
James Cooley has been releasing music online under the title of Mesita for
nearly eight years now. Having built up a creditable following of over 4,000
since making his debut in 2008, I caught up with him to get
an insight into the man behind the music.
With six albums and counting since his online debut, Cooley
has certainly been busy and dedicated to making music from the offset. Having
followed his music since the release of his third album ‘Here’s to Nowhere’ in
2011, I’ve always gone to his online catalogue for reassuring sounds of upbeat
electro pop. However, the two latest tracks that he’s released through social
media platforms have taken a turn down the darker and heavier path. That’s not
to say I’m disappointed. The chalk sketch artwork done by Sam Mulholland and
theme of the new tracks is set in monochrome, which posed the question of whether
this was a conscious change or a natural progression for Cooley. “I always like the look of that
monochrome greyscale around the New Year,” he explains. “I think it’s hopeful.
It’s a blank slate, the start of something new to build on. When spring comes,
the color rushes back, hits like a wave.”
He
adds: “These first few tracks are kind of cleaning up old demons and getting
them out before I start the album. To really prepare to put together some new
magic.”
Despite
the challenge of it being hard for a musician to rely on their work to pay the
bills with the growth in the online world, Cooley is one of the few artists
that still insist on giving his followers the option to download his music without
putting a price to it. “If people want to download and listen to my music, that
alone is worth it,” he says. “I started out more than a decade ago with ‘illegal
downloading’ leaks on a Radiohead forum. It’s how I was able to hear so much
awesome music the radio wasn’t playing. It’s only right to approach releasing
my music with the same mind-set.”
Using music as a way of “operating” and travel as a source
for inspiration, Cooley comes across as an artist that tries to embrace every
opportunity with open arms, turning any negatives into positives along the way.
A main example of this being that unfortunately common story of an artist
working their fingers to the bone for that dream chance of being offered a recording
contract. “I had a record label finally getting that contract offer, fly me out
to NYC on their dime. I performed in their office, just a short set because we
had to wait for Steve Vai to finish his Indian food in the conference room,” he
laughs. “But they liked it and told me they were going to sign me. It was so
surreal, my dream coming true, and everything was falling into place. A month
later, they ended up folding before they could never send me a contract.
Everything I hoped for suddenly fell out of the sky.”
Having an experience like that would dishearten most
musicians, with it being able to go one-way or the other for their level of
motivation. But for Cooley, it’s driven him to make impromptu decisions in the
past. “No way could I go back to where I was after experiencing that. I needed
to move,” he says. “So I dropped out of college, packed up a car and drove out
to Seattle on a whim without knowing anything at all to expect, having never
been there or knowing anything about where I would end up, just to experience
something new and feel like I was still heading somewhere better.”
He adds: “At first it felt magical, so right, it was so
invigorating. I lived a few blocks from the space needle, would go to dive bars
on Cap Hill, walk around and explore the place. But I started sliding back into
the same ruts, everything felt like it was grinding to a halt again. The
honeymoon was over, and I made the decision to leave and drive back home to
Colorado. It felt devastating.”
This is where the positive bit comes in. His most recognised
track, and one of my personal favourites ‘Somewhere Else’, sweeps you up into a
floaty four-minutes of summery sounding dreaminess. But after reading into the
lyrics, the sound acts as an illusion for disguising Cooley’s discontented
mind-set at the time of writing it. “I wrote that song about a month before I
left for home, soaked in that odd limbo of wanting to leave but having nowhere
to go,” he says. “I wrote it as a simple song when I was still trying to
convince myself I could play out live. Recorded it quick and slapped it up
online, no thought in my head it would become a lot of people’s favorite.” He
adds: “But that’s just it, the helpful thing about being in motion, to be
forced to at least change it up somehow. ‘What if I had done?’ becomes ‘What if
I go and do?’.”
When most artist’s and bands are asked about their favourite
part of the job, the common response is them proceeding to tell anecdotes that
start with the line ‘There was a time on tour when…’But for Mesita, touring is
proving to be a difficult challenge to pull off when you’re a one man band.
“I want to tour so much. I can’t put it together on my own,
and feel I need someone to help me along,” he says. “Every morning, waking up
to an empty inbox. Sometimes it’s hard to keep thinking like this music thing
will still end up working out. Sounds pitiful, but it’s honestly to the point
of waiting for a superman, some break that will finally get me touring.”
With the increasing importance of the Internet and digital
media in musical distribution, getting your work heard as a musician is becoming
more and more accessible. Of course it has its pros and cons compared to Rough
Trade’s early years of having a DIY work ethic and spending hours hand making
CDs to hand-deliver. Saving time and money with that side of the business has
opened up endless possibility; helping artists like Mesita develop their music
massively in the past few years. “After that basic structure is put up,
something like a complex sort of click track, there’s infinite possibility in
where to take it melodically, switch it up and adventure with it,” he explains.
“That’s where the improv magic and exploration happens, through a basic idea
that gets built upon and turns into something new. I absolutely love that part
of the process.” Having experienced downfalls and disappointments, the result
for Cooley has changed his outlook for the better and is enjoying the freedom
now more than ever. “The best part of being unsigned is there aren’t any
rules,” he says. “I’m starting to wake up to that, venture out and make some
more stuff, not worry as much about the DIY-hype thing, but instead, make the
sounds that feel right.”
You could feel that the band, fronted by Kevin Parker, were investing all their energy and love into the last night of their European tour and the crowd were emulating that same energy back, with the sound of every fan roaring along to the whole set list. Not only were the band on point but the lighting and sound engineers played a big part in making the night an experience as opposed to an ordinary gig. The colours and streams of light suited the mood of each track along with the music floating from left to right out of the speakers at just the right points in the songs. 
