The Living, Breathing Past.
Back in September of 2009, we played a show in Sacramento with Claire Voyant and Unwoman. I remember two things about that show: It was the first show I had played in years without a keyboard onstage and, right at the end of the night, I was looking at Rebecca and Erica and Victoria talking together and thinking ‘there must be some way to get these three onstage together at the same time.’ As soon as I thought of that, I thought of This Mortal Coil, the non-band that combined the members of several bands to record a series of albums that I have loved for the last twenty years. So I asked the three of them if they’d be into the idea. When they all said ‘yes’, I’m not sure any of them thought that it would actually happen. I’m not sure I did.
It actually happened. This past Thursday, we did a full set of This Mortal Coil material in front of a sold out crowd at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. I’m still trying to process that. What the hell were we thinking? Unfortunately, poor Victoria was sidelined with a serious illness, but the rest of us carried on with the most ambitious live project I’ve ever organized. Twelve songs. A total of nine musicians onstage over the course of the evening and, in fact, all nine of us onstage at the same time during one song. How dodgy to do ‘cover versions’ of ‘cover versions’, right? Whatever. This was something I would have bought tickets to immediately if I had seen it in the club listings. If no one else was going to try it, I was.
Some probably saw it as a totally self-indulgent nostalgia trip, but not me. Nostalgia is sitting in your den listening to the old records. I wanted to bring them to life. I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by these amazing people that happen to also be talented/instinctive/imaginative musicians that allowed themselves to get completely immersed in this idea. Several of the musicians had actually never heard This Mortal Coil before. I loved that. This was not going to be some lame ‘goth’ ‘tribute’ performance. I wanted to do it the way it would have been done by the actual ‘band’ had they been able to pull it off back in the day. That was the goal. I wanted to be both reverent and light-hearted about it but, most of all, I wanted to nail it.
Technically, there were challenges. Greg Kehret was my indispensable right hand during this project. Onstage, he played upright bass, electric bass, and – in my personal highlight of the evening – acoustic guitar on ‘You And Your Sister.’ Greg and I transcribed and arranged and re-arranged all the strings over and over. He had never heard of This Mortal Coil before this project but he obviously had connected with the material and his commitment to the project early on was one of the main things that made it possible. Greg also suggested that I contact his friend Marguerite to play viola.
Marguerite joined us for one (ONE!) rehearsal and from the first moment just fit in perfectly with the ensemble. Her quiet, steady virtuosity was so amazing to watch. Marguerite is actually a violinist, but she graciously switched to alto clef for us and played viola, beautifully careening between Maxine’s violin and Erica’s cello. Her unpredictably enthusiastic response to the material was a true highlight for me.
Maxine I met through Craigslist. As a last resort, I advertised for a violinist on the internet assuming that I’d find someone I could ‘tolerate’ long enough to make it through the rehearsals and the show. Maxine is exactly the opposite of that. From the moment she walked in my front door, it was clear that she was the perfect fit. I instantly felt like we were old friends. Maxine is one of the warmest, friendliest musicians I have ever met and her performances during the show and the rehearsals were stunning.
Erica. I have never heard her sound so good. At this point I can say that Erica is like a sister to me. I trust her completely with whatever material we are working on together and I know that whatever complications arise over the course of a project, we will still be friendly at the end of it. Erica is a strong-willed, immensely-talented musician that I feel lucky to have met. She took on a great deal for this performance, charting and leading ‘Another Day’ completely. During the show, I sat on the side of the stage watching, just like everyone else, as Erica, accompanied by the rest of the strings, completely captivated the audience. Erica is THE cellist.
In Victoria’s absence, our friend I-Li stepped in to cover harmony vocals and graciously took the lead on ‘Strength Of Strings’ – one of the boldest songs in the set. I-Li is one of the sweetest people I know. Hearing her tear into that song was so great. I’m so glad – for her and for us – that she was able to be a part of this show.
I knew that I wanted to have some actual drums onstage but I had no one to play them. Pretty early on, I asked Shawn if he would play them and he said ‘yes’ without any hesitation. I never even asked him if he played drums. I just assumed he did since he plays everything else. Having Shawn onstage was like having another me around. He thinks of the same things I do. Can people hear themselves? Are the keyboards loud enough? Are the vocals feeding back? An unexpected benefit.
Another highlight of the show for me was the piano on ‘Strength Of strings.’ I asked David to join us onstage for that song, in particular, as he’s the most instinctive piano player I know. Onstage, he ended up joining Greg and I for ‘The Last Ray’, as well. Another example of someone I trust completely. Such skill and, again, someone who brought a steadiness to the project that is so appreciated.
Besides the music, the other huge element of the evening was the visuals. I asked Max to help us by coming up with short films for all of the songs. He had a total of about three months. He never fell behind schedule. In fact, I started to take for granted that the films were going to be pitch-perfect. Everything he sent me was spot on. Both in terms of continuity with the original This Mortal Coil ‘identity’ and also with the spirit of what we were trying to do. Max is too talented and too humble to not be celebrated for his role in this.
Finally, Rebecca. Not only did she take on her songs with enthusiasm, she helped me in countless ways dealing with logistics and promotion. As far as I know, Rebecca has never been a particularly big fan of This Mortal Coil but she never flinched during this entire project. I asked her to sing a few songs and she attacked them. This isn’t the place to go into how much I admire her, but she amazed me without end in terms of what she is capable of and listening to her sing a few of my favorite songs of all time was a reward in itself.
…Ryan
Thanks for the extra info Ryan. You all pulled this off so well that I’m almost obsessive about this show — it’s easy to get overpsyched about something that sounds great on paper and then the show doesn’t really come off. (Please don’t tell them I said this, but that’s how I felt about Foxtail Somersault’s set — they didn’t play badly, exactly, but it was clear that they didn’t all have the same enthusiasm for the songs they decided to cover. ) However, the SMA++ set was excellent from start to finish and it felt special just to be there — especially if there’s only ever the one performance (and I don’t blame you if you decide not to try something this big again very soon). TMC was definitely a big part of my college experience; maybe it was a UCSC thing? Oh yeah, I just remembered that it was also one of the things that accelerated my getting married — I played some TMC on our first date and needless to say, it went over well.
Thanks for doing this!
-Joe