Years ago, when Rebecca and I were still based in Santa Cruz, we used to drive up to San Francisco to play the same space (though it was called club Boomerang back then and had a significantly smaller capacity). We were that anonymous opening band who were largely ignored or skipped by the audience though, somehow, those early shows gave us the confidence to make the move up to San Francisco and take music more seriously.

More recently, we’ve had four really great shows in SF so far this year (they’ve all sold out!) and we’re looking forward to another great Saturday night on the 17th. I’m hoping to tweak our set around in some new ways to show off some of the new things we’ve been doing in the studio. I’ve been eager to get back in front of a keyboard onstage for a while, too. Also, if you haven’t ordered or picked it up before then, we’ll have copies of the Pripyat EP in hand. RSVP on the Facebook event page.

Finally, if you haven’t heard the Silver Swans or Foreign Cinema yet, give them a listen. I actually caught a Foreign Cinema show several months ago and liked what I heard that night. Atmospheric and even dubby (a quality that endears me to a band quickly) in parts. I’m totally digging what I’ve heard by Silver Swans so far. A little bit of that Ladytron-style production in their sound, for sure, but they’re doing their own thing.

One of the highlights of the night looks like it will be Conspiracy of Venus, an ensemble chorus of around 40 women with a repertoire consisting of, among other things, Tom Waits and Bjork. I’m looking forward to checking that out.

Our set will be similar to the one we toured with – the distillation of our first year or so as a live band. It’s been quite a ride paring down to a quartet without any synths onstage. If you haven’t caught us live in the last few months, I hope you’ll come check it out.

Also, for those of you that have gotten into The Mystery Parade, the posters that he’s put together for this show are some of the nicest he’s done. These are printed on a thick, porous matte stock that really makes them satisfying to hold. There’s an accompanying card that is more practical in nature, but still nice to look at.

You can purchase tickets straight from us and avoid all the surcharges. Here’s the link again.

Footnote: This will be the first time Stripmall Architecture performs at The Independent – a venue that we really loved playing as Halou (and Invisible Ballet), even all the way back when it was called The Justice League. I remember having to leave Simon, our son (an infant at the time), at the hospital with pneumonia with his great grandmother one night so that we didn’t have to cancel our first show there back when Halou was just Rebecca and I. That was a tough day.

- Ryan

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

Bright and early Wednesday morning we woke and met up with Tim, who had flown up. We grabbed some much-needed coffee (Tougo Coffee on Westlake - a lot of thought seems to go into every pour over there). We drove over to KEXP where Kevin, the engineer, helped us sound check and made us feel right at home. At noon, we played two songs, chatted with Cheryl Waters a little, and then played two more songs. This was the first time I’d ever been interviewed where I didn’t feel really nervous and uncomfortable. Cheryl’s ease and grace spilled over onto me and I was able to answer her questions (mostly) in English.

You can listen to our performance here and look at pictures of us playing in studio taken by Brittany Bush Bollay. We played “Her Words”, “Version”, “We Wear Strings”, and “The Droplet Sounds”.

After KEXP, we headed over to the Coastal Kitchen with our old friend John. We ate and drank some of Seattle’s famous breakfast cocktails and then wandered around Capitol Hill a little bit.  The biting cold made it difficult to stay outside for very long.

Chop Suey was freezing cold – literally. The thermostat was broken and it was actually sub-zero in there. We all wore coats and scarves, but had to eschew the gloves so we could sound check. The club’s sound guy, Nick, was very helpful, up-beat, and charming. Besides some radio interference in Tim’s wah pedal (which I hear is a fairly common Seattle phenomenon), sound check went without a hitch.

We caught dinner at the brewery across the street and then came back in time to watch the Tea Cozies (adorable) and Erik Blood (fantastic). I braved the cold (though the venue had heated up considerably since sound check) and wore the dress I’d brought for the evening. The show went well. We played a brand new song (Radium Girls) for the first time. It’s so new that I had only written the bridge in the car on the way over (it will be re-written again).

We woke late on Thursday morning and went to breakfast at Pesos who make fine caramel French toast and other noteworthy breakfast creations. After a quick look through the vinyl at Easy Street in Queen Anne, we drove to Woodenville and went wine tasting. Bought bottles at Bookwalter and Mark Ryan.

We drove back to Seattle, changed, and met Rob and Reese for dinner at Spring Hill in West Seattle. Ryan and Rob geeked out on production and equipment while Reese and I discussed food and cooking. Spring Hill was a a great spot with a long, open kitchen and food that tasted like it was made with a lot of care and attention. Brought a couple bottles from California that we drank with dinner. Felt a little strange with such amazing Northwest wines on the list, but got over that quickly.

After dinner, we raced down to Neumo’s to meet up with Patrick and Tim and catch Mew who were loud and typically brilliant. The end of the show was a bit controversial (I did not like the talking bear. Ryan loved it).

Back at the hotel after the show, Patrick kicked something under his bed. He reached down only to find a large jar packed full of a skunky green substance. After debating for 3 seconds what we should do with it, we called the local authorities and had them come pick it up and destroy it. Yeah, that’s what happened.

On Friday we ate breakfast at Toulouse Petit, packed the van, and drove to Portland. The drive down was uneventful. We checked into the hotel and debated whether or not we should unload the van. Then we noticed some hipsters wandering around and decided to bring everything inside. We drove over to Powell’s books and, after an hour of book-searching (we had to give ourselves a deadline for departure because that place is a labrynthian time-sucker) we headed to our favorite cheap sushi place in Portland. Going to visit the sushi train has been a tradition for us since we first started visiting Portland back in the 90s. I can’t remember the last time we went there without Greg (bass player of Halou) though. He used to pile up 9 or 10 plates of sushi. It was a wonder to behold.

Then we loaded the van back up and drove to the Parlour. We loaded in, watched Shinto play. Then we did a quick equipment switch-around and line check, and played our set. After our set, we watched Mere Mention play. Then we loaded the van and drove back to the hotel. After unloading into the room, we ate greasy food at the Denny’s across the street. Then we passed out.

Saturday, we drove home, the four of us, through freezing (and regular) rain, snow, and black ice. We passed countless jackknifed big rigs. We made it home just past 10pm.  Really looking forward to the next time.  Thank you to everyone who helped us out and all of you who made it out to the shows.

We Were Flying Kites – Motion Test One from Stripmall Architecture on Vimeo.

It’s been a while since we’ve produced or commissioned any new visuals for our live performances, but now that the album is done, it’s time to shift gears a little bit.  This is a brief motion test that takes elements of the album artwork and animates them.  The composited landscapes have been stretched which has the effect of looking more like London than any stripmall I’ve seen.  A pleasant outcome, actually.

We return to Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco this Thursday night, August 20th.  We’re joined on the bill by the Love X Nowhere and Silian Rail.  The great online indie music guide The Deli SF is sponsoring the show.  You can purchase tickets from Ticketweb.  You can also sign up to win tickets to the show on SF Station.

For years Cafe Du Nord in has been one of our favorite rooms in San Francisco.  We first played a run of shows there in early 2001 just before we released ‘Wiser‘ and we played the final Halou shows there in mid-2008.  The first Stripmall Architecture show at Du Nord was almost exactly one year ago, on August 13th, 2008.

Du Nord gets a lot of things right that, for whatever reason, many other clubs can’t figure out.  The staff at Du Nord, from the guy at the door to the booking and sound crew to the people behind the bar all totally make it a great place to be – whether you’re performing or just grabbing a drink.

Hopefully you can join us there this Thursday night.