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| Photo credit: James Caulfield |
By ERIC SCHELKOPF
All bands should be as musically adventurous as Chicago band Curious Grace & Black Rabbit.
Featuring the work of husband-wife songwriting duo Tom and Mary Erangey, the alternative art rock band will celebrate the release of its new album, "World on Fire," with a show on June 28 at Wire, 6815 W. Roosevelt Road, Berwyn. Chicago band Wilde also is on the bill.
The music starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $7 in advance, $10 at the door, available at www.ticketweb.com.
I had the chance to talk to Mary Erangey about the album and the upcoming show.
Q – Great to talk to you. Of course, you will be performing at Wire in
celebration of your new album, "World on Fire." In sitting down to
make the album, what were your goals and do you think you accomplished them?
We
had this idea for a
rock opera, something big and progressive. At the beginning, [co-band
leader] Tommy Erangey called it "The Opus." We wanted to take our
listeners on a journey, like a really killer
road trip.
With scenery and sounds and textures that ran the gamut from
beautiful
to dark to hard-driving to lush and dreamy. And when we went into the
studio
with Rich Rankin of Mosaic Music,we told him we wanted these songs to hang together but to unfold organically –
like an adventure – and they did.
We had so much fun making this album. Listen
closely: you’ll hear us singing Russian, you’ll hear some Gaelic and you’ll
hear our German Shepherd Anka and our guitarist’s daughter.
Q – On the song "World on Fire," you address the president setting
the world on fire. What can be done to help put the fire out?
I think we need to start
with really paying attention. At the beginning of our song "Fire Brigade," you’ll
hear a little girl plead, “Mommy, wake up, it’s time to rise!”
Damn straight.
Q – It seems like the album's title is appropriate given everything
that is happening in the world these days. Why did you choose that title for
the album and what are the main themes you wanted to address on the album?
We called it "World On Fire"
because it fit the moment and it fit the music. This album is big, bright, beautiful,
dark and hopeful. Kind of
like life.
It was born out of a desire to capture the madness and magic of
living in a hyper-divided, digital screen- and Twitter-driven world; a world
that flattens life into bytes and pixels even while we’re celebrating the
ability to stay super connected.
And sometimes that feels kind of apocalyptic,
you know? That’s why part of the Gaelic translates as...
“…this was the beginning of the
dark times, when the whole world started on fire. The flames smoldered; smoke
rose into the sky; and the Black Rabbit awoke…”
Q – How did you hook up with Swedish artist Mattias Gordon, who
created the album cover?
First off, we are thrilled with the original pop surrealism Mattias created for us. Working with Mattias is a great example of what’s possible through digital collaboration.
We’ve never even met him but we love working with him. We came
across Mattias’ work
on ReverbNation and were totally impressed by videos he made for
an Irish band called Kila and a New York City blues-jazz-world music
band
called Hazmat Modine.
Mattias is wickedly clever, and he creates these
rich visual layers. So we commissioned him to develop our 2013 music
video Blue Umbrella
by Curious Grace (an earlier formation of our band).
All you have to do is look
at the Salvador Dali character in that video and you’ll know why we commissioned
him again!
Q – Of course, immigration is a big topic these days. What are your
views on what has been happening?
We
are a band of
immigrants. Ourselves, our parents, our grandparents.
We know the hard
work and
the depth of the sacrifices immigrants make to build new lives here in
this country. Tom’s parents emigrated from Ireland and in the midst of
U.S. turmoil,
moved the family back there so that Tom grew up in Galway.
Our
keyboardist,
Bojan, emigrated to the U.S. from Macedonia. We respect the power of
heart and
spirit that immigrants contribute to this country.
They – we – are a
huge part
of what makes this country great.
Q – It also seems like there should be a story behind the band's name.
Is there? It would also seem like people would be curious to find out more
about the band because you have such an unusual name. Have you found that to be
the case?
Yes, we have. Curious Grace & Black Rabbit is a groovy-beautiful
name, right?
We started out with Curious. That was the root. And then the name “Grace"
kept coming up. We love strong women and we love our Irish roots.
So “Grace" stuck. But that sounded too nice, too simple-sweet.
We’re
also steeped in psychedelic
rock, so that’s where we brought in the black rabbit; he’s like a
trickster
playing with a D minor chord. We find that people either love our name
or hate
it.
Q – The band has a strong progressive rock sound in its music. Have
you been influenced by any progressive rock bands? I detect a bit of The Moody
Blues in your music.
Yes! That’s a great
connection! We’ve definitely been influenced by progressive and art rock.
Muse.
Dream Theater. Pink Floyd. David Bowie. And Blondie.
Progressive art rock means
we get to explore and recombine rock with jazz and metal and symphonic arrangements
and intense electric instrumentation. That’s part of what’s so great about
working together as a big six-piece band; we’re a gorgeous melting pot of
sound.
Q – What do you think of the Chicago music scene and where do you see
the band fitting into it?
Chicago’s
got this incredible energy of musical
experimentation and cross-generational live music experience. We go to
shows
and festivals and we see people of all ages out there making and soaking
up live music.
That’s a beautiful thing! We’ve loved meeting other bands
on the
Chicago music circuit; there’s some incredible talent here. We met Wilde, which is opening our
June 28 Wire show, playing a gig at The Elbo Room.
We know our fans in the west
‘burbs are going to love them and are going to love Wire, which is one of the best live
music venues in the Chicago-area.
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