Jesse Krause is a shy, awkward interviewee a total contrast from his onstage persona as the lead singer of larger-than-life, gypsy-pop six-piece Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers (at the Railway Mar. 28). Hes polite and friendly but sounds pained, as if with every question Im also squeezing drops of lemon juice into an open cut. It puts his bands music into a new perspective: Flying Foxs penchant for theatrics, self-invented mythologies and puppets is as open, wild and outlandish as Krause is quiet and reserved. But he knows the value of showmanship and a good narrative. As he says, I did go to bible college.
Did you think it was feasible or wise to grow up and be a musician?
It never actually occurred to me that I was growing up to be a musician until I arrived at university. I always wanted to be an engineer or an inventor. My first memory of what I wanted to be was a banana bread chef. (Laughs)
Whats been your greatest success?
I teach a lot of guitar and the C chord is a particularly hard one to play, so I wanted to build an instrument that a child could sit down and play easily. Its a log with a whole bunch of strings on it thats hooked up to a set of bicycle pedals and theres an electromagnetic pick set up. So you just sit in a chair and pedal and the log spins around and plays this chord as an amplifier so its pretty easy to do.
Theres a lot of theatricality in your music and its very distinctive. Where did that sound come from?
In high school, I was taught very, very well that music is not just an auditory experience. Audiences see with their eyes. We dont say were going to go listen to a show, we say were going to see a show. How things look has a huge impact on how things sound, or at least the interaction of our senses isnt something we should forget. I grew up in a Mennonite church and then went to the university for music, but one of the requirements was a whole bunch of theology. The thing I took from that was the importance of a story and a narrative in the formation of a people. I see the value of that in music: having a narrative makes things more powerful.
There are a lot of beautiful orchestral flourishes that should allay the criticism that Flying Foxs sound is gimmicky or one-note.
Ive always felt like the job of musicians is to make music and not worry too much about issues of style. I find that can be fairly consuming. Some bands talk about influences and who theyre sounding like and I suppose thats never really interested me.
Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers play Mar. 28 at the Railway, 8pm. $8 at the door.
