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Sans Gras describe their music as "schizophrenic". It's quite fitting, really, considering the band itself is formed from disparate identities (that is, a one-time sax prodigy, an ethnomusicologist and a film student) who all come together to create music that could potentially cause listeners to withdraw from reality and go into a trance. By the sounds of it, that’s what they’re hoping to do at their upcoming launch for their debut EP, Retrograde Motion. These guys have definitely progressed since their humble DIY beginnings when they left home-recordings of original songs in cafés for people to find, and it seems like they have plenty of cool ideas for what to do next.
Paper-Deer spoke to two-thirds of Sans Gras, Tyler and Cayn, about song-writing methods, creative playlist suggestions for the songs from their upcoming EP, and what to expect at their EP launch party.
Sans Gras, in a nutshell?
"Sans Gras" means "fat free" in French. Why did you decide to use it as a band name? Are any of you health freaks?
Band names are tough. Ours stemmed from people yelling out “sans pants!” at our shows. We like its ambiguity, and how no-one can pronounce it, and when they do, it’s more like “sounds grouse,” or "sun and grass". There's also very little fat between the three of us, but that has nothing to do with health.
According to your bio on MySpace, Sans Gras consists of a “sax prodigy”, an ethnomusicologist and a film-student. How did the three of you cross paths?
Cayn and Tyler lived together, and became steadfast friends. Cayn then went on to live with Kent, and they jammed constantly. After that, Cayn convinced Tyler to pick up a bass to free up his own playing, and now we’re family.
Do you think your interesting backgrounds is reflected in your music?
Definitely. Although our tastes can be reasonably similar, our backgrounds heavily influence the way we approach making music. Kent is about the music and getting it perfect, Tyler is about raw energy and Cayn is somewhere in the middle. This led to some ideology clashes in the beginning, but over time everyone has begun to see the light in all ways of playing, and taking these things on board has improved each of us individually and as a band.
Who are some of your biggest influences? What is one band or artist you are influenced by that most people wouldn’t expect you to list as an influence?
Nina Simone is less obvious, until you witness Cayn’s tendency to diva. We’re also influenced by Dandy Warhols, Dan Auerbach/The Black Keys, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Battles, My Disco, Health, TV on the Radio, and White Denim. Cayn likes film music. Kent likes Bata beats and weird African frenzy music. Tyler likes tastefully minimal outfits such as Spoon and The Kills.
A few of your songs sound like they could easily turn into pretty awesome jam sessions when playing them live. When writing songs, do you just jam on ideas and see what happens, or is your song-writing method more particular than that?
The method to date has been like this: Cayn gets idea at odd or inappropriate moments, fleshes the song out at more appropriate moments and records an impossible version at home, and then passes this to the band who all attempt to interpret it as a three piece at the next jam. We're pretty keen to shake this up, though. We’re constantly carrying around recording devices and treating everything as a potential song.
Congratulations on the release of your first EP Retrograde Motion! Does the title have a story behind it?
"Retrograde Motion" is a celestian term that describes the movement of one body (usually a planet or even a star) that moves opposite to everything else in the vicinity. It's also a line in the EPs' third track, Counterfeit Tokens, that has always stuck out to me: "the turning of the moon, the swaying of the ocean, beat time to our dance of retrograde motion". The lyrics were written by Matthew Runk. It's more of a poem, really.
Congratulations on the release of your first EP Retrograde Motion! Does the title have a story behind it?
"Retrograde Motion" is a celestian term that describes the movement of one body (usually a planet or even a star) that moves opposite to everything else in the vicinity. It's also a line in the EPs' third track, Counterfeit Tokens, that has always stuck out to me: "the turning of the moon, the swaying of the ocean, beat time to our dance of retrograde motion". The lyrics were written by Matthew Runk. It's more of a poem, really.
Tell us more about Retrograde Motion. What playlist would we file it under on our iPods?
Retrograde Motion consists of four songs we feel have that indefinable thing that is our sound. They’re wonderfully idiosyncratic and on the surface seem unrelated, but feel whole. You could find each on different playlists: File Wild Wind under ‘rumbling, jangly bar-room odes to time’; Love Coat under "bouncy party jam, equal parts wobbly dance and steady rock"; Counterfeit Tokens would sit with "dubby ballads" and "intense sonic journeys"; and Drone in 5 under “dreamy indie”.
What can people expect from you if they attend your EP launch at Grace Darling Hotel on November 25?
What can people expect from you if they attend your EP launch at Grace Darling Hotel on November 25?
We’ve got funk/jam band Sex Face opening; three guys who now how to make you dance and have the best “O” faces this side of the equator. Cuba Is Japan need no introduction and defy my ability to describe well. Let’s just say they’re three guys with violins, drums, piano, guitar, vocals and a bucket-load of intensity. We’ve got Ben Ferns doing live projection editing all evening.We’ve spent a lot of time this year refining our set. It’s a real journey with few stops and ample opportunities for dancing and getting lost for an hour. We’ll also be selling Retrograde Motion for $5 on the night. We aim to make punters lose themselves to both the jaw-dropping intensity of our music and senseless dance.
Do you have any exciting plans for next year?
We’re collecting sounds and ideas for an album, finishing the Wild Wind clip, and starting the Drone In 5 animation. We’ll also be doing a live on-site clip of one of our songs, involving as many bands as we can rope in, and working towards anything that’s inclusive of the people around us.
UPCOMING SHOWS:
- Thursday November 25: Grace Darling Hotel [EP launch with Cuba is Japan and Sex Face]
- Friday December 17: Karova Lounge, Ballarat
LINKS:
By Stephanie-Bowie Liew
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