Michal Palmer (THE BILINDA BUTCHERS)

Your music is not very well known in Croatia, so please give us a brief history about how the band started?

Adam and I started the band when we were about 17. We both found a strong mutual love for My Bloody Valentine and felt very drawn and connected to Bilinda Butcher's vocal sound. We are both very shy and the music paired with Bilinda's vocals made us feel very safe and comfortable, we were very drawn to it. So a short time after we wanted to make music that was similar in feeling and style but something a little bit more straight forward. Years later after releasing our two EP's we started to play live which is where we met Ryan. After playing for some time with him our music taste started to blend. Ryan liked a lot of dance music like Techno and Drum & Bass which is where our tastes started to turn. That is when we decided to ask him to join.

Describe Your Music in 4 words?
Regret, Love, Guilt, Dreams Why did you called yourself The Bilinda Butchers?
Like I said before, My Bloody Valentine was a huge influence around the time we decided to start making music. We wanted to pay homage to Bilinda Butchers and beyond that the feeling that she and My Bloody Valentine created for us at that very important time.

Did you ask for approval for the name from Bilinda? And how she reacted to it?
We haven't reached out to her, we are a bit shy to be honest, haha.

Your first album was recently published. How did you decide to record a concept album?
We had the idea at the very beginning, right after we started the band. We are big fans of film and love the idea of soundtracks. We wanted to create a story that was grew over time and have some narrations to help push it along. We are very interested in Japanese culture and when I was studying 19th century Japan and had the idea to create a story in that time period. So with the research I had done we tried to create a world with characters that told a story and to paint the picture we created the music.

What's the story behind the diary by Nakajima Ume?
Nakajima Ume is the main character in the story of Heaven. She was young woman who lived in Japan from 1836 to 1864. The diary's entries catalog her catastrophic marriage to a cruel nobleman, and her later introduction to a young, idealistic poet whose expressions of sympathy inspire her to escape from her unfortunate circumstances. When her friendship with the poet is discovered, Ume is sent away to a distant village, where she falls into a deep depression and eventually learns of the poet's death. Though the news of the poet's death initially disturbs Ume, she soon discovers within herself a new sense of clarity and motivation. Her diary ends with a final pronouncement: she will drown herself in order to reunite with her fallen lover.

Song/album that changed your life?
Mayfair Song by Air is my favorite song. It represents quite darkness for me.

What do you listen to when you're at home or travelling? What are you listening to right now?
RIght now I am listening to the soundtrack from Final Fantasy X

What do you do when you're not working with the band?
I am studying for the next story and soundtrack!

Since you are big fans of film and soundtracks, please rate your top 5 films and top 5 soundtracks?

This is very difficult, I love so many! Hear are a few of my favorites in no particular order…

Films
1. Akira
2. The Twilight Samurai
3. Kwaidan
4. Solaris
5. When A Woman Ascends The Stairs

Soundtracks
1. Samurai Champloo OST
2. Jet Set Radio OST
3. Air: Late Night Tales (This is not a soundtrack but it sounds like one!)
4. Final Fantasy X OST
5. Lost In Translation OST



Which do you prefer - CD, vinyl or mp3?
I very much like CD. I grew up in the age of the CD and I think that the packaging and presentation of a CD is perfect. I love the marriage of digital and physical.

Thank you so much for your time. Is there anything else you'd like to say to our readers?
Thank you for reading my words. If you love history and dreamy music please contact me, I would like to be your friend! :) I hope we can come to Croatia someday to play. Thank you!

pedja // 01/09/2014