It’s Friday, May 8th and I just had a rousing chat with Immaculate Machine frontman and Cowichan Sweater enthusiast Brooke Gallupe, in advance of the Vancouver installment of their tour to promote the sparkly new album ‘High on Jackson Hill’. Brooke, how would you describe the new album?
Well, it’s a lot less slick and produced than our previous studio albums. It was recorded in my parents’ house in Victoria. They were kind enough to take off for a couple of weeks and give me the house to record in, so everything about it is more relaxed. I hadn’t written all the songs by the time we started recording, and Colin (Stewart, producer) wasn’t familiar with the sonics of the house.
How did you write the songs on the spot like that?
I kind of let it flow a little bit, making less logical sense, as opposed to our last album ‘Fables’, which is all story-oriented. There certainly are stories on the new album too, but I’m trying to let it be stream of consciousness a little bit more.
So like, ‘70’s weirdo music’?
It’s definitely a lot more experimental. We did cymbal crashes and reversed them, we went out and mic’d my car engine revving and doors slamming. On one of the songs, if you listen on headphones, there’s audible children screaming – it was recess at the school behind my parents’ house. All those things locate the album for me.
You suggest people buy the album on vinyl, right?
I’m a fan of the LP record. It’s just so much nicer to have the big cardboard sleeve. The artwork is done by my sister, and I’m really proud of it. It’s much better BIG on vinyl than on a CD. The vinyl sleeve can also come in handy if you’re looking for a Halloween costume. That’s a real Halloween costume I used one time - Neil Diamond’s Greatest Hits. The cover is just his face, 12-by-12 inches. So you just cut the eyeholes out and there you go, you’ve got a great Halloween costume. High On Jackson Hill, the artwork is like a spooky little mountain with these 2 craters that look like eyes, so if you cut out the craters, you’ve got yourself a mountain-face mask!
So, welcome back to BC! You started your tour off in Brantford, ON. Why Brantford?
Well, it’s got a bit of a legend to it in a small underground kinda way. Besides, we’re a bit of a new lineup on this tour, so we wanted to hit a few smaller places to test it out. No offense to Brantford, but we were hoping to play to some cool crowds of music fans but without the media there for our first couple of shows, so we hit Brantford and Sudbury and Sioux Ste Marie. All really fantastic shows, but smaller towns.
You mentioned the new-ish lineup. Your sister Caitlin is on bass, and I was sad to see Kathryn (Calder, also of New Pornos) wouldn’t be joining you.
Yeah it’s pretty different without Kathryn. There’s an illness in the family, so she’s staying home and doing the right thing. Hopefully when we do another tour she’ll be around for that one… because Kathryn’s not here, we’re gonna have kind of a limited repertoire tonight.
Homecoming show in Victoria tomorrow, then Seattle?
Yes, and I’ve just had my passport stolen, so it should be interesting getting there. The funny thing is, when we crossed the border this last time, we’re driving a fancy rented SUV, and there’s no problem. It seems like if your car costs more than $50,000, the border guards are like, ‘please sir, right this way.’ The difference between driving a touring/drug smuggling-looking van and a newer, respectable vehicle across the border is pretty astonishing. So yeah bands out there, borrow your Dad’s SUV and avoid hassles at the border.
That’s interesting. Speaking of interesting, in 2006 you released an EP called ‘Les Uns Mais Pas Les Autres’. Qu'est-ce que c'est?
This is our EP of French translations. We took six of the songs off our album ‘Ones and Zeros’ and translated them into French. That’s what I did my university degree in, was French literature so I guess I was trying to get my money’s worth from my university degree. It hasn’t paid off in any other way, so I figured I would cash in. I think people were a little puzzled by it, but in a good way. The Quebecois seemed to really appreciate it.
And from French to Mandarin? You have a song called ‘Wo Xiang Tanbai’ – what’s that about?
That’s basically an inside joke follow-up on the French EP. It’s based on an interview we did with Grant Lawrence (CBC) where he was teasing us about being overachievers, doing the French EP, and he’s like ‘Oh, what’s next, singing in Chinese?’ So, we had no choice. We scheduled an interview with him, and surprised him with it. We had the producer play a clip from the old interview, and the song comes on and his jaw dropped. I’ve never seen Grant Lawrence quiet for more than a couple seconds at a time and that did it.
Have you dabbled in any other languages?
We were touring with a German-Canadian bilingual person, and just to take it one step further, he translated one of our songs into German for us. So while we were in Europe last year, we had French, English, German and Mandarin Chinese all going (laughs).
Cool! The Language Band eh?
It’s kinda cool. We don’t really live up to that reputation, it’s mostly just English with a little bit of French thrown in there, but I would be happy to be known as The Language Band.
Thanks for your time, good sir! Anything else on your mind?
I’m glad to be back on the West Coast. I think that’s sort of what the new album’s about, being at home. There’s so much interesting stuff happening in my city, even though it’s a small city. I like being able to appreciate the nuance of your immediate surroundings rather than have to look far away for something of beauty.
Immaculate Machine played to a packed house at the Biltmore Cabaret, with openers Lakefield and The Strange Magic providing a good warm-up. I did notice a difference with the new lineup, but Brooke kept things interesting with his Wayne Coyne-like energy and stories about a) his apartment b) stabbings at The Red Jacket nightclub and c) making music with a W.W.T.R.D. mentality (What Would T-Rex Do).
‘High On Jackson Hill’ is worth checking out, and available at many fine local music retailers or online at www.mintrecs.com
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