Zenegeist 專訪 － Be Quiet ／ Interview with Be Quiet

B : Be Quiet (English answer followed by Chinese translation) 

1. You guys formed Be Quiet in 2009 - how did it all begin? How did you first meet and what made you decide to form the band in 2009? What instrument does each of you play?

B: 我們當時是同學. 在Be Quiet前, 我們都沒有固定組合, 是經過了首次演出後, 才決定結成為Be Quiet

Be Quite為五人樂隊：Ben（主音），Matei（合成器），Quentin（鼓手），Pierre（低音結他手），而我（Lou）則是結他手。

2. Your music incorporates synth lines and electronic beats with shoegazing guitar riffs. Does it take a lot of experimenting to find the right sound and is it difficult to incorporate electronic with shoegaze?

你們的音樂主要是由音成器及Shoegaze結他部份組成。將兩者結合是否有一定困難？你們在此應該花了相當多時間去鑽研？

B: It is always quite exciting to mix things up, it allows us to go several paths without being restricted to a one way pattern. Turns out this is a natural process for all of us, we're onto music in general, not limited to a specific image, type of sound or whatever. Of course we have our favorites, like guidelines, but if we feel attracted to something then we dive straight into it till we get what we think is the best out of it. Shoegaze and Electronic appeared to be the big names, we ended up believing there are a lot of similarites between both like soundwise and emotionally, that hypnotic atmosphere that often leads you to nowhere you expected and thought you'd end up. It just makes sense for us.

B: 振奮我們的, 是可不受限, 使用不同元素譜曲, 不需拘泥方式領域。創作時我們順其自然, 從不畫地自限。

當然我們還會依循固有方法，但只要我們找對感覺，就會一往無前, 循那方向創作至最好為止。我們認為瞪鞋和電音的音色和情感不盡相同，惟兩類音樂皆可以使聽者宛如在夢境之中。結合二者, 其實自然不過。

3. Besides My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division & Sonic Youth, can you name some other musical influences? Who’s your favorite band at the moment?

除了 My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division和Sonic Youth等，還有甚麼樂隊對你們有所影響？能否說一下你們現在最喜歡的樂隊？

B: Yes, My Bloody Valentine, Joy Divison and Boards of Canada are the main titles to only name a few, mostly 80's/90´s stuff. But we each have our own preferences, bands we do not have in common. Some of us are really into techno whereas some aren't for example. 

At the moment we're pretty much all into Portishead and Massive Attack a lot, we saw each of them twice this summer, we even had the chance to share some festivals line up together and that was really amazing. We're also huge fans of series and movies; cinema is a substantial influence for all we do, sometimes it's even more powerful than music. We love the idea of thinking from images first in order to create melodies.

B: 8, 90年代樂隊中, My Bloody Valentine，Joy Division和Boards Of Canada固然深刻影響我們, 可啟發我們的樂隊, 仍有良多, 未能盡錄。成員們音樂喜好大體相近; 但鐘愛的樂隊和類型, 卻不盡相同, 像成員之間有Techno狂迷, 亦有人不太熱衷。

4. Some people compare you with similar bands like the Horrors. Do you agree with this comparison?

有人將Be Quiet跟The Horrors等樂隊作比較，在這方面你們有甚麼意見？

B: We definitely agree with that. That's undeniable we admire works by artists such as the Horrors, they generally consisted into some sort of introduction and landmark regarding the music we make. We're even proud of this because when we're listening to them it simply blows our minds like other "bigger" bands do. They reached some point they entered the league of the greats, so it would always be some more motivation for us in order to go forward as a young band.

B: 這些比較, 我們絕無異議。我們很欣賞如The Horrors那類樂隊的作品，他們的創作, 承先啟後, 建立我們的音樂流派。能和他們相提並論, 我們自豪不已, 只因他們的音樂，比其他大名氣樂隊, 更撼動人心。他們的成就，推動我們這新力軍不斷向前。

5. Be Quiet have released 2 EPs to date. Are you planning on releasing your debut album anytime soon?

Be Quite至今已推出了兩張EP，你們有沒有推出大碟的計劃／時間表？

B: I think we're not close to the album yet. We believe for now we kinda fit the EP format. It allows us to do more things and mostly to renew ourselves quick, as a debut album always sets the start mark. That doesn't mean we're not ok with what we do, but an album is something really huge, maybe a bit too huge for us nowadays.

B: 我們離推出大碟還有點距離。我們在EP格式中, 有更多機會嘗試和重新出發，只因一但推出處女大碟, 樂隊形象就可能永遠定型。當然, 我們並非不滿意我們現在所做的音樂，可是大碟工程認真巨大，只可謂我們仍未準備好。

6. The song “Asylum” from your sophomore EP “Affliction” experiments with reverb/phase, noise and beats. It seems to signal a new direction in your sound – will this new sound be found in your debut album?

B: This song is basically something like 10 or more guitar tracks added to each other. I played the first take then i did overdubs trying out new things each time, like adding phase, then reverse etc etc. Introduction is made of cymbals modulated through rack units but these are the only instruments we used. We liked the paradox of making something really full and that takes a lot of space using an extremely reduced set up. The hardest thing for such process is to know when to stop, because this can go forever then.

It seemed to be a proper way to close this record, like there's a beginning and an end. Once again cinema comes into play, this song would be more like a credits theme, the ending teaser you see at the end of a movie. Asylum isn't pointing any new direction, it's just an experimentation of sound we wished to put on a record one day.

B :基本上這首歌有超過十條結他音軌疊在一起。我最初錄了第一條Track, 再在這基礎上作不同的嘗試，如加入Reverb, Phase等音效。歌曲開首是用Rack Units模擬出的Cymbals音效，這亦是我們所用的唯一樂器。我們喜歡在極簡設備和「豐富」氛圍之間的灰色地帶裡創作。

如此創作, 難處在於如何停止，因為那灰色地帶, 可以永無止盡。就我而言，《Asylum》會是個可首尾呼應, 較好的結尾。這首歌就如電影片尾一般。《Asylum》說不上是新方向，只是為未來創作舖路的聲音實驗。