Circlons: Breaking Genre Boundaries
From playing in punk bands since the late 70s, Kjehl Johansen’s well-established career means he is now in a position where he can totally experiment with his music. Starting a completely fresh project with a different singer on each song and trying countless different genres seemed like the perfect next step, so CIRCLONS began. Testing the waters, they released When Only The Music Is Pretty, an EP preceding a future full-length album. We sit down with Kjehl to discuss starting the band, and the creative process behind their EP.
While he’s generally a bit of a punk legend, Kjehl is happy to explain his background to anybody who doesn’t know. “I’ve been playing music since 1978, starting in the Los Angeles punk scene, the original punk scene. I’ve played with THE URINALS, 100 FLOWERS, formed a band called TROTSKY ICEPICK, a solo project. After all that I decided I wanted to do another solo project, but a friend of mine told me that he didn’t think I had a very good singing voice, and he suggested that I have a different singer on every song.”
Looking through his extensive projects, it’s clear he isn’t running out of creativity any time soon, and musically CIRCLONS is very different from anything else Kjehl has made. The problem with being in bands is the restrictions, and if they’re signed to a label or have an established fanbase, the expectations can be limiting. A whole new band means total freedom. “In the past, you’d have to compromise and come together to develop a sound together,” Kjehl says. “Those restrictions weren’t there, so maybe it’s too sprawly, maybe there’s too many sounds, but I kind of like that. It’s a challenge to make it sound cohesive. Sometimes in the past I’d write things that I knew the bands I was working with could play, so that would limit would I was able to do. With these guys, I could bring in anything and they would be able to make it sound good, so it was really different from what I’d done in the past, and I think it sounds real different too.”
One of the main foundations behind the EP is its sense of community, and while it’s clear Kjehl is leading the sound, everyone involved worked together to help get it off the ground. “I got together with a group of musicians that I’ve known for decades. I reached out to people that I knew and that I’ve played with on bills throughout the years, or some people I didn’t know but just liked how they sang, and they were very gracious and said yes. When we recorded the music they felt comfortable. What I would say is, ‘here’s a framework, if you’ve got an idea just try it out.’ We came up with a lot of bad ideas and laughed a lot, so by the time we got to the final arrangement we had explored all the options.”
Although the togetherness was a key aspect, it was also important that Kjehl was the one steering the direction of the project. He explains, “every band that I’ve been in has eventually broken up, and there’s usually bad feelings, some competition with songwriters. Everybody’s input was welcome, but being the band leader took some of the drama, and conflicts, out of the process.”
When thinking about what inspires him to make music, both now and in the past, Kjehl realises his motivations have remained the same. “There was this burning desire to be part of a scene, and express ourselves. I can’t imagine not having music in my life, it’s part of what I do. I work, I’ve got a family, we raise our daughters, I surf and I do music. I don’t even think about it anymore, it’s just like ‘when can we get in and rehearse?’ Sometimes, we have a problem when we get in and we’re supposed to be rehearsing, where we spend half of the time talking and catching up.” This environment clearly positively impacted on the music, and the trust and community between the musicians allows them to create freely without fear of judgement.
While the writing, planning and rehearsing of the EP was an extended process, CIRCLONS only spent two days in the studio in an intense recording session. Kjehl explains, “it all went real smooth, and what was fun about recording the music was we improvised two pieces. At the end of the recording session, we decided to just make a lot of noise on this one improv that we had tried once or twice. We recorded a nine-minute segment of just this spontaneous sound, and we were able to edit it and use it for one of the songs.” In the making of the EP, new opportunities kept arising, and Kjehl was able to work with instruments he never had before, including strings, saxophone, flute and even the vibraphone. With limited time and budget, they struggled to find a way of including the strings, so they decided to work with a student from a local community college who conducted the quartet. With contributions from many different people, When Only The Music Is Pretty was born.
Now he knows their debut EP was a success, Kjehl is keen to continue with CIRCLONS in the form of a full-length album. There are still many things he is yet to try, and this album will hopefully give him the opportunity, as well as plans of shows with all the singers performing their vocal parts live. It’s clear CIRCLONS is giving Kjehl the chance to do everything he wants to do with music but hasn’t yet been able to, and he sums up the experience by stating, “this is the most fun I’ve ever had recording a project.”
When Only The Music Is Pretty is out now via self-release.
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