Neville Harson and Grant Miller have been making music together as Mandible Chatter since the early '90s. They started out with a droning ambient industrial sound that was inspired by the likes of Zoviet France. Over the course of several releases they explored the mostly nonverbal sound terrains of dark ambient experimentation, with highly effective results, then; to most listener's surprise they released their most overt pop album (though there had been a few pop moments here and there previously) "Measuring the Marigolds", which had more in common with XTC, or the Virgineers than Rapoon, or Coil; and thus caused many to rethink just what is this Mandible Chatter was all about anyway. http://www.mandiblechatter.com/

N.H.: My stock answer to this question used to be that we are an experimental ambient-industrial duo making moody instrumental compositions for films that don't exist. But then we made that pop albumÉ So now I'd say that we're an experimental duo, not in the sense that our music is always difficult, but that we experiment with whatever we feel like doing at the time. We've gone through many phases, which makes the whole thing very difficult for me to classify. I don't think the records even hint at all of the different types of sounds we've made, from classical Indian improvisations to demented and totally inappropriate cover versions of classic rock songs like "Magic Bus" and "We Will Rock You", to Fred Frith-like guitar deconstructions.

G.M.: After years of hearing this question you'd think I'd gotten good at answering it, but I haven't... The best I can say is that we're an "experimental" group. When it was ambient-industrial we were experimenting and when we just did this folk-pop record ("Measuring the Marigolds") we were *really* experimenting -- for us, anyway... I think Neville's description is the best.

G.P.: Can you verbalize some of Mandible Chatter's core ethics or ideals?

N.H.: Though we started out merely expressing ourselves, it became important to me to use the music- and especially the discs- as ways to integrate the areas of darkness and light that exist within ourselves, gradually moving towards wholeness; not afraid of being silly, and not afraid of occasional journeys to some pretty dark places. I think "Grace" is the album that gets this idea across better than the others.

G.M.: It's all about where our imaginations and whims take us, really. There are no spoken ideals. We're just two guys who always wanted to make music and who happen to like each other - that's really what Mandible Chatter has always been about. Beyond that, there've never been any rules... We don't eschew commercialism, per se, even if we've produced some pretty difficult music. We're probably the least politically minded musical group in existence in that way. I think one difference I always saw between Mandible Chatter and many of our peers in the avant-garde scene is that we always embraced the positive. Always. Sure, we would acknowledge a dark side, too, but it never took center stage. I was often offended when I'd see other experimental groups using gratuitously dark or even violent packaging, for example, as a way of selling their music when it, in fact, has nothing to do with the music. It's obfuscation, if you think about it. They should just put a label on their records that says, "Our music isn't very interesting so we'll turn you on/off with this image of an impaling."

G.P.: How important are dreams, dreaming or daydreaming to your work/life?

N.H.: Very important! Daydreaming is how I compose. Grant or I will often start with some sort of sound and then I just hear things on top of it in my head and then we try to capture that. Or I'll be sitting somewhere quiet and I'll start to hear words or music, or maybe just a sound. I have always heard wonderful music in my dreams but it is very hard to bring it back with me to this world, though I am working on it. From time to time I'll remember something I dreamed and use it in a song. "Half Rain and Apple Grey" was a line from a dream I had about meeting Peter Green.

G.M.: Dreams are essential. It's why we all do what we do, right? As I've said before, I dreamed of being a successful musician when I was 8 years old and I'm still dreaming today....

G.P.: What happened along the way that led to the creation of Measuring the Marigolds? It's a bit of a departure for you.

G.M.: It isn't really. Since the start there's been a steady movement from noise to organized sound and on the record before Marigolds we had two songs with vocals, so the hints we there. Neville and I had always been interested in more traditional music -- in addition to listening to The Hafler Trio, we'd also be listening to the Beatles or XTC because it's what we grew up on. We'd be writing our own songs all the while feeling at the time that they couldn't go on a Mandible Chatter record, but knowing eventually we'd do a full-on pop project. We would have even called it "Sell Out" if The Who hadn't already used that idea.

N.H.: It's only a departure if you're following the public side of Mandible Chatter (i.e. our releases and live shows). We were hoping it wouldn't be construed as a slap in the face. I've been writing pop songs since I was a kid. If you went through our record collections, you'd see an abundance of "classic rock." Grant and I both listen to the Beatles, David Bowie, the Grateful Dead, and a host of other bands too embarrassing to name! As I got older, folk music made more sense to me than almost anything else- but I'm not talking about political stuff or that godawful singer-songwriter self-confessional crap. I'm drawn towards (and in some cases, into) that other kind of folk music, the American stuff that's older than the proverbial hills, and the British folk stuff that's even older and taps into all sorts of archetypes and mythologies.

G.P.: There seems to be a conscious decision on your part (on most of your releases) to take the listener through some sort of "scary" zones, but not to leave them stranded there. Is this accurate?

G.M.: Yes, definitely. Maybe it's having listened to a lot of "head" music. Or maybe it's actually having listened to a good share of classical, but it's always seemed natural to us to ensure that there's a positive resolution. Without meaning to sound grandiloquent, it's like in classical music (the older stuff, that is) where voices are introduced and harmonies built upon until the end where all the loose ends get resolved with a tidy denouement. With Mandible Chatter it's like that except we're doing it with textures and sounds. The idea is the same. Plus we feel it's only right that we leave the listener in a positive place.

N.H.: Absolutely, and I'm glad you picked up on that. I felt (in my square way) that it would be totally irresponsible if we didn't. I think that's why LSD and certain severe forms of therapy turn people into frightened vegetables- there's no secure return framework in place. People forget that the real power of the shamanic journey is not in the strange places you go, but what you bring back and are able to communicate to your community- it's very important to come back safely!

Mandible Chatter Discography:

"Serenade for Anton" Cassette (Russell, '92)

"The Death of Sweetness" Cassette (Ladd-Frith, '93)

"Drinking Out the Hourglass" CD (Russell, '93)

"Hair Hair Lock and Lore" CD (Russell, '94)

"Grace" CD (Manifold, '96)

"Food for the Moon" CD (Manifold, '97)

"The Drone EP" 7-inch (Drone Records, '99)

"Measuring the Marigolds" CD (Russell, '99

HOME

Interviews