Many musicians give elaborate and exotic names to their bands, but very few bands literally live up to those names. "Please The Trees" are one of the rare jewels. They play a shamanic mix of psychedelic, kraut and post rock (daring to pass an occasional country classic through that filter too). But besides making music, they actually "please" - plant - trees. If the season is right, they plant wherever the tour takes them, leaving behind an extraordinary testimonial of their hypno-sonic visit.
Their performance is woven out of mathematical precision and mystery, something ancient and elusive. Their four-days-old performance at the MENT festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia got an excellent review on the legendary Louder Than War.
Belgrade audience has an opportunity to hear them live tonight at Elektropionir, with the support of a local blues band Cockblockers.
Band frontman Vaclav Havelka III was kind enough to tell us something about their music, inspirations, experiences, trees, but also about carps.
How and when have you started the band? And how did the idea to actually "please the trees" - plant them (almost) everywhere you go - come about?
I started the band eleven years ago. Back them I was a solo singer-songwriter, performing and releasing records under the moniker selFbrush. Sometime back in 2005 I met this wonderful post-rock, instrumental band called Some Other Place and with these guys we started Please The Trees. Many people came through the band. We release four records so far, fifth is coming out in the fall. We recorded three of them in the USA. For the past five years we are a trio, me on vocals and guitar, Mira Syrny on bass and Jan Svacina on drums. We manage and book ourselves, except in the US and Canada where we’re represented by Leafy Green booking agency based in San Fracisco.
After spending time with a gardener friend in New York (who has been secretly planting trees around town), we get inspired and started planting trees in cities where we perform, during the planting trees season (Spring and Fall, sometimes Summer). Each tree planting is photographed and documented, then posted on Facebook profile of the project. Map of planted trees: http://g.co/maps/t9ne8
Musically, it seems to me you share about equal parts of European and American influences - psychedelic rock and kraut rock, post-punk and alt-country even. At one moment, you sound a bit like Neu!, and than you go on to cover Hank Williams. What do you think you draw from one continent (European) and what from the other (American)?
Many things influence us. I would say everything we like, we consider good and inspiring, music wise, aesthetically, philosophically. We listen to everything from blues, jazz, avant, improv, pop, rock, hip-hop, soul, rock, hard core, punk, noise, kraut, stoner, folk, country, electronic music. We absorb everything and transfer it in our thing. We approach writing and everything about the band very intuitively. It’s very personal and kind of sacred to us. We go for the feeling in the time now.
I always considered myself a music fan in the first place, then a musician.
Why is a carp the central motive of your last album, and that wonderful video for Suite F?
Years ago I bought this drawing you can see on the cover of the record Carp because I liked it a lot. Carp fish is a symbol of South Czech region where Mira and Jan are from, specifically the city of Tabor, an hour drive south from Prague, where I live. We shoot the video during the annual carp fish harvesting which is very specific thing happening every year before Christmas. We eat the carp fish on the Christmas day for dinner. To make it more interesting, weirder we asked our friend, dancer, performing artist Belgi Adiguzel to perform in the video.
4. That particular video transcends the rich, dark forest atmosphere really well. There is some mythical feel about it. Do old European tales and mythology influence what you do, and what is your relationship to them?
Of course. Under various influences again we’re creating our own band’s myth. We very much care about the visual presentation and recordings of our music. We’re keeping it challenging and always are pushing it beyond our vision, expectations, the comfortable zone …
5. You play for a variety of audiences - big towns, small towns, countryside... Open natural spaces and night clubs... What is your favorite type of show to play?
The more intimate and physical the show is, the better. But we’re enjoying playing various spaces. Playing various spaces is very healthy for the music. I think people should be able to play anytime, anywhere. That’s more interesting to us than to play in comfortable conditions for people who wants to hear you play. The best is to play for people who don’t really come to the show but you win them over with the performance, the music.
6. What did you expect from Balkan tour, and what did you get from it so far?
We love exploring new places, new countries. After we got invited to be playing MENT showcase festival in Ljubljana we decided to try to get more gigs on the way down here again. That’s how we always work. With the help of friend artists who were touring Balkans before we got in touch with promoters in Bosnia where we ended up playing Sarajevo, Mostar and Banja Luka. All shows were great. I think we made good connections and that people liked the shows. We’ve had great time and would love to thank the promoters for organizing the gigs and to the people who came to see us. After Belgrade we play in Arad, Romania where we played a year ago.
7. What is your general impression of Belgrade? You played two gigs here at the end of 2015. - one as Two Gallants guests, and the other as a part of the "Kišobran" party...
That tour was very challenging for us since Mira (the bass player) couldn’t go to do it with us. It’s been a great opportunity we were very happy for, so we decided to go just the two of us. And it’s been great. We love Belgrade. Very cool city and people.
8. Do you plan on planting trees this time (now that all the ice has miraculously vanished)?
Would love to but it’s still not good season for planting now. Hopefully next time.
(srpska verzija)
Please The Trees: Stvaramo sopstveni mit
Mnogi muzčari daju egzotična imena svojim bendovima, ali retko koji to ime u bukvalnom smislu opravda i otelotvori. Češki sastav "Please The Trees" jedan je od tih retkih zverki. Oni sviraju šamansku mešavinu psihodelije, krauta i post-roka, ne libeći se da kroz taj filter povuku i neki kantri klasik. Ali osim što sviraju - oni zaista sade drveće. Ukoliko je povoljna sezona, sade ga gde god da ih turneja odvede, tako ostavljajući jedinstveno svedočanstvo o svojoj hipno-soničnoj poseti.
Njihov nastup je satkan istovremeno od matematičke preciznosti i misterije nečeg drevnog i neuhvatljivog. Njihvov nastup od pre četiri dana na MENT festivalu u Ljubljani dobio je odlične kritike na legendarnom sajtu Louder Than War.
Domaća publika će u njihove veštine imati priliku da se uveri večeras, u Elektropioniru od 20h, uz podršku beogradskih bluzera Cockblockers.
Frontmen benda Vaclav Havelka III bio je ljubazan da nam kaže ponešto o njihovoj muzici, inspiracijama, iskustvima, drveću, ali i o šaranima.
1. Kako i kada je bend nastao? I kako ste došli na ideju da zaista "udovoljite drveću" - da ih sadite skoro gde god da svirate?
Bend sam osnovao pre 11 godina. Tada sam bio solo kantautor i svirao sam i izdavao ploče pod imenom "selFbrush". Negde 2005. godine upoznao sam divan post-rok bend "Some Other Place" i sa tim momcima sam osnovao "Please The Trees". Mnogo ljudi je prošlo kroz bend. Izdali smo četiri ploče do sada, a peti album izlazi na jesen. Tri albuma smo snimili u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama. Poslednjih pet godina smo trio, ja pevam i sviram gitaru, Mira Syrny svira bas, a Jan Svacina bubnjeve. Sami smo svoji mendažeri i agenti, osim za SAD i Kanadu gde nas predstavlja agencija "Leafy Green" iz San Franciska.
Pošto smo proveli neko vreme u Njujorku sa prijateljem baštovanom koji u tajnosti sadi drveže po gradu, inspirisali smo se da počnemo da sadimo drveće u gradovima gde sviramo tokom sezone sadnje (proleće i jesen, ponekad leto). Svako drvo fotografišemo, mapiramo i kačimo na Fejsbuk stranicu projekta, "Please The Trees Project". Mapu možete pogledati ovde: http://g.co/maps/t9ne8
2. Muzički, deluje da imate podjednako evropskih i američkih uticaja. - psihodelični rok i kraut rok, post pank i alt-kantri čak. U jednom trenutku zvučite pomalo poput Neu!, a onda odsvirate obradu Henka Vilijamsa. Šta vam se čini da vučete sa jednog, a šta sa drugog kontinenta.
Mnogo stvari utiče na nas. Rekao bih sve što nam se dopada, što smatramo dobrim i inspirativnim u muzičkom, estetskom i filozofskom smislu. Oduvek sam sebe smatrao obožavateljem muzike na prvom mestu, pa tek onda muzičarem. Slušamo sve: bluz, džez, avant, improv, pop, rok, hip-hop, soul, rok, hardkor, pank, nojz, kraut, stoner, folk, kantri, elektroniku. Upijamo sve to i prenosimo na našu stvar. Naš pristup pisanju i svemu u vezi benda je veoma intuitivan. Veoma je lično i na neki način nam je sveto.
3. Zašto je šaran centralni motiv na vašem poslednjem albumu, kao i u sjajnom spotu za pesmu "Suite F"?
Crtež koji možete da vidite na omotu ploče "Carp" kupio sam pre dosta godina jer mi se mnogo dopao. Šaran je simbol Južne Češke odakle su Mira i Jan, tačnije grada Tabora, koji je na sat vremena vožnje od Praga, gde živim ja. Snimili smo spot tokom godišnjeg izlova šarana, što je veoma specifičan događaj koji se dešava svake godine pre Božića. Za Božićnu večeru jede se šaran. A da bi bio interesantniji i čudniji, zamolili smo našeg prijatelja, plesača i performans umetnika Belgi Adiguzel-a, da glumi u spotu.
4. Taj spot zaista dobro prenosi bogatstvo šumske tame. Sadrži nešto mitsko u sebi. Da li stare evropske priče i mitologija utiču na ono što radite? Kakav je vaš odnos prema njima?
Naravno. Pod različitim uticajima stvaramo sopstveni mit. Veoma nam je stalo do vizuelne prezentacije i snimanja naše muzike. Želimo da ostane izazovno i uvek to guramo preko granica sopstvenih vizija, očekivanja, zone komfora...
5. Svirali ste za najrazličitiju publiku - u velikim gradovima, u malim gradovima, u selima; u noćnim klubovima i na otvorenim, prirodnim prostorima. Koja vam je omiljena vrsta nastupa?
Što je intimniji i telesniji nastup, to bolje. Ali uživamo da sviramo u različitim prostorima. To je veoma zdravo za samu muziku. Mislim da bi ljudi trebalo da budu u stanju da sviraju bilo kad, bilo gde. To nam je zanimljivije nego da sviramo u udobnim uslovima publici koja želi da vas čuje. Najbolje je svirati za ljude koji nisu zaista došli zbog vas, ali ih onda pridobijete nastupom i muzikom.
6. Šta ste očekivali od turneje po Balkanu i šta ste dobili do sad?
Volimo da istražujemo nova mesta, nove zemlje. Posle poziva da sviramo na MENT festivalu u Ljubljani, odlučili smo da pokušamo da organizujemo još svirki na istom putu. Tako uvek radimo. Uz pomoć prijatelja-umetnika koji su već svirali po Balkanu, došli smo u kontakt sa promoterima iz Bosne gde smo završili svrajući u Sarajevu, Mostaru i Banja Luci. Svi koncerti su bili sjajni. Mislim da smo se dobro povezali sa ljudima i da im se dopalo. Super smo se proveli i zahvalni smo promoterima i publici. Posle Beograda sviramo u Aradu u Rumuniji, gde smo svirali i pre godinu dana.
7. Kakav je vaš opšti utisak o Beogradu? Svirali ste dva koncerta ovde krajem 2015. godine - jednu kao gosti benda Two Gallants, a drugu dan kasnije u sklopu Kišobran žurke...
To je bila veoma izazovna turneja jer Mira (basista) nije mogao da krene sa nama. Ipak, bila je sjajna prilika zbog koje smo bili srećni, pa smo odlučili da krenemo samo nas dvojica. I ispalo je sjajno. Volimo Beograd. Veoma kul grad i ljudi.
8. Da li ste planirali da sadite drveće ovog puta (sada kada se sav led čudesno istopio)?
Voleli bi smo, ali i dalje nije dobra sezona za sađenje. Sledećeg puta, nadamo se.
