It might seem unusual, at first: British folk/pop auteur Sean O’Hagan padding Here Come The Rattling Trees—his latest outing as bandleader of the High Llamas—with several breezy musical snippets that work as either introductions or codas to delicate, fully realized songs. But in fact, the project first coalesced as a narrative the singer scripted about his South London neighborhood of Peckham, where a local working-class recreation center was being threatened by snooty gentrification. But it quickly morphed into a full-scale production that he staged at a Covent Garden theater—hence the inclusion of rising and descending motifs. O’Hagan will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new High Llamas feature.
O’Hagan: I have just realised that on the rare occasions on which the High Llamas play, the lineup will in almost certainly vary from a previous show. I suppose it varies to suit the demands of the show, and who is not working or in other bands. The last shows were Here Come The Rattling Trees performances at the Tristan Bates Theatre. Pete, Jon, Sean, Marcus and Nick Allum on drums with Rob taking over on the last show. Very quiet band, 12-string guitar, Wurlitzer, nylon-string guitar and vocals.
Previous to that I was commissioned by the London Animation Festival to write music for five 10-minute films featuring Felix The Cat (original prints from 1910). The band changed again. We performed the piece at the Cork Festival with a four-piece band: Pete, Marcus Sean and Dom this time adding marimbas.
Way back in the Hawaii days, we were known to have a brass quartet plus a string quartet as well as a six-piece band. I think when we played the Queen Elizabeth Hall for the Musical Painting performances, it was this near orchestral lineup. I remember playing a French tour with two guitars (12 and nylon), drums and organ. All singing, of course, and another Bruxelles show with vibes, nylon, drums and Wurlitzer plus the spinning paintings. I think Marcus and Sean have played nylon-guitar and cello shows, and yes, a drums/bass/Wurlitzer/nylon quartet. I sat as I had a broken ankle at the time. We had a phase of poor old Rob playing with head phones to click tracks when we had electronics popping all over the place like popcorn in a saucepan.
Recently I was treated to Alex Von Mehren putting together a Norwegian High Llamas for four songs in Bergen at the launch of Alex’s Aeropop remix project. Always a nightmare for sound engineers (when we did not travel with our own) We played so quietly that it would confuse techs all over the world … with exception of Japan.
Last show: Sean at Club Integral, solo. Nylon guitar and piano. The jack to jack was breaking up, so I ditched the line and walked into the audience and went a-wandering, singing to the air and playing like a strolling minstrel. The audience stayed, thank heavens.
