Patti on the killer road
ROCK icon Patti Smith and her daughter, Jessie Paris Smith, have collaborated with Soundwalk Collective on Killer Road, which is set for release in early September.
A shimmering ambient tone, an electronic underlay to the lulling chatter of crickets, makes way for the unmistakable voice of Patti Smith, quietly intoning, ominously: ‘‘The killer road is waiting for you / like a finger, pointing in the night.’’
Behind the music and concept of Killer Road is international trio Soundwalk Collective – Stephan Crasneanscki, Simone Merli and Kamran Sadeghi – who conceived an immersive exploration of the tragic death of Christa Paffgen.
Better known as Nico, the Velvet Underground singer and solo pioneer, Paffgen died while riding her bike on the island of Ibiza in the summer of 1988.
Ironically, she’d just got her health back, after 15 years of a heroin addiction. It was Nico’s body’s reaction to its new sobriety and the fact she was cycling at the hottest time of the day, on the hottest day of the year, that proved her undoing.
In the years before she died, Nico had not neglected her creative muse, writing poetry that would never be published, or heard, until now, in the form of the opening title track, Killer Road.
The tracks that follow are eight interpretations of Nico lyrics, predominantly taken from classic albums such as Desertshore and Drama Of Exile, arranged by fellow poet and kindred spirit Patti Smith.
The roots of Killer Road lie in a fortuitous meeting on an aeroplane bound for New York. One passenger was Patti Smith; the other was Soundwalk Collective founder Crasneanscki.
Soundwalk had previously been a collaborative series of walking guides to cities that created an idiosyncratic and evocative understanding for the listener, before evolving into musical frameworks for field recordings and sight specific sound installations and performances using various texts and themes.
Killer Road was initially a live audio-visual experience, at the French Institute Alliance Francaise in New York as part of 2014’s Crossing the Line festival, with subsequent performances taking place in London and Berlin. Compiled by Mike Alexander AN Auckland-based musician was predestined from birth to release his debut EP under the stage name Miller.
Does Miller have a real name that he wants to reveal? And what made you choose Miller as a stage name?
Unlike most artists, I actually had no choice in my stage name ... my parents decided it for me 25 years ago. They had this whole thing planned out since my conception! How about that? However, if I was a girl my stage name would have been Hester. My full name is actually Miller Jude Christensen-Yule. Yet something about that tells me it won’t fly as a stage name.
I gather you already have an extensive background in the music industry?
My dad has an extensive CD collection. Does that count for anything? I’m young, new, freshfaced and hopeful. I learn new things about the music business every day and just try to move forward with what I’m doing and where I want to be.
Was there a catalyst that made you think, ‘‘It’s my time, I can and want to do this’’?
I’ve wanted to be many things while I was growing up: professional footballer, zoo keeper, a doctor, Freddie Mercury, the list goes on. It’s just led me down a path to where I am now (where I’m still growing up!). I’ve just decided to sing songs about real feelings about real people.
I’m one of those young, sensitive guys that probably thinks about things too much. The question I generally ask myself each morning is, ‘‘Is this the right time? Can I do this? Do I want to do this? Holy crap what am I doing?’’ So it’s best to let go and go