Late Night Show, part I – “thank you for tuning in tonight….”
It´s three in the morning. You turn on the radio to put to rest the remains of the day. First: Nothing. You keep twisting the large knob searching for a station … noise … fractions of words … maybe secret stories from this or any other world out there… Suddenly a dark yet massive bass drum cuts through the silence of the late hour. Stop. Love Me Tender? Elvis Presley? But this is definitely not the song you thought you knew so well. But this is not the voice of the King Of Rock´n´Roll, that is for sure. This is different. And the next song? Isn´t this “May This Be Love” by Jimi Hendrix? But you definitely know the sound of the Band: CHANTS. The legendary Band of Wolfgang Puschnig and Linda Sharrock, founded in 2001 with an album of the same title (Q0102-2). This Sound is unique. Slow. Intensive. Powerfull. What you here is a mid of the night Radio Show with DJ Joe Remick from Austria´s famous alternative radio “FM4”. Playing songs, telling stories.
You just wanted to chill for a second and go to bed. But this nightfly took you straigt into sunrise. And it is going to be a good one. Better than you expected, anyway. Thank you for tuning in.
Line-Up:
Wolfgang Puschnig – alto saxophone, flutes
Linda Sharrock – voice The CHANTS Band:
Woody Schabata – vibraphone and marimba
Bumi Fian, Franz Hautzinger – trumpet
Laurinho Bandeira – percussion
Achim Tang – double bass
Reinhart Winkler – drums additionally:
John Sass – tuba
Klaus Dickbauer – clarinet
Wr. Flötenwerkstatt – flutes
Wolfgang David, Vivienne Lee, Mario Gheorghiu, Thomas Hajek, Severin Endelweber, Florian Eggner – strings
DJ on the radio: Joe Remick
chants – The Band
A session initiated by Quinton in the year 2000 turned out to be the starting point of a unique project. During this session, DJs and Jazz Musicians were playing in a live setup with Quinton’s tape machines always recording in the background. We did not USE any material of those sessions but we immediately had the vision: Driving drums and percussion, a deep, black acoustic bass, tuned lower than usual… a vibraphone floating above it all, and the voices of Linda Sharrock and solo instruments standing in the front row. A band was born! The tracks on those two CDs are popular songs alltogether. Jazz Standards such as “Blue Moon”, “Besame Mucho” or “My Funny Valentine”. Pop Songs like “Blackbird” of the Beatles, “Oye Como Va” – made famous by Carlos Santana – or “Love Me Tender” sung by the King Of Rock’n’Roll – Elvis Presley himself.
“chanting”
The name of the band refers to the early work songs of slaves in the new world. Archaic, powerfull and an expression of deepest emotions, based on simple melodies and driving rhythms, accompanying their hard day’s work. Exactly this archaic power is the key of “chants” as a band to make their versions of well-known songs but also the two original compositions “Thoughts Of Stone” and “Hear Them Say” so special.