June 11, 2010 at The Fringe Club, Hong Kong
Photo by: Phey Palma, http://www.myspace.com/themerriweatherdeer
First print interview in a while!
The Merriweather Deer started playing shows in Hong Kong in early 2010. Members include Ephriam Bano (The Lovesong, Whence He Came), Gideon So (Noughts and Exes), Lee Yat Ding (The Lovesong, Take the Bad from the Good), Don Cruz (Audiotraffic), and Glenn Bogador (Shepherds the Weak, Hardpack).
Could you introduce yourselves?
Glenn: Glenn, I play bass
Gideon: Gideon, keyboards
Don: Don, guitars
Ephraim: Ephraim, guitars, vocals
Ding: Ding, on drums
Sweet, I was just wondering a bit about the background of the Merriweather Deer
Don: (To Ephraim) It’s your baby.
Ephraim: The Merriweather Deer, oh my goodness, that’s a terrible name, we spent about a week just thinking of names.
How did you come up with it?
Ephraim: It’s originally a name that I, well we’ve, been using – I would write songs and send them to Gideon. And I kind of thought of the name just as an alias, when we were thinking of names to use . . . in 2006?
Gideon: 2006, yeah.
Ephraim: I got married 2006, so yeah I met you right after that. [Gideon and I] decided to just Jam— I think one of the first songs we wrote was “Keep It to a Minimal”? I think that was one of the first songs yeah?
Gideon: “Keep It to a Minimal”, yeah.
Ephraim: We wanted to do it just like an acoustic thing.
Gideon: That, and “Mystery”.
Ephraim: Yeah that and that acoustic song “Mystery”. We’d been meaning to play live, but we just never got to it because of commitments. And it wasn’t until I bumped into Don actually…
Don: Chinese New Year!
Ephraim: Yeah the day of Chinese New Year, and I was actually thinking of guitarists. Cause I knew Ding was—he just loves playing, so he was on it, and he’d love to play with us so … I bumped into Don at H &M. I asked him
Glenn: How punk rock man!
Ephraim: I know right? We were swapping clothes at the uh…
Don: We met at the dressing room.
Ephraim: At the dressing rooms. “Dude I love your pants, can I try them on?”
(Laughing)
Don: “It’s not my size”
Gideon: Shut up!
Ephraim: Anyways, I remember asking him, “Dude, do you still play guitar?”And he said,
Don: “Yeah”.
Ephraim: And I went, “Awesome!” So I’m thinking of starting something and it would be fun to do it with friends and some people that I know. So I told him ‘I’ll send you a song” I remember I told him “It might sound a bit like ‘Whence He Came’” and I swear he just went “Uh…really?”
(Laughing)
Ding: Oh…really?
Ephraim: But uh yeah, I sent him a song and, uh, yeah! I think that’s how we started. This was like, some time near February of this year. And Glenn got on; I remember we were talking about it.
Glenn: Last year we were talking about it, and then we forgot about it.
Ephraim: yeah then we forgot about it – put it on hold.
Glenn: Then you brought it up again, like three months ago?
Ephraim: Yeah, three months ago. I think, we just decided we wanted to find some people we knew for years. We just…
Gideon: Kept it to a Minimum
(Laughing)
Ephraim: Yeah. Kept it to a Minimum, something cheesy like that. And Yeah, I think we’ve been writing songs for the past, four years or so?
Don: Yeah Gideon and me.
Ephraim: Yeah. And me, I write the songs. Yeah, no, I’m being cheesy.
Why did you want to keep it with people you already knew?
Ephraim: Easier? I think, yeah. I wanted to do it with people I know but I also wanted to do it with people who are good musicians, like you know? People I can trust.
Glenn: What a big mistake that was when they got me!
Ephraim: It’s too last to fire Glenn now, but uh… No, but really, I think we all get along. I think the fact that we all know each other, there are no egos.
Don: The thing is the first time we all got together and played, it all just gelled, perfectly, it was just great. I rarely knew Ding and Gideon, but I get along with them musically— and now we’re like we all get along. so far.
Ephraim: I think that’s pretty much the secret really— just find people you want to hang out with.
Don: Everyone has the same target it’s just, play music, and have a good time.
Ephraim: I mean especially once you get older, you don’t really have much time to hang out, so you find excuses just to see your friends. So you know, it’s a good thing. music is, you know, it’s the common thing that we all have.
I know that all of you have a long history of bands you’ve played in. Have any of those influences crossed over into the Merriweather Deer?
Ephraim: I think absolutely, yeah. I think you carry that with you, especially if you were the one who wrote the songs for the previous band you were with. It’s also like a persona, once you get on stage people do recognize you for that, and they probably automatically expect something of you..
Gideon: I see it the other way, instead of the bands influencing us. . . . there’s a core musical element in each of us that we bring.
Don: And we’re all very open minded guys, I think we compromise to each other’s ideas. And it’s mainly [Ephraim’s] baby, so we don’t really have to do much. You can’t breastfeed…
Ephraim: Cause you‘ve got no breasts
Don: I’m working on it you know?
(Laughing)
Gideon: He’s a friggin dictator man.
Don: See what I mean? See the frggin torture we go through?
(Laughing)
Ephraim: Not right now bud, we’re going to hear about this later man. Um yeah it’s been really fun— we’ve known each other for years, well, I’ve known each of these guys for years, and I trust them, with you know, not just music, but just whatever .
Gideon: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Ephraim: What does that spell?
Does Ephraim do all the writing, or does everyone have an input?
Don: You guys (to Ephraim and Gideon) did all the writing right? The core of it.
Glenn: I think they’ve done all of it— the core of it. The core of the songs were already done by the time we got together.
Ding: We do our own parts.
Glenn: For me anyway, when I heard the songs, I kind of had an idea of where he wanted to take them. It was fun for me because it’s very different from what I normally play. So when I heard it, I really liked it and I sort of knew where he was going.
Ephraim: I think we all grew up in the same generation, so we take influences from the [same] music..
Glenn: We all share the same common denominator.
Gideon: New kids on the block.
(Laughing)
Ephraim: New Kids on the block, yeah.
So what is it that you all listen to?
Glenn: The Lovesong.
Don: Bullcrap.
Ephraim: Uh I don’t know. We’ve all been fans of each other’s bands so; I can say I’ve actually ripped off a little bit from them (Points at Don who was in Audiotraffic). Well I try to stay kind of close to that genre thing…
Don: I think all of us are just open musically; we don’t have a set genre. We appreciate all kinds of music, R&B, whatever.
Ding: I don’t like country music.
Ephraim: Yeah, apart from country music, which we did tonight.
Gideon: Yeah, I didn’t get to break down to my country dance.
(Laughing)
Ephraim: Did you see all the girls going when Gideon blew that… thing.
Gideon: That sounds so wrong.
(Laughing)
Glenn: “Did you see all the girls go when he blew that thing?”
Don: “I want to be friends with him”
Ephraim: In a girly voice “I’m adding you on my facebook”
(Laughing)
Ding: Melodica Melodica!
Ephraim: Melodica, melodica, that’s what it’s called.
So you guys are coming out with a record?
Ephraim: Um, -ish. Don is the man here, he’s the guru on the…
Don: Not really.
Ephraim: Illegal software.
Don: Hey! Hey!
Glenn: His illegally downloaded technologies
Don: I buy all my software, thankyouverymuch.
Ephraim: and is slowly trying to destroy the…studio… industry… in Hong Kong.
Don: I’m not!
Ephraim: Secretly, secretly.
Don: My stuff’s legit man!
Ding: Anyway, he’s an engineering expert.
Don: Not really.
Ephraim: Dude, just...
Ding: So he is out producer.
So basically you guys are doing all the work then.
Gideon: Yeah it’s DIY definitely.
Glenn: Which is what we like to do anyway. I personally like that we are in charge of what’s happening with the recording. I mean whatever he does, he sends to us, and we all have our own input. You know like “oh this sounds cool” and “maybe this needs to be a little more like…” or whatever.
How different is that process from having someone who does all your engineering and production?
Ephraim: Well in Hong Kong it’s…
Don: There aren’t that many people who can get really that sounds that you want, so like I think it’s better, it’s much better to have a go yourself, and learn. It’s a good learning experience too right; it’s a lot of fun.
Ephraim: And it’s less disappointing as well because you know you did it yourself. So if you create something, you’ll just be happy.
Glenn: It’s also just cool to have somebody that’s actually in the band recording it, cause then it’s like half the battle right there. He already knows what we sound like, and in general what we want the whole recording to sound like.
Don: Plus we have lots of friends who can help us out with other kinds of things like mixing and stuff.
Glenn: Yeah.
How much work has it taken you so far?
Don: Well we’re doing it really very…
Glenn: Super relaxed
Ephraim: I think we put in at least two hours a week, which is, which is …Bad? But I mean, it’s slow progress, but at the same time it’s a fun thing. It’s just an excuse for us to just get into a room together and hang out, dish out a few chords.
Do you guys have an anticipated release date?
Glenn: No.
Ephraim: The whole thing— maybe we’ll have some sort of finished product, I don’t know, by the summer?
Don: Yeah. Probably what, for free?
Ephraim: Yeah free.
Don: Hard copies at shows?
Ephraim: Yeah hard copies at shows.
Don: Online sales.
Ephraim: Yeah that kind of stuff.
Glenn: Yeah we’re not selling it; I think we’re deciding to just give it away
Ephraim: So we’re going to make it sound like, really shit, because it’s free.
(Laughing)
Ephraim: If you want the good one you have to pay for it. If you want the really good mix… hundred bucks.
(Laughing)
Glenn: But it’s really fun, I like playing with these guys too, because it’s just different and it’s just interesting.
How is it different from playing in Shepherds the Weak?
Glenn: Not only do we sound completely different, it’s refreshing. I’ve been with those guys for ten years, so to be with a different group of guys, with different personalities—it’s refreshing. I think a lot of people, musicians anyway, need that, to do something else for a little bit.
Gideon: Step out of the box.
Glenn: Step out of the box to learn more, be a little bit better.
Is it hard to go from playing in Shepherds to playing in…
Glenn: I don’t know if it’s hard, it’s different, but not necessarily hard.
Ephraim: He just changes bass, that’s it.
Glenn: That’s true! I just switch guitars…
Gideon: And relax a bit…
Don: He lets loose…
Glenn: That’s right let loose.
Gideon: He looses his Chi chi
Glenn: Hey at least I didn’t make a boo boo man.
(Laughing)
Are you guys playing any acoustic shows this summer, since I know Glen isn’t going to be here?
Ephraim: Maybe some impromptu shows, we did two shows in Wanchai just for, a kind of different scene…
Gideon: Actually our first ever show, was a kind of small— an acoustic set. (taxis start beeping) Yeah it was a small acoustic set and it was actually a very different sound to what we are doing now. Actually …
Ding: SHUUUTTT UPPP (to the taxis) When ever Gideon wants to talk.
(Taxis stop beeping)
Glenn: It’s always.
Ding: Beeping.
Don: I think that’s a sign.
Gideon: they just aren’t that into you, you know?
(Taxis start beeping again)
(Everyone laughs)
Ephraim: “Like screw you!”
Gideon: I think we just like to try things anyways. So we get bored, and we just like to do an acoustic set, for the hell of it.
Is there any reason why you went from playing acoustic, to plugging in?
Glenn: I think we were originally going to be, it was going to be an electric set. I think that acoustic set was cause we were opening for Noughts and Exes.
Ephraim: We didn’t start as an acoustic band, I think that’s Noughts and Exes market, and uh... Ladys’ Market.
(Laughing)
Glenn: There’s a double meaning there…
Ephraim: I mean these guys are very good musicians and I can say that honestly. I’d like to be versatile as well, just like tonight, changing from an electric guitar to an acoustic guitar does kind of change it up a bit; it kind of surprises people I think. So it shows a little bit of versatility and variety. Not versatility on my behalf, but mostly on the drummer, who makes noodles on his snares.
Glenn: The deep frying snare…
Like a wok?
Gideon: That’s pretty close to country music man
Why don’t you like country?
Ding: Because I’m allergic to that.
Ephraim: He gets an ear infection.
Glenn: He’s a city boy, he doesn’t like country music.
Ding: It just, kind of a joke actually. It’s okay.
Ephraim: He plays it really well though, so I hope he’ll be playing for Taylor Swift when she comes to Hong Kong.
Check out The Merriweather Deer at http://www.myspace.com/themerriweatherdeer
Might be a bit short of notice, but the band is playing tonight with The Hurricane and Quasar at the Fringe Club. $125 at the Door incl. 1 drink, 10:30 pm
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