Our next guest on pop.asks.you is Lee Tesche!
Check out his portfolio here
pop.see.cul : What is your background?
Lee Tesche : I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. A strange place at times, a bland place at times, but I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my youth anywhere else as it definitely shaped who I am.
pop.see.cul : Where is your favourite place to hang out in london?
Lee Tesche : That’s tough for me to answer.
The short answer would be in my room with a tiny bit of free time where I can actually catch up on reading. The correct answer would be at my girlfriend’s. The cool answer would be Cafe Oto.
In actuality, I would have to say that the place that brings me the most peace of mind is just walking down the canal. It helps clear the head and there is something quite amazing about canal culture here. It’s different than I am used to and somewhat unique in my experience. I mean, the canals are essentially these concrete tributaries. They were historically used to transport large goods on barges towed by horse. The water is gross and murky. Usually there is rubbish floating about, possible corpses underneath. But they are embraced with a rural river culture. Narrowboats moored on the banks, people picnicking, joggers, cyclists, barbecues. It doesn’t feel like you are in the middle of the city. It feel like the countryside.
pop.see.cul : Can you tell us more about your project ‘Through The Generations: Tamil Oral History project ‘
Lee Tesche : My Lamb & Sea partner, Sam, and I are involved in a year long oral history project narrated and conducted by Tamils in London. We’ve been conducting interviews, in conjunction with Race On The Agenda, that will ultimately be compiled into a book and film due out later this year. The project collects the stories of the Tamil-speaking people of the island of Sri Lanka, and their descendants, who migrated to Great Britain between 1958-2009, in search of work, education or a refuge from a three-decade long civil war. I’ll snatch this bit of copy from a short film we just completed for an NHS conference that gives some background on the conflict to those who aren’t familiar: ”Sri Lanka is a small, teardrop-shaped island adrift in the Indian Ocean. In 1983, bubbling tensions gushed over into widespread violence against the Tamil minority, sparking a three-decade long civil war. Another outbreak of violence in 2009 brought the war to an official close, with total estimates of dead and displaced civilians and combatants exceeding hundreds of thousands.”
pop.see.cul : You’re also in bands. Can you tells us a bit about that.
Lee Tesche : Yes, I can. Both are quite interesting and take up most of my free time.
I play in a band called Lyonnais, we are from Atlanta. It’s psychedelic, drone-drenched, post-punk kind of stuff. I’m so bad at descriptors. We’ve been playing for a number of years and have played all over the US and with some of our favourite bands. It’s been a really wonderful experience for me.
I had played music and been in various bands for most of my adolescent and early adult life and at a certain point had gotten quite burned out on the whole process of being in a band and being focused so heavily on something that might not have been top priority for some of the others involved. I eventually sold all of my music equipment and tried to put those days behind me.
Ultimately my life became stale and it seemed liked something was missing. Both of these things kind of came into fruition at the same time.
My close friends had been wanting to put together a higher concept art-music project and had asked for my involvement. It was baby steps for me at first, as beginning something musically for me is always such a hard thing. But I am forever indebted to them. For one, getting me playing the guitar again, and two, teaching me more about music than anyone ever has in my life. It’s quite a humbling thing, to consider yourself an astute musician, having played with somewhat virtuosic musicians for a majority of my life prior to, and then working with people who come from a completely different background and perspective, with minimal music theory and training, who end up teaching you more than anyone before or since. When I thought I knew everything, I learned that I knew very little. They have pushed me places that I never thought previously existed, let alone that I could actually go to as a guitar player, and possess a greater knowledge and handling of music and arrangement than most people that I come into contact with.
We have a record which can be streamed here or purchased through hoss records, rough trade, or itunes.
We have a new record that we are finishing up soon as well as the release of the soundtrack to a short film we scored.
The other project, called Algiers, began even a tiny bit earlier. Two other close friends had been writing stuff ever since my last band ended. They were geographically close to one another (London and France) yet were far from me. We would trade ideas through the mail, internet, and times when we were in the same quarters. It was an exchange between friends, trying to push boundaries and bringing something a bit different to the table. Two people who are probably the most talented and intellectual of anyone that I know, who have had a profound influence on me musically as well as culturally. Its grown over time and been equally difficult to maintain due to the geographical barriers, but ultimately I think we have created something truly unique and special.
We had hoped to compile most of these songs into an LP that we could give to friends and family, but decided to release a couple of songs on a 7inch earlier this year while we worked on the rest of the material. We got such a strong response that it was somewhat overwhelming.
We’re finishing up the follow up, which will be a 12inch maxi single and hopefully the LP in the not too distant future. I feel quite fortunate and lucky to be involved with these things.
pop.see.cul : Your favorite bands?
Lee Tesche : Favourite is a difficult word for me, as favourite seems to be something that you would never get tired of, that would always provide you with comfort. I don’t know if I have any singular thing that does. I eventually tire of everything and need variety. I can tell you three most recent things that I have been listening to.
Selda Bağcan, whom you may be familiar with. She’s Turkish and been something that the shop owner next door to my house and I have bonded over time and time again. Section 25′s From The Hip LP, I’ve been consumed with recently, really wonderful 80s post-punk electro sounds produced by Bernard Sumner. And Joe Lally’s There to Here, which I’ve had for years but kind of slept on until this past week. It’s been giving me ideas and has been quite infectious. It’s quite dubby.
pop.see.cul : Favorite movies?
Lee Tesche : I can list the last three that I have watched in the last week or two, which is a very horrible sample of my film interests. Halloween II, This Must be The Place, and Notting Hill. Haha, I wish I could name drop something cooler and spout the influence that Tarkovsky or Sokurov has had on my work, but its the truth.
pop.see.cul : What is your typical day like?
Lee Tesche : Wake up, worry about money, think about what to eat, search out meaningful conversation and company, sleep.
pop.see.cul : Where do you get your inspiration from?
Lee Tesche : The people that I surround myself with. Real people, friends, lovers, people I am close to. I rarely find things on my own. I’m usually directed by someone who is more in the know than I.
My experience. I’ve seen a lot of places over the years and met and conversed with many people so very different from me. It always helps to see the world a little differently.
pop.see.cul : Let’s talk about your latest video ‘A Sign From On High / Modern Calvary’ . How long did it take you to film it? Any fun experiences you had there that you’d like to share?
Lee Tesche : I think we spent 6-8 months on it if you take development into consideration. I feel quite narcissistic working on my own music videos, but the visual world is a natural extension of the auditory world to me, and when you work on a piece of music, there are certain elements and things that come to mind that no other person could understand apart from those involved on an intimate level.
This song conjured these images and visions for us since its inception, and when Sam Campbell and I were looking to work on a bigger collaboration together, I suggested we try to take this on to fill a need that I had for a music video. We came pretty close to executing what the band always kind of envisioned for the song. I hate to say it, but if someone outside of the band worked on this, it would have fallen short. The entire band weighed in on the concept and the art direction throughout and Sam was the main person composing the frames. To take any credit beyond being a contributor to the process would be unjust.
As far as stories, it was a great way to see a country. We encountered some pretty amazing things. There were definitely a number of times where our lives were in danger, which is always exciting. There was this ancient wooden bridge that was falling apart on the way to this abandoned mining colony that was overrun by this gang of rogue minors, my description of that day could never paint a vivid enough picture of the setting and the apprehension that we all had towards the afternoon and the situation.
The advent of “Monsieur Blanc” was notable.
pop.see.cul : Anything you’d like to add?
Lee Tesche : I think I’m already sounding quite long-winded.
‘Baseball’ Relating in Life Through Sport – Video
Untitled-Video
Algiers-Blood Music video
‘A Sign From On High / Modern Calvary’ – Music video
