Post Modern geisha

Listen Up!

by Alf Cowan on 23.05.09

Post Modern Geisha (PMG), a five piece band from Manchester who began life as a solo project by Kris Keep, their lead singer.

This later evolved into the band 4Q find on a Sunday morning in Canal Street, Manchester. We meet up with Kris (Vocals/Guitar), Claire (Viola/Keys), Beaver (Guitar/Vocals), Andy (Drums) and Rob (Bass/Vocals) from the group.

Kris had been playing in bands, within Manchester since he was 15, and then went on to study music at University where he developed his ideas. He then returned from University, recorded a few home demo’s, and eventually formed a group around these recordings.

This formed the foundations for the band, as Kris explains: “It gave us a starting point by playing my songs, but now it’s a band rather than a solo project. Everyone chips in and it’s much better this way”.

The relationship between the band members could not be any tighter, with each member meeting in their teenage years at music college. Having studied the band member’s backgrounds, it’s safe to say that these guys like to make things complicated.

For some of the band members it was a complete change as Claire tells us: “I was a classical musician up until I joined this band, I went to Cheethams College of Music, and then the Royal Northern College of Music. When we compose music I tend to lean on my theoretical background to make the band work and I love it.”

The music is a fascinating mixture of non-mancunian influences, and this is what makes the group interesting. On listening you feel like you’ve entered a game of rock n roll tennis between Placebo, Tool and Hot Club de Paris, all of whom are wearing big shoes, using viola’s as rackets and wearing glow sticks around their heads. That sounds pretty crazy and shouldn’t really work but these guys are making it happen.

For those patriotic about Manchester, the bands name is about as Mancunian as you can get, Kris smiling recalls: “I was sat in front of the TV one night, watching coronation street, one character was being locked away in a room by this guy, and she was also in love with him… I just commented to the person I was with at the time that she was like some sort of Post Modern Geisha. That’s when I realised that was an awesome band name and it’s stuck ever since.”

The band are often musically chaotic, but also extremely disciplined with their approach. “I am a perfectionist” Kris says “my two favourite bands in the world are Radiohead and Muse, everything they have put out I’ve been impressed by.

I’ve always thought everything is an influence, not necessarily a positive one, because sometimes you need to know what you don’t want to sound like. I take elements from things I hear when I’m just walking down the street.

Sometimes you are walking past a bar and can hear a loop that gets stuck in your head, and eventually subliminally putting it into a song. My own personally musical tastes do tend to go more towards more progressive styles. That’s a product from growing up listening to bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

The thing for me has been about trying to take something like that, and make it not too accessible so that it’s taking all of what I like about progressive music and putting it with pop music”

PMG have been playing live for the last 8 months, and they have been going from strength to strength. Claire describes how fast the band have come on since their first gig in Macclesfield:

“On our fifth gig we were headlining the academy, which was pretty amazing, our first gig was in Macclesfield, and just that experience made us want to do more, and play bigger gigs. We have some big plans on our agenda. We are going to put new songs on Myspace, as well as launching a single for October, so it’s a pretty exciting time”.

Its hard to see how in a day and age when Manchester is predominantly filled with Courteeners tribute acts, that a band so diverse and eclectic would be able to break through the current set of Manchester Pop graduates.

However Kris has his own ideas about where he thinks the band are best suited: “I see us fitting into that grey area with the Manchester music scene. I don’t think that there are many bands that are trying to pull from what is a more experimental medium, and make it something that is more accessible to the (inverted comma’s…) laymen!” Claire chips in laughing: “I think we will rephrase that to general public!”.

With big plans on the horizon, PMG are trying to keep their feet firmly on the ground, and are going to take it one gig at a time before they take that next giant bound, Kris concludes: “At this stage in our gigging we are focussed on making each gig bigger and a bit better than the previous one, the proof in the pudding is the fact that we are playing one of Manchester’s most popular club nights next month. The basic goal is to keep just getting better and better.”