This band’s music gets under your skin and makes you want to raise the volume to high heaven with a gutsy fusion of temperamental sounds. Ramona Depares catches up with Areola Treat vocalist Lisa Micallef Grimaud.

Inspired by UK-based, late 1970s punk and rock and roll and the burgeoning punk and post-punk revival, The Areola Treat are arguably Malta’s definitive art punk ensemble. The original band line-up boasted Adrian Mizzi on guitars, Chris Busuttil on drums, Lisa Micallef Grimaud on vocals and Matthew Cuschieri, until the addition of Steve Shaw on bass late last year. Their first self-entitled studio EP, The Areola Treat was published in 2008 under Belgian label Kinky Star. Their first self-released studio album, Pleasure Machines, was released two months ago and the band has played in a handful of independent artists' clubs and venues in Europe, besides Malta.

How do you describe your music?

Anyone appreciating a sense of panic, a blend of quality thumping indoctrination, oscillating guitars, and temperamental fun, with an interest in independent acts should like The Areola Treat.

Which bands/musicians influence you?

An array of music comes to mind. Wooden Shjips. That’s one of the newer psychedelic bands I’m listening to. Classically good artists have my respect. In no particular order; Artists like Grace Jones, John Maus, The Legendary Pink Dots, Chrome, The Yardbirds, Suicide, Autochre, The Call, a  great deal of Francis Lai, Arvo Part, the classical composer. I know some people dead into classical music that had only discovered the genial Estonian composer as of late. His music has a tremendous impact on me, as do Chopin’s nocturnes. That said, our music comes nowhere close to any of these artists in any respect. I remain primarily influenced by 60s psychedelia, late 70s punk rock, 1980s British/German post punk and many artists on Warp records and Pan European Records.

What was the first CD/cassette tape you ever bought?

Most of the first CDs were kind of given to me so that’s cheating. Probably that M.A.R.R.S album. I was obsessed with Pump Up The Volume and Pulp, the band. The  first ever CD I saved for was Pink Floyd’s Piper at The Gates Of Dawn at sixteen. From then on, a good 70 percent of my Sixth Form stipend/odd job income went on CDs each month till I was around 22. And my mom would beg me to buy clothes because I’d always wear the same outfits with scruffy jeans.

Your top three albums ever and why?

I don’t know how to answer this just because there are thousands of fantastic albums.

Nico’s, Desertshore at number 1 for its sombresome subtlety.  Shin Jong Hyun And The Men’s, 1972, It’s A Lie at no. 2. This is an amazing psychedelic 60s Korean album I ‘stole’ off my boyfriend’s music collection. The band suffered from authoritative influence after having refused a chance to compose a Government song. The songs focus on corruption and the beauty of the Korean landscape.

Jean Claude Vannier’s, L’Enfant  Assassin Des Mouches, at number three, one of my favourite French composers of the 70s. He wrote and composed for Serge Gainsbourg and is quite comparable to Joe Meek in his disturbing, unsettling ways.

Do you sing in the shower?

When I’m happy.

A song you hate and why?

Snow Patrol's ‘Chasing Cars’. And anything equally as annoying, given a glimmery, over-polished make over in the studio, that can be found in the New Music Express (NME). Too many so called ‘independent bands’sound like unadulterated plastic. The term indie has become increasingly low-grade and made for the masses. I'd put that song on the same level as that song Remedy by Little Boots. It’s sad when you have to listen to an album in which the sound engineer at play is more audible than the artists’ work. An artists’ album should represent what the artist wants and who the artist is, not what sells. I didn’t always think like that, I enjoyed reading the NME in my teens. But then I wasn’t too serious about art either.

Butterflies before performing?

Yes.

A singer you’d like to duet with and why?

If ever I had the honour, Nina Hagen. Her voice box is most unbelievably breathtaking. She’s utterly insane and has a German Frau accent. John Cale and Marianne Faithful are also people I would love to watch at work.

Can you play an instrument?

I sometimes compose on piano or guitar. But I’d sent the guys a home recording of me playing a beat with a ruler to a new song I wrote. So yes, rulers double as instruments.

Your go-to music when you’re happy?

Herp Albert’s  Tijuana Brass, Whipped Cream and Other Delights. Best 50c I ever spent on a long play! Herp Albert was inspired by a Mariachi band he'd heard while on holiday in Mexico. Kicking brass band and heavenly trombones!

And sad?

Silence. Or Ulver.

Three words to describe the Maltese music scene:

Potential. Mediocre. Shrug.

Last good concert/gig you attended was...

Wire, at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, in New York.

Which particular band would you like to see live and why?

There are countless. Maybe Ariel Pink because of their fascination with Bowie. Adrian, our guitarist, happened to see them live in London recently.

What inspires you?

Brilliant artists that are their own management, that don’t compromise their art for fame. Voltaire’s Candide, George Orwell, dystopian ‘fiction’, an Andrew Wyeth painting named Christina’s World and comics.

What do we find on your MP3 player?

I can’t take you through the list, but there’s lots of post punk and dark wavelike Delta 5 and The Chameleons, early indie like Biff Bang Pow! and Gang of Four. There’s new and old electronic like Heldon, IDM and noise like Autochre and Throbbing Gristle, 60s psychedelia aplenty like The Deviants, Jacqueline Taieb, motown like The Crystals, Cemetery Polka like Tom Waits, French and Italian 70s / 80s soundtracks like Fausto Papetti  and Luis Bacalov. Japanese punk and psychedelia. I’d like to keep the rest to myself. I regrettably have more digital albums than I do vinyl. But my collection keeps growing. I love the warmth of vinyl on my speakers. I love digital format however, with more gritty Noise, Electronic or Industrial-sounding material.

The music industry destroyed real music. True or false and why?

True, naturally. Artists have been limiting themselves, signing to labels that either can’t afford the staff expenses, or greatly lack in interest towards the artists’ intentions. It’s a well-known fact that money-hungry labels numb real art down for the general public, so the art becomes mediocre. Success is not a true artists’ pure motive. And neither is money. Those are extras if your aim is not to make it big. But honestly, I wouldn’t feel happy doing so. Bands nowadays can give themselves the exposure they need through online and viral marketing. All your RSS feeds linking to your album and web page in blogs should lead to a few thousand listening to your music. Nobody needs to pay for other people to get rich off your back anymore. Artist autonomy is ‘the new pink’ of music marketing now, which is why we’ve released Pleasure Machines on our own terms and conditions, not anyone else’s.

A life without music would be...

Dark and desolate. Then again, music could never cease to exist.

What do your family think about your music?

I was brought up in a musical family. They enjoy our music - cover art and all. My dad’s got artists and classically-trained musicians on his side. My mum grew up to sixties music and her granddad had stacks of great gramophone records which I am proudly in possession of today. There’s stuff like The Ink Spots, Luis Armstrong, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats, Duke Ellington and The Mills Bothers on those records he’d collected as he went along. My grandparents travelled to various cities including London, Canberra, New York and visited India when my grandfather worked for the Government. My mother spent a significant part of her childhood in Kensington in the Sixties, and lived right across the Royal Albert Hall. London was a thriving hot-spot and she’d spotted one or two big rock bands. My dad played electric acoustic guitar in his band Harlequin's Bluff, in which my mother did vocals for a while, years later in Malta. These days, they mostly listen to jazz and swing (and my father prog rock), but parents will always support your band, won’t they. My brother is more classically – inclined. He was a tenor in professional chamber choirs, but I honestly can’t say our music is his thing. I wouldn't think so. He does have his own copy of Pleasure Machines though.

Did you ever get the “music is not a real career” talk when younger?

We did have a Guidance Counsellor at secondary school and each time she’d asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, I kept saying a musician or a spaceman. The GC remarked I’d never make it as a musician since it wasn’t a sustainable career with no prospects or promotion, which wasn’t incorrect either, since you don’t get to earn your bread and butter off it unless you’re in that one in a million percent bracket. The latter option was obviously out of discussion since I am female. I feel I’ve accomplished that goal rather well too. Music is not a career for use. It would be if we started earning some seriously noticeable figures!

Which of your own compositions is your favourite and why?

I’m fond of Second Coming. It’s an obvious choice for me and one that always sticks in the mind. It’s the biggest high I could get onstage.

Catch The Areola Treat tonight on the Rock Stage at The Beer Festival in Ta’ Qali.

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