The last time W&H spoke to THE BELLES' frontman Christopher Tolle, he was relaxing in the comfortable, scatter-cushion stuffed surroundings of London's notorious rock'n'roll hang out, The Columbia Hotel. This time, we join the band on the small venue circuit as the Kansas-based band (completed by drummer JAKE CARDWELL and touring bassist BRIAN EVERARD) touch down in Cork on the Irish leg of their current European tour: probably the last time they will be here in support of their excellent "Omerta" album that's been out since March.
W&H gets the opportunity to spend most of a relaxed afternoon with the band, which - other than a half-hour soundcheck - takes in dinner and a few pints at the evening's venue, the excellent Lobby Bar adjacent to the fine City Hall. Boasting a tradition of folk song, the upstairs bar has previously played host to other influential Midwest American voices such as Guy Clark and the late Townes Van Zandt and Chris, Jake and Brian immediately take to the laid-back vibe. Indeed, the atmosphere downstairs is conducive to conversation, so - with a few pints of Beamish to bolster us up - we roll the tape and find out what's changed in Bellesworld of late.
Guys, the last time we spoke, you were singing the praises of your hometown Lawrence, but you've since moved to Kansas City itself. Are you seen as outsiders from the sticks?
"Yeah, we've all moved to Kansas," confirms Chris. "In fact all three of us live there now. But we're treated well. It's a struggling Midwestern city that sprawls across a river, but it's got a cool music scene and a lot of heart. It's even more incestuous than Lawrence really...."
He trails off. Incestuous?
"Yeah, in the sense that everyone's in a million bands with everyone else," laughs Chris.
A bit like Liverpool, then?
"Yeah, yeah, right," says Chris smiling through his tinted shades.
"It's a good vibe, plus the neghbourhood we live in is kinda like a different version of Lawrence, people get on well. It's very creative. I guess there are some downsides in that there's a bit more crime, and it's too big to walk everywhere, but y' know - rough with the smooth and all that."
Sure. But have you had much time at home anyway? I imagine you must have been busy touring the album since we last saw you here in March?
"Mmm, not really," says Chris, thinking back.
"It's been short trips in the States on and off," adds Jake. "Nothing more than two weeks at a time."
Inevitably, I guess you tend to get pushed out on the road in the name of promotion. Are you happy to be away from home a lot?
"Well, we've all done it in the States at a low level for years, but it is exciting and a new experience to play outside, in Europe and so on," replies Chris.
"I mean, we still get a buzz from visiting places we've never been before, whether it's Venice or Cork or wherever, as opposed to the slog of repeatedly going to Cincinnati or Columbus again, for the umpteenth time."
He takes a long swig and continues.
"We're still trying to realise the full vision of the live band," he says.
"Y'see, we think of The Belles as very much a studio project that MUST tour due to the financial necessity," he finishes, with a little emphasis.
"But we certainly don't hate it. It's cool to see the world."
"Omerta" is a very emotional record, but it's really warm and organic in feel. Was it as easy to put together as the record's live sound suggests?
"Well, yes and no," considers Chris.
"It came together very naturally initially in that it started with me and Jake practising on Tuesdays and getting the songs together, which was real laid-back. We'd play a couple of songs, then crack open a bottle of white wine, kick back and talk about music and listen to records. That was fun, recording songs at home. We completed four songs at home and three of those made it to the record as is."
"We wanted to keep that vibe even when a bigger studio and a bit of a budget came into the process. The downside was equipment failure and later on we had computer crashes and so on, which took a little of the mellow feel out of it, when we'd suddenly lose a vocal that was done and completed and I'd have to re-sing it all again. That happened a couple of times."
"Yeah, we had eleventh hour situations and later on we had twenty hour sessions going from long spells in a rented studio and running over to some guy's house to finish the songs and so on," continues Jake. "That sometimes got a bit mind-bending."
Hang on a minute. Computer failures? I know there are subtle loops and the occasional electronica lurking on the perimeters of The Belles sound, but I assumed most of it was very organic?
"I actually think as far as recording goes there's a lot ot be said for digital and Pro-Tools and so on," Chris confesses,
"But no - in terms of the actual recording process in terms of playing it's very much a case of us sitting in a room and playing with one mic or whatever, with no isolation booths."
"It gave Ed, the guy who recorded "Omerta" a hell of a time because we sat together playing and the drums and guitars were bleeding together. But the aim was to make something that was simple and deliberately not a modern-sounding record."
"Yeah," agrees Jake. " Some of the drum tracks were recorded on an old 60s tape machine, then dumped down to 16 track. You can't beat that style of recording."
Seconded. But tell us more about your songwriting, Chris. I know lyrically people like Paul Westerberg and Neil Young are important to you, but are literary figures influential to your style as well?
"No, that's not an issue with me," says Chris, surprising me a little.
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"Lyrics are a very weird beast. Sometimes I'll have a lyric that comes out one way, but the picture I have in my head is completely different to me."
He turns to Brian. "Do you remember that one we had in that other band?"
"Oh, the Daffy Duck song?" replies Brian.
Huh? Daffy Duck? Am I missing something here?
"Yeah, I had this lyric where I pictured Daffy Duck in this boat where it had sprung a leak and he's there trying to plug the leak by putting his hands over all the leaks and of course he hasn't got a hope..."
While you're singing some sad kinda lyric?
"Yeah, right, some sad bastard lyric and there's this image of a cartoon character in my head," Chris laughs wryly.
"So that's the myth behind my poetry debunked," he finishes to gales of laughter. "I really just think about cartoon characters."
But Daffy will live on, right?
"Yeah, he needs resurrecting," smiles Chris. "Hey, someone's gotta do it."
Can't argue with that. But back to business for a moment, it surprised me a bit you'd singed to the Eat Sleep label as they'd previously been known for primarily hard-rocking bands like Rocket Science, but recently they've also signed the likes of Clayhill, so it's getting quite diverse. Are they treating you well?
"Yeah, definitely," says Chris brightly. "They've done a lotta things for us. I mean, they're clued in and they're interested in us and here we are with a record that was recorded a long time ago ("Omerta" was actually recorded over 2 years back - Ed) and there's still interest in it and it's reaching more territories. That's not a bad complaint."
"Besides, " he continues, " I like their diversity. It's good because I like a lot of different music and I don't want to get hung-up on some singer/ songwriter label. I know we have good songs, but I'm not that big on singer/ songwriters, y'know."
Right. But tell us a little more about the American-released EP "Idle Acres" you have here on tour with you?
"Well, it points a little towards the direction of what will be the second album," Chris replies.
"It makes up a lot of the current live set," continues Jake.
"Yeah, and it's not exactly like "Omerta"," says Chris. "It's still got that simple song structure and the inherent sadness, but this time we went up to Philadelphia with our friend Pete Donnelly and put the basic tracks down, and I think that environment influenced the songs, even though we brought them back to Kansas to finish off."
"We wanted to have something new out to keep us interested because "Omerta"s been out a long time now and it does point a little towards the sound of the next album, which I think will be a little more lush."
"We like to move forward," says Jake.
"Yeah, get the songs on tape ond move on," continues Chris. "We've had to live with the "Omerta" songs a long time and we tend to fiddle with them a bit to keep living with them."
Talking of which, I believe you're getting a little sick of the sleeves your records have? They are beautifully presented, but do you feel the desert images have become a tad cliched now?
"Yeah, well actually Eat Sleep brought in these ideas and originally we loved the different desert scenes," divulges Chris. "Plus we like tactile packaging and not just having the usual plastic slipcase you throw in your car and forget (The Belles CD sleeves are usually of the card, fold-out type - ed) and we did like the strong identity of the sleeves at first."
"But now we're sick to the death of the desert scene," says Chris.
"Besides, " interjects Jake, "I mean, how many scenes of burnt out and dead objects in the desert do you need?"
This provokes a further outburst of mirth from all around the table, but seriously, I can see you being lumped in as a
spurious 'Americana' band because of the desert images and you're hardly from the Tucson scene are you?
"No, we don't even live in the desert," Jakes points out, not unreasonably.
"Yeah, that was a concern," agrees Chris. "Because we're not from any 'Americana' scene and don't want to be perceived as such. We don't just hang out and play with the mellow bands in Kansas, we're not part of any scene, any obvious genre thing."
"Right," says Chris, downing the dregs of his drink as the tape winds down.
"Our only genre is 'songs'" he says to finish.
"And we hope they might last. That's our focus. Hopefully there's enough people out there who enjoy a similar aesthetic."
There are, Chris. And our numbers are quietly, but firmly swelling. Don't you worry about that.
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