GOODBYE IMMACULATE MACHINE
You just got to know them, and now they're leaving you.

By Melanie Covey

Brooke Gallupe and Kathryn Calder are a bit sleepy early on a Sunday afternoon when we meet at a cafe on Commercial Drive. Their tiredness is understandable: after playing a show at The Main the night before, they stayed up even later to watch Ghost World. Gallupe and Calder make up two parts of the three-pice Victoria unit known as Immaculate Machine, whose new-wave songwriting sensibilities and youthful exuberance might just be taking them places. With the upcoming release of their full-length CD Transporter, a tour, and a cross-country move to follow, they are a band with a plan.

DISCORDER: Tell me your names and what instruments you play.
Kathryn Calder: Kathryn Calder, I play keyboards and voice... bass on the left hand, and keyboard on the right hand. Double-duty.
Brooke Gallupe: Brooke Gallupe, guitar and voice. The absent member is Luke Kozlowski, drummer.

Do you use any sampling off the keyboard or anything like that?
Kathryn: No sampling, it's all live.
Brooke: We went to see Blonde Redhead on Friday, and I was kind of disappointed by how much they do sample. I was watching them, they were all kind of dancing, and the whole song was playing and I was like: "Wait a minute!"

How long have you guys played in this band together?
Brooke: About a year and a half.

Did you play in other bands in Victoria - did you guys grow up there?
Brooke: Yeah. We're all from Victoria, born and grown. Nothing really significant before, but tons of other bands.

So what's the meaning of the name? Where did that come from?
Brooke: It's from a Paul Simon song. There's a line that says 'moves like God's immaculate machine.' And it sounds kind of nice. I think it's supposed to be ironic about human beings.

It's a paradox?
Brooke: Yeah, it kinds of represents that for me at least. It's ironic calling humans flawless.

To draw comparisons to some other bands - I mentioned The Cure to you. Hot Hot Heat - you said maybe that's a Victoria thing. I think it's partly the keyboard, and [Brooke's] singing style. Les Savy Fav - it's a little dancey, and you had a song with a crazy, racing Latin beat. There was quite a variety of sounds. Maybe the one Kathryn was singing reminded me of Belle and Sebastien, because it was a little quieter.
Kathryn: And there's the duet.

The Rapture - that was the other one. Your drummer sings, so the harmonies change depending on who's singing.
Brooke: We've got that pretty light, alternative, melodic happy sound.

Light in mood?
Kathryn: Not necessarily.
Brooke: Vocal-oriented pop songs. Usually with slightly alternative structures. They don't quite fit the pop formula. And they're played with enough energy that it's not too light, summertime pop stuff.

Right. Because you guys are serious.
Brooke: Yeah, we're really serious.
Kathryn: But we like to make people dance.
Brooke: We're very serious about making people dance.
Kathryn: We do have a lot of slow, moodier songs. It just depends on the mood we're in.
Brooke: I like playing the faster songs. It's nice.
Kathryn: I do too. Because we've had a lot of slower songs in the past.
Brooke: Because we're very serious.

You don't want to alienate the people that are there to dance by having all really slow songs.
Kathryn: We've found that the people who like the dance songs like [to have] a break as well. You play slower songs and they're listening to the songs.
Brooke: Yes. We've done market research.
Kathryn: You can tell from the crowd's reaction that people do like to hear the slower songs because otherwise they just tone out and start dancing without listening.
Brooke: Our album is about half and half, more mellow and more heavy drums.

Do you guys all do other stuff creatively, like visual art? I noticed you all go to UVic as well.
Brooke: Luke does creative writing there, I do French Literature [and a French new music show on CFUV called Pardon My French]. Kathryn does whatever the hell she wants.
Kathryn: [Laughs] I do whatever the hell I want.

So you guys are going on tour?
Kathryn: In May.
Brooke: The whole tour is kind of a CD release.
Kathryn: We're going to go across to Toronto, and then we're going to get an apartment there and hang out there for 6 months or so, as a home base kind of, and do tours. It's just so much more central.

Where did you guys do your recording? Who did you record with?
Kathryn: We recorded with Scott Henderson at S.O.S. Studios.
Brooke: Sea Of Shit. I think he recorded the Buttless Chaps last record, and he has worked with Carolyn Mark. He's sort of like an old scenester. He's got this terrific, and terrifically dingy, studio that we spent two weeks in. Mixing took a long time. We did an EP before [with him]. It's called The View.

What would you say has been the highlight of the past year and a half of being in this band?
Kathryn: I would say the summer tour was definitely the highlight. We had a really good time, met a bunch of really great people, good bands.
Brooke: We had a VW van with a pop-up top so we could all sleep in it. We borrowed it from my parents.
Kathryn: We were totally set up, it had a stove, a fridge. We ended up not having to spend any money on hotels, and we bought food at the grocery store and cooked it.

And you found places to park easily enough?
Kathryn: Side of the road.
Brooke: Illegal sometimes. One night we drove all night, and we just parked on the side of the highway. And we woke up overlooking Lake Okanagan - it was so blue, and the sun was shining and there was a giant apricot tree right beside where we parked. So we just got out and ate apricots.
Kathryn: It was so nice! [makes sound of an angel singing.]
Brooke: It was part fun camping and part seeing a lot of other cities, meeting other people and playing good shows.

How long were you away?
Brooke: Five weeks. So it will be longer this time.

What do you do for work?
Brooke: I tutor high-school kids mostly.
Kathryn: And I look after little kids.
Brooke: We're looking out for the kids!

Immaculate Machine plays at The Second Story in Victoria on Saturday, May 1st, and on 'Way Out Wednesday' May 5th in Vancouver at the Railway Club with Jim Guthrie, Kids These Days and Nathan Lawr. If you can't dance you can still look at their website, which can be found at www.immaculatemachine.com

http://discorder.citr.ca/features/04mayimmaculate.html