Celebration “Y’know, everybody’s got their level and we just had to drop out of playing the game.”

Baltimore’s psych-soul trio Celebration has been around the block. A band for more than six years, the group evolved from several cross-country acts before finally setting up camp in Maryland. Since then, they’ve become a cornerstone of the Baltimore scene, proving to be a strong influence on some of TMT’s favorite Baltmore-ites — even Beach House has been known to give them serious props.

Celebration’s credo has always been to take their art seriously and follow their muse — qué será será. Current example: after a fallout with 4AD, Celebration are currently label-less and have little interest in the record-making industry as a whole. What they’ve chosen instead is to construct a free, multi-media, virtual album featuring a music video for every song. The title? Electric Tarot. The ambitious project features 22 songs for each of the 22 Major Arcana in the tarot deck.

Lead singer Katrina Ford chats with TMT on Baltimore community, Terrence McKenna, corporate holes, Ethiopian Pianists, bullshit interviewers, and how it feels to be dug by Steve Albini.

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I wanted to talk about the most recent album you’re working on — Electric Tarot. You’re releasing a video for each song, is that correct?

Yes.

Each tarot card corresponds to each song, I believe. Where did this interest — doing video tarot cards — spawn from? When will the project be finally completed?

Well, those are all good questions. I’ve been using tarot cards for a long time, so, they’re already a part of my world. When we started to write the material for this, we didn’t have the tarot theme in mind. What ended up happening is we had as many as 22 songs — or sketches for songs — and 22 is kind of a magical number. It’s kind of a significant number. And so, we were like “Wow, we wrote a lot of stuff. What’s going on?” And we counted it all and it was like “Oh my god, we have 22 things? That’s crazy!” I was like “22 — that’s like the same amount of Major Arcana in the tarot deck.”

But anyhow, we started looking at the songs through the eyes of the tarot and keeping that in mind. And when we looked at it, we found a lot of similarities and we found a really great way to organize our thoughts and the story that was unfolding. And we decided that it would be a really great way to present it too. So, we wanted to do something interactive and online — well at least interactive in the sense that [its] more than just music.

So, that’s how it started. As far as when we’ll be finished, that’s a really, really good question I’d like to ask my future self! Because I really don’t know when that will be.

The visual aspect of what you do — videos, etc. — is a pretty important part of the band. I noticed there’s a Terrence McKenna quote on your website and I was curious — do you view yourselves as visual artists or “psychedelic” artists? If so, what does that identity mean to you?

Well, obviously it’s what we do in our personal time. [Laughs]. But yeah, we’re explorers of sorts — musically and artistically. Anything that I think pushes boundaries is really exciting. Especially now, it’s such a strange time in the world. I think we’re all looking for some kind of escapism. Art and music is a great way to escape the mundane. [Laughs]. Yeah, Terrence McKenna is a really crazy character who I’ve only discovered in the last, I guess, 3 years now. And he says a lot of things that I think feel really true, that ring true — just observances about our reality and stuff. The quote that we put on our manifesto really just says a lot about how we feel about creating a virtual reality.

“Other people matter more than anything.”

There’s such a rich history to the band and a history of you being in previous bands. The project of Electric Tarotreally sets Celebration apart from any of those past efforts. How did you get to this point? What happened with the previous label, 4AD? What wasn’t working? Did you feel you couldn’t pursue this artistic path without leaving the label?

Right. Well, I felt like we didn’t have the same vision, for sure. But that’s not why it ended. I feel like the realization of that is in hindsight. But I feel like we’ve done things the traditional way for a while — and I mean “traditional” by putting out records on a label and touring — doing the things that they say bands should do. And we did. And we did it for years. And we’re, like, old [Laughs]. And we’ve been doing this shit forever! [Laughs]. We just don’t want to do it the way we’ve done it in the past.

We feel like there’s such a paradigm shift happening that we should be in front of making that happen for ourselves, y’know? Because doing it the other way was really sad because I feel like we weren’t creating as much as we’d like to create — because we were busy trying to sell something, y’know? And we didn’t even sell that many because, really, what our deal is isn’t like stuff your grandma wants to listen to [Laughs]. Y’know, even though it’s not really heavy or anything, it’s still different.

So, we really just had to say, “Okay, what do we really like about doing music?” And it’s just the creating. The most important thing is the creation process and sharing it. So, how can we do that without there being this opposition, which I feel like [is in] working with lawyers and pieces of paper and phone calls to people?

Usually, in an interview situation in the past, 4AD has called up, say, for instance, a certain magazine and said, “Hey, we’ve got this band, you don’t know who they are. They’re putting out this record, we want you to call them and promote this.” So we get a call from whatever magazine and the process is basically the same thing: You’re dealing with people who see music as it’s a job, it’s a commodity, [it] has no love in it, the person on the phone does not want to be talking to me about my fucking band. They would rather be either, y’know, sucking U2’s dick or actually on the front-line of somewhere winning a Nobel Prize for journalism. But, instead, they’re talking to some fucking indie-rock band and they don’t give a fuck.

Wow.

They don’t. And I don’t give a fuck about what they do. Because they have no […] What they say has no […] Even if they love you — it has nothing to it. It doesn’t mean anything. Music is meant for people to like: [Fuck] to, cook to, drive their cars fast, be mad, be in love, create. But not somebody telling you that who sits in their fucking house and doesn’t actually put their ass on the line.

Sure.

And that sounds like an angry person and I am! I fucking hate this world, it’s so fucked up. But I love it enough to fucking stay here and try to make at least the time that I spend weaving the reality that is full, hopefully, of creation, love, and care. […] I know plenty of bands care, it’s not like we’re the only ones that do but […] [Laughs]. Y’know, everybody’s got their level and we just had to drop out of playing the game. I just can’t do it. Whatever that means. That means that people are like “Whatever happened to, who was that band?” [Laughs]. But it doesn’t matter, we just keep creating and that’s what we love.

“You’re dealing with people who see music as it’s a job, it’s a commodity, [it] has no love in it, the person on the phone does not want to be talking to me about my fucking band. They would rather be either, y’know, sucking U2’s dick … “

There’s a lot of truth in what you’re saying. There’s an interview where you talk about reviewers and music writers. You said, “List and review the records you love all you want, share the awesome stuff. If you don’t believe in something don’t waste your time even mentioning it.”

Yeah.

As a writer, that’s something I’ve always agreed with. It’s been kind of a personal goal or mission and —

You’re a lover, man! That’s the way it is! That’s good. You’re doing what you’re supposed to do!

Well, there are just so many writers who get off on really trashing an album — getting some kind of weird satisfaction from it. It’s just never been my thing. I never got it. But I’m glad you shared your thoughts on the matter.

Well, thanks. I’m glad that you feel that way too. It’s important — it’s really important.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the roots you’ve had in Baltimore and the music scene there. There has been so much attention received over the last few years — bands like Beach House, Ponytail, Dan Deacon, etc. Actually, I interviewed Victoria Legrand from Beach House and she’s the one that recommended your music to me. She kind of painted you guys as forefathers in a certain light. What do you make of that? Do you consider yourselves forefathers?

Well, no, but I can see why we made, maybe, people look to this town as a place for crazy people to make something happen. [Laughs]. I think that we were probably a part of a very big web of people that had been making music in this town for a long time. And this town — it’s such a great opportunity for young people or creative people who don’t have a lot of money or don’t want to dedicate their life to their retirement and grave plot. Then they’re creating something and they can afford to live in a town like this. I mean, we bought a house for nothing — it’s crazy. We’re very lucky people to have found this town. I love this town so much. And we’ve been here for 11 years — moved here from New Orleans via Chicago via Ann Arbor, Michigan.

You mentioned being in love with writing music. When I listen to your stuff, one thing that really stands out is the rhythmic element of what you guys do — it’s such a key role. Is this something you are conscious of when writing? Also, because your influences are so diverse, how do you continue to find inspiration for new stuff?

Wow. That’s awesome. That’s a multi-multi-leveled question. What was the first part? [Laughs].

Sorry. It was just about the rhythmic element of what you do.

Rhythmic element — okay. Yeah, that’s all I needed — just the cue. Well, y’know, I don’t frequently know what to do with my hands so I play some kind of rhythmic something. It’s kind of nice to not have to think about how you hold yourself. You can just put all the energy you have into pushing out. We started out as a three piece so we needed to make as much noise as possible — [it’s] really what it came down to. So, I can’t really play a melodic instrument and sing at the same time. I’m not that talented. [Laughs]. But I wish I could because I love playing instruments. But I just can’t do it and sing.

Anyhow, so, they just give me a tambourine, maraca or a drum. But we get into it. Also, a lot of the music we listen to is really rhythmic — a lot of African music. That’s kind of really come into light in the last couple years. A lot of bands discovered the lost continent, y’know? The motherland.

I was saying that your influences are very diverse and I wanted to know how you continue to find new inspiration. I remember reading something about how you’ve discovered different forms of meditation. Does that influence the writing process at all?

Yeah, because that instills patience and [makes us] a little more patient.

With the name Celebration, and the sense that the music is, in fact, celebratory, what do you do when a live audience doesn’t respond to that positive energy in a similar way? What goes through your head?

Well, I just try not to be affected. But we are all […] very sensitive. I fell like we will sometimes lose our mojo if we feel like it’s not working, y’know? [Laughs]. And so, we can fall apart. But I feel like we’ve toured enough and we’ve experienced enough of that because we’ve always been doing weird shit for years — and playing in small towns in the middle of nowhere. [Laughs]. So, we’ve experienced a lot. But you don’t want to be affected by it. You want to say it doesn’t matter but it really does matter. Other people matter more than anything. But not that you should let go of yourself. You still [have to] represent! [Laughs] Share it and make it.

If 1,000 people see [it] and fucking hate you, that sucks. But if even one person can say, “Y’know what? You gave me the courage to go do something that I really love and I never had,” when somebody says that to you and tells you that, you’re just like “Man, this is exactly why I’m doing it because real motherfuckers made me feel like that when I was a kid.” Steve Albini made me feel like that and he was a really big influence. And he was like, “You guys are fucking awesome.” And I was like, “Hell yes! I want to continue doing this shit!” But after getting the courage from watching somebody who’s this nerd kid get up there and do something crazy, I’m like, “Shit, if that guy can do that, I can do it.”

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