Closure In Moscow

Closure In Moscow have had a rollercoaster few years, from releasing their hugely well received debut and relocating to the US, to more recently parting with two of their founding members. With the band embarking on the All Ages Tour next month alongside Dream On, Dreamer and Awaken I Am, frontman Christopher de Cinque had a chat about controversy and the eight circuits of consciousness.

Hey mate, please start out by telling us your name, what you play in Closure In Moscow, and the best movie you’ve seen this year?

My name is Christopher, I sing in the band and the best movie I’ve seen this year is The Holy Mountain.

Could you quickly give us a rundown of the band’s history?

We’ve been a band since 2006 and released our debut EP in 2008. We then moved to the US in 2009 to record our first full length and tour, then came back to Melbourne in 2010, going back to the US and Asia intermittently. That brings us to this year with a new drummer and bass player, writing new material and getting ready for more releases.

What inspires you most in the creation of your own music, musically or otherwise?

Frank Zappa, the dialogue in Deadwood, sacred geometry, Robert Anton Wilson, Roman Catholic symbolism, Camille. The list could really go on and on, personally I’m more inspired by reading up on things like gematria or the 8 circuits of consciousness, especially in relation to lyrical content.

Closure had a line up change late last year. How do you think that’s affected the band?

Things couldn’t be better. The new guys play in a funk band together and come from more of a jazz background so the dynamic has definitely changed and things are tighter and have a lot more groove now.

Obviously the band hasn’t put out any releases since your debut album “First Temple”. What stage are you at with your next album? What can fans expect from the new material?

We are currently working on material for a live video EP along with writing for the next album. The video EP will be out later this year as soon as everything is finished and the album following early next year. Writing has definitely taken another step forward especially with Sal and Duncan, they are bringing a lot of really cool ideas to the table.

It’s basically ancient history by now, but plenty of rumours still go around about it – can you clear up once and for all what happened with Soundwave last year?

Haha, I almost don’t want to, it’s much more fun to think there are still rumours going around and that it’s something of enough repute to warrant conjecture. We were in Brisbane ready to play, really excited for it. It’s honestly a boring story that I’m sick of telling people because I always get the sense that it is coming off like I’m trying to sell our side of it to make sure people don’t think we are dicks. It actually still confuses me to this day, I don’t really care.

In November last year you did a run of dates in Japan with Fact. What were the highlights of that tour? How did audiences respond to you guys over there?

The whole tour was pretty much one massive highlight. It was honestly one of the most incredible experiences of my life and the whole Fact team are so lovely and hospitable, they treated us like we were family. The culture over there blows me away. One highlight which may sound really silly was actually the Mario Kart DS tournaments we had on the bus haha. They got really intense and it was a really good bonding thing. Just to warn you all, never challenge Hiro from Fact to a race, unless you want to get schooled in the art of perpetual drifting. Audiences were nuts over there, they genuinely go nuts for live music at every show.

Closure are joining Dream On Dreamer and Awaken I Am on the All Ages Tour around Victoria very soon. What are you expecting from those dates?

We haven’t played an all ages show in a while so we don’t really know what to expect. We just want people to have fun with us.

What can fans anticipate from your live act this time around?

That they will be seeing us at our best, playing the tightest we’ve ever played. Some new stuff in the set too that will be on upcoming releases.

The band has had an endorsement from Budda amplifiers for a while now. Do you think that using their gear is an important part of your sound?

Budda have definitely helped to shape our sound, Barrett and Manny love their amps and they’ve been using them for a few years now and a good chunk of the album was tracked using the Buddas.

Besides the All Ages Tour, what does the remainder of 2011 hold for Closure In Moscow?

The remainder of this year really feels like it will be a rebirth period, a full new line up is fully locked in, we are writing some really cool stuff together and will be playing as much as we can and releasing as much as we can.

Thanks so much for your time dude. Any final thoughts or comments?

There is a lot of scary, insane stuff happening in the world right now, but the only true crisis that all the others stem from is a crisis of consciousness. It is fundamentally important that we each strive to be totally self realised. It will take a great amount of courage and awareness, but we all need to look inwards. Come vibrate with us at a show and spread some love!

Cheers man, see you at a show next month.