By Keith Walsh
Among the various approaches to achieving creativity, dressing up for the occasion might work. The colorful clothes from British designer Tom Cridland just might be enough to inspire a creative writing session; certainly one’s stage presence will be enhanced. A tight pair of those trousers just might push your vocals into the next octave. And if you spend all of your wages on designer clothes, the resulting poverty could inspire you to write some really sad, beautiful songs. And sad songs say so much.

Others have tried intense cardio workouts, large quantities of caffeine, and other, more sordid approaches that aren’t recommended. Sometimes creativity comes along by unexpected means. Sometimes that means faking it. The much debated line between madness and creativity comes with enough social capital that artists sometimes assume crazed poses just to say they’ve been there (and of course, to drum up record sales). If blessed with resources and good luck, some performers have emerged from a meltdown unscathed, though they often return to the themes of their breakdowns in a theatrical way as a fount of ideas.

Faking aside, that serious mess that Bowie went through in the 70’s was the real deal, certainly painful enough to earn him the title of “tortured artist,” yet fruitful enough that the decade was his most glorious; a large part of the mystique of the massive “Let’s Dance” phenomenon was the vicarious enjoyment of the fact that he survived it and decided that he might as well celebrate. Syd Barrett’s persistent troubles were parlayed into a legend worth a million pounds a year, even up to the time of his death, thanks to his part in the creation of Pink Floyd and the royalties that came with it. Britney Spears’ current Las Vegas run could be titled “From Madness to Millions.” And Kanye West –who knows?

Now, About Those Fellows From Brussels
Point is, real or contrived, musical madness is good for business, a fact that is not lost on the three lads responsible for the innovative new music group Gianax. Named for the members – Gilles Snowcat, Ian Rigillo and Axel Dumont, the debut EP “Pass The Pill” features six tunes: three in their original form as previously released by each artist, and three of them creative permutations of the originals.

The project, which is labeled as avant-garde sound art and features jazz, drum and bass, electronica, and pop, has its origins in a playful interaction among the three talented comrades. It all started when Gilles asked his frequent collaborators Ian and Axel to perform one of his tunes, “Yanagigaura.” As Ian began to work on the song, he realized that its length and melodic complexity was an obstacle to commercial performance.

Origin Story
Ian explains: “By the time we reached the 4th page of ‘Yanagigaura’ during our rehearsal, I had realized that there was no way I would have been able to play this song without having to awkwardly shuffle music on stage. I also felt that an excessive amount of chord changes was getting in the way of the harmonic and melodic beauty of the piece.”

After the temporary experience of cold feet, Ian approached the piece again. “I therefore decided to try and rearrange ‘Yanagigaura’ to make it both more ‘commercial’ and easier to play live and asked Axel if he would help me out.,” Ian explains. “Having his own fully equipped studio and an incredible talent for music recording and producing, Axel was an obvious choice especially since he had shown he also strongly believed in Gilles’ talent for composition. This is basically how Gianax started.”

The object of their work was Gilles’ surreal, romantic homage to one of his favorite Japanese towns. The resulting three minute piece, called the radio edit, exaggerates the absurd poetic imagery of the original. Gilles’ initial reaction to the reworking almost sunk the project from the start. He explains: “’Yanagigaura’” was heavily edited to fit the radio format, which pissed the hell out of me. I didn’t want to be involved in such a butcher work, but the few parts they kept were so wonderfully played and arranged that it wasn’t a clear ‘no’ from me. It eventually became a ‘yes’ and I was in.

As the work continued, a creative tension developed which the group found inspiring. “It was a process of everyone trying to infuriate everyone else, which worked quite well, I have to admit,” Gilles says. To which Axel adds: “We don’t know if we hate each other as much as Pink Floyd’s members do, but we sure like to work together.”[pullquote]As the work continued, a creative tension developed which the group found inspiring. “It was a process of everyone trying to infuriate everyone else, which worked quite well, I have to admit,” Gilles says. To which Axel adds: “We don’t know if we hate each other as much as Pink Floyd’s members do, but we sure like to work together.” [/pullquote]Judging by the input I got from these guys, they have all the creative chemistry of the Floyd with a bit of Monty Python and possibly the Three Stooges (it is yet to be determined if they will clobber each other with foam rubber implements).

As often is the case when combustible talent comes together in close quarters, the results were incendiary, at least in the short term. Ian explains: “Initially, Gilles was furious at our attempt to chop his 10 minute song in a 3 minute radio edit with absolute disregard of the lyrics, and went so far as to call me a ‘Scottish butcher’ when we first presented him with the new arrangement.” Slowly, however, his artistic ego started kicking in and as we progressed with the recording and discovered all three of us were having a good time together, so we decided to extend the experiment and rearrange one of Axel’s and one of my songs too.” Axel explains the overall concept: “It was more than just a remix, (it was) “a rework, a real creative flow.” he says. This approach led to all new parts being recorded for each tune.

Rules and Results
Ian continues: “To be fair to Gilles, we decided the original composer was to have no power of veto on the arrangement of his song, although he would obviously participate in the recording and he would be allowed to make suggestions.” The extensive performing experience of the three members results in some very satisfying tunes. Ian is an extraordinary guitarist who has dabbled in various forms of jazz in projects including with the group Individual Choice. His tune “Jungle Jazzin’” is fine example of jazz fusion with a jungle music vibe, which, though wild in nature, is relatively subdued compared to the manic departure of the new version by Axel and Gilles, which features weirdly attractive wordless vocalizations by Susant Bista, a Nepalese singer who had recently collaborated with the trio on other projects.

Axel is an expert bassist; his composition on the disc is “Jungle House,” and in its original form it’s a lush, jazzy piece propelled by lilting bass that supports stellar solos on Fender Rhodes, muted trumpet and sultry sax. It’s electro nu jazz at its finest. The permutation by Ian and Gilles is an esoteric adventure into ambient nu jazz with Ian’s fusion-flavored guitar at the center, and drenched with Gilles’ thematic electronic atmospheres and melodies. Sweet stuff indeed.

As for the future, the three would like to take the show on the road. “We’d like to bring the project on stage and get as crazy as we can,” says Axel. Gilles has even more elaborate plans: “Next step is to go on stage under a shape that I still don’t know; we might invite an Amazon tribe to sing, or have some ETs playing Morse code, or release lions from the zoo and bring them on stage with us, and they will eat some members of the audience, which might annoy the guitarist – and doesn’t everyone know that when a guitarist is pissed, the music’s better?”

Finis

Find out more:
Gianax: Pass The Pill. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gianax

Axel Dumont
Selected Discography:
Currents by Mister Dumont
Kitchen Diaries by Mister Dumont
http://www.misterdumont.com
Ian Rigillo
Selected Discography:
Make Your Choice by Individual Choice
Music Radiates by Jazz House FX
https://www.reverbnation.com/ianrigillo
Gilles Snowcat
Selected Discography:
Early tapes (various tapes, 1988 – 1992)
Phase 2: Scrappy by Awaken (tape LP, 1993)
Tales Of Acid Ice Cream by Awaken (LP, 1996)
Party In Lyceum’s Toilets by Awaken (2LP, 2001)
Wasabi Kiss by Awaken (single, 2003)
As A Start: Cà Phê & Pizza by Awaken (single, 2006)
Beppu Nights by Awaken (EP, 2006)
This Mouth… by Gilles Snowcat (EP, 2008)
Mokomoko Collection by Gilles Snowcat (LP, 2012)
Nama Time! by Gilles Snowcat (live LP, 2015)
www.gilles-snowcat.com