willibald - Crumbs/Y
I came across willibald by chance at the first Kombinat Festival and I can still picture the packed Gotthard Bar, the whirlwind of noise and the bassist, Charli Grögli, trying to avoid the people coming in with his bass guitar (as the stage is right next to the entrance). A few weeks later, I caught them again at the Gaswerk in Winterthur which was also another enjoyable performance. After the show I picked up a copy of their album, le roi est mort, and a tote bag.
Earlier this year, the band released a couple of singles, Crumbs and Y, which they had recorded with Remo Agovic. From the first listens, I was already a big fan of the songs, especially the haunting ambiences, and how they show the band’s evolution. In any case, I am glad that willibald is back with two fantastic songs that I have listened to a lot lately.
To find out more about Crumbs and Y, I discussed the songs with two members of the band, Charli, and guitarist, Naemi Zurbrügg, via video call. (The band’s line-up is completed by guitarist & vocalist, Deborah Spiller and Danilo Oesch on drums). There will be a second article about the band in the near future.
How did you decide to record two songs?
Naemi: We have enough songs to make another LP but we don’t really have the time to record for that long. It was more of an issue of how many days we could find for all of us and with Remo to record it and and we found three days. Then we decided, “let’s start with two songs and then find some other dates later”.
Charli: That was what we could do.
How was the recording?
Charli: It was a nightmare
Naemi: No, not that bad
Charli: No, but it was a strange weekend, except me, we were all quite…
Naemi: …tired, fucked up, sick
Charli: We recorded at some farmhouse in Rüggisberg, somewhere near the Alps which was really cool, we could hide up there.
Naemi: No distractions
Charli: That was really good. For some of us it was too cold
Naemi: It was cold and we had to heat and cook with wood fires.
How did you choose this location?
Naemi: It belongs to a friend of mine, sometimes I can go there, it was a bit the free option. We had to move everything there, we had to build up a whole studio.
You envisaged building a studio there?
Naemi: Actually, we had been there already twice before but just to rehearse, not with a goal to record, but when we needed a band retreat. Apparently always when it was really cold.
Charli: Once it was really snowed in and we couldn’t get out and the last time when we recorded, one car got stuck in the mud, one car broke down.
Naemi: We still had fun recording with Remo, he was really nice. It was less stressful than with the album (le roi est mort). We could just play. He was so chill about it.
Have you known him for a long time? How did you choose him?
Naemi: We knew he records bands and plays in bands as well. We just asked him if he had time and wanted to record us, he said yes. That was it.
Did Remo also bring some recording material?
Charli: He brought all the recording stuff with him and the mastering was done…
Naemi: …in Germany. He did the raw mix there but then the real mix, he did in his studio in Berne.
But you survived the weekend?
Charli: The recording actually went well. It tells the story of who we are right now, I like it.
Did you do many things differently in comparison to le roi est mort?
Charli: We were all in the same room. It’s more or less one take, but I think with Y, it’s maybe two takes. The goal was to get one take where everything is good. That was the same with the album as well, to get this live feel with a single take.
Naemi: With as few overdubs as possible
Charli: This time, for me, it had more of a live feel, it was less technical, somehow.
You did it all in one go, playing all at the same time? Just like for the album?
Charli: Yeah, it was just the vocals on the second day this time as well, just like the album. Apart from that it was all in one room together.
Naemi: There is not one take where everyone plays without making a mistake. At least, not with us.
Sometimes the things that stress you in the moment, and you think “oh no, it’s so bad” but in the end when you listen to it, you start to like it.
Also with the new singles, with one song, I hit the string that I don’t want to hit by accident and it’s really dissonant but it comes at the perfect time when the lyrics are also about something disturbing. It was a good moment to hit the wrong string. It fits. Now I have to play it live like this.
Tell us about the artwork
Naemi: It is Charli’s work
Charli: I browsed some Brockis (thrift shops) and saw some really great books about life after death
Naemi: … or life before birth
Charli: Books from the 70s, 80s
Naemi: A bit creepy actually
Charli: A bit creepy. So you have these very weird pictures of unborn children looking for their mothers or whatever. I tried to cut them out and put them together, it was really fun.
A sort of collage?
Charli: Yeah, a collage using the computer, I liked it and I showed it to the others and they liked it too. We showed to a graphic designer friend and she was like “oh… ok… yeah… it’s… it’s not too bad”. We are going to do it anyway.
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