Who are you and what do you do:
I am Kristen Cudmore and I play in a band called Language Arts. I also teach music and enjoy my dog Sprout!
Current obsessions:
-Writing and playing music with my bandmates (Neil MacIntosh, Joel Visentin and Jeff DeButte);
-Keeping my room clean;
-Learning how to groom my dog, Sprout;
-Making healthy snacks for people;
-Tea;
-My bike (which is actually my mom’s bike from when she was a teenager);
-Playing soccer;
-Dreaming of snowboarding;
-Sleeping well;
-My new record player and how much better everything sounds;
-The new Diiv record;
-Trying to be the best friend I can be to my friends;
-Playing monster games on the phone with my nephews, Kingston and Aven;
-Coming up with/facilitating ideas to use music as a positive outlet for people who struggle (I do this one every day with my friend Akilah Newton from Overture with the Arts);
-Think about how much I miss my family and my best friends Jen, Caroline, Laura, M-C, Colleen, Courtenay and Andrea;
-Wonder if I will ever feel like a grown up, or if I am on the right path, or if I will ever fall in love, or if I will ever get to go tour in all sorts of countries, or if I am doing the right thing
A song or a record that will always put you in a good mood, without fail:
Can I pick more than one? If so:
-Beck’s “Modern Guilt”;
-Stereolab’s “Dots and Loops”;
-The Sea and Cake’s “Car Alarm”;
-Grizzly Bear’s “Veckatimest”;
-Can’s “Ege Bamyasi”
Tell us about an album or artist you think is really under-appreciated, and why they are deserving of more praise:
(I have 2, but in no particular order…)
1. Mike Feuerstack (also known as Snailhouse; also known for his work with his band Wooden Stars). He writes the most beautiful songs that bring emotions through me that I never knew existed;
2. Shane Abram Nelken (also known as The Awkward Stage; also known for the leprechaun encounter -CBC 3 can explain). He writes amazing songs and is so talented on so many instruments. He’s also the funniest person I have ever met, but he can make your jaw drop with his musical abilities, both performing and writing.
3. Andrew Lee, from the Vancouver band, In Medias Res, is one of the most epic guitar players I know. He has a true nack for tones, unique and dramatically expressed songs. The writing is top notch and his soloing is filled with style and heart. He is just as amazing solo as he is with a band.
Those 3 artists are people I look up to and they deserve to be household names in their niche.
Most played track on your iTunes:
Honestly, I don’ t have many artists on my itunes since I use my records and the Rdio app for music consumption; but the-most-listened-to-song-in-my-limited-itunes-catalog-award goes to: “Lovely Bloodflow” by Baths
Most cherished musical object:
Easy, but there’s 2, my guitars:
1. A Concert Series Classical Takamine Hirade 5 Guitar;
2. A Gretsch Duo Jet Electric Guitar (it’s green and gold and amazing)
Proudest moment:
There’s two (surprise surprise!!!)
1. When I became an Auntie to the most lovely 2 boys in the world: Kingston and Aven;
2. When I became the proud owner of the cutest and sweetest dog ever, Sprout. Who is more wonderful than I could have ever imagined a dog being.
Most vulnerable moment:
When I first learned about sex (without knowing it was a sex thing):
When I was 8, I was at the park in my neighbourhood in the Annapolis Valley, in Nova Scotia, on my brand new red banana-seat bike. I was there with my best friend, Alanna Murphy and one of the neighbourhood boys. He used to like to pick on me and tease me, and on this particular day, he decided to put a yellow condom on my bike handle.
Me, not knowing what it was, absorbed a story from him, where he had told me that it was a “fancy new bike handlebar cover”. This was around the time that I was collecting bike spoke charms (those plastic nubby things that you would put on your bike wheel spokes for decoration and for cool sounds as you ride around). Naturally, I was pretty excited about the fancy new bike handlebar cover.
I then heard the dinner bell ring (yep, my parents hard a large iron triangle that they would ring, when it was dinner-time at the Cudmore’s house), so I headed home on my bike with my fancy new bike handlebar cover in tact.
When I pulled in my driveway and booted my kickstand to park my bike, like a proud 8 year old would(with a new fancy bike handlebar cover …aka. a yellow condom) my mom came outside wondering what took me so long to get home. Then she discovered it. She was shocked. She asked me why I had “that” on my bike handle. I then told her that it was my fancy new bike handlebar cover. She covered her mouth and said (without thinking), “Oh no Kristen, that’s a condom.” I then got really confused and asked what a condom was. She answered quickly without giving it much thought in the moment since it was the first sex-like question I had ever asked, without knowing it was a sex-like question, at all. She said, “It’s something that boys put on their penises.” I got really confused, looking back and forth at my mom’s shocked face and my fancy new bike handlebar cover. I could feel tears welling up. I was so disappointed that I was the only kid in the neighbourhood who had a fancy new bike handlebar cover …but was actually a prank. I was simultaneously wondering why all of the boys would wear yellow balloon-like things on their penises and then I got really confused and upset because I didn’t know much of anything about penises either!
It turns out, I am O.K., and so is my mom and so is my bike, but the boy turned out to be a conservative, so I guess he gets what he deserves!
If you could score a film for anyone, who would it be any why:
Ooo, easy, Wes Anderson. I think that he’s so inspiring and that would lead me to some neat ideas and it would push me to be a better composer and musician. This would be the best challenge ever and if I were ever given the task (oh, man, that would be sweet!), I hope I would do a good job.
Your favourite use of a song in a film:
Does a TV series count? I just think that the small handful of compositions for Twin Peaks by Angelo Badalamenti are amazing. He creates these pieces with motives that he programs to specific scenes or characters and it makes the show so much more intense. It’s so very integral to the successes of that show’s strange beauty, in my opinion.
Favourite venue to play in and why:
I can’t really choose a favourite venue because I don’t think I have played it yet. There are so many great venues but nothing really compares to trying out new tunes with my bandmates at the rehearsal space. We almost always turn the overhead lights off and the room becomes lit with fun Christmas lights. We sometimes get into a neat connection, musically, that’s in a controlled space where we know what’s going on with the sound, so it’s not a distraction and that can be an especially fun moment.
I would also have to say the same about where we recorded our upcoming record, ‘Wonderkind’, at Darryl Neudorf’s, “Operation Northwoods” studio in Orangeville ON. That was an experience I am so lucky to have had. As they say in Waynes World, “The studio? That’s where the magic happens!”
Dream venue to play in and why:
Carnegie Hall. If I am going to dream, I may as well dream big, right?!
First band t-shirt you ever purchased from a merch table:
My first band T-shirt was the Kurt Cobain suicide one but that wasn’t at a show because I was too young and not many big-name acts would come and play Halifax ever, unless it was an outdoor festival or if the Metro-Centre could sell out the show beforehand. So, the one I remember buying from a merch table was a Sufjan Stevens “Illinoise” T-Shirt from his show at Richards on Richards in Vancouver BC. The show was so good, I happy-cried at it.
Band you’d leave your bandmates for:
Grizzly Bear
Album you want to expose your kin to whilst in the womb:
Andres Segovia’s “Obras Breves Espanolas” because I love every one of these pieces and how they are played and how great they sound on vinyl; but mostly because Andres Segovia is Mommy’s teacher’s teacher! (…assuming I actually become a Mommy).
If for some reason you lost the ability to make and play music, what would fill that gap:
I would probably turn into apple crisp.
What was your last dream about:
I am not lying AT ALL but the last dream I remember having is the reoccurring dream I had as a child about this unicorn I had as a best friend; and we were reunited in my dream, the night I got back from our mini-mini-tour (Monday April 8th, 2013). When I woke up, I wanted to go right back to sleep to see what other kind of shenanigans we would get into!
