Chelsea Wolfe’s Pain is Beauty – inspired film Lone is now available for download via iTunes. Above you can see the excerpt from the film that is the music video for the track “Lone” directed by Mark Pellington.

The film is also available to order on custom USB drives via Chelsea Wolfe’s store  HERE.

Click above to watch Chelsea Wolfe performing a live acoustic set with strings on KEXP in Seattle.

The inimitable Chelsea Wolfe has just finished her recent US tour, so this seemed like the perfect time for Terrorizer to catch up with her. We sent Joy Shannon to quiz Chelsea on her creative process, overcoming stagefright, her collaboration with King Dude and what we can expect from her new film, ‘Lone’…

An absolute hush goes over the crowd when Chelsea Wolfe stands on stage. Her presence is otherworldly and when she sings, it seems as if even the ghosts in the rafters of the old theatre stop and listen.

Terrorizer caught Wolfe on her last US tour date in Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theatre opening for the Eels, right before she embarked on a Canadian and European tour. This was a unique tour for Wolfe, which she crafted to be a stripped-down acoustic experience, accompanied only with by her co-producer Ben Chisholm & violinist and backing vocalist Andrea Calderon. The trio created devastatingly gorgeous melodies and vocal harmonies, which didn’t shy away from moments of bold, bleak minimalism. Much of the set was played on a very darkly lit stage, transforming the spiralling Baroque architecture of LA’s Orpheum Theatre into a shadowed cave, out of which Wolfe’s voice howled.

There is something truly surreal about seeing Wolfe perform. Though her performance itself is refreshingly straightforward, her control of her voice, the intention behind her performance and her melodies are so incredibly powerful, one cannot help but be swept away into some sort of dreamscape. This is truly what happens to me when I listen to her music on CD and what makes the imagery of the film ‘Lone’, in which Wolfe collaborated with director Mark Pellington to create a surreal landscape to accompany a series of songs from her album ‘Pain Is Beauty’, so powerful. The weight of the intention behind her work in recorded form, translates to an even more arresting form live. Truly, Wolfe is not to be missed. Like her sublimely haunting music, she creates a live experience that will not be easily forgotten.

Photo: David Fathi

In various interviews, you’ve mentioned real world inspirations for your songs like natural disasters alongside what seems to be the human emotional response to such experiences. Do you ever find that songs have more layered meanings that you may have even first conceived when you wrote them?
CW: “Sometimes a song comes all at once and only after I look back at what I’ve written does it really reveal its meaning.”

Your songwriting and album recording process seems very organic and also, since you are so prolific, you seem like you tend to be writing all the time. Is this accurate?
CW: “Yes, I mean I’m always writing lyrics at least. On tour there’s a lot of time in the van where you often have no choice but to drift into this strange limbo, and at like, hour 11, your mind snaps and it becomes very easy to express thoughts…”

Can you reveal anything about what you may be working on for your next album?
CW: “You caught me a little too early to talk about the next album.. I know when and where I am recording.. and that the experience is going to be pretty different than before, I can say that much. I have been writing a lot for my next album since the past six months.”

Was there any particular music, song, or any experience you had as a child or young adult that made you decide to be a songwriter? How did you ultimately decide to choose this pursuit in life?
CW: “While I was growing up my dad had a country band and they had a little home studio at his house. I’d go there on the weekends and hear them recording or practising – my dad played guitar and sang backups, he’s always been great with harmonies. When I was around 9 years old I started sneaking in there and making my own songs, just with a Casio keyboard and my voice. He taught me how to record on an 8-track and I started writing songs. I learned to play the guitar and always kept writing and recording music secretly but for some reason didn’t think I was good enough to be a musician. I went to different colleges and followed different paths but music kept pulling me back to it. Eventually I gave it and started recording, releasing albums and finding it in me to play shows.”

You relocated to Los Angeles in 2011. Did you find that being around the physical location of LA has inspired your work in any way?
CW: “Typically I would answer no to this question, but looking back at the songs I wrote while I was living in this big old house near downtown LA for three years, I think sometimes it did have an effect on my music. There were helicopters that would constantly be flying around that neighborhood, often shining their lights into our windows… I wrote ‘Feral Love’ soon after I moved into that house, as well as ‘Ancestors, The Ancients’. I felt trapped in a way, and there was some anger or torment about forcing myself to live in this new place that didn’t feel like home. I recently moved an hour outside of LA to the mountains. It’s much more quiet but has new sounds. The first night I woke up to a pack of coyotes howling and running through the streets, so it’s a change.”

You’ve talked openly about stage fright often, though over the years you have been touring vastly more. How has stage fright impacted you? Does it impact your voice or other parts of your self? Have you found that it has gotten better for you? Do you have any rituals you do that help you in your performing process?
CW: “I’ve never really thought of what I had as “stage fright”… I’ve just called it that because talking about wanting to be invisible or feeling claustrophobic doesn’t make as much sense, but that’s really how it feels. I don’t lose my voice or throw up, it’s just that my skin crawls. It’s a fucked-up dichotomy that I love the energy of performing songs live and having the audience there with me but I also hate being up in front of people or being the centre of attention. At first I would wear a black veil and all-black long sleeves, it helped me get through it… In this childlike way, there was a barrier between their eyes and my eyes. When I released ‘Apokalypsis’, I wanted to be more brave and also move forward from that so it didn’t become some sort of gimmick. One meaning of that Greek word Apokalpysis is “lifting of the veil,” so I felt it was symbolic to move on and start to make eye contact. I still struggle with it sometimes but I find it’s a much better experience. I was also lucky at that time to meet my friend and stylist/costume designer Jenni Hensler who helped me explore fashion as a way to feel strong and confident onstage, rather than just covering up completely. So now I take that approach – getting ready for a show is like putting on armour. It’s a ritual to focus on the task at hand.”

How you use your voice live and on your albums is very unique. I love how it is, at times, treated as another instrument woven into the mix, and, at other times, with stunning moments of crystalline, vulnerable clarity. Was there a concept behind how your vocals were treated production-wise on ‘Pain Is Beauty’?
CW: “There’s always a lot of notes before I go into the studio, usually just simple things like “dirty” or “intimate” to try and guide an engineer’s choice of which microphone to use for my vocals or something, but also I sometimes write or demo with effects on my voice and that kind of guides the direction of the song in the first place.”

Additionally, live for this tour you are playing with vocal effects. What vocal effect processors are you using live?
CW: “I use a TC-Helicon VoiceLive Play on one mic for a lot of the newer songs and also sing through a bunch of old Boss guitar pedals on the Telefunken M80 mic. I also like Earthquaker pedals.”

I LOVE your collaboration with King Dude. How did that come about? What was the concept behind that project?
CW: “He played my first album release show in LA for ‘The Grime and the Glow’. We became friends instantly and collaborated on our first 7” in LA soon after. Recently I went up to his place Seattle for a week and we made the second one. I find I can collaborate really easily with him and I also really respect him as a musical and visual artist, so I trust his vision.”

The film ‘Lone’ is a mesmerizing work of art that felt like it captured a dreamscape full of memories and life experiences from which your songs are born. Do you feel that this is an accurate interpretation for the film’s relationship to your music (at least the work on ‘Pain Is Beauty’)?
CW: “The ‘Lone’ film is a separate work from ‘Pain is Beauty’. I didn’t go into the recording of the album knowing I’d have a whole film around it. But I think it’s cool for there to be new meaning through visuals – the story doesn’t always have to directly relate to what the lyrics mean to the person who wrote them; sometimes I’m more interested in just having imagery that makes me feel something rather than a complete story with plot and satisfying ending. There is this really frantic, beautiful vibe that Mark Pellington creates in his films and music videos… a lot of energy and a lot to take in. I instantly related to it. Very dark and truthful. ‘Lone’ became something surreal and exploratory. For us creating the film was cathartic in a strange way and we want it to be that for the viewer as well. It looks into the power of nature, family, memory and dreams.”

Your work lends itself to the visual medium of film so well, now after ‘Lone’,do you have any future plans for other film projects?
CW: “Of course! To be honest I have a lot of unreleased stuff and I’m also working on many new things. Soon…”

Interview by: Joy Shannon

You can find Chelsea Wolfe on Facebook.

Chelsea Wolfe “Apokalypsis” is now available for pre-order in limited edition colored vinyl “Orange/Black Smoke” limited to 1,000 comes with download card. Orders will ship on July 20th from the Chelsea Wolfe store only.
CD and Vinyl will be release by Sargent House to stores starting August 26th – in Black Vinyl.
Also now available is the album shirt – sold separately or as part of the vinyl bundle that also comes with 3×3 Album magnet – PRE-ORDER HERE

Chelsea Wolfe is going on tour in Europe in July / August and will also have these two titles in vinyl with her on tour. SEE ALL TOUR DATES HERE

HEAR Apokalypsis or DL below

Chelsea Wolfe debut album “The Grime And The Glow” is also now available for pre-order in limited edition colored vinyl “Grey/Black Smoke” limited to 1,000 comes with download card. Orders will ship on July 20th from the Chelsea Wolfe store only.
CD and Vinyl will be available in stores starting August 26th – in Black Vinyl.
The first 250 pre-orders on this vinyl bundle will come with a 3×3 Album magnet – PRE-ORDER HERE

HEAR The Grime And The Glow or DL below

Chelsea Wolfe “Apokalypsis” is now available for pre-order in limited edition colored vinyl “Orange/Black Smoke” limited to 1,000 comes with download card. Orders will ship on July 20th from the Chelsea Wolfe store only.
CD and Vinyl will be release by Sargent House to stores starting August 26th – in Black Vinyl.
Also now available is the album shirt – sold separately or as part of the vinyl bundle that also comes with 3×3 Album magnet – PRE-ORDER HERE

Chelsea Wolfe is going on tour in Europe in July / August and will also have these two titles in vinyl with her on tour. SEE ALL TOUR DATES HERE

HEAR Apokalypsis or DL below

Chelsea Wolfe debut album “The Grime And The Glow” is also now available for pre-order in limited edition colored vinyl “Grey/Black Smoke” limited to 1,000 comes with download card. Orders will ship on July 20th from the Chelsea Wolfe store only.
CD and Vinyl will be available in stores starting August 26th – in Black Vinyl.
The first 250 pre-orders on this vinyl bundle will come with a 3×3 Album magnet – PRE-ORDER HERE

HEAR The Grime And The Glow or DL below

Chelsea Wolfe is the cover story in the debut issue of the fantastic new Collide Magazine. See the full story and read the whole issue HERE.

Uneasy Pain: An Interview With Chelsea Wolfe

Chelsea Wolfe. Photo by Charlotte Patmore.

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Like Marissa Nadler and Liz Hysen of Picastro, Chelsea Wolfe is a folky, pseudo-goth singer-songwriter with connections to heavier music. To group her in a scene, or to suggest her music is not heavy simply because it’s not loud, however, is a disservice to Wolfe’s unique vision. It’s hard to describe Wolfe’s music, let alone give it a genre label; her most recent album alone, the incredible Pain is Beauty, features elements of blues, noise, industrial rock, and baroque pop. But what’s notable about Wolfe is that you, as a listener, are often emotionally confused when listening to her. You’re sad, scared, and overcome with hope, and sometimes, as in eight-and-a-half minute penultimate track “The Waves Have Come”, which was inspired by the 2011 Japanese Tsunami, all at the same time. In this sense, Wolfe’s music is very visceral. It’s simply real.

It’s seemingly contradictory, then, that following Pain is Beauty, Wolfe decided to make a very surreal short film out of songs from the album. The film, Lone, directed by acclaimed music video director Mark Pellington (Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”; U2′s “One”), contains a loose narrative, ambiguous symbolism, and minimal, repetitive dialogue. Wolfe’s songs, however, work just as effectively as a soundtrack to a film that plays like a fever dream. “Feral Love” creeps and chugs along, while “The Waves Have Come” soundtrack a montage of natural imagery, from disasters to animals hunting. Ultimately, that Pain is Beauty both stands alone and effectively complements another piece of art is a testament to the cohesiveness of Wolfe’s statements on life, death, and everything in between. And it was a big reason that I jumped at the opportunity to interview Wolfe last month over email.

Read the interview below, edited for length and clarity.

Frontier Psychiatrist: What made you want to make a film out of songs from Pain is Beauty with Mark Pellington?

Chelsea Wolfe: It was Mark’s idea. We were going to make a music video for the song “The Waves Have Come”, and as we met to listen to the song together and talk about ideas, we ended up listening to the whole album, and he was inspired to make a film out of five songs from the album, including that song.

FP: Is this your first foray into film?

Chelsea Wolfe: I haven’t made many music videos, and this was my first time working on something like this.

FP: What makes Lone more than a series of music videos with a loose narrative?

CW: Each character represents some emotion – it’s a surreal trip through dreams and memories. Beyond having a specific story for each video, there are threads throughout the film and sections between the songs which Ben (my bandmate) and I soundtracked – they are the guiding moments that pull the story along.

FP: Does Pain is Beauty tell a “story” the same way Lone does? If so or if not, do you consider the two pieces companions, related but not quite companions, or separate artistic entities?

CW: They are separate. When I made the album, it came together with themes and certain inspirations, but I didn’t know I would be making the Lone film until after Pain is Beauty was already finished.

A still from Mark Pellington’s Lone

FP: Lone contains a lot of religious imagery, from crosses to recurring characters looking up at the sky with their arms spread to people seemingly praying.

CW: I believe a lot of that imagery in the film was Mark’s way of showing the characters coming to terms with death, regret, and shame.

FP: At times, in Lone, you’re wearing the same or similar dress as you do on Pain is Beauty’s album cover. What was the importance of or decision-making behind Pain is Beauty’s album art?

CW: I wanted to have something familiar with me throughout the film, so I wore the different dresses that my stylist Jenni Hensler had found or made for me over the past few years and I had worn on tour.

FP: In general, Lone’s colors are muted and stark, except for the repetition of the color red. What does this color symbolize to you, both within the context of Lone or Pain is Beauty and outside of the context of art?

CW: Life, blood, lava, intensity.

FP: Throughout Lone, we see abstract forms of post-apocalyptic environments: desolate ruins, grass, and desert. But we also see closeups of concrete objects, like the toy horse. To you, do both of these types of images evoke or psychologically trigger childhood memories or memories in general?

CW: The horse for me represents forward-motion, and I did ride a lot as a child. The horse for Mark represents his father. It can mean new things for each person who watches the film. The scenes in the film are not post-apocalyptic. They are natural disasters that have taken human lives, and they are scenes of what humans do to the earth and to each other. It’s a back and forth, and I wanted that to be reflected in Pain is Beauty as well as in Lone.

FP: To me and I’m sure many others, “The Waves Have Come” is the emotional climax of both Pain is Beauty and Lone. In Lone, the song soundtracks a montage of life and death, the latter resulting from everything from natural disasters to the food chain and generally animalistic imagery. Are you trying to make the point that death, while at times tragic, is inevitable and that we shouldn’t be so afraid of it because everybody experiences it in one way or another?

CW: No. I just wanted to give a sense of overcoming: to fight through the hard times and come out on the other side stronger.

FP: Lone features the color red, rushing blood, and twin girls. Is this simply a coincidence or were you referencing or at least influenced by The Shining?

CW: The two girls represent two sides of a personality.

FP: What made you want to work with Mark Pellington?

CW: Him and my manager Cathy Pellow are old friends. He’s got a beautiful, frantic mind and understood my music. Mark is a fantastic person.

FP: Where was Lone filmed?

CW: In the high desert, a burned forest, and a beach near Los Angeles. Also at the Lee Strasberg Institute.

FP: How was your tour with Queens of the Stone Age? What was one thing you took from their live performance that you might adopt into future performances (either something concrete or abstract), and what was something you think they took from you? How about with Russian Circles? How about with True Widow?

CW: I learned a lot from touring with Queens of the Stone Age, but it’s not something easily put into words. They really own their shit. It’s inspiring. Russian Circles taught us how to tour. True Widow taught me how to party and let go a little. I love those guys and gal. I love all three of these bands.

FP: Do you feel a kinship with the metal community more so than with artists who make music more similar to yours?

CW: I feel a kinship with all sorts of people and artists, regardless of genre. I’ve never really been associated with any particular scene. I have friends from all corners, and that’s how it’s always been.

FP: What’s next for you musically or artistically in general?

CW: I am bored of myself at the moment, so after this summer’s touring, I’m going to torment and torture myself until I come up with new visions. New album will follow.

Jordan Mainzer is the Midwest Editor at Frontier Psychiatrist. He last interviewed Protomartyr. He regrets not asking Wolfe about how she feels about all of the “wolf” band names of the past ten years

SLED ISLAND 2014: CHELSEA WOLFE

CHANNELING ANGER AND CONFUSION INTO SOMETHING CREATIVE

When listening to the macabre melodies of Chelsea Wolfe, one might not immediately jump on comparisons to country and western tunes, but as a songwriter, Wolfe believes a lot of the pain and longing for which she’s renowned to spill on her records is due to the old country crooners she listened to growing up.

“Old country is so honest, simple and emotional,” she says. “Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline. Honesty is what drew me to playing music in the first place.”

Indeed, honesty is something that Wolfe has in spades. Her sprawling albums of dark, droning and silky songs are riddled with personal anguish and a palpable honesty that makes your spine tingle. There’s also Unknown Rooms, the collection of acoustic songs she released back in 2012 that shed a bit more light on her folkier side, a side that Wolfe says she’d love to return to at some point.

“Unknown Rooms was a collection of songs I had written over about five or six years, so it’s not that I sat and wrote an acoustic, minimal album out of nowhere. Once I started compiling the old recordings and reworking them though, it did inspire some new songs in that vein and I’ve written a lot since then,” she says.

Her latest album, however, the aptly titled Pain is Beauty, is far from a stripped-down folk record, pairing whirling, grinding electronic with doom- and black metal-influenced atmospherics. It’s a strange and eclectic combination of sonic worlds and Wolfe says that a lot of what ended up on the record was initially intended to just be a side project.

“About three or four years ago, before I began making this record, I started this kind of side project with my band mate, Ben… these electronic songs that I didn’t think fit with the other stuff I had done. But, at some point between then and now I was like, ‘Fuck it, this project shouldn’t have boundaries,’ so we decided to start incorporating these electronic songs into our set and they felt good and right. When I began working on the new album, I knew it’d begin around those songs and from there it just came together as it wanted to.”

Wolfe is renowned for her unbridled honesty in songs, shedding light on the often ignored facets of the human condition that can be rather uncomfortable to bring to light. Themes of death, pain, sadness and depression are present throughout her entire oeuvre, lending even more of a morose tinge to her already shadowy aura. While Wolfe believes that a large majority of us do ignore the more macabre and negative aspects of our emotions, she also understands why that is.

“As much as I understand human sadness, I understand escapism,” she says. “I do think our society has a problem with escapism. I’m guilty of it, too, of course. It’s also a shame that more kids aren’t raised to learn how to channel their anger, sadness or confusion into something positive or creative, or at least something that isn’t harmful to themselves or others. Boredom is the root of all evil.”

She’s not one to think that all is lost, however, and as much as a lot of her songs might feel dark and hopeless, Wolfe says there’s a point to it all, and that point is very positive.

“I always try to inject a little hope or light into a song whether it’s in melody or lyrics because I also want my music to be about overcoming and never giving up. It’s reality music. The world is a beautiful, magical, horrible, fucked-up place.”

When all is said and done, Wolfe is nothing if not a realist.

In Calgary during Sled Island, Chelsea Wolfe plays Commonwealth on Thursday, June 19th. In Vancouver, she  performs at the Electric Owl on Saturday, June 21st.

By Nick Laugher
Photos: Kristin Cofer (top), Charlotte Patmore (middle)