Mediæval Bæbes: Edgy, Ancient
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T. Virgil Parker
It isn't easy packaging Classical music for the general public, but the audience for the Mediæval Bæbes is pretty specific: People who can handle a package that includes dangerous levels of eye candy, and aren't afraid to be completely subsumed by sound. Sincere head-bangers and retro-punks are accustomed to relinquishing control to music, but the tincture of medieval sound put together by this group is frighteningly powerful. You don't drive or balance your checkbook while you're listening to this stuff.
The seven-woman ensemble has been called the "Spice Girls set loose in the Court of King Henry VIII" ? though I think the comparison unfair. While every member of the group is in fact gorgeous, the main focus of the group is an impeccably articulate sound that brought them to the top of the Classical charts while attracting people to whom Classical is bamboo under the fingernails.
Vocalist Marie Findley is one of those rare people who can do just about anything with unusual grace. Her screenwriting for the BBC has won awards. She starred in Ken Russell's The Fall of the Louse of Usher.
T. Virgil Parker: The first observation I have to make about your music is that analyzing it rationally is difficult because it kind of propels one into an alternate realm. Do you have some kind of formula to kick that in?
Marie Findley: Not a formula, we decided to play that kind of music because we were into the medieval period. If people do choose to use the music to enter another realm, that's great.
TVP: Ok then, the music seems to be coming from another place, in addition to taking you there.
MF: Some people would debate that. Although we do some traditional medieval music that we arrange. We also take medieval poems and arrange them in a medieval style, though not traditionally authentic. If they sound like they're from that realm, then we've achieved our objective.
TVP: I'm not saying that the realm existed prior to your bringing it about. There's a combination of effortlessness and precision that both demanding and entrancing.
MF: When we started to record the idea was that we keep things simple. When we started out we were a group of friends. Only one of us was a trained singer, only a few of us could read music. We wanted to do something we could achieve. Over the years we've become more demanding of ourselves. Many of the girls are great composers and they wanted to stretch their talents. The sound evolved.
TVP: I'm wondering what your fan base at the shows. I'm guessing the Renaissance crowd, and English Majors types hold sway.
MF: We get our widest range of listeners in the US and the rest of North America. When we first started out in England our fans were mainly middle aged, middle, class, and from Middle England. We were signing records in the US, and first an old lady with gray hair came up and told us how much she adored our music, behind her was a fellow with piercings and a Cradle of Filth T-shirt, he said the same thing. Our music has a lot of religious content that appeals to both Christians and Pagans.
TVP: Your own background is in screenwriting and drama, and your musical performances have a strong dramatic element. Do you think about the dramatic element while your composing?
MF: When we first started, our shows were not particularly dramatic, that slowly evolved. You have to remember that we were a group of friends who didn't start out with professional ambitions. Six months after we formed we had a record deal. I have been keen to develop the dramatic elements of the performances because of my background, and I though that it would have a lasting appeal for the show. That has worked, I now think of us as a sort of a medieval cabaret, with the frequent costume changes and the comical element. We don't write the music around that, that? something we work into the performances afterwards. Some songs will lend themselves to dancing, some will lend themselves to comic interpretations.
TVP: It is surprising how spontaneous starting the band seems. People have accused you of getting the seven hottest women in England together and starting a band.
MF: When I joined the band I was staggered by how beautiful everyone was, especially since we were all friends or friends of friends. When we first came out, a lot of press articles accused us of being a manufactured band. While I found that insulting, I found that quite a compliment, because they assumed that somebody put us together because we were so good looking!
TVP: The talent pool is quite impressive. You could also be accused of being thrown together by a human resources manager: Two psychologists, a screen writer?
MF: I don't know if the kind of psychologists in this band have a influence on the group together, but there does seem to be some kind of unique magic to the process, and our relationships have held strong for so long, that there's something going on there.
TVP: The shear mechanics of taking a group of your size on the road have to be demanding.
MF: When there were twelve of us, and two drummers and an instrumentalist, and a tour manager, and a light guy, and a sound guy. It was astonishingly expensive to put us on the road. As a result, we didn't tour much. It is still pretty difficult now. We did have some of the greatest times of our lives on the road, it's a party, on a bus, constantly, with so many people.
TVP: Does it ever get ugly?
MF: With so many people, if somebody's getting on your nerves, you can go hang out with somebody else. It gets harder the smaller it gets.
TVP: Are you doing any writing presently?
MF: Yes we are. We just released a live album that we wrote two studio tracks for. We're already looking to the next studio album. Katherine Blake and some of the other girls are already putting pen to paper.
TVP: You have a new live DVD out.
MF: That gives people a good idea of what we're doing. Hearing us and seeing us are two different things.
TVP: What projects are on the horizon for your personal projects these days?
MF: Currently I have a sort of full time job which I got recently writing for a number of television channels which go under the head of UKTV, specifically dealing with old BBC shows. I write for the announcers. Some of the channels I write for have a very comical slant. I get paid to write gags. I'm really enjoying that at the moment.
TVP Your day job is as sexy as your gig.
MF: Because this band in particular is so expensive to maintain, we're all working various day jobs. Those skills all go back into the band.
TVP: The outcome is astonishing.
