"Alone, even doing nothing, you do not waste your time. You do, almost always, in company. No encounter with yourself can be altogether sterile: Something necessarily emerges, even if only the hope of some day meeting yourself again." (E.M. Cioran)

Thursday, November 30, 2006

re: a band I was in .....The Kiwi Animal (1982-1986)


I came across Brent's resume on the net. Actually, it was a website article/interview - made up of bits and pieces of interviews edited together - about The Kiwi Animal music. At the end of it, there was a contact address for me and a link to 'Brent's Resume', which consists of categorised lists of projects and products associated with him - all the things that Brent S. Hayward has made. But these lists are riddled with inaccuracies, as well as more than a few exaggerations and evasions.

For example, in his synopsis of some of the work of The Kiwi Animal, he neglects to even mention my name (despite flaunting the names of more famous/infamous people he maybe played a couple of times with once). This really is thoroughly crap of him. I have been way too generous in putting up with his rudeness for too long a time! But then, what would I expect? Brent can only be Brent.

The Kiwi Animal music is still a very big part of me. It is a place of communication - sensations, collisions and the places where things come together or blow apart. About something that might emerge out of the ashes of ruins. It is sometimes hopeful, sometimes fragile, sometimes hopeless. Whatever! .... It's MUSIC. It was the project of Brent Stephen Hayward and Julie Cooper. Guest musicians included Patrick Waller (who became a member in 1985), Caroline Sommerville, Simon Alcorn, Gavin Buxton and Sara Westwood.

Just for the record (and the music!), OK.

2 comments:

iker said...

hello Julie,

i really hope this message reaches you well. i first wrote you to the e-mail add included in the Music Media 12" reissue, but i guess you never got that.
my name's Iker and i'm writing you from Spain (i'm italian, though).
i discovered your music last year, thanks to a blog, and i immediately fell in love with it. it was love at first listening, really. i can't tell you how much the music you made means to me now... songs as Blue Morning or Time of the Leaves (or Crusader...) have a truly special place in my heart.
i adore the way you kind of "twisted" the structure of acoustic music and came up with incredible melodies and lyrics that are clever, evocative and beautiful.
oh, my, putting music and the feelings it brings into words is such a hard task... i find myself sounding cheesy like a teenager... ;-)

anyway...
thank you so much for reading this message and for the fantastic music you made. it's just beautiful beyond words.
all best wishes,
your fan,
-Iker.

p.s.: if you're curious, i'm an illustrator (everything done by hand, no computer) and i mostly work in the indie/alternative music field. i also run a music mag called Morning (now kind of "in a coma" because of my usual lack of funds...). i have a website here http://ikerspozio.net/
you can drop me a line to the e-mail add that appears in my website, if you wish. i'd really appreciate it.

Julie said...

Thank you very much for your kind words Iker and I'm sorry I missed your email (an old account that was cancelled, I'm afraid).
It's always great to know there are people out there who actually get this music.
I'm interested to hear of your own work and will check your website.
Thanks again and all the best!