Bristol based group, Tara Clerkin Trio, is made up of Tara Clerkin and brothers Pat Benjamin and Sunny Joe Paradisos. Inspired by the ‘Howling Owl’ era, a time when musical experimentation took Bristol by storm, the trio delved separately into many corners of music in various different projects experimenting with alternating genres from punk and space rock right through to electronica and alt folk. However, the trio finally came together to make experimental group Tara Clerkin Trio, creating a concoction of jazz, hip hop, electronica, psychedelia & classical music where they drift from dubby minimalism right through to smudged acid jazz, taking noises from the world around them along the way.
FACTS
1. Every clown has to register their unique makeup look with a centralised clown registry by posting an egg to them with their face painted on it.
2. Mushrooms can decompose plastic.
3. Deanna Troi’s accent was made up on the spot. She thought she was making up the Betazoid accent but every other Betazed we meet has a US accent, including her mother. The actress Marina Sirtis, who is very very from England, was really pissed off about having to maintain this accent for the whole series for no reason.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Other music.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
Tara was writing poetry as a teen, but didn’t start playing or writing music until later on – started messing around on garageband and making some folky stuff, showed her friends and they helped put a band together.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
That’s a different question if we’re thinking individually, but 5 that we all sing along to in the car are…
Casino Versus Japan – Go Hawaii
Micachu and The Shapes – Never
John Coltrane – Love Supreme
Broadcast and the Focus Group – Investigate Witch Cults of The Radio Age
Steve Reich – Different Trains
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Our friends who live there
Tasty Sudanese peanut sauce
Hedonism
The rent cap removal
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
The Hillgrove – pint, anywhere by the water – chill, Strange Brew – music, Oh Calcutta – curry
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Tara and Sunny would run a pub, and Pat would unionise its workers.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
We bought Heimat’s album ‘Zwei’ when we saw them play at Microfest a couple weeks ago, very cool.
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Bach
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Tara – Dean Blunt at The Cube in Bristol in like 2014 maybe
Pat – Islam chipsy, vessel, giant swan, container and shackleton. in 2014
Sunny – The Anatomy of the Orchestra in Bristol Beacon (ex. Colston Hall), The Bristol Paraorchestra performing The Four Section by Steve Reich – an orchestra spread around the foyer of the large hall; on all floors, stairs, walkways etc. The audience could walk around and hear the different sections blending together and fading away…iit was fascinating, and free entry so anyone could enjoy it.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Would be quite fucked without it.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
Pat and Sunny are step brothers, we tolerate it…
