WEB EXCLUSIVE: The continuous ritual of Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic (left), the "Part-time Residents" of Origivation's Philly Issue (December), had more to say about life and their music than our one page allowed. Here's the rest...

Origivation: Talk about your formation and how Cuddle Magic came to be 3+ years ago. 
Christopher McDonald: Ben’s always been a prolific songwriter and he and I and this other singer Sophie who lives in Australia now wanted to create songs in this chamber type of setting and it really started out with just us three and then we had this other viola player Joanna play and this dude Mike play and it was really this small group type of thing and that was just formed to try and make a recording at the studio at Emerson, which we had access to at the time. 

O: Was Cuddle Magic a backbone for getting away from college? Did it make a difference? 
C: I feel that it has made a difference because it’s allowed at least me to have one musical project that you’re really focusing on and you’re trying to make it successful for yourself and all these other people—it does give you a certain amount of motivation. It keeps you going. You have to get a job and I would really hate to just be doing that. Even if you’re just gigging, to have something that I’m really trying to actively work on and make successful is pretty good. 

O: In terms of the material and the songs themselves, does it help that you were academically trained, so that you can write the music and build off that through distances? 
Dave Flaherty: I think it helps that we all met at the Conservatory, but we really just learned overall a certain style of arrangement and group interaction to the point where if I hear a little snippet of a song I can imagine how we can play it. We’ve established a thing where we know our parts already. 

O: Describe your role(s) in the band using one word. 
Bridget Kearney: If I had to pick one word to describe my role in this band, I would pick FANATICAL. When the band first started, I was not in the band.  I was just the band's roommate and number one super fan.  I would go to the band's shows and my heart would surge with passion for their music, and jealousy because I wasn't taking part in it.  I weaseled my way into the band when the band's cellist moved back to England (teardrop) by saying I would learn cello, borrowing a cello from the school's instrument library and learning all the band's songs on it.  Gradually I came to be the band's bass player (a position I am much more comfortable in, since I am a bass player) and to contribute more fully to the music the band makes.  But I still feel like primarily I am the band's number one super fan AND I get to be in the band.  After shows, when people come up to me and say they really enjoyed the music, I don't have to put on this false modesty for the band's music, because I am a fan first!  I just say, "Fuck yeah!  We're a fucking good band!"
Mike Calabrese: My word would be LAFFY-TAFFY. Cuddle Magic has me feeling like "taffy" in several respects. To begin with, my mind, body and soul are constantly being stretched in new, exciting musical directions. The challenges with which i am presented, and subsequently the new accomplishments I make in the name of "cuddle magic" never fail to expand my mind as a musician and performer, and help me realize musical realms I never imagined I see. All in all, this group has helped make me a more malleable musician. In terms of feeling "laffy," well, that's just par for the course when you're a cuddle magician. Everyone in the band is, of course, serious about what he/she does, and each member can buckle down with the best of 'em.  But, when in comes time to be goofy, anybody in Cuddle Magic is ready. There is levity to the inter-personal side of the band that is very refreshing and comes in especially handy when working through some difficult passages in rehearsal; being too serious squashes the mind's capacity, and one thing one's mind needs a lot of when rehearsing with Cuddle Magic is mental capacity. It helps us have fun, get things done, and ensures a good hang outside of the music as well as in. Being an incredible goof myself, I feel my tendency to clown around has a place in Cuddle Magic, and that just another factor that adds to my fulfillment in being part of the band.  

O: Is it a pretty organic process in setting up shows? 
D: We like to perform as tightly as we can. That’s why we don’t like using monitors. We like to hear ourselves naturally, so all we need to do is turn up our vocals a notch. 

O: Are your parents supportive of your music? 
C: All of our parents are, pretty much. I can say that for a fact—all of our parents are very supportive. We probably wouldn’t have ended up in music school if they hadn’t been supportive.
D: I’d like to think that even if I were eating human feces and ripping heads off chickens on stage that my parents would be supportive, but honestly it’s a little easier to get support from your parents if your band is called Cuddle Magic and it’s listenable music. 

O: Are there plans for another album in the works? 
C: We almost have all the songs for a third album ready to go. If you want to know my hope of hopes, dream of dreams, we can push this record enough to be able to record the third album in 2010 and start it in 2010 with some producer of note. As much as I love recording, it would be great to not have to worry about that, to just be more a part of the music more. I’m really interested in this guy Valgeir Sigurðsson. He lives in Regnivik. He started the Bedroom Community label with Nico Muhly and Ben Cross. He recently released the Sam Amidon album. I really want to go up to him and record with him. It’s ambitious. 

O: Does the band consciously focus on creating innovative music? 
C: I think it’s just writing songs and wanting to play the songs. We’re into music so much that we want to make sure that we are into the sounds ourselves. We’re not really doing something new. We definitely like pretty sounds, even though we like really abstract things—especially singing-wise, and vocal-wise. We like something that is just really nice. I guess that’s the closest connection to the meaning of “cuddle magic.” 

O: What are your thoughts on 2012? 
C: If the world’s going to end, the world’s going to end. It’s not like we’re going to be around to worry about there not being a world. So why are we sitting around worrying about it right now?
D: We have mutual acquaintances that are unhealthily obsessed with the 2012 phenomenon. It can do things to you. It’s dangerous. 

O: Do you have any sexy anecdotes regarding the band and the band’s history? 
B: It might be fun to share some of the conditions of the recording of the album.  Like booking 24 hours sessions at Wellspring because they were cheaper and having all folks sleeping upstairs in the attic while others were overdubbing percussion tracks.  Maybe a colorful description of the Gartland and Philly basements?  Maybe an animated account of van packing, unpacking, packing and unpacking?  A list of the casualties of tours?  The fact that all 9 of us sleep topsy tails in one giant 10 person sleeping bag while on the road?
M: I haven't been in the band long enough to know all the kinky stuff that has gone down with each member, but I will tell you this:  the average cuddle magician appears to be a pilgrim before he/she takes the stage.  Once onstage, he/she lets loose a violent torrent of funk and inimitability that would arouse even the shyest of marmots. That is all I can say.
-Greg Bem