Photo by Eric Martin

Kyp Malone has had a pretty busy hiatus so far. Since TV On the Radio announced they were taking a year off in early September at Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, Kyp has released a solo album under the handle Rain Machine (on Anti- Records and is already halfway through a national tour with his new band. He spoke to Evil Monito over the phone about his new band, rawer songs, and politics.

Evil Monito (EM): Where are you speaking from?

Kyp Malone (KM): Birmingham. Where are you?

EM: Berkeley, California. In a café.

KM: They let you talk on cell phones in cafés?

EM: It’s sort of a big outdoor café, everyone’s talking here. You played a show in San Francisco recently, at the Independent. You had mentioned that you’d done some recording in the area for Rain Machine. How much time do you spend around northern California?

KM: I used to spend a lot of time there. I spent 6 years in Northern California. Now I’m usually back for work, but I always look forward to it.

EM: Is there any place in the Bay Area that you’re particularly drawn to?

KM: There’s lots of places. Bernal Hill, Golden Gate Park, Mt. Tamalpais. Baker Beach. Land’s End. Aquarius Records.

EM: It’s been a little over a month since it was announced TV On the Radio was taking a break. Would you say that you are you having a successful hiatus?

KM: I feel like…I don’t know. It’s a funny thing, the idea that we’re officially taking a break, when we’ve taken lots of smaller breaks in the past. I’ve had plenty of time to do that. No one else in my life I know can afford to take a year off of work, and neither do I. I like to keep creating and doing stuff. So yes. I am having a successful hiatus from TV On the Radio.

EM: Have you really gotten rid of your other bandmates as you all promised? How often do you talk with each other?

KM: We still talk with each other. We’re friends, you know. It’s often a good idea to take a break from what could turn into a business relationship, and remember what actually binds you to someone.

EM: Musically, the Rain Machine project seems much more raw than TV On the Radio. How different was it being in charge of all of the parts of the album rather than working as a group?

KM: Well, you know, it feels like something that I’ve done in the past, but easier, since I have all these wonderful people in studio helping me out, Ian Brennan producing it. It’s rawer because I wanted to be more raw. TV on the Radio is 5 people and engineers, and as a musician you’re pushed for a bigger budget sound that is more polished. If it sounds raw, good, it’s what I wanted.

EM: You’ve talked before about the “death machine”, and your opposition to it: the phrase shows up in some of your song lyrics on the album. Was this idea weighing on your mind during the recording process?

KM: It wasn’t weighing on my mind, no. Death is very close to all of us all the time, and it should be. I’m not at peace with my own mortality, though I hope to be there eventually. But the “death machine” is a very different kind of death. When I talk about a “death machine”, I talk about a culture that values production over the lives of other species. A capitalist economy that turns living beings – rainforests, women – into products. That’s what I mean by the “death machine”.

EM: Is the moniker Rain Machine related at all to this idea of the “death machine”?

KM: It can be. But it can be whatever anyone wants it to be. I’m not interested in making a name that is a mission statement. I hope I keep thinking and growing and have different things on my mind. Economic and environmental concerns are important, and they’re very much in the front right now. But there are a whole mess of other things I’d like to be thinking about.

EM: Have you heard that Obama just won the Nobel Peace Prize?

KM: Did he cut defense spending in half?

EM: No, I don’t think so.

KM: Oh, it must be pretty fucking easy to get a Nobel Peace Prize then.
Did he get it for killing Somali kids, or supporting coal mining on Indian land?
Congratulations to him but there’s a lot more work to do. I’m happy he’s in office over George W. Bush, but there’s no time or place for self-congratulation, because there’s so much to fucking do. He’s heading a death machine. If we can find a way to reverse the course, that’d be great, then I’ll be happy that he won the prize. I would just like the Nobel Peace Prize to actually mean something.

EM: Changing the subject, is there any difference in touring between your two groups? A different dynamic, maybe?

KM: Too early to tell. There are different people to be sure, so it’s a different dynamic. TV On the Radio is 6 years deep into learning how to work with one another. This band is all new.

EM: Where are you going next?

KM: New Orleans.

EM: Looking forward to touring the rest of the country?

KM: As much of it as we can see. I’m excited to get to Detroit. I’m excited to see family in Chicago.

***

Rain Machine’s new self-titled album is out now. Check out http://www.myspace.com/rainmachinemusic for more info and upcoming shows.