The team behind Love is My Velocity – Katie Lenanton and Matt Giles – have hit the stands again this winter with volume 2 of their super-sought-after LIMV Cookbook. It’s a collaboration which brings together local Perth bands, their favourite recipes and a whole bunch of emerging artists. It has a somewhat cult following in the local music scene, with volume 1 selling out completely. And with a whole heap of new recipes, volume 2 seems set to do the same. Lenanton and Giles took some time to chat with OUTinPerth about their new food-fest.
Where did the idea of the LIMV cookbook originate from?
KL: The idea arrived with a flash one night when we were watching bands at the Hydey and we’re still not sure where it really came from, though I remember being convinced it was a great idea at the time despite Matt thinking I was a bit mad. Matt and I had previously worked together on Curtin’s Grok Magazine and had developed a sense of how the print production process worked. So, we applied these skills to the Cookbook and decided to publish it independently through LIMV, which acted as a record label and DJ night at that stage. The idea behind the Cookbook is to provide young and emerging artists with a platform to exhibit their work, and to promote and profile local bands in an interesting, interactive format.
MG: Actually, I wasn’t at the gig where Katie had her epiphany. But it’s true that I thought Katie was mad. She proposed to me the idea of an art/music cookbook and I had no idea how it would work so I disregarded it as one of the weird statements she was fond of saying at the time. Also in that category goes the suggestion that bands should put a live parrot on their lead singer when they perform. But at some point she asked with grave seriousness whether I was still up for it, so I said yes on faith that it would work itself out. It wasn’t until we started laying the book out that it was clear to me how it would work, and that it would work well.
You’re now on to the second cookbook. How does this differ from / extend on the first cookbook?
KL: We kept the format of the Cookbook the same the second time round as one of our favourite elements of the publication was its ability to be interactive – people can hang the recipe cards on their wall or use it as a more traditional cookbook. For the second book we sourced 60 new local artists and 51 almost-new local bands and introduced a specific Vegetarian/Vegan section after realising that a heap of bands didn’t eat meat. We also encouraged the artists to assess how they best worked and to produce something in their preferred medium (not just an A5 illustration) in an effort to diversify the practices we represented. And for the first time we really encouraged the artists to initiate a dialogue with the bands when developing the work.
It almost acts as a field guide to Perth bands – how do you select your bands (Like, do they need to know how to cook?)
KL: Haha no, we don’t base our selections on culinary prowess, but we’ve never been disappointed by any of the bands’ recipes. We make a big list of all the bands we can think of, making sure not to repeat anyone we’ve already profiled unless they’ve changed their name or constituents, or are Stina (she’s in both because we like her so much). We try to choose bands that are young/emerging, those that are doing something different and have worked hard to make a name for themselves, and bands that are indicative of the last couple of years of emerging WA music.
What are some of the highlights in this year’s cookbook?
KL: I’d like to think the whole book is a highlight from start to finish as there’s such a diverse selection of work in there! My favourite work in the exhibition would probably be Ocea Seller’s take on Bermuda’s ‘Lord of Beef Stews’, which combined a gaudy Last Supper collage, flashing lights and a fat pot of stew in to produce a hypnotic, pulsating work.
MG: I like Sam Tait’s puppies eating in a backyard. It’s a pretty photo, it’s an innocent scene but there are these rich, dark shades to its corners which put an ambiguous valence on the story of the photo. There is just a really nice texture and tone to it, and it makes a funny kind of sense for both the band (Carbuncle) and the recipe (vegetarian mushroom burgers) – the band is young, their songs are wholesome, there is great growth ahead for them but there is something more complex lurking around the edges. It’s absolutely apt yet not at all didactic, it’s great.
How much hard work is it in order to have an appreciation and insight into all these bands?
KL: Thanks to the internet everyone can get an insight into the bands! We try and see them live but MySpace is a pretty handy way to listen to their recordings and see how they want to present themselves. We fell in love with a number of bands upon listening to their home recordings, and this partly inspired the Bank Notes temporary recording studio project (www.loveismyvelocity.com/banknotes) that ran within the Cookbook exhibition space. It’s a pretty massive project but at least we’d done it before!
MG: It was sort of hard – there were a lot of noise bands in this one, so on the first one I blew my theoretical wad on that whole genre, making it harder to talk about the other ones without repeating myself. Same goes for psych-rock bands, an insight into one is an insight into the others. Not sure how I overcame that, I guess I just tried to look at things laterally and focus on the differences. It came together easily enough.
The Love Is My Velocity Cookbook is available now from Planet and all good bookstores.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
