Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/884700
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2017 31 This Week pale moonlight The Shrinking Violets are comprised of Chris Galea, Jo Caruana, Thomas Camilleri, Chiara Hyzler and Denise Mulholland. Ernest and the Pale Moon will be staged at Palazzo De La Salle, Valletta on October 27-29 and November 3-5 at 20:00. The play is directed by Denise Mulholland. Bookings: http://ticketline. com.mt/ Lady Lizard will be performing at The Garage, Zebbug on October 13, alongside Krishna and Double Standard. Doors open at 20:00 and entrance is at €7. Reptile rockers slinking onto the scene with 2018 soon approaching but we believe that choice of script and the standard of work will set us apart as strong play- ers in the local market. The name is ironic of course as we are all big advocators of women playing prime roles in the arts sector. What does the gathering of theatre practitioners behind The Shrinking Violets have in common, and what kind of hopes and ambitions – collective or otherwise -- do you all have for the company? We all bring different skills to the table based on our strengths – from directing, acting, music to marketing and production. Beyond this we want to work in a collaborative way with other talented professionals in the industry. Luke Saydon has composed an original score for this piece for example, and we have Moritz Zavan collaborating with Late Interactive on lights design. We hope that the company will be recognised for excellence and that the work will excite and enthral its audiences. You have chosen Ernest and the Pale Moon as your inaugural production. What appeals to you about this production, and does it set the tone for the kind of work that company will aim to put up in future? Ernest and the Pale Moon is a piece written by the play- wright Oliver Lansely - who also forms one part of the theatre company Les Enfants Terribles who came to Malta last year to do some student workshops. We like the narra- tive style and strong emphasis on story-telling, as well as the creative ensemble work in the piece. The gothic style of the piece appealed to us and we are delighted to put the production on across Halloween. The piece doesn't necessarily set the tone of future work in terms of content; however the ensemble-focused and collabo- rative nature is indicative of how we like to work as a team. Good quality scripts will hope- fully be the common denomi- nator for the company's choice of repertoire. What do you make of the local theatrical scene? What would you change about it? The local theatrical scene has moved from strength to strength as we are now reap- ing the benefits of performing arts schools' students and more funding opportunities for new work, education and export of work. The standard of performance is good and the talent is cer- tainly here; however as a na- tion we are still struggling to view arts performance as a val- id career option in itself. This is reflected in the arts sector economy of scale; more specifi- cally in pay rates terms and the vast number of jobs and skills people who are independently working the industry need to encompass to survive. How did Lady Lizard first get together, and what were your aims as a band? Lady Lizard has been coming a long way. Kurt [Pace] had been experimenting with the genre for some time and had a collection of riffs and song ideas. He then got together with Malcolm [Alden] to start working on the songs. They are both fond of the stoner/sludge/ doom genre and wanted to start a project in that vein. Looking for a drummer and a bassist was the hardest part, it must have taken months! Justin 'Bazaz' Borg and Max Vassallo eventually joined on bass guitar and drums respectively. We all kind of knew each other from before so there was instant chemistry. What kind of sound did you aim to put together, and how is that process going so far? The focus has mainly been around the stoner rock/doom spectrum, incorporating the bluesy groove of stoner rock. The style of the band is still evolving but with time we are moving closer to where we want to be. You've all played in bands previously – what is it about the Lady Lizard experience that makes it so especially satisfying and fun for you? In our other projects we have always tried to be as fast and as heavy as possible. With Lady Liz- ard it turned out to be quite dif- ferent as the genre is more mellow and laid back however we still fuse our heavier influences. We feel that, with this band, we can delve into areas that we could not before due to genre restrictions. There is a kind of musical freedom that al- lows you to experiment with dif- ferent sounds and playing styles. It's a breath of fresh air. Carrying on from that, given how this is a side-project for most of you, would you say it's easier to be in a band now than has been in the case in recent years? If not, what are some of the challenges local bands continue to face? We don't really consider this as a side project. We work as hard for Lady Lizard as we do for our other projects. However, today it's hard- er to meet up as a full band as we are older and have more responsi- bilities than we did when we were teens. In the local music scene it- self, perhaps bands from different genres face different problems but it would be hard to pinpoint ex- actly what problems there could be. You have the usual issues like practice spaces, venues that un- derstand your music and access to equipment however bands have been getting by just fine. It's all relative. Are you looking forward to your upcoming gig on October 13? What do you make of the fellow bands you will be performing with? We can't wait to show our music to the world. We have been work- ing on this material for almost two years now and hopefully the peo- ple will appreciate what it is we're trying to bring to the table. We're huge fans of Krishna and we just checked out Double Standard's EP and it's great! We tried to mix up the styles of the bands a bit to kind of get people from all genres to try and appreciate what each band has to offer. Who knows, maybe it will help increase the fan base for the respective bands. What's next for you? At the moment we're just focus- ing on getting our music out there. We're planning some gigs for early 2018 and hopefully start working on our demo! Until then, we hope to see you all at The Garage in Zeb- bug on October 13 for our debut gig! Weaned on the heaviest of metal subgenres during their former (and current) musical projects, the quartet comprising newly- formed Stoner and Sludge Metal band Lady Lizard tell TEODOR RELJIC that they're keen to cultivate a slower sound this time around, as they gear up for their debut gig "As a nation we are still struggling to view arts performance as a valid career option in itself" "We feel that, with this band, we can delve into areas that we could not before due to genre restrictions" "Today it's harder to meet up as a full band as we are older and have more responsibilities than we did when we were teens" The standard of performance is good and the talent is certainly here Lady Lizard are (from left): Max Vassallo (drums), Kurt Pace (guitars), Malcolm Alden (vocals) and Justin 'Bazaz' Borg (bass)