Ian Fisher & The Present - Rotted On The Vine

You know, I have this difficult relationship with country/folk. I love the travelling metaphors and the emotional intensity. But since I am not fully in touch with my emotional side, the only acceptable way for me to listen to this kind of music is with a distant, analytical and almost ironic attitude. But the lines of Ian Fisher songs and these two voices! They are very beautiful. 

We were young and we were drunk so it did not mean a thing
Oh! Not a single thing

Nowhere Train zwischen Tür und Angel

Man kokettiert dann doch ein bisschen mit dieser Bahnromantik. Man begibt sich in Wirklichkeit auf öffentliches Terrain - es fahren ja Fahrgäste mit und die interagieren mit einem. Außerdem kommt es im Flugzeug nicht sonderlich gut, wenn man “Black Air” oder “Time To Go” singt.

Am 10. Dezember 2012 hat die österreichische Supergroup Nowhere Train ihr Album Station im Wiener Stadtsaal vorgestellt. Zu diesem Anlass haben die Mitglieder des Kollektivs über Lyrics philosophiert und uns verraten, warum sie Züge lieben und weshalb sie einen Zug “Pumpgun Ronnie” taufen würden. Plus: Cameo Appearance vom Koksomobil! Und Luftballonaction! Livemitschnitt! Bokeh-Wahnsinn!

Squalloscope feat. Ian Fisher - Z-E-P-H-Y-R

Ian Fisher: Nowhere Train

“Where are you going?” - “Nowhere.”

Back in 2009, five musicians, a film maker and a writer went on a train journey through Austria and played concerts wherever they stopped by. (This is when the Westbahnhof wasn’t “modernized” yet and the Südbahnhof still existed!) The project was called Nowhere Train, and the plan was to film the journey, but other than that not to have too much of a plan. The world premiere of Eine Möglichkeit zu leben – Das Nowhere Train Tagebuch (Away To Live - The Nowhere Train Diary) will take place on April 18 at the Viennese music film festival Poolinale.

The film accompanies Stefan Deisenberger (Naked Lunch), Jakob Kubizek (Love&Fist, also the director of the documentary), Frenk Lebel, Stephan Stanzel (A Life, A Song, A Cigarette) and Ian Fisher, as well as their guests (Philipp Szalay, among others), on their train rides, their stops at farms, lakes, festivals, parks and bars, and their ups and downs.

Hosea Ratschiller, who wrote the tour diary on the FM4 website, is also the film’s narrator and provides pleasantly smart commentary about the possibility of a different life. Add the combination of music with the filming out of train windows and that’s all it takes for my wanderlust to reappear and make me want to immediately leave my daily routine behind and go somewhere pleasantly unknown myself. Preferably with other people who can play an instrument.

The second edition of the music film festival Poolinale will take place at various locations in Vienna from 18-22 April 2012. The festival program also includes Bon Iver, George Harrison, Sigur Rós, Tegan & Sara, The Swell Season, 4AD Sessions and Grandma Lo-Fi (an icon in Iceland) on the big screen, as well as the Likewise Haustour documentary. More information on poolinale.at.

Ian Fisher & The Past: The Way To Go (After living in Vienna for a while, Ian Fisher is now based in Berlin.)

Nowhere Train, 2009. That was such a good idea.