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Top: Lake & Eli, Urbantramper, photographed by Aaron Burgess.
Above: The Workers' Album: All That Is Solid Melts Into Air.
Below: Eli's duck, featuring blanket, cross and running stitch.
Check out other Sounds Crafty showcases on Felt:
• Julia Deans
Series 1 (2009):
• Ruth Carr, Minuit
• Flip Grater
• Fleur Jack, The Twitch
• Nathan King
• Hannah Curwood
• The Phoenix Foundation
• Hera
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From melodica, harmonica, glockenspiel, tambourine and trombone, Wellington folk pop five piece Urbantramper draw their soulful ballads, driving beats and beautiful harmonies. They've toured in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the UK, played alongside the likes of Calexico, So So Modern, Blitzen Trapper and Cut Off Your Hands, and this Thursday from 7pm, they're playing the Late Lounge at TheNewDowse. Lake and Eli took the time to pick some favourites on Felt and share their thoughts on craft.
Did you make stuff when you were a kid?
Eli: My favourite day of the year at Cheltenham School was Pet Day, which had a big crafty element too. I loved making animals out of vegetables. At one point I made this great duck at school (see picture below left). We had to use three different types of stitches: blanket, cross and running.
What's your earliest or most vivid craft-related memory?
Eli: My family is not crafty at all, and I remember finding the craft subjects at Manual difficult. We had to go by bus every Friday to a school in town, and all the townies would stare it us. I remember finding the map to thread the sewing machine incredibly complex. I remember the coloured squares in my cushion never lining up. I remember making a love heart mirror in woodwork and it being completely asymmetrical and un-lovely.
Assuming time, materials and cost were no object and you were given the opportunity to make anything you wanted, what would you make?
Lake: Clothes. Socks & shirts & shoes. I'm too indecisive to go shopping - that's why all my clothes are worn through and gaffer tape is holding my shoes together...
If you were a crafty superhero, what would your name and superpower be?
Lake: Useful Man! I'd be able to take useless rubbish and make beautiful and useful stuff from it.
Hot glue gun, needle and thread or hammer and nails?
Lake: I guess I've had the most success with a needle and thread. I always find it awfully difficult to put the thread through the hole in the needle though...
Do you think craft suffers from pre-conceived notions of lace-covered coat hangers and toilet roll covers? If so, any suggestions for how craft can improve its image?
Lake: Stay relevant. Anyone who makes things, be it music, art, houses or crafts, must think about who they're making it for. To use music as an example. I make music for myself, for the artform itself, and for an audience. I think all three considerations are as important as each other. And all are crucial to making a quality peice of art. I think this can be applied to craft and almost everything else...
Eli: Craft is not stuffy to me at all, but completely relevant. Darning and mending clothes, for example, is a powerful statement against a culture that encourages over-consumption and huge waste. I think that making stuff also helps us realise the value of things. When you buy a sock, you can't grasp the effort of growing, picking, transporting that cotton, tranforming it into a sock and getting it to your local shop. Not to mention how people and environment affected by this process. How amazing to card wool and knit socks, to look at your feet and around your home and realise that you actually understand how they were made and how they ended up in your house!
What's the best handmade thing you've ever been given?
Eli: Our friend Emily gave me earrings she'd made. The hook in the ear attaches to these little woolen discs like suns that she'd knitted. And a beautiful hand shaped silver ring our friend Natalie Keegan made.
Why would you buy something handmade?
Eli: Because it tends to be quality and unique and beautiful, and a lot of crafters care about their products and so are careful to recycle, or to source the things they need for their craft in sustainable and ethical ways.
Urbantramper's new album on the theme of workers is available for free download from their website (donations welcome) and they'll play a final show at Mighty Mighty in Wellington on July 24th before heading off on their European tour later this year.
www.urbantramper.com
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