Elliott's Chris Higdon Speaks on the 20th Anniversary of "False Cathedrals," Shares Rare Photos
Album - False Cathedrals / Release Date - 8/22/00 on Revelation Records
Words and Interview by Tom Mullen
False Cathedrals is the 2nd album by Elliott and released 20 years ago today. An album and a band largely ignored by press or revisionist history to come, this album shattered what they had sounded like with their previous release U.S. Songs. This album was more cohesive and powerful than the band was ever before. Essentially ignored in the eyes of the music world outside of the scene, False Cathedrals has since been a constant soundtrack in my life and many others. A follow-up compilation entitled Photorecording essentially remixed half the album to hear the already classic album in a new way kept the sound and the thoughts of what could have been burning bright.
The Photorecording was a way of documenting the way the band did things at the end which wasn’t everyone’s favorite version of the band but we felt it was the most honest way to do things with the newer members. We didn’t want them to just play other people’s parts with out letting them put their own style on it. Probably a unpopular decision on our part
- Chris Higdon
20 years later, the album still resonates and fills up the speakers and my mind with the 2000s on the brink of a scene about to break and leaving music and artists that built this up to be left to the wayside. One memory was seeing the band in North Carolina in the late 1990s. Elliott was booked at the wrong venue that fit 700 or more and should have been at the smaller club down the street. I was doing street team for their label, Revelation Records, and I either didn’t have money or forgot cash and with maybe twelve people there, Chris wouldn’t let me pay and offered to get me in, no questions asked. As the transition from the basement, the club, to the venue, watching Elliott play their heart out to 12 people saw the innocence of good music making it through and the marketing seeping in that I’d see with full eyes and understanding soon after and continue to experience for the last 20 years.
History matters and not just to those that have a publicist to continue to tout their importance. Sometimes you just need to shout yourself from the rooftops. That’s how this site was started 13 years ago and Elliott was one of the first bands “forgotten” when emo took over the world for a few years. “Why wasn’t anyone talking about them? They’re amazing!” I know life isn’t fair but 20 years later, this album and songs still resonate and continue to provide guidance and a smile on my face, not sadness. No, hardly sadness. The music has a way to pull you in and continue to hold you from the angelic start of “Voices” until the final notes of “Speed on Film.”
Don’t get me wrong, I loved it all. It was just that youthful one track mind, single focus that is almost only attainable when you’re young. Some can find a balance but most sacrifice one thing for another.
- Chris Higdon
Interview with Chris Higdon via email 8/21/20
20 years old, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about False Cathedrals?
How could I be this old? Then just the feelings we were experiencing at the time. Making that record was intense, the schedule and the pressure we put on ourselves. It's hard to explain, but ultimately my mind always circles back to the line up I guess. It was a self created push pull dynamic we had that was as exciting as it was frustrating:)
What is your favorite song on this album?
For me probably “Blessed by Your Own Ghost”
What song was the hardest to complete?
Maybe not the hardest but “Superstitions in Travel” if I remember correctly, maybe surprised us the most. There was a lot of tinkering with it but its meaning and how it ending up coming out makes it a fun listen now. It's taken on a whole new meaning for me.
What bands were you listening to at the time of this recording?
This is where I have to say we were all so completely different in our musical taste obviously we had a common ground but personally I was listening to alot of Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Jawbreaker, Jawbox, Seaweed, Sugar I leaned on Kevin and Jay to expand my musical horizons for sure.
What was your dream and aspiration at the time of release?
Personally it was to tour, play and get our music to as many people as we possibly could at all cost. Which leads to the next question.
What was it like reimagining songs you had written once and getting to do again on Photorecording?
Photorecording was a way to capture our live sound after False Cathedrals was released. The reimagining was just the only natural way we could see to move forward after losing such integral members that Jay and Jonathan were.
Anything of note you remember about the reworked songs from False Cathedrals?
So the intro is the piece Kevin Originally created for the beginning of the record if I remember correctly. Everything else was just the way we played these songs live a few years later, and the “Drive” version was just a lot of fun. That's all I got for now ;)
Thanks so much Tom for all your effort in keeping a spotlight on the music from this era it means a lot.
Photo credits Live : Dan Sena Studio: Chris Higdon Press: Brian Bohannon