Philadelphia-based band Spirit of the Beehive is known for their glitchy sample-based production and has solidified their stance as some of rock’s weirdest and best deconstructionists. Their music blends genres that break the pattern of indie rock, creating an unsettling and new experience for the listener.
Spirit of the Beehive will be touring next week, playing new and unreleased music at SPACE on Wednesday, July 22. This will be their first time at the venue since their 2017 show here opening up for Japanese Breakfast and Mannequin Pussy. Tickets are available here.
In addition to her musical role in the band, Rivka Ravede is also a painter who designs the album covers. She adds a layer of visual art to the group’s work that represents the feelings expressed through their music.
SPACE intern Jintae Park spoke with band member Rivka Ravede ahead of the show.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
SPACE: How does your approach to playing music change from tour to tour, and what do you expect to be unique or different about this upcoming tour that you guys are doing?
Rivka Ravede: This next tour we’re gonna be playing some new music, so that’ll be different and exciting because we haven’t played anything new in a long time. We’ve been working on a new record, so it’ll be fun to play them live for the first time. We’re trying out some new stuff on this tour.
SPACE: For the recording of your new album YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING, I read that one of you was in a different location altogether. How does being physically far apart change the way you make music, and have you guys done something like that before in the past?
RR: That’s me. Actually, for the past four years, I have been living in Portugal, because my boyfriend Noah lives out there. It’s not been a struggle exactly, but we’ve been trying to figure out how to make it work because obviously it’s not like the way that it used to be, where we could just practice once a week.
We’ve been kind of figuring it out as we’ve been going, but I don’t know. We’ve kind of got a handle on it now. I’ll come in for practice a week before we leave for the tour. We have to work a lot on our own and send stuff back and forth. It’s kind of nice sometimes, though to be far apart, because we spent so much time together when I was here. Now our time together feels a little more intentional.
SPACE: Can I ask why you moved out to Portugal? Is it because of your boyfriend or…?
RR: Yeah, I mean Spirit was kind of going through a shaky period. Me and Zach used to be in a romantic relationship for a while, and then we went through a breakup, and then we weren’t sure if we were going to keep doing the band. And then I started dating Noah and he lives in Portugal, and I’m not really doing anything else, so I decided I was just gonna fuck off for a time.
SPACE: In your Bandcamp description, it says like you all listen to very little outside music when you work, and I’m just curious what the reason behind that is?
RR: I think that’s a Zach-specific thing. But Zach, I mean, he’s got an entirely different approach. I think he doesn’t want to be influenced by other stuff. I feel like for me personally, I will take influence from other stuff, or I’ll try. I had influences when we were making this new music, but whatever I try to produce does not sound like that at all.
SPACE: I know sampling is a huge part of your music. For example, in “Let the Virgin Drive,” you use City Pop samples, and also screaming from a news clip. How do you guys go about finding the samples and then integrating them into your songs?
RR: Zach and Corey will usually find all the samples, but I feel like we all have a similar taste and like what we like to sample. Creating an anxiety-inducing soundscape is a common theme.
We usually take stuff from movies, video games, etc. For example, Taxi Driver, we’ve sampled multiple times. We’re also all fans of Japanese City Pop. We’re just pulling from many places to create a slightly anxiety-inducing atmosphere.
SPACE: Do you want the listener to feel anxious when they listen to your music?
RR: I don’t know if we necessarily want that. You only have me here, but I feel like I don’t want people to feel anxious. The atmosphere we create is what happens when I express myself, and I think when the two of them do, also. The way we go about expressing ourselves is by taking the anxiety that’s within us, and just putting it out into the world. If you get anxious from that, then sorry.
SPACE: Do you feel like your albums and singles have different visual languages or color palettes? And if so, what color palette would you describe YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING as having?
RR: That’s interesting. I guess I would see it as green. Just because of the avocado cover. I think I would have to close my eyes and meditate for a second if I was gonna think about the color.
SPACE: Something I’m really interested in is zine-making. So I like to ask that question because I want to make a zine based on the people and bands I interview and shows I attend.
RR: So you’re gonna make a visual thing that goes with this? Well, then let me give you a color palette: green, blue, yellow, and brown.
SPACE: Is there something other than music, for example, a piece of art, architecture, movie or even physical landscape that influences your creative process?
RR: There’s a lot of stuff that influences us. I feel like I take from everything when I’m making music or painting. I watch a lot of movies, and I take a lot of visual information from movies, video games. All of us really like the Resident Evil and Silent Hill games.
SPACE: Do you guys have any pre-show rituals or superstitions?
RR: Oh yeah. Well, one is like the nicer the green room, the worse the show is going to be.
Anytime we’re in a really nice, comfortable green room, I’m always assuming that the show is going to be dog shit, because I’m going to get too comfortable, and then it’s not going to be good.
Do I have any other ones? We used to always listen to the Philadelphia 76ers song before we went on stage.
SPACE: That leads me to ask, what’s the best or worst green room that you guys have ever been in?
RR: Well, the best was in Brooklyn at a place that no longer exists that was called Brooklyn Made, and it was like a full ass apartment with a jacuzzi and a pool. It sounded fucking horrible in there. It was like they were still building it when we walked in. I don’t know where they got this Al Capone money for this fucking place, but it was crazy. It was such a nice green room, and the show was terrible.
And then the worst green room wasn’t with Spirit, but was when I was playing with Panda Bear in Europe. There was a green room that we got in Dublin that smelled like dead bodies and bleach.
SPACE: What albums do you listen to frequently?
RR: I mean, this is kind of basic, but that Cam Winter solo album I’ve been playing a lot. I just saw him play at Primavera.
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Spirit of the Beehive with Dari Bay and The Infinity Ring | Wednesday, July 22 | 7:30 DOORS, 8 pm SHOW | $20 advance, $25 day of show | Tickets at SPACE538.ORG
Jintae Park is a rising senior at Bowdoin College interning at SPACE this summer, planning to graduate with two degrees in music and computer science. A classically trained pianist, they compose orchestrations and covers with an eye toward eventually scoring film. Their favorite genres of music are techno, trip-hop, experimental music, reggae, and metal. That range influences their own compositions, where they compose experimental electronic pieces in Ableton and Max/MSP.