Who Are…Lightning Dust?
With the release of their sophomore effort, Infinite Light, what started as a side project now nearly overshadows Webber and Wells' day jobs as members of '70s-influenced Canadian rock band Black Mountain.
As a duo, Lightning Dust straddle a space-time continuum that encompasses pop culture touchstones like Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood circa 1968's, left-of-center hit “Some Velvet Morning.” eMusic's Andria Lisle caught up with Webber and Wells by phone from Vancouver.
On developing a unique band name:
Joshua Wells: I can't really remember how we came up with it, although I do remember that it took an incredibly long time. Initially, we were called Amber and Josh. That was all we had after a month-long brainstorming session.
Amber Webber: I think we went through a zillion names before someone suggested, 'Lightning something.' It stuck, but we're not sure why. The name does suit the music somehow. I don't know what Lightning Dust means exactly, but I like it.
On being a classic male-female duo, ala Nancy and Lee: Amber: Sonny and Cher are great; Nancy and Lee are awesome too.
Joshua: There's also the Poppy Family, a '60s pop group from Vancouver that featured Terry and Susan Jacks.
Amber: But we don't particularly have a thing for duos — it just seemed natural at the beginning of Lightning Dust, when I was still new at guitar and Josh was newish at piano. We were testing ourselves and getting out of our comfort zone, and we had all these songs that were easy to do as a two-piece.
On Canadian winters:
Joshua: Vancouver is a fairly soul-sucking place to live in the wintertime. It rains for six months straight. We tend to make most of our records then, because there's nothing else to do.
Amber: They're long. Last winter just kept on snowing and snowing. It was a bit of a drag, but making an album made it a little nicer. If I didn't have music to keep me busy, I think I'd move.
On other leisure activities: Joshua: I'm reading [Jeffrey Eugenides'] Middlesex right now. The last book I finished was [Mikhail Bulgakov's] The Master and Margarita, which is an amazing snapshot of Russia during the 1930s. It was never properly published until the '60s, and even then not in its full version.
Amber: The Twilight series [by Stephenie Meyer]. I'm on the last book, Breaking Dawn. It's very good reading — terribly written, but addictive.
Joshua: I went to see the Duncan Jones movie, Moon, which was pretty good. The last movie I really liked was Let the Right One In.
Amber: I just watched (500) Days of Summer, and there was a 15-minute ad for Ikea right in the middle of the movie. It was just terribly written and way too hip.
On balancing Lightning Dust and Black Mountain:
Joshua: There's a natural time when one picks up and the other leaves off. We were doing nothing but Black Mountain for the last two years, and when stuff was winding down, we started recording the last Lightning Dust record. We finished in February and then did more Black Mountain touring. Now, the opposite is happening.
Amber: When you're in a band like Black Mountain that has moderate success, all of a sudden two years go by and it seems like a month and you're like, “Oh shit! I didn't get to do anything with my own music!”
Joshua: When we started this band, the purpose wasn't to be quieter than Black Mountain — it was to work with space more. Particularly in recording — we've recorded most of our own records, and we see it as more of a strength to utilize minimal instrumentation. We got a bit more ambitious with the last record, but we're still keeping that space as an exaggerated element of most songs.
On aquatic recreation:
Joshua: I like the ocean, but lakes are even better. There are very few spots near the ocean here that aren't crowded, and very few clean beaches near the city. If you go out of Vancouver a ways, you can find a lake that's not too cold to swim in, one that's clean and not too crowded with beachy types.
Amber: The lakes here have crystal clear water. You can swim out so far and look down, and you can still see the bottom of the lake. There's nothing that's gonna hurt you in there. Oceans have jellyfish. I got stung by the craziest jellyfish in the ocean on tour, when we were in San Diego. Man oh man, I had a blister the size of a tennis ball on my upper thigh. I couldn't drive, and it got worse before it got better.
