Lethal Drizzle

Kyp Malone’s day job is as guitarist with one of best rock groups in the world, TV On The Radio, but six months ago he put out an album under the alias Rain Machine. Has he been happy with what the record has achieved?

“Yeah, I didn’t have any particular expectations,” admits Kyp, speaking from New York. “But the fact that I’m talking to a stranger in Ireland about it would seem to indicate that it’s done okay!”
The Rain Machine album is notable for some gritty lyrical content, with the singer unashamedly utilising profanity on several occasions. Any particular reason for this stylistic approach?
“I don’t remember writing anything for shock value,” he replies. “I used the words that I felt were called for when I was writing about different things. I guess maybe it’s a little different than what I do in TV On The Radio, but maybe I have a bit more of an inner editor when I’m working with other people. In that context, I know that the work gets attributed to us collectively, but with solo stuff, I don’t have to worry about that so much.”
I’ve always found the lyrical content of TV On The Radio’s work to be quite intriguing, with ‘I Was A Lover’ off Return To Cookie Mountain being a particular favourite. Given that the words are so impressionistic and fragmentary, I wonder does Kyp have a particular setting in mind when he’s writing, or does he merely string together phrases that sound good?
“At that time, it was stream of consciousness,” he explains. “I didn’t think of it as having much meaning. But singing it for a year, it became obvious that it wasn’t really a magic thing. Like, sometimes you have a dream, and it seems so fickle, but after telling it a few times, you break it down into its component parts and you realise it’s an obvious thing about the mall life and consumerism in general. I feel like I can ascribe meaning now to every line, whereas before I was like, ‘I don’t know where it’s coming from, it’s just pouring out.’”
Of course, one renowned gentleman who made a guest appearance on the sublime Cookie Mountain was David Bowie, an advocate for TVOTR from their earliest days. Does Kyp credit Bowie with bringing them a lot of attention in New York?
“Well, New York, I don’t know,” he responds. “We live in New York and play gigs here. I feel like audiences in the city gave us the patience to grow from being a not-very-good live band to being an acceptable live band. A lot of people could see our potential and kept coming because they believed in it. So I wouldn’t want to put that on any one person, but I definitely am also thankful for the nod that we got from David Bowie. I’m sure that opened up a lot of people’s ears.”
Do you see much of Bowie these days?
“Oh yeah,” deadpans Kyp. “He’s in bed with me right now!”