STACK NZ October 2016 Issue 78

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08 OCTOBER 2016
EXTRAS
V ery much a passion
project for writer/director/
star Don Cheadle, Miles
Ahead is not your standard music
biopic, with the first-time director
seeking to ‘do’ Miles Davis, rather
than simply chronicle the life of the
legendary jazz trumpeter. Or as
co-star Ewan McGregor describes
it: “The kind of movie Miles might
have liked to have been in.”
In Miles Ahead, McGregor
plays a Rolling Stone writer who
attempts to land an interview with
the reclusive star at the end of the
1970s, a time when Davis had not
released any music for close on
five years.
Although Cheadle plays fast
and loose with the facts, there is
no doubting the authenticity of
his performance. “I feel, most of
the time, that I made a film with
Don Cheadle and I [also] made a
film with Miles Davis,” McGregor
explains. “Sometimes it was really
difficult to tell the difference.
He’s completely convincing as
Miles and also likes to stay in
character in between takes. So,
often my direction would come
from [Don as] Miles Davis, not
from Don Cheadle, so it was quite
interesting.” Adam Colby
Miles Ahead is out on October 5
KIND OF TRUE
Ewan McGregor on how Don Cheadle became
Miles Davis for his biopic Miles Ahead.
W hen a couple in a band breaks up,
usually that’s a sure sign that the band
is over,” admits Alisa Xayalith. She is
talking about her split with her Naked and
Famous partner Thom Powers three years ago,
which at one stage threatened to tear the
whole band apart.
“I lost my confidence in performing and
singing,” the singer continues. “I thought
that making music would make me unhappy
The new album from the Naked and Famous followed
much personal upheaval. But singer Alisa Xayalith isn’t
dwelling on the past.
PAIN AND GAIN
because all I could think about was
the band and the terrible state we left
things in.”
Fortunately, Xayalith and rest of
the band managed to work through
this adversity and have now emerged
triumphantly with their third album,
Simple Forms.
Given the trauma involved in the
lead up to the recording, you could be
forgiven for thinking it will be a dark
and gloomy trip. But while the lyrics
are certainly not short on heartbreak,
Simple Forms is probably their poppiest
album yet and is packed with their
trademark euphoric anthems.
Xayalith sees no contradiction in
that. “In the history of the music we’ve
made so far, if you listen to tracks like
Punching In a Dream, the music in
that is quite uplifting and euphoric but
lyrically it’s about panic attacks and
social anxiety. Another one like
I Kill Giants, it’s rooted in grief yet the
music is soaring and uplifting. The stark
contrasts between music and lyrics are
always something that’s been prevalent in
our music.”
And while she says it’s never easy baring
your soul in public, she believes that it’s
important to be able to connect with people
on a meaningful level. “The past is behind
me now and I just want to look forward
and make art that matters to me,” she adds
“No matter where it comes from it has to
be honest and real. To me that is beautiful.”
John Ferguson
Simple Forms by The Naked and Famous
is out on October 14