We invited Steve of Fret! and Meinkinder to build on his contribution to our Record Store Day 2012 features and tell us more about his experiences bending sounds with whatever he could find. The results are fascinating – enjoy.

It began in the early Eighties in Bristol (UK), when I was 13 or 14.  ‘Mon Dark’ was the name of the duo I’d formed with my best friend. With heads full of The Cure, Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire, we pulled together unintentional minimalist pieces constructed using a Casio VL-Tone and an acoustic guitar.  The VL-Tone was an amazing piece of kit, particularly because of its programmable ADSR function which would allow for some crunching tinny distorted synth sounds.  It also had a simple sequencer for basic song programming.  I didn’t know it then but this must have been the point when I started moving towards dissonance and discord and away from conventional sound.  Mon Dark produced a 4 track tape demo, complete with a hand-drawn and coloured black / red cover, which we sent off to John Peel, Richard Kirk and Robert Smith with youthful hope in our hearts.  All bar Peel replied to acknowledge receipt and that was that.

Skip two or three years and I’m in my fourth band (Festhouse). Fuelled by the mid-Eighties American explosion of bands like Swans, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, we were reacting against  Bristol’s twee Sarah records scene by playing our immature late-teen take on No-Wave meets Hardcore.  Where the Jesus & Mary Chain had earlier taught me that feedback could be used as an instrument, it was Sonic Youth’s Bad Moon Rising that really pushed the envelope.  Here was a record that sounded like a voodoo rite taking place in a disused railway yard.  Train horns sounding in the distance, Bob Bert’s primal drums. Stripped down and de-tuned guitars.  Single note drones.  I played it constantly.  Throw in a bit of Swans style industrialism and these were the sounds that would dominate my musical life onwards.  Taking my cue from Thurston Moore, I now started deconstructing the guitar.  Treating it like an alien object – trying to ‘unlearn’ it. I would deliberately place notes so that the chords were jarring.  A major chord was an absolute no-no (and still is!).  It was also around this time when I started taking apart microphones and using the contacts to create primitive amplification for metal, wood and found objects along with exploring unusual sounds and field recordings.  Unsurprisingly, Einsturzende Neubauten was another favourite on the turntable.

It’s now 2005.  I’ve moved to Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) and playing in Tears of Abraham. Although starting out as a fairly standard dark ambient duo in 2002, by now we have done away with all conventional instruments and are pushing our live shows using taped sound sources played out through a variety of amplifiers. With the amps used as the instruments, we’d shape the sound using the different tone controls.  Guitar and bass amps were used to widen the depth.  Volume, endurance and duration were the key principles being adhered to, with shows played in deliberately darkened venues to create a feeling of unease and disturbance.  Sub-bass was explored massively, following Sunn 0)))’s pursuit of the ‘brown note’. A favourite sound source was a detuned extended tape of Jim Jones’ final sermon at Jonestown, building up the volume as the cyanide kicks in. More often than not, each show would end with a fraction of the original audience left and a bemused silence.

By 2006, the sound exploration had shifted from ToA to a solo venture, Meinkinder.

Whilst still exploring similar themes of duration and endurance, I had entered far darker territory with the religious obsession and conspiracy kicked up to the max.  The first outing was a self-released ltd edition CDR, part one in a triple set concept, inspired by the 1993 Waco massacre and with each track named after a child killed. This was followed by a prolific rush of tracks that found daylight via a variety of DIY CDR, net and tape labels. I returned to my late-teen experimentation with non-instruments, recording everything live straight to tape. Sounds would be created by wiring contact mics to metal, then feeding them through effects units; using short-wave radio transmissions in an attempt to capture EVP.  For one track, I captured the feedback produced by placing a camcorder close against a TV with the volume turned up.  Apply to this a balanced aural diet of black metal and harsh noise and you’ve got a pretty heady brew.  The tag line for each release was ‘for the optimum listening experience, play loud in a darkened room’.  The aim being to create aural hallucinations, confusing the brain through a constant pummelling of sound, into thinking it is hearing sounds that aren’t really there.  And scare the shit out of the listener at the same time.

Fast-forward five years to 2012 and we’re back to playing a more mature raw primal take on No-Wave, with Fret!  Sure the use of tape noise is still there, along with the detuned guitars and long drone-y workouts but now the feel is a little lighter and more about exploring stripped down primitivism rather than shock-tactics and annihilation.

Meinkinder has been on hold since 2007 but a recent frenzy of uploads is spurring on the completion of the Waco series and more.  Whatever may come you can guarantee it will be experimental, dark, nihilistic and bloody loud!

Steve Strode

Fret!  – http://iamfret.bandcamp.com

Meinkinder – http://meinkinder.bandcamp.com

(((0))) Thanks for taking thetime to talk to us at ech(((o)))es&dust. We love the bands but we also love that they actually have somewhere to perform and someone who looks after some aspects of their life, so they can spend more time making music. We love that people keep us informed and play us new stuff. We want to talk to you about what it’s like to be one of those someones and what makes you tick.

Can you start off by telling us a bit about the various ways you are involved in the music scene, and how you came to be involved?

Back in early 2008, a mate of mine got in contact and asked whether I’d be interested in helping out on a new Australian-focused metal website he was starting called MetalObsession.net. It was more or less just a blog back then, where we posted news about bands that we liked. But, over time, it seemed to evolve on its own. Labels like Riot! Entertainment started sending us promos, more and more bands started sending us content, and we just had to keep expanding to keep up with the content. I guess we found something that was missing from the Australian “scene”, and people jumped at the opportunity. It’s great to see that a few other sites have sprung up in recent times as well.

Outside of that site, I have also began hosting a fortnightly radio show late last year on PBS 106.7fm in Melbourne, playing all sorts of extreme metal. There is a lot of local material and gig plugging on there, of course, but it’s nice to have an outlet where I can promote some of the music from other countries that I enjoy as well. I’ve recently spread further into organising gigs, metal and not, through Untitled Touring (I honestly just couldn’t think of a name…), and have become a part of The Push, which is a not-for-profit organisation promoting youth music in Victoria, who are behind events like Push Over festival and Freeza. Oh, and I write a few articles for Heavy Magazine too, and design the flyers for a few local promoters.

I also have a proper, paying not-music-related job as well. I don’t have much spare time…

 (((o))) The metal and heavy rock scene south of Adelaide was underground but very strong when I grew up there. Apart from the obvious musical differences, how do you think the metal scene in Australia today differs from others like indie/alternative and pub rock?

To be honest I’ve never had a whole lot of experience outside of the metal/heavy music scene, yet. I guess the main difference is that there isn’t as much support for the style in the broader music scene. We don’t get the coverage in larger scale media, and venues are generally more hesitant to book heavy shows. I guess those kind of factors have led to the whole “support the scene” mentality. But really, in the end, I don’t think there is a whole of difference between the scenes. We might have a few extra hurdles, but it’s not like every indie rock band that starts up is guaranteed instant fame. I’m sure there are just as many bands (or solo musicians, or DJ’s) performing in front of three people at a filthy venue in every other music scene there is. We just don’t see it.

(((o))) How would you describe its health?

I can’t really compare it to how it was, seeing as I was only 18 or so years old when starting Metal Obsession, but I think the Australian metal scene is extremely strong. Anybody who says it isn’t just has their eyes and ears shut. The amount of astonishingly talented bands I have discovered, particularly in the last twelve months or so, is bewildering. I don’t have time to listen to them all. With bands like A Million Dead Birds Laughing, Adrift For Days, Encircling Sea, The Schoenberg Automaton and Okera around, you can hardly say the country is lacking talent.

I think the media and promotion side of things has really gone from strength to strength as well. If you look hard enough, there are plenty of heavy radio shows around (on PBS fm, Triple R, etc), websites like Chucking A Mosh, Loud Online and Ausgrind, labels like Art As Catharsis and Monolith, and the recent explosion that is Heavy Magazine.

I’m constantly seeing and hearing people whinging about how rejected metal is, and how we don’t get enough radio play and such. But we do, there is heaps going around, everybody just needs to open their eyes a bit more. Why do we so desperately need metal shows on the more popular, commercial radio stations, when there are a ton of independent stations doing it already? Just go and listen to those, that’s where you’ll hear good music. Who cares what number is on the dial?

I think the hardest part is the live arena, and the amount of metal-friendly venues that have closed down around the country recently, but there are always other options. I personally won’t complain if it means the rise of more DIY performance spaces, and house gigs. I wish I had something along the lines of Sydney’s Black Wire Records, with their in-store, all ages performances, closer to where I live.

(((o))) What part do you want your site Metal Obsession play? How well do you think it plays that part?

The goal of Metal Obsession is really just to be a central hub, where if people are looking for a gig to attend on a Friday night or want to hear some new music, they can just jump on the site rather than search the dark corners of Facebook or wherever. We try to make things easier, and give bands that aren’t quite sure how to go about promoting themselves a bit of assistance. I spend a large portion of my time simply emailing musicians and promoters who need some hints and tips, or contacts in other states, etc.

Our part is to do whatever we can to help out whoever needs it. There literally aren’t enough hours in the day to keep up with the amount of things asked of us, but we try our hardest, and I like to think we’re making a difference.

 (((o))) You’ve been running it for over four years now – well over what you would term a passing interest. What aspects of running the site do you enjoy the most?

The thing that I absolutely love, and that really keeps me going, is seeing or hearing about people discovering a fantastic band through the site. It’s a simple thing, but it makes me want to do it again.

As far as actual tasks, I do enjoy writing reviews. I’ve always enjoyed writing, regardless of the final goal. And it’s a great way to force myself to pay more attention to an album, and discover little nuances I otherwise might miss. Unfortunately, with the amount of emailing and site maintenance and such that I have to keep up with, I don’t have anywhere near the amount of time to sit down and write reviews as I’d like.

(((o))) Which aspects give you the shits?

The technical side of things. Obviously, seeing it’s not a very financially strong venture, we don’t have a web designer or anything. I do all of the coding myself, and I never really know what I’m doing. It’s a case of searching for things in Google, and seeing if that piece of code happens to do what I want to do. It’s painful.

Also the fact that I can’t live off the site. I never expected to, but the fact that I actually have to work another job to pay my rent and bills means I don’t have the time to keep up with the site. My “to review” pile will be taller than I am soon. I actually almost shut the site down around twelve months ago. It was getting out of control, and I was losing a bit of motivation because I was feeling so overwhelmed. I posted a somewhat unsure Facebook status about my thoughts on the future (or lack thereof) of the site, and the amount of supportive emails and comments that I received was, thankfully, enough to get me back on my feet and working harder than ever.

It’s a very, very, very time intensive “hobby”.

I hate writing interview questions too. I just suck at thinking of anything interesting to ask.

(((o))) It’s every music lover’s dream, or at least for most of us I’m sure, to have a radio show. What are some of the things you do in your show?

I was certainly quite excited when I read that I had actually been given a regular slot! It’s a bit of a tough job. I do the show from 2am-6am on Friday mornings, and then head straight to work for a nine hour shift, but it’s worth it. I have a bit of a weird love of putting together playlists; making sure they flow well and such. I’ve also never been a strong public speaker or anything like that, so I thought it would be a nice challenge to force myself out from behind the shield that is my laptop.

The show is more or less just me playing tracks I love, often focusing on touring artists and new albums, and rambling in a somewhat sleep deprived state in between. Once (or if…) I eventually make it to an earlier timeslot, I’m hoping to feature a lot of guest programmers and interviews and things like that. But for now, it’s just focused on the music. It’s good fun.

(((o))) What sort of work goes into preparing and presenting a radio show like yours?

Not a whole lot really. Like I said, my timeslot makes interviews and whatnot somewhat impossible, and it’s those things that take planning and presenting. I just fiddle around with a playlist on iTunes until I’m happy with the balance and flow. Then I scribble a few rough notes on specific gigs to plug after certain songs, and that’s it. None of my on-air comments are actually planned, which probably explains the amount of times I say “ummm”…

(((o))) It’s no surprise that despite being busy with these ventures, you have also started organising/promoting gigs. Tell us about the first you organised – what went to plan and what didn’t?

The first gig I ever organised was actually a fundraiser for the website. We needed a web hosting upgrade to keep up with demand, but didn’t really want to pay it out of our own pockets. I brought Lord down from Sydney, with Frankenbok, Dreadnaught, Toehider and Septerrus supporting. It was a big lineup, at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. I dove into the deep end there, and it was absolute hell.

On the day of the show, massive storms hit Melbourne. I’m talking destructive hail and intense winds. Public transport was pretty much shut down and people were warned not to travel outside. The venue was leaking, there were problems with electrics, it was almost the only place on the entire street that was actually still open, and Lord had their flights cancelled several times, thankfully managing to arrive in Melbourne an hour or two before their performance. I’m surprised I didn’t have a heart attack. But, despite all of that, there was still a pretty good crowd, the bands all put on great performances, and from all reports everyone had a good night.

I remember a lot of people, including a security guard, being blown away by Toehider. They were sort’ve the curve ball on the lineup, and not even really metal at all, but they surprised everyone. They’re one of my favourite bands, and severely underappreciated, so I interpret the night as a success even just for that.

(((o))) You clearly don’t do all this for a six figure sum. I’d guess clearing a two figure sum would be a cause for celebration. Why do you do it?

I don’t really know why I do it. I never aimed for all of this when the site began back in 2008, I’ve just sort’ve fallen into it all, and music slowly took over my life. There are very few things in life I love more than discovering an album that really moves me, but if I can help somebody else discover that same thing, that’s even better. There is a lot of brilliant music in the world. I want everyone to hear it.

I also just like having things to keep me occupied. I always feel a bit guilty if I spend a few days just watching TV or playing video games. There are always more productive and fulfilling things to do.

(((o))) What five tips would you give others who want to get into promotions, running a site or getting on the radio?

1. Don’t expect things to come easily. It’s a tough slog, with a lot of competition. You have to bide your time, and be smart about things. Start slow and build. Be patient.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Most of the people in the music industry, myself included, are simply fans. If you’re unsure of something, email or call somebody that you think might know. Chances are that they’ll be happy to help. If they aren’t, well they’re a dick.
3. Build relationships, don’t make enemies. Don’t make your goal to try and be better or more popular than somebody or something else. In the end, that will just backfire on you.
4. Be a bit professional. If you want other people to take you seriously, write in proper English. Format your emails, don’t use “2” or “ur” in sentences, and finish them with full stops. That might seem like an obvious point to make, but you would be surprised how many people type like twelve year old girls on Facebook chat. It’s not the type of impression to make if you want people to be confident in your skills.
5. Do what you love. Write about the bands that inspire you. Organise gigs in the styles you enjoy. It’ll keep you more motivated and, without even knowing it, you’ll put a lot more effort in.

(((o))) Is there anything else we should know about Mitch Booth?

I think I have written enough here! Cheers for the opportunity to answer a few questions, it was nice being on the other side of things for a change. To anybody who actually read all 2000+ words of this, you deserve a beer.

Interview by Gilbert Potts

(((o))): Firstly, tell us a bit about you & your band. How long have you been going, how did you all come together & how would you describe your sound?

Decoded was formed a few months ago before I started revealing the songs to the upcoming EP, “The/Split”. I was previously performing and recording under my own name “Derek Jordan”. Producer Davey Julson-Rieley caught one of my shows in Los Angeles last Summer. We met afterwards and decided to record a new EP at his godaveygo studio in North Hollywood. It was the first time I had really collaborated with someone else during the songwriting process. Naturally, the songs we had recorded had a different sound than my previous releases. It was a whole new direction I was going in. That’s when I decided to reposition myself and call my band Decoded.

(((o))): Rock For A Difference sounds like a fantastic project. Can you tell us a bit about what the ethos behind it is, how did it all get started & what causes you’re supporting?

Decoded‘s second show was in late March at AMPLYFi in Los Angeles. The show went really well and we agreed to do a month long residency there in May. This being my first residency, I wanted to make it special. I thought it would be a good idea to make each show more of an event, so I started reaching out to see if some Los Angeles non-for profits would be interested in being a part of it. It turned out that they were very receptive and, within a few days, I had booked a different non-for profit for every night of the residency. Each of the organizations strive to make a difference in Los Angeles so I decided to call the residency “Rock for a Difference Los Angeles”. We’re covering a lot of causes including dog adoptions, helping troubled youth through arts mentoring programs, cleaner air, and providing the unemployed and underemployed with tips and resources on how they can be frugal with their money.

(((o))): Is it the first time you’ve taken on something like this or are you a seasoned pro?

This is definitely the first time I’ve done something like this.

(((o))): From the list of gigs you gave us, you appear to be running just through May. Any plans to extend this?

No plans yet. We’ll see how it all goes.

(((o))): Who have you managed to get to come & play? Is there anyone beyond that you’d like to get involved?

We have a lot of awesome bands joining us, like Bad Suns, thatwasthen, Ballerina Black, Finish Ticket, and more. I’m pretty satisfied with the group of bands we have. I talked to a bunch of other bands but their schedules didn’t fit.

(((o))): Was it easy to get the causes to engage with what you were doing?

It was very easy because its such a great opportunity for them to spread the awareness of their causes and organizations. Whenever you get a lot of people together with music and incorporate good causes, its a win-win for everyone.

(((o))): Is this something you see being say an annual event or just a one off?

I’ve been asked this quite a bit! Right now, I’m just working on what’s in front of me. It definitely has the potential to grow until something of an annual event, but we’ll see.

(((o))): If there’s any other detail you’d like to impart not covered by these questions then feel free to add it.

At every Rock for a Difference Los Angeles show, we will be raffling off prizes where the raffle proceeds are donated directly to the non-for profit of the night. This is a great element to the whole thing. Not only are we raising awareness but we are helping fund these great causes. As for the music side of Decoded, we’ll be releasing the debut EP, “The/Split”, very soon here. It might happen on my birthday, May 22….

There’s no getting away from it. One quick flick through the gig guides of any music magazine throws them up. You know what I’m on about…reunion tours and worse still, classic album shows. Every week another old hero of the pop chart dusts of his or her rickety guitar, decides that they are now relevant again, and sets off on a tour. All this is to the delight of hordes of gig goers who were never there in the first place (and to be honest, if they were…why go back? We all know it’s never going to be as good the second time). The money flows in, the fans are satiated for a need they didn’t know they had and everyone is happy…then why am I complaining?

In some respects I’m not really bothered. I have to admit this as it gave me the opportunity to see The Specials which turned out to be one of the best gigs of my life. I also went to see Saint Etienne performing ‘Foxbase Alpha’ which, again, was fantastic. I do believe though that it has now gone too far and the reason for this newfound point of view….The Farm.

Yes, there you have it…the straw that broke the hypothetical camel’s back…The Farm are back together playing their classic album ‘Spartacus’. Now forgive me if I’m wrong but wasn’t that their only album? I may be wrong there but I remember when it first came out and it was hardly a classic then. How many times over the ensuing years have you heard people talking about this album? I bet you can name them on one finger and that may have been with the re-release of their biggest hit ‘All Together Now’.

It’s not really their fault…it’s a bit unfair to aim my bile at them. If I was in The Farm and seen what was happening in the current music scene I would ring up my old mates and talk about doing it one last time. Having been out of the limelight for so long then why not top up their pension fund and get a little for themselves. If the people want to see it then why shouldn’t they. I’ll tell you why…to retain musical integrity.

It is this idea of musical integrity that fuels this argument. Whilst Saint Etienne never went away, the idea of them playing their classic debut album runs fine with me as they are also still in the process of releasing new albums. These sorts of gigs serve as a reminder to fans who may have dropped off that they are still around and maybe they will go and buy their new release….Yeah right! As if that is ever going to happen! They starts to slip into a sort of hyper-real Pontins scene where every night is 1992 and you can relive your youth. Forgive me if I’m wrong but isn’t music about the here and now?

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of nostalgia. It does us good to remember the old times. It brings a sense of warmth and a belonging in life back to us as we relive a time that through the means of rose tinted music seemed like such a good time. All this serves a purpose, to smooth over those memories of the shit nights off your head on ecstasy trying to ascertain whether you really like ‘Screamadelica’ or if it is just a bore. Do yourself a favour and pour yourself a vodka, put the CD on, and dance around your front room; don’t gamble £50 going to see if a bunch of aging lads can still cut it.

The biggest news of last year involved a seminal band of the 1990’s reforming. Yes, we all know by now that The Stone Roses are touring once again…are you all excited? Well don’t be…they were shit back then and will be an enormous let down this time. Musically The Roses were excellent, an almost perfect debut album followed by a wonderful fall from grace….rock n roll dreams are made of this. Years of rumours finally put to rest made a mockery of all former members’ entreaties that it would never happen. The reason for the re-union? “The time was right”…yeah, the time was right for the great cash cow in the sky to deliver you some money.

To counter this argument you may say “well, I never seen them first time around”. Granted, The Roses played very few gigs in their lifetime but let me tell you one thing…they were never actually that good live (for further proof go to an Ian Brown gig…what you can’t? Oh no, he’s back with his beloved mates again!). The events (as they are being called) will be a huge nostalgia filled evening where you won’t be able to hear the band due to drunken louts wired on cocaine hurling glasses of urine over the crowd whilst yelling out of tune to ‘I Am The Resurrection’. Indeed, it may be this song (which inevitably will close their set) which will provide the seething hordes with a chance to relive their forgotten youth (oh the irony here) and just like Jesus, rise up into heaven as one with each other.

As I said before, there is no real problem with this turn of fortunes in a bands life. What it does mean though is that the newer band may now look at music as a future career plan with thoughts heading to their twentieth anniversary. All this means that instead of concentrating on the now, they keep a steady eye on their future bank balances. Think of it like this…a band hits their peak, they make a follow up album that’s not as well received…well, that’s OK, they’ll split up then five years later make a comeback playing their “classic” album. It’s not really a good advert for career progression and riding the peaks and troughs of rock n roll.

One last thing that irks me about classic album gigs in particular. When I go to a gig I like to have a surprise and not know what is coming. Isn’t half the fun of a gig that moment when the band plays a song you didn’t think you would hear? It makes the evening special and you remember it as a moment out of the blue. That same song may be on the album they are playing that evening at one of these classic album shows but it certainly doesn’t have the same impact. You have already waited through three or four songs for it to start. This is what I found at one of Echo and the Bunnymen’s many interminable gigs playing ‘Ocean Rain’. As much as I love this band and I try to go and see them as often as possible I just wish that they would forgo this new craze and mix the set up a bit. I’m paying my money…don’t I count?

Posted by Martyn Coppack

North Wales is not renowned for producing musical gems but Deeside’s Silver/Back/Club may be about to buck that trend. Their eponymous début EP is three tracks of muscular, brooding indie rock influenced by the likes of Bloc Party and Editors. It piqued our interest so we caught up with the boys for a chat.

(((o))): How long has the band been together and how did you all meet?

Three of us (Adam, Dave and Gaz) have known each other through the local music scene for about five or six years. We’ve played together in other bands and previous incarnations of this band, and then we met Tom last summer. He became our drummer towards the end of last year, and thus we formed SILVER/BACK/CLUB.

(((o))): Where did you get your name from & what does it mean?

Once Tom had joined it became clear pretty quickly that we were going to start again with new material, hence we would need a new name. We decided to go on a “band bonding exercise” to the zoo. Whilst watching the majestic silverback gorillas in their enclosure, we witnessed one beating the hell out of another with a club, whilst two others were taking a slash in the corner. And from that we have SILVER/BACK/CLUB (notice the slashes, very important).

(((o))): Describe your sound for us & who would you say were your biggest musical influences?

The question all bands dread! We’ve had a few adjectives thrown at us: “Atmospheric”, “Strange”, “Odd”, “Retrospective but futuristic”…we just try to write simple rock songs with tasteful layers.

We all take some influence from the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, Radiohead, Interpol, The Cooper Temple Clause…the list goes on and on.

(((o))): And what about non-musical influences?

Our mums!

(((o))): Music can be a fickle mistress, what is your biggest high & low as a band so far?

Biggest high: Listening back to our EP once it was finished and realising it’s not half-bad for a debut release.

Low: It’s hard to think of any since we’ve not been around for very long. In the studio where we recorded the EP, they had a Playstation and a couple of games. Naturally, we thought Tekken Tournament!…but then we realised there was only one controller. That was pretty grim.

(((o))): What one fact about the band do you most want to share with the world?

We love buses. All our best songs are about buses and how fun it is when they break down and leave Tom stranded whilst he’s supposed to be in practice with us.

(((o))): The old model of record demo-do gigs-get signed-make millions is pretty broken these days, what’s your plan to deal with this?

Our mums and girlfriends are gonna rally together and harrass every single record label, creating a bidding war the likes of which has never been seen! They’re so fed up of having to rush to get our teas out on time before band practice, they’d be relieved to get rid of us!

(((o))): We journalists like to use easy labels to describe bands, what’s the worst thing you’ve seen yourselves described as?

We’ve not been around long enough for any journalists to describe us as anything. Please feel free to be the first!

(((o))): We’re loving what you do but who’s floating your boat right now?

We’ve gotta spread some love for a couple of local bands. Falls – they’re absolutely mental, in the best possible way. And Doppelgänger – an amazingly big and full live sound, great harmonies too.

(((o))): What’s up next for you guys?

We’re just sorting out the physical release of the EP, the artwork is being designed as we write this! Then, hopefully, we can get together a little UK tour. Fingers and thumbs crossed!

Photo by Robert Geary

The prospect of seeing Tangled Thoughts of Leaving for $13 in the Gershwin room last Saturday was exciting enough, but having no less than five other quality instrumental rock bands on the bill meant it had the potential to be a highlight of my year. For me it was a case of three new and three I’d seen before – a perfect mix.

Presented by Welkin Entertainment, the show heralded the re-launch of the ozprog.com website (a must for Aussie prog fans) and single launch for Mushroom Giant. Things kicked off at 7:30 with Bear the Mammoth, a young Melbourne progressive guitar band, who gave the early arrivals a taste of their brand of atmospheric crescendo. With songs swinging from delicate quiet passages to screaming explosions of guitar their 30 minute set was over all too soon. Showing they offered more than the post-rock typecast, the last song bounced and rocked along with a bit of a smile – loud but not heavy. The guys have an EP release imminent and I recommend keeping an eye out for it.

Anna Salen followed up with chugging metal riffs that made the ancient wooden floors vibrate and thud like a building site. It was a great song and if you thought the metal onslaught would continue they proved you wrong by moving straight into a more intricate, but still loud, series of phrases and themes. There was plenty of funk and crazy arpeggios with some wicked distortion ripping through your body. If you weren’t dancing or at least doing a bit of knee flexing and bobble head, then you probably take yourself a bit too seriously. The fun continued and we were even treated to a little slap bass before the chugging was back for the closer of their set. It’s the first time I’ve seen them and I can’t wait to hear them bang the noise out again, hopefully with a full set. Full album please guys!

Photo by Robert Geary

By now if you still thought all instrumental rock sounds the same then the guys from Xenograft were sure to slap some sense into you, and with their usual gusto they came out swinging. To see them on stage, they look so different you might wonder if they all turned up at the right place at the wrong time, but timing is what they are masters of. The drumming is precise, dynamic and keeps the rabble under control throughout the ever-shifting time signatures and passages of impro. The apparent chaos is regularly brought into check with well-rehearsed synchronisation. The sax cuts through when it needs to and hangs back into the wall of sound when keys or guitar take their turn in the spotlight. Tom Martin (the only member who seems to have a surname) on keys, additional percussion and frying pan is in some ways the busiest and the band’s latest song is temporarily named after him until something better gets suggested by their fans. By the time you worked out how to jump or sway or dance to the infectious Xenograft it was time for another short break.

After a walk outside in the cold air and half a pizza, it was time to get back in for another band I hadn’t seen – Mushroom Giant. Dressed in black the four-piece signalled it was time to get a little more serious and they set on a 45 minute adventure of swirling soundscapes. Their live sound is a sometimes uplifting, often dark and sleazy post-rock post-metal delivering wave after wave of sound, with keys, a throbbing bass, strong chords and dancing guitar. Their songs are a good length and full of variation, rolling through a progression of feelings to tie the stories together rather than a continuous bass or drum line. Aesong was a highlight, starting with keys before moving to two guitars as they ran through different styles, playing off each other. Their single The Drake Equation started off calmly before building to a shattering eruption, sending hot lava flying through the band room. Closing song Woman Heroin bristled with intensity and you could have gone home at that stage satisfied you’d seen brilliance, but unbelievably there was more to come.

Phot by Robert Geary

Tangled Thoughts of Leaving were up next, having travelled to the East coast from Perth for a much-anticipated tour to showcase their record Deaden the Fields. If you’re not familiar, they play piano-led progressive rock that’s built on incredible songwriting and performing. Opening with Throw Us To The Wind it was immediately clear the live set was going to have a fuller sound than the record without losing the detail and nuances. Having drummer Ben Stacy at front of stage alongside Andrew McDonald on guitar, Luke Pollard on bass and Ron Pollard on keys meant an alternative view and greater opportunity to take in the work involved to create the drum line for music like this.

The energy radiating from stage was palpable with Ron screaming out as he smashed out chords and arpeggios on the keyboard. It was as though he had been wound up so tight the spring was going to break and in the closing minute or two of the nine-odd minute opener he abandoned his keys and stood at the edge of the stage screaming into the mesmerised crowd, unheard above driving guitar. The dramatic climax drew an awestruck response before the recital of the record continued with the now calm beating heart of …And Sever us From The Present.

Deep Rivers Run Quiet has some of my favourite piano, especially around the four minute mark and the band didn’t disappoint. I made my way to the back of the room to sit down and close my eyes for a while to breathe in the performance and was just hitting that special place where the music swallows you up when security decided I was obviously drunk and falling asleep and perhaps I should leave. I guess it shows that coming to hear a band play – I mean really listen to the music – is a bit of a novelty in rock venues. That confusion sorted I set my mind back to Tangled Thoughts as they drifted through the melancholic technical showcase that is Deaden The Fields before rounding out the set with the epic, and I mean epic, They Found My Skull In The Nest Of A Bird.

This was my first time seeing Tangled Thoughts live and they were everything I had hoped they would be.

With that it was time for final band Jarek to close the night. I’ve seen them before and their blend of acoustic and electric instruments with beautiful flowing compositions had me hooked. It was good to see a fair part of the crowd stay for a closing support after six hours and five other bands and the faithful were rewarded with opener Spank Fucker and other songs from their fine new record (reviewed by us here). At times mellow, at others intense and dramatic, these guys almost fall over themselves letting each other be heard. They were a fine choice to wrap up the showcase of instrumental bands and I look forward to seeing them again soon.

I can’t end this review without making further comment on the sound. It was clear from the outset that the sound guy was a cut above the average. All instruments were clear despite the high volume, and I’m talking across the board – not just for the headline acts. The impact this had on the night can’t be overstated given the nature of the music, so hats off to you sir.

If it isn’t perfectly clear by now, this was a cracker of a night. The band selection and order, atmosphere, performances were all spot on. I love instrumental rock – I can choose my own adventure – and I’d happily tell you if there were any flaws. Musicians will always worry about technical hiccups but any that happened on the night were irrelevant and interrupted no performances despite five fast turnarounds.
If a show like this ever happens near you, GO. Just don’t close your eyes.

Posted by Gilbert Potts

Australian instrumental rock band Dumbsaint have recently released their debut album. It is full of intriguing, intelligent music so we sent our man down under, Gilbert Potts, to talk to bass player James and find out a bit more about them. The results, we think you’ll agree, were fascinating…

(((o))): Can you tell us a bit about who’s in the band, what instruments you play and what other roles you have?

Nick plays the drums, Ron plays guitar and I play bass (as well as a few guitar parts on the album). We all work together on the videos, with Nick usually taking on the role of director. We also have some great friends who help us out on occasion by taking various crew roles, in particular the very talented editor and colourist Matt Fezz, who has done some visual effects for us.

(((o))): You haven’t always been a three piece instrumental band. What should we know about the history of Dumbsaint?

Nick and I have known one another for about twelve years now and we have played music together for most of that time. After a few failed high school bands, we started ‘A Stranger’ (after the A Perfect Circle song) with our schoolmate Brendan. We must have spent a good three or four years just jamming and writing in our bedrooms and garages before we somehow met Michael from the Sydney band The Geminus Loco, and convinced him to come sing for us in 2007. After another eighteen months spent reworking our material and finally playing to people – and just when things were starting to get really interesting – Michael decided he wanted out. And then there were three. Again.

Instead of going through that onerous process of finding and adapting to another singer all over again, we decided to make a go of it as an instrumental band. This would have been at the end of 2008. Nick had the great idea of putting our music to films, which was something that had come up before but just hadn’t seemed viable until this point. It all clicked, and we decided to go for it. It was important to us that if we were going to incorporate visuals into what we did, that they should not just act as window dressing. We aspired to reinvent Dumbsaint as a truly filmic band – our ambition was for every song to be a short film.

After we came back out as Dumbsaint, we spent another year and a half playing shows before Brendan decided it was time for him to move on. Luckily, Ron found us not long after that and we started jamming together in late 2010. Once we felt that things were sounding right, we started working on recording an album. We’d had all of this material hanging around for so long now, and I think Nick and I were especially anxious to finally find a home for it. Ron was game, so we went into Studios 301 with Tim Carr and made the thing. As I write this, we’ve just come back from a short tour (our first), which took us up and down the coast playing and promoting it.

(((o))): And the obligatory; where did you get your name from?

‘Dumbsaint’ is, as far as I know, a made-up word that was first coined by the American writer Jack Kerouac. I discovered it in a piece of his writing called Belief and Technique for Modern Prose, which is a list of thirty short points, most of them very cryptic. Supposedly he was encouraged by some writer friends to describe his unique ‘spontaneous prose’ method, and so he came out with these great, abstract tips like ‘Believe in the holy contour of life’ and ‘No time for poetry but exactly what is’, which I love. Number six on the list is ‘Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind’, and that word just stood out to me. I pitched it to the band and it stuck.

We can’t be sure what dumbsaint actually means, but I suspect it might be a twist on the term ‘holy fool’, which was a name that was given to those religious devotees who often acted out against accepted social norms in the name of Christ. I suppose, to be a crazy holy fool of the mind would be to behave in all of these seemingly wild and unconventional ways, but out of self-belief – out of a certain moral commitment to your own creative ideas. I’d say that is pretty relevant to the three of us in this band (as it should be to all creative artists, no doubt).

(((o))): Where do you find inspiration?

What I find most inspiring in the band room are those moments when I hear something I haven’t heard before. For me, the joy of being a musician comes from just getting in a room and jamming, discovering sounds and how they work together. Sometimes writing a song is the hardest thing in the world, but then there will be nights when we suddenly hit upon something really strikingly different and interesting and affecting. That’s what I’m always searching for in the music I listen to.

Nick recently put me on to Marriages, the Red Sparowes side project, and there’s something in the songs and in her guitar sound which I’m finding really exciting. I’m also being very creeped out by The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. Visually I am constantly being inspired by the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Chris Marker and Richard Linklater, for the way they look and feel as well as for how those filmmakers focus in on really small ideas about life and film as well as some really big ones.

I think, at one time or another, Dumbsaint has taken inspiration from bands such as ISIS, Jakob, toe, Battles, Cog, Decoder Ring and Tool. In our short films, David Lynch has obviously been a big influence. As well as Hideaki Anno’s work, particularly Neon Genesis.

(((o))): As you’ve alluded to, there is another dimension to Dumbsaint that’s not in your recorded music, and that’s the films and the projections you use during performances. Although not unique, the detail and the depth of the connection between your music and the visuals is certainly uncommon. How does Dumbsaint create its songs and how does that process interact with the process of creating the film?

We start off by getting in a room together and jamming. Before we give a thought to what we want to see on screen, we need to have a musical mood to hang it on. So we’ll piece the track together from jams and write and rewrite it over many weeks. We find a comfortable tempo for each section of the track during rehearsals, and that tempo then becomes our guide when editing the video. Once it’s taking shape, we’ll start talking about images and stories. Everyone in the band has a hand in designing the video, but usually it’s Nick who storyboards and breaks it down into shots. Everything is scripted to the music, so we never start on a video before the song is finished.

The filmmaking process is often a very quick one, as we invariably find ourselves rushing to make deadlines (shows). So this aspect of the band is quite different from that careful, gradual way of working that we enjoy in the jam room, and that is sometimes a shame. Organising and carrying out a shoot is hard work, and practical compromises always need to be made (and made quickly). Sometimes we end up with more of a disconnect between the music and the images than we would like – and that might be thematically, or structurally. Sometimes the damn thing just doesn’t look as good as we’d thought it would. But this is something we hope to improve on as we move forward. Our last two shorts are easily our best, as far as I’m concerned. And I’m looking forward to experimenting with a much more integrated way of writing – one in which we’re developing the music and the visuals concurrently in the jamming room. Maybe eventually we could even try letting the music emerge out of an engagement with some visuals. There are a lot of really interesting ways to go with it, but the ambition is definitely to make the process much more interactive in the future.

(((o))): Do you think your visuals give people something to focus on in lieu of a singer?

I think that’s the beginning of it: we’re a band with a projector screen instead of a singer. But I don’t think that’s necessarily as far as it could go.

One of our tracks, ‘She Was His’, is the first thing we’ve done that completely works as a self-contained narrative, that doesn’t need to be driven by the music. Shut the three of us up and you’ll still have a short that makes sense and tells a story. It’s a silent film. But synched with our music it becomes a very different piece of work. The instruments match the rise and fall of the story; the big riffs punctuate the action going on within the scenes. But it’s something more – the music infuses the film almost with a sense of personality, for lack of a more appropriate word. Something happens in that live moment which doesn’t occur in either one of those two halves when taken on its own.

I like that at a certain point, the song becomes indistinguishable from the film and vice versa. Where the movie once backed us, we are now supporting, scoring, helping it to tell the story. We’ve always been inspired by the idea of the band on stage becoming a filmic installation; something we can use to do more than just play a gig or just screen a short film. So I’m sure that’s something we will explore more as we work on new things.

(((o))): Many punters come across instrumental rock bands by accident rather than design. They seem genuinely surprised at not only the energy and noise that instruments can create when not turned down for a singer, but the range of emotions that dynamics and long flowing structures can deliver. Can you describe the buzz you get from playing to instrumental rock virgins?

Every show is different, because our audiences always seem to be so mixed. We’ve played to full rooms and very empty ones. Some people are totally unimpressed by us. I remember walking out of a room after playing a set one night, and overhearing a guy telling his friend that he thought we were overrated. I just thought that was so funny. I can’t help but think of us as a little band still finding our feet; still finding our sound – I didn’t think anyone was even rating us, let alone overrating us! And this guy had us pegged. I was proudly telling people that the band was overrated for days after that.

One thing I think instrumental rock bands can struggle with is the ‘post’ preconception. Punters often arrive with the assumption that instrumental bands are just pretentious wankers who are in love with their effects pedals and their obnoxiously long track titles. Which is sometimes true. But I think most of the time you’ll find these are musicians who really care about the music they play and are working hard to try and make something really great, because it’s these types of bands that are often paying the most obsessive attention to the musical details. The tracks might go on a little too long sometimes, but there’s so much going on in them; so much hard work. And the good instrumental bands are really striving to create something different and special. That’s how I feel about Dumbsaint, and about a lot of our contemporaries in Sydney and in the rest of the country.

For me, the joy has always come from finding something in the jam room that really inspires me, and eventually taking that out and playing it for people. And when people come up after a show and tell us they enjoyed something we did, I imagine they must have felt something similar to what I did when I first discovered that sound. We must have that in common. So when that happens, it’s a great feeling.

(((o))): If you imagine a word cloud for instrumental rock that shows sounds instead of sub-genres, you would see some bigger words like noodling, tremolo, crescendo, wall of sound, jazz and samples. There would be some slightly smaller ones like Ebow, chugging, time shifts, five-string bass, keys, strings, and some really small ones like buzzsaw, slide guitar and clarinet. Dumbsaint seems to avoid a few of the big ones, instead looking for a road less travelled. That can be harder with a three piece. How do you balance the placement and the size of the Dumbsaint footprint so you tread your own path but don’t just fall over trying to be too many things?

We keep things pretty basic in Dumbsaint – we’ve never felt any need to dive into electronics, orchestral strings or horn sections. I think for us that would have felt really false. But there are instrumental bands that do incorporate some of those kinds of sounds into what they do and it completely works for them. The fantastic Sydney three-piece Solkyri have lots of moments where the keyboard and the xylophone work together with and often will lead the bass, drums and guitar. And Adam Mostek has this really rich guitar sound that complements that so perfectly. When I hear it all together, I just instantly know I’m listening to Solkyri.

I’m not sure if we have really locked down our own sound yet; some listeners would probably say we have and others would disagree. I do feel though, that if there is any one thing that makes us sound like us, it would probably be that we have always written and played as an ensemble. We all share the job of carrying the song, and it has always been important to us that we don’t restrict ourselves to conventional musical roles within the band. The guitar is typically the lead instrument in a Dumbsaint track, but it would be pretty ineffective without bass and drums to not only support it but work around it; fill the gaps, give it its colour. And the same goes for every instrument – it’s a unified sound, dependant on many interwoven parts.

And it’s always very busy under the surface. You can’t ever tell Nick to play a simple beat. Not without getting a look. And any time we get in a room to jam I will always, always go straight for the very highest frets of the highest strings on my bass. I think if we have developed our own sound at all it probably has something to do with the fact that we don’t like to play our instruments the way they were designed to be played. Either that or we just aren’t very good at it.

(((o))): What do you think post-metal is a reaction or response to?

It seems to me like post-metal is a name for what happens any time a bunch of musicians decide to take the bits they really love from the various denominations of metal – the dark heaviness, the dramatic instrumental passages – and discard the bits that they don’t find interesting. It’s a helpful label in that it gives the listener an idea of what kind of mood or feel to expect from a piece of music, but it’s still very vague. For me, those terms post-rock and post-metal are a bit annoying because people keep using them to describe such different kinds of bands. Pretty much anything without prominent vocals, or that runs over six minutes is instantly branded ‘post’.

What annoys me though are those bands that really wear the label on their sleeves, and play up to all the tropes and the clichés of the post-rock thing. In my mind, bands should never, ever simply aim to adhere to a set of conventions and churn out something generic – unless they are being paid big by a record label and don’t give two shits about their art. We should at least want to come out with something vital and new and different. Even if we don’t always succeed. Surely that’s how post-rock and post-metal came about in the first place?

(((o))): Home-recording has never been as easy to do as it is today, but it’s still not easy to get right. Why did you decide to go for a professional recording for your new album “Something That You Will Feel Will Find Its Own Form”, and the production wisdom of Tim Carr? What did you learn out of that process?

After investing so much of our musical lives in this material, Nick and I never had any second thoughts about giving these eight tracks the full treatment. Ron spoke very highly of Tim Carr, and even just the idea of recording an album at Studios 301 was so thrilling. So we decided to go all out. We had always hoped to pull a huge, powerful sound out of our heavy material while still maintaining the interplay between each of the instruments, which is sometimes quite subtle, and I think Tim helped us to do that really well. He was also very patient with us when things got tedious – and they really did. Sitting down in a room in front of a computer and trying to smash out a perfect rendition of a piece of music you have been writing and revising and practicing for several years is just so stressful. The whole process feels very forced and unnatural. And when you’re working with the time constraints that we had, you don’t even have the opportunity to go outside and have a cup of tea for ten minutes and come back in and try again when you’ve calmed down. It’s kind of a painful thing.

As ever, we were working to strict, self-imposed deadlines – in this instance, for financial reasons – and I feel like that both helped and hurt the album in the end. We got much more done in a short amount of time than I ever thought we would, most of it very good, but there are always those little details that get lost or moments that don’t quite come together. For me, recording at 301 was a matter of negotiating between the perfect album in my head and the reality of working on a budget (and in collaboration with three other people). Unfortunately we didn’t, and probably never will, have the money to lock ourselves away in a world class studio and re-record sections and tweak mixes to our hearts’ content. I could have very easily spent a few more weeks poring over all the stuff with Tim and the others before we finally put it away, but we simply couldn’t afford to be that pedantic. And I honestly don’t know if the band would have survived much more time shut up in a room with our egos, our expectations and those same eight tracks. I don’t think many bands could.

(((o))): What gear do you use and what do you love the most?

This is a better question for Ron – he’s the real gearhead in the band. I’m really pretty ignorant when it comes to gear; I have my favourite bits and pieces and I stick with them. I have been using Boss pedals for years, but I would like to branch out. I have always played with a DOD grunge pedal which, because it’s not specifically designed to be used with the bass guitar, does kill a lot of my low end, but it gives me this ratty distortion that I love. For the album we double-tracked the DOD with an old RAT pedal, and then mixed in some of my clean bass signal for good measure. We got this heavy-as-all-hell tone that I’m so crazy about. I think it’s probably my favourite thing on the album. It pops up in most of the tracks during some key heavy moments. As for my guitar, I am very fond of Music Man basses and I have a little Sterling SB-14 which I think sounds great. I would like to graduate to the Stingray one day.

(((o))): We are all experts on what’s wrong with the music industry, but what is going to save it? What part does a band like Dumbsaint play in that? What part does an entity like Bird’s Robe Collective play?

I can’t really claim to know a whole lot about how the business works, but from what I do know, I don’t think there is any way back for the big record companies. It would be nice if the porous nature of new digital modes of distribution and reception (music blogs and online newsletters, legitimate download sites as well as illegal torrents) lead to the big guys spreading their nets wider and picking up on a larger variety of musical artists – as we know, there’s such an embarrassment of riches out there to be found, if you know where to look. But I really hope that artists will be able to continue to take the power back for themselves. A lot of the new bands I’m listening to now have done really well for themselves by taking the independent route – and as we know, it’s really only through the internet that that has become possible. It might spell the end for the traditional rock star, just as digital downloads may eventually kill the album once and for all, but I think that if you’re looking at the big picture, it’s undeniably going to be a good thing for artists. I think too that if we want to help small artists we need to be prepared to share music around. Share what you like, when you find it. Because now that there is so much around, all of the time, the hardest thing is knowing where to start.

Bird’s Robe has done a great job of creatively adapting to the new playing field. They’ve taken all of that on board and are doing really interesting things in order to reach more people. One of the great things about what Bird’s Robe is doing is that as they adopt more bands and continue to draw people together, it feels less like a business and much more like a growing family, which is nice to be a part of. We’ve met so many people who really care about the music we’re making, and who are excited to support us – and who, in turn, have exposed us to so much great stuff we never even knew existed. And Mike is a great dad! He’s opened so many doors for us and guided us through so much of this album release and tour process. He’s been fantastic and so generous with his time.

(((o))): What are some of the best gigs you’ve been to, as performers and punters?

Late last year I had the pleasure of attending (and performing during!) Serious Beak’s album launch show at the Lansdowne Hotel in Sydney. It was easily the greatest local gig I have ever seen. As a live unit, I think Beak is probably peerless in this country. The four of them are absolute masters of their instruments and put on such an unbelievable show, that those guys are not better known in Australia really surprises me. Maybe they need to play live more often…

Watching Jakob play to a near empty Enmore Theatre (with house lights still on) in 2008 was pretty special for me. I’m sure I would have been pretty annoyed if I were them – it was a very early support spot when they really deserved to be headlining, and the house guy only thought to bring the lights down a few tracks into the set – but being a part of that small crowd was amazing. It was really exciting to see one of my favourite bands playing a (great) show in such an intimate setting.

ISIS at the Manning Bar in early 2010 was another special show. This was perhaps a month or so before they announced that they were splitting, so it was one I was so glad to have gotten along to. It was a set that mostly showcased that last album, which was pretty great, but when they played ‘Carry’ – the place just went ape shit.

As for Dumbsaint performances, I think this tour we’ve just finished probably takes the cake. We stayed away from big pubs and clubs like the ones we often play in Sydney and instead played at great little venues like The Old Bar in Melbourne and Yours & Owls in Wollongong. And we also made a quick stop-off at Tym Guitars in Brisbane, for Tym’s brilliant Record Store Day party. Not only was it fun to try doing things a little differently, but the people we met along the way were so great to us! We encountered some pretty patchy crowds during the tour (especially in Wollongong, where we played to less than twenty people) but the vibe of those places, the nice people running them and the locals who came along and gave us a chance (many of whom bought a CD and stuck around for a chat) really made it worth the effort. To be able to show up in a new town and walk into a tiny bar or record store where the music is great and the room feels so friendly – it really makes us want to do this every day.

(((o))): What’s something everyone needs to know about Dumbsaint?

We have just released our first album. It’s called ‘Something that you feel will find its own form’. You can listen to it for free over at http://birdsrobe.bandcamp.com/album/something-that-you-feel-will-find-its-own-form.

Also, any and all info on upcoming shows, tours, merch and the various goings-on of the band can be found on our Facebook page.

So to ‘Time Trophies’, which starts with a blaze of drums and guitars that don’t let up until, well, they don’t let up. It’s fizzing with energy and drummer D’Arcy King must take a lot of credit for that. “I don’t know where I’m going yet, I don’t know what I’m saying,” sings Joe Wallis, laying himself bare, his voice pitching up somewhere between Brian Molko and Keli Okereke.

‘Chocolate Hooves’ is more thoughtful, and the guitar is allowed to have more presence through varying stages of the song that are more intelligent that just rolling through a verse-chorus-verse structure.

The intro to ‘Astronaut-Abort’ sounds like it could be coming from a different band, with a bass and piano intro that lifts into familiar territory when Wallis explodes into the track. It’s strong for what is essentially a b-side, and hopes are high that this can be replicated throughout a longer release.

The band are clearly fans of Bloc Party. Fundamentally though, Gunning for Tamar are a rock band wanting to do more than just play guitars, and it’s the remixes that make the EP really worth listening to.

Letting post-rock electronic outfit Maybeshwill remix ‘Time Trophies’ is a great move. The track emerges from its cocoon into a DFA-shaped butterfly, thumping its wings together as bassy synths collide with drum and vocal loops. The track builds euphorically around just a couple of lines and the song is transformed, utterly.
The Junior Johnny Foreigner Old School Owen Fromix remix of ‘Chocolate Hooves’ is less successful, and stagnates a bit through too much repetition.

Having being confirmed as ones to watch by Rocksound 2012, Gunning for Tamar will be hoping to emulate the rich history of Oxford bands. The jury is still out on whether that will happen, but there’s enough evidence in this EP to await the verdict with curious fascination.

Available now through Big Cartel

Posted by Kevin Scott

How times have changed! That’s a phrase you’ll often hear from the older music fan…how about another? It’s not like it used to be! There you go, ring any bells? If you’re as old as me (and I’m only 38) these questions will surely have come into conversation on a drunken night down at the Slug and Partridge or some other sticking waterhole where we go to while away our Friday nights talking about…yep, usually the old days after a few pints.

I guess where I’m going with this is the advent (or attack!) of social technology in recent years. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace…hey the whole goddamn internet for goodness sake! All of a sudden we have the world at our fingertips and access to any music we like. We are now in a world which truly is small. I would like to take this belated opportunity to look at whether this is a good thing and most of all, if it has taken the fun out of the one thing we love…music.

Let’s start with social networking sites. I suppose the daddy of these was MySpace. Oh how I miss the days I spent updating my background and blogging about my nights out on the town. Other people took it from a different perspective though. The ease in which you could upload your music meant you could now reach out to people with your poorly recorded demos (generally, there were exceptions) and gain more fans. This was a cool thing….bands could turn round and say “look how many friends we’ve got, we must be popular!”. In the real world it wasn’t quite like this though. Those bands who bragged that they had 1000 followers/fans were usually playing some crappy pub to an audience of 3 and some casual listeners who’d dropped by for a pint. Trust me, I worked in a pub and witnessed it.

Hype had a lot to do with it…and maybe Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys. What we have to realise is that whilst MySpace no doubt helped their claim to fame, they already had in place a network which was making it inevitable. As much as I love the Arctic Monkeys, those early MySpace songs were nothing special. It was only when you seen them live that you could see the promise. The be all and end all is that they worked their arses off and struck lucky. Same with Lily Allen (although remember her dad was in the business…it is who you know!). Lily Allen did have a great sideline in blogs but you know what…for someone who advocated social networking so much, she never bleedin’ answered my question all those years ago! Goddamn bought her album as well!

MySpace has gone now, replaced by the mass corporation which is FaceBook. I used to have a FB but got rid of it. Couldn’t hack hearing what people had for dinner anymore! This has now become a premier place for bands to peddle their wares but being a neophyte I don’t know how this works. I do know that I certainly would not press the Like button until I’ve heard their music. A cunning plan to rise up the popularity charts maybe….just remember that next time you press that button those poor souls are probably entertaining one man and his dog down the local.

It’s not the bands fault. You have to make the most of what is available to you. I am a Twitter whore and through that comes the means in which I can write about the music I love and hopefully entertain a few of you (thanks Echoes and Dust…you really are the best!). To stay ahead of the game you need to be on every available platform to get noticed. The problem is, that platform is now saturated and once again you are fighting to be noticed. You may as well go old school and hand flyers out on the street…I promise you’ll get more people to your gig (this really works by the way, how do you think dance music took off in such a big way?). There needs to be a rethink in strategy rather than following the herd.

I heard an argument the other week that record companies existed to sift through the crap to bring us the good. Whilst I don’t wholly believe this to be true there is a certain ring to it. With record companies dying out or struggling to make ends (pity the poor executive who can’t make enough money from the new Coldplay tour!) platforms such as SoundCloud have become the place for bands to place their new music. Cutting out the middle man this offers “true” band/fan interaction with the fan safe in the knowledge that all money is going to the artist. This is not just the unsigned band though; many popular artists use this to sell their stuff. I quite like the idea but one look at SoundCloud is enough to drive you crazy. That’s before you try to navigate the bleeding thing. Maybe this is just me…?

Placing your music on the internet for sale is possibly the greatest advance in musical history since….well, since the birth of the internet. The idea of selling direct to fans is certainly not a new thing. I suppose punk exploded this idea by selling 7”s at their gigs. This is an ethos that has been taking up, funnily enough, by the progressive rock generation with gig only releases by Porcupine Tree or Shearwater gathering acclaim for bringing music back to the fans. For an independent band this is a fantastic way of saying thanks and giving the fans something special…long may this reign.

This leads me on to album streaming. Now, I use this a lot…it’s the scourge of a music writer. Once upon a time you would get free CD’s, now you have to look at a line crossing the screen while a new album plays (really exciting innit!). This is similar in some respects to SoundCloud which I talked about earlier. It is a necessity for my “job” but as with all good things, it was soon taken over by everyone. Think about it….an artist places his new release up on the internet a week before release to stir up enthusiasm. People listen and think “hmmm I like that” then go and order it off Amazon (please use your local record shop next time!). The artist sells more records, the fans get a sort of try before you buy option. In these days where only Simon Cowell fodder and the Black Eyed Peas get radio airplay this is the only way for an artist to get noticed.

A sound argument…yes. Then why the fuck have the giants of the music business taken to doing this? Guess what…you can hear the new Coldplay release a week before it comes out….well, OK if you’re a Coldplay fan but surely you would buy the album anyway. On the flipside of that, is there really anyone out there who is going to listen and think “my god, this Coldplay band are good”. An artist will always be looking to build on their fanbase, it’s an inbuilt thing that they want to reach as many people as possible. One of my heroes did it with his latest album (I didn’t listen. I bought it on day of release instead). Maybe this is a reflection of the state of the music business. Album sales are at an all time low (or so they tell us) so any extra revenue is welcomed. I bet it isn’t the bands doing this though, it will be the suited executive once again stressing about his bonus. We all know bands don’t make money from their releases…why do you think touring was invented!

Technology…there’s no escaping it. We use it every day, we love it, we’re addicted to it. Next time you turn on your laptop and sign into MySpace, YourSpace or SomeonesElsesFuckingSpace just spare a thought for the old days. The days when you used to stand on street corners handing out flyers, days spent designing posters which never turned out like you thought they would, discovering music through REAL interaction at a party , in a pub or just round your friends house. Yes there was more work to put in, but wasn’t it worth it in the end? I think so. There needs to be a middle ground where technology and real interaction can take place. There are pros and cons on both sides but surely we can bring some of the romance back. Yes, that’s the word…romance…because that is what we have with music, a lifelong one (a certain one?).

Over and Out….

(you may reach me on Twitter at @partypirate…I do not do FB but I used to have a MySpace site. As for SoundCloud and album streaming…I’m not a musician, I just write about it)