"I actually only got it back yesterday. It's not actually pressed yet. I can't tell yet. I think I'll have to have another listen. That song [the first single released - "Along the Moors"] was kinda old for us. It was nice to hear it recorded properly. That song is certainly a bit more sedate. Listening to the whole album yesterday, there are several songs that are more in the "older vein". It's going to be called On Second Thought. We did the album in two sections. We did the first section in November last year, and then we did some more this year, just to try and keep it sounding fresh to us as well. We recorded in a studio in St Kilda called Hot House. We prefer the analogue desk, and there's only two of those in the country - one in Charing Cross [where they recorded their first two EPs), and the other one's here."

Is the album more along the lines of "Along the Moors" or "die 501" [one of their earlier songs, off the lessons in posture EP)?

"There's a lot of stuff going on in there. There's a second single ["Greater Expectation" - it's a full on fuzz song, more similar to Sandpit's older material] that's going to be released in a couple of weeks that has like a dub remix on it, of an instrumental that's on the album. Brendan and I left the studio for a few hours. Greg [Wales - their drummer and their producer] and were just messing around in the studio with the instrumental, putting crazy sounds on it, putting drums through crazy pedals, and taking the bass in and out. We walked in and went "Wow, this sounds great. We've got to do this." We ended up putting it on a b-side."

So what's it like having your producer as your drummer?

"It's a different thing. He's a very fine drummer - he's one of the best in the country. It's really a pleasure to have him with us. He's moving to the States in August. He's got producing work over there - he's done a fair bit in the States. He's worked with people in the States before, the kinda Thrill Jockey [American label that houses Tortoise, Sea and Cakes, etc.] thing."

How did you land The Superjesus national tour? Does this constitute your album tour?

"They asked us to. They'd been coming to all of our shows in Melbourne and they kind of…they liked the band, and they got to be pretty good friends with Brendan. It's such different music. I think after The Superjesus tour, I do a tour with Something For Kate, then do an album tour with Sandpit."

After being so frequently compared with US indie band (particularly Superchunk and Sonic Youth], how do you know feel about these comparisons, further into your career, when you're on the brink of releasing your debut album?

"It [those comparisons] annoys me…greatly. Because, I think, the temptation is always to look overseas to America for kind of justification…or something…and it was gonna happen from the start because when we started this band we were playing music that at the time people in Australia, in a mainstream sense, didn't understand. There wasn't really a genre for it over here at that stage. Obviously we got all the token Sonic Youth comparisons [with Stephanie having white hair], Sebadoh comparisons. That's really the response from people who don't know any better."

Who would you compare Sandpit to then?

"I really can't answer that. I don't think that musically we sound like any one band. When you write music you're like a representational, or…everything you've ever heard in your life is an influence. So you can't just sort of go, "you really like everything on the Matador label, therefore we sound lik that." You can't really mask out everything that you've ever heard, even when you were little listening to what you're parents listened to."

Do you have any plans to tour overseas?

"Our record in coming out in the States. Our first two EPs have been put together as an album for release in America in a couple of weeks. Shock has a subsidiary in America, and then I think it's going to be distributed by an indie. I think we're going to release a limited amount over here as well. It'll be the first two EPs in a different order, with different artwork for American release."
So how did you feel when the rumours were flying left right and centre because of your new involvement with Something For Kate?

"There's a lot of misinterpretation surrounding the Something For Kate/Sandpit thing. It's something we're all very wary of, and In a lot of ways, it's very predictable to people to sensationalize it, which did happen. For the record, all that really happened was, I feel I should set the record straight: Something For Kate's bass player left. Previously Paul and I had started another band on the side called Mid Pacific Accent, and that was songs that Paul and I were writing and recording in our spare time. Then when Toby left Something For Kate, we wanted to keep playing, and keep Clint playing with us. So we decided to keep the name."
So there you have it - straight from the horses mouth. Sandpit are not, contrary to popular belief, breaking up, and nor are Something For Kate. Instead, Stephanie will divide her time between the two, and as such, will remain very busy for a very long time yet!
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