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| 11/5/03: Gyroscope News Sound Shattering Sound explained by Dan. Confidence In Confidentiality I’ve always loved how many slides Dave Grohl can put in his guitar riffs. Remember putting this down on Dictaphone using my sisters $40 nylon string axe whilst at home during the Safe Forever recordings then showing the guys the main stuff. It was a clicker – everyone wrote their parts pretty much there and then…Just felt good…I hate messy break-ups. Safe Forever This came about and was inspired pretty much on Zok’s main lead riff. It sounded kick ass so yeah it went from there. Wrote the lyrics mainly about feeling content. Not just relationship-wise but in general. Feeling uber-lucky too. I fucking love playing this mother live. Take This For Granted We did this unreal 7-week tour around the country with the Living End and The Cassanovas a while back and I wrote the lyrics like around the 6-week stage I guess. It’s all about insanely missing my girlfriend…Pretty simple really. You know what I’m saying homeboy? – yeah, you can dig it! This puppy was the under-dog going into the recording but she pulled up well in the end. Muchos goodos! Hollow Like Cheyenne Monks and all! Always loved this one…And it’s like our first 5min+ song…Ever! How good! It’s an angry song. I think cheating on someone is the lowest shit ever. It’s about trying to get over being crushed. Doctor Doctor I had a fat riff; Zok had a killer lead, Rob had a huge beat…And Brad started singing…’Doctor Doctor help me?’ What’s up with that! Seriously though it just sounded mint so we wrote the rest pretty easily – another one of those ‘clicker’ songs. Every six months or so I write a song dedicated to an ex-girlfriend who I dislike. Very much. Misery We at camp Gyroscope aren’t into ska music. Nah-uh. No-siree…”Brad – hide those Reel Big Fish cd’s dude!!” for some reason after playing a show with a couple of ska bands – I came up with this tune – at like 3am. It was previously recorded as just a live acoustic demo-type performance and released on the Safe Forever single. We all liked how that sounded but thought for the record we should all play it. We listened to heaps of Beatles to try to gain some insight and inspiration. We finally realised the Beatles are so so soooooo much better than us and thus we just did what we did. Rob didn’t use normal sticks, he also played some other percussion, Brad played some keys, Zok played sweet riffs and I did my bit. Ended sounding really cool – very nice! Get Down This one is fun live. It’s our tribute to the ‘nice little 2 and a half minute pop song’ that I guess the Beatles owned and more recently Weezer/Jawbreaker do/did so well…Couple of favourite bands of ours. I think Weezer – ‘Blue’ is at least in the top 3 of our albums of all time list. Personally – it’s my number 1! Oh and I play a lot of video games!! I mean 8 – 10 hours straight on Manhunt on PS2. Fucking nerd! Midnight Express This is a fave to us all. It’s a rockin’ lil’ diddy that we a re proud to call one of our own. It doesn’t really get old to play. I guess it was one of our first heavier/bigger tracks. I was having trouble finding a verse vocal melody and one night at rehearsals Brad and I stayed back late and got really wasted and jammed on it. I ended up hearing his bass line for the first time ever and falling in love with it. I just tried to mimic that and it sounded neat. I’d never really done it that way before. My favourite bit is the big guitar slide at the end. You know. The one that sounds like an elephant! Who did that? Me baby! Me! Are You Getting Any Better? Zok’s verse leads rule this one. Such a cool sound. The last track we wrote for the album. It felt so dark when we first started jammin’ on it. We all kinda looked at each other with evil grins and kept going. When we play it – it kinda makes me feel like fighting things – seriously though – it’s a personal favourite. My Hands Are Tied We wrote it coz we could nod our heads to it really well. I wish I were Rob in this song. I bet it’s fun to play – the drumbeats are rad! Driving For The Storm Always hated being frustrated. I mean like when a mosquito-is-buzzing-around-your-head-at-night irritating kind of frustrated…But on a bigger scale. Just when those little things in life get too much for you or push you over the edge. Best thing to do is go for a long drive, put on your absolute favourite album, turn it up, and sing to it as loud as you can. You Try Waiting This Long This was the first song to be written for the album. We loved it heaps but thought ‘holy crap – are we turning into woosies. Will the album be a woosy album? – argh!! – (looking back now we purposely went out and wrote Hollow Like Cheyenne like the next day I think!) We all adore this song and think it finishes the album perfectly. It won’t be the feel good hit of the summer but like we give a shit. We always had the intentions of starting all small and slowly adding layers right up ‘til the end…Collaboration of melody….Even the fade-out was decided like 2nd time we played it I think! During the recording Shaun was cool to let us pretty much have our own way with it coz she was our first born and meant a lot…Or something! |
| 15/7/03: Jebediah News With their new album Braxton Hicks just released, lead singer Kevin Mitchell reveals his thoughts on album number 4, footy, making movies and Shannon Noll. Q. Has recording an album on your own record label created a different feel to recording? Is the feeling or mood to the album created while writing or while recording an album? I guess doing the album without a major has affected the feel of the recording because I'm sure there are things that we would have been pressured in to changing had we been with a major to make it more radio friendly or something, but I don't know. I'm over all that kind of speculation now. The feel is created while writing I think. When recording I think you are trying to achieve the feeling that has already been created by the songs, you know? Q. Are mullets back in? Haha. No. I'm quite fond of what I like to call the "British mullet", best exemplified by that girl in Elastica or the Supergrass boys. It's kinda late 70's early 80's style, quite feminine, looks good with a clean shaven face. I honestly believe the mullet can work. I've seen it work for some people. What about Bowie? Q. The name of the new album (Braxton Hicks) suggests birth and a new beginning, do you see this period of the band as a new start with a new label? Or did you just think it was a cool name? The latter. Obviously the title lends itself to some nifty shit for journo's to use but I liked the sound of the words and so did the band and I like the connection between giving birth to a new life and giving birth to a new song, because songs are like little life forces. Q. Eagles or Dockers? Oh for fucks sake, West Coast Eagles my friend. I become more passionate about the Eagles the better the Dockers do and the more those latte sipping, cafe strip cunts from Freo jump onboard their own team cos the weathers fair at the moment. The Eagles have a proud tradition and I've supported them since I was 10. I think they look alright for sneaking in to the eight at the moment too, after the Hawks win and all. But they are a long way off matching the top four teams until they learn to win away consistently. Q. With three albums behind you, is it hard to promote a new album musically when so many people still want to hear older songs at shows? Will Jebediah shows just continue to get longer and longer so you can play a broad selection of Jebs songs? It's alright, although you may be right about playing longer and longer. We do seem to be going that way. At the moment we are playing most of the new record and 3 or 4 from the others. Maybe more from Odway. But I am kind of in to doing longer shows now. It's a challenge. We've been around a while and I think we can get away with playing hour and a half sets now, as long as we are happy to play Leaving Home and the rest, which currently, we are. Q. What was it like playing on the same bill as Shannon (Soulpatch) Noll and Human (Aussie N'Sync) Nature? It was fun. I watched the last few songs of Shannons set with Brett and as he walked off stage he saw us and said "come to watch the disembowelment fellas?" I'd never met the guy before and was confused by what he said. I felt concerned that he was really self conscious about not being cool enough or something, which is a joke when the Mitchell brothers are total fucking dorks. We ended up hanging out together at the after party til 7am, long after those Grinspoon pansies had gone back to their hotel, which I respect. I found it impossible not to like the guy. Q. Was having only 10 songs on the album a conscious decision by the band or were the songs that were left out different styles to the album tunes? I'm glad you ask this question actually 'cos it shits me when people complain when there are only ten songs on an album as though they are being ripped off or something. It's music for fucks sake not a packet of chips! We could of put 20 songs on the album if that was the case. I hate it when people judge the value of any artform from a commercial perspective!!! We put together an album as a package, the way we thought worked best. It's as simple as that and no further explanation is required. I know that sounds wanky but it makes perfect sense to me. Q. With a DVD included with pre-orders of the album are there thoughts of a Jebediah movie? What, like The Monkees? That would be cool. We really want to do another Jebediaries and have every intention of doing so during the course of this record. One with heaps of handy cam footage and live stuff aswell as the clips. It'd be fun! Q. Can you provide a little bit of the thoughts and meaning to each of the new songs on Braxton Hicks? MORE ALONE - Confused love. The lyrics come from all over the place so it's real disjointed, written over lots of different times. We adore this song. LOADED GUN - This describes pretty well my head space during the middle stages of writing for this album and being re inspired. IT'S OVER - I wasn't sure if this one should be recorded but Ness and Chris convinced me otherwise so I said "alright, but lets make it interesting" and so we went to work and now I love it and am really glad they talked me around. NO SLEEP - It's our dumb rocker. I'm always going to need to write dumb rockers like this - it's too much fun. We recorded it really raw and basic, in the spirit of the garage garage. SEW YOUR LIFE - The lyrics took about 12 months or more. Ridiculous. I started to resent it. I tried to write really loose social comments. FIRST TIME - Gobbledygook. I think the sentiments pretty easy to get though. This one is written really freely. It's got a nice spirit, one that reflects our attitude for this album. BRAXTON HICKS - Desperation. Frustration. If we made the album 12 months earlier they all would of sounded like this. Perhaps. SEVEN SIGNS - Time passes, people get older, the world gets older, things grow and come and go. Makes ya think eh? YOU OUGHTTA KNOW - Another favourite of mine. I love the verse melody a lot - and the lyrics. Just relationship feelings really. NOTHING - Sometimes it seems like everything around us is just trivial distraction and it all amounts to fuck all. |
| Justin Buford End Of Fashion I spoke to Justin from End Of Fashion about music, crowds, past bands and love all while he was in an elevator. Q. There is a lot of interest in Perth bands and Perth music at the moment, do you think there is a particular Perth sound and is it very different from bands from the Eastern States? Yeah there is definitely a lot of interest in Perth bands at the moment and I guess you could say there is a Perth sound. The pop scene in Perth has exploded mainly the low-fi melodic sounding bands that have a lead singer with a personality and I guess that is where the money is at the moment. The same thing could have been said a few years ago when indie rock was at its most popular and bands like Jebediah and Ammonia were coming out of Perth. It is natural that a pop is big and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years. The main thing for new artists to do is to create music that is going to get noticed and pop is it at the moment. It is hard for artists that get noticed as the popular genre is on its way out, you need to be able to see what will be popular in the future and get your timing right. Q. The End Of Fashion live show is a great thing to be seen. Audiences that I have seen really seem to get into the music. Is getting a crowd involved important to having a good show or do you just concentrate on playing great music and the crowd is blocked out? I think it’s half and half. You can’t be too aware of the crowd or they will dictate how you perform, you need to dictate how you want the crowd to reacts. It all depends on the crowd and atmosphere. If the crowd is unresponsive then it is our job to try and change that. Q. There have been a lot of rumours going around about whether End Of Fashion have been signed to a major label or not. Can you confirm this for us? And are there plans for an EP or album to be released soon? Have you recorded yet? No we have not signed to a major label. We are looking at labels overseas and everything kind of depends on that. We have had interest from major labels but decided to look overseas instead. We haven’t recorded anything yet except for demos and if the overseas label thing happens we should release an EP in Australia in the next 6 months. Q. After your residency at The Amplifier Bar are there plans for a tour either around WA or over East? No we want to tour over east as all bands do but without a product it is kind of useless. If the overseas label thing happens then we will definitely do a tour overseas and over east but we are just waiting for that to work itself out. Q. Rod, who plays guitar, and yourself left The Sleepy Jackson in February. Was the leaving on bad terms or was it inevitable? Well I thought it was on good terms at the time but I have been getting a bit of shit about it lately. It was just a personality conflict that caused the split but it wasn’t a bad tempered thing. Q. Vanessa Thornton from Jebediah plays bass for the band at the moment. Is this a permanent fixture or just a temporary arrangement? If a temp thing, will she be recording with you and do you have someone planned for the future? No it is just a temporary thing. We are actually looking at bass players at the moment. We are looking for someone who has presence and a good personality and not necessarily someone who can play every song in the world. I didn’t start playing music until I was like 13 and didn’t start writing songs until I was 19 so I don’t think someone who has played for years might not be as useful to us than someone with the right personality and fits in with the band. Q. What bands have had the greatest influence on you and who are your favourite bands at the moment? Has anyone told you that you sound just like the guy from Muse? Yeah I haven’t had too many influences but it used to be the usual bunch that everybody says: The Beatles, Nirvana etc. More recently I’d have to say Lou Reed, Velvet Underground, Jeff Buckley, Grand Daddy. I’m really into Grand Daddy’s new album Sumday at the moment and I guess it’s inspiring me but who knows. Yeah a few people have told me I sound like the Muse guy and I think it’s quite funny coz I can’t stand Muse or the way they sound. Their first album was pretty good but I just can’t get into them and I think it’s just ironic that people think I sound like him and I don’t like that sound at all. I’ve also heard a Jeff Buckley comparison and that I don’t mind but Muse no. Q. What is your favourite live music venue in Perth? Do you prefer small pub shows with a small audience or bigger shows with lots of people cheering you on? My favourite venue is The Amplifier Bar or Metro City. The Amplifier Bar has the best sound, lighting, people there and atmosphere and Metro City is just a great place to play. The Rosemount is also a great new place since it has been renovated. Small shows are more intimate and I could say the cliché of small shows keep you in touch with the audience but I really prefer big shows when the audience start to really get into it. With smaller shows the audience can sometimes be scared to come up and get into the music. Large shows let the crowd really get into it and can create a great feeling and atmosphere. We played a show at the Newport a little while a go and it was probably the biggest audience we’ve had. The atmosphere was electric and I even had some nerves before the show. It was the first really big show that we have done and the crowd was really into it and were right in our face. I love that kind of a crowd and it helps the band get more into playing as well. Q. Well thanks for the interview Justin. Good luck with your show tomorrow at The Amplifier Bar and I’ll probably see you there. What you aren’t going to the Placebo concert? I wish I could go but yeah I have the show, but my girlfriend is supporting them with Little Birdy (Katie Steele), so that’s ok. Thanks. Interview by Justin |