HOW DID YOU MEET THE OTHER MUSICIANS?

These players came together when I roped them into my brass-no-guitar fantasy. I'd written a lot of songs, I realised in '96 and became excited about transferring guitar songs to horns, kicking against the general worship of the overdriven electric guitar. I scouted down some willing participants. Delaney has been a long-time collaborator of mine.

WHAT EXPERIENCE HAVE THEY HAD?

Brian May played trumpet for Breather Hole. he's also in CircusHead and High Pass Filter. Tatiana was, and is, in the famous Teabags and Spindrift. She played for Rapunzel Gets Down too and knows gum-boot dancing. Delaney has drummed for the infamous Doghouse and Fink Finster; was bassist for Crumpet(a band for which I played guitar and sang). Stuart T has been playing music in Melbourne for seven years, originally with Perth band Organism. Bands too numerous to list. Now a Surrealist.

WHERE / HOW WAS THE CD RECORDED?

The CD was recorded over time in many different rooms and houses, the bulk on 4-track, some ADAT then finally re-mixed in Atlantis.

HOW ARE THE SONGS WRITTEN?

The Brass Bed songs are written mostly during the recording process, which for us is lots of additions, some subtractions, addition, subtraction...etc. A "song" can start from anything at all, a loop, a bass part, a banjo line, some saucepan percussion. Sometimes songs or melodies can fall out pre-recording, there's no fixed rules, which is the beauty of it all.

HOW WERE YOU INVOLVED IN THE SURREALISTS EXPANDED SOUND?

The idea for brass in the Surrealists probably came to light as a natural tourvan brainstorm. I guess I was instrumental in being able to translate Kim's ideas, and add some of my own, into a sound and then into a score that other players could follow. We knocked up arrangements on my 4-track. Then I did the trumpets on the new album "You Gotta Let Me Do My Thing" and I got in some players I knew for sax and trombone. That sounded good, so we all agreed on adding horns to the lineup and arranging more songs with them in there.

HOW DO PEOPLE FIND THE BRASS DOMINATED SOUND?

There's been responses to our guitarless sound. Some people seem hypnotised. Some have said the space is good for them. There've been the drunks who want AC/DC no matter what the band is. Some have said it's "vaudeville", "really different" and one seemed genuinely moved. Some have refused to come. Delaney has observed that the people who find the guitarless environment uncomfortable are generally guitarists. We are not completely adverse to guitar, however. A lot of the songs were realised on guitar but many of the parts were sort of split, so I could see them as horn parts. We even had a guest guitarist on occasion(thanks, Kim Salmon) and a little guitar appears on "low key", our EP.

HOW DO YOU JUGGLE THE BASS/ TRUMPET DUTIES?

I'm primarily a bass guitarist who has a passion for brass because it was my first instrument. I don't usually play bass and trumpet simultaneously onstage- that's why we have Brian. But when recording, of course I can overdub what I want. Lately when we gigged as a three piece(minus trumpet), I've been looping basslines and then playing valve trombone over them. It's all good fun.

Brass Bed's debut EP "low key" is out now thru Blah Blah Blah.