Hey Big Dead!! Look forward to meeting you all in a few weeks.

Same here!

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I actually got clued in to you lot by my good friend G of Twin Haus via text about a month ago. Really enjoying your latest release 'Shell'. It really feels like a collective. Which leads me to how did you all find each other?

Joshua and I started the band with some of the older members many years ago now, you can hear that stuff on A Very Short Story. I think I was 18, so that’s getting on 8 years ago. We had a shuffle in our line up and started playing with Nathan and Lee. It was all very natural from memory. We played together once or twice and then did a set of mostly improvised music as our first gig with that line up. You can hear that line up on Eudaemonia. Now we have Lachlan (of Le Suits/Papperbok fame) in the band who plays Bass Clarinet/guitar/synth and so this is our 3rd incarnation. 

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What did you find was the main influences for Shell? What was the spark that created the piece?

We just decided one day that we needed to do something. We met at the pub, set a deadline and drew up some plans and got cracking. 

We went up to a place called Ironbark Ridge out past Grantham where Lachlan grew up. This is where we started tracking Shell and I think the foundations of the sound world were laid there. Everything flowed out of those initial sessions. We took about 5 months to get the thing recorded, then Lachlan and I mixed it and then Green Chimney Records released it. 

 

I’d been obsessed with strings and the beautiful people from Nonsemble very generously volunteered their time for us. We decided to augment our material with other instrumentation and we got some great people to play with us. 

In terms of influence, I’d been listening to lots of new classical stuff like Eighth Black Bird (Hand Eye is a great record for anyone interested) Bang on a Can, David Lang and a bunch of other New York based artists. I think those sounds influenced me a lot. On top of that it was our usual fare of Jaga Jazzist, Cinematic Orchestra and things like that.

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I say piece because the record feels it was composed that way. Was this at all intentional?

Definitely. We didn’t want there to be any fat on the record. No filler. I think we got there. Each and I tried to craft it so that it was sonically consistent and pleasing, while still being something that took the listener from one place to another. I can’t wait to finish an album. 

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Is there a sci-fi fan in the mix?

2! But not me. I only read the left-wing hate rag that is The Courier Mail.

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So we will all finally meet at Deadlam Halloween this year. I'm looking forward to catching your show. How many people do you think you'll fit on stage? What will your show consist of?

We are touring at the moment so we have a set for 5 people. Sometimes we do more. At jungle love 2015 we had a 9 piece and that was heaps of fun. We will probably do some larger scale stuff next year

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What other acts would you like to catch?

Drones, Sqidgenini, Tiana Khasi, Dorsal Fins, Astro…probably everyone really. I reckon we will probably just wander around and check it all out.

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Shall we all do dinner before hand?! Or after? (I tend to eat after but I'm flexible)

After is best I reckon. My mate from Osaka Punch told me one horror story about the on-stage ramifications of pre show burgers. Let’s not go there.

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Look forward to meeting you all. See you at Deadlam. 

Cheers Kev