Author: gimmiezine

Portland Punks Mr Wrong on their new LP: “Create A Place acknowledges that the spaces we wanna exist in may not be fully formed yet but that we can create them together”

| gimmiezine
Handmade mixed-media collage by B.

Mr Wrong is our kind of right in every way, super fun in a Devo meets the B-52s kind of way. At the start of this year they released album Create A Place, we spoke to the band to get the bigger picture of where they’ve come from, what inspires them and of the place they’re creating for themselves with their powerful – tackling important subjects like politics, healthcare, oppression and rape culture – spirited punk.

What were you like growing up? How did you first come to music?

URSULA (drums, vox): I was a shy kid, very much in my own world, which music was a vital part of. Both my parents had great/really varied taste, and there was always music playing at home- from Balkan Choirs to Here Come the Warm Jets. Music gave me a context/outlet for the extreme emotional turbulence of adolescence. 

MOF (guitar/vox): the term my parents used for me as a kid was, “spacey.” Some of my earliest memories are listening to Gang of Four, Human League, Depeche Mode, The Buzzcocks, DEVO, etc. in my dad’s car and feeling overwhelmed with hope and excitement by the prospect of existing in those worlds someday. I was a sensitive kid that appreciated the emotional strength & honesty of the music my dad introduced me to, it was empowering and validating & I never grew out of loving it.

 LEO (bass/vox): I stared at the world through big eyes, fascinated in what was going on around me, but contemplative to the point of hesitancy. My family would sing together, we’d play dulcimers that we made out of long green boxes, and I would strum along as a lil beb in a high-chair belting with them, and not worrying about a thing. I grew up singing, folk songs and songs my grandparents grew up with, and slowly my dad’s rock n roll fascination with far-away music got infused in there too. My cousin taught me about punk rock, my friends and I would drive around immersed in PNW rap, and I fell asleep to Enya every night. I loved it all. 

Photo courtesy of Mr Wrong.

What inspired you to start making tunes?

URSULA: I was always singing along to things. All of my heroes were musicians. My dad played in bands so it seemed like a somewhat accessible world (though it took me a really long time to be in a band- not until my early 20’s). As a kid I dabbled in piano, and guitar. 

MOF: I tried to write music a lot as a kid using layering in Garage Band but never had formal training or much confidence. After reading Girls to the Front I decided to finally kick that insecurity to the curb and form a band.

LEO: I always had big feelings, they were overwhelming and confusing, and often stuck inside me. Music became my way to process, to let the feelings out so I could look at them and turn it into something I could understand. I started on piano, quickly moved and got completely obsessed with acoustic guitar, where I started writing sad and freaky songs to myself and never really stopped.

How did you come to playing the instrument that you do in Mr. Wrong?

URSULA: Mof and our friend Colette (who now lives in Berlin) told me they were starting a band. At that point, we were just acquaintances, I had seen them around and thought they were super cool. When they asked me if I wanted to play drums, I jumped at the chance and started teaching myself to play. We jammed a few times in that incarnation, and then Colette moved away and Mof and I continued as a two piece. 

MOF: Shortly before staring Mr. Wrong, I found an off-white Squire with a teal pick guard on Craigslist for $50. I loved it (still do) and decided that would be what I tried to learn. I did end up painting the pickguard white with black triangles, however. 

LEO: I’m drawn to the low end. Bass is where rhythm meets melody and I’d always dreamed of basking in that magical crossroad. Getting to play with Mof and Urs is a dream come true.

I feel there’s little hints of Devo and B-52’s in your music; are you fans of either?

URSULA: We are giant fans of both- good instincts.

MOF: One of the two covers we’ve learned is 52 Girls by the B-52s and Ursula and I do a radio show with two other friends called Time out Four Fun, named after Devo’s song, “Time Out For Fun”. You could say we’re big fans of both bands! 

LEO: (Heart-eyes emoji). 

In January you released your LP Create A Place; where did the title come from?

URSULA: It’s a line from the song ‘Isolation Du Plenty’. We had a really hard time coming up with a name. Our first ideas were more apocalyptic in vibe, but we ended up feeling that, although the album deals with a lot of chaos and unrest, our ultimate outlook is still hopeful. Create A Place acknowledges that the spaces we wanna exist in may not be fully formed yet but that we can create them together. And it’s probably gonna be messy, but we have to try. 

MOF: The title comes from the song ‘Isolation du Plenty’” which was written in the winter of 2016/2017. Inspired, in part by, Tomata Du Plenty’s world, via The Screamers and his visual art. The lyrics are about creating a place of stability in your mind, even if it’s just a vision of a someday physical space that you hope to occupy, and drawing inspiration through artists you’ll never meet. I feel that the songs on Create A Place are all, in one way or another, critical of institutions that prevent stability for large portions of the population, the hopeful message we aspire to leave with listeners is that we can change that. 

 LEO: It’s about noticing what we need in the world around us and feeling inspired to create it for ourselves (and anyone who feels connected to it). It can seem scary to take those first steps when no one around you is doing something, but that makes it all the more important to trust your gut and do it.

How long were you working on the album for? Were there any challenges?

URSULA: About two years, I think? We were in a songwriting rut for a minute there- I think we were feeling the pressures-or perceived pressures- that can come with making a sophmore album.

MOF: A famous quote by Mark Twain that I always fall back on is, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so here’s a long one instead.” Create A Place is Mr. Wrong’s short letter, we had a couple songs written when our first album came out in 2017 and let the next 7 evolve over the following two years.  We tried a lot of new things on this album and also went through a lot of changes as individuals over those two years, so there were certainly challenges. 

 LEO: Life is full of unexpected challenges. This album was us learning how to tenaciously push through the chaos of reality together, and learn how to be there for each other and ourselves in uncertain and scary times.

Photo by KC Weimann; courtesy of Mr Wrong.

How did you go about writing songs for this record? Was it collaborative?

URSULA: As usual, almost all of it was through jamming out ideas. Super collaborative. 

MOF: We write everything collaboratively, aside from some lyrics.

LEO: We talk about everything, and hold space for everyone’s ideas. The music is an extension of our relationship.

What’s your personal favourite track on the LP? What’s it about?

URSULA: I really love them all, but I’m especially proud of how ‘White Male Teacher’ turned out. That songs about all sorts of things- mostly power dynamics and oppression. The title is a reference to a high school teacher I had who wrote a public letter announcing that rape culture does not exist and passed it out to his freshman class. 

MOF: ‘Holding for Healthcare’ means a lot to me, It comes from a massive frustration with the inaccessibility & inefficiency of privatized healthcare; the discrepancy of care between poor and wealthy Americans. I remember thinking about how DEVO might broach the subject, with a hint of humour and absurdity, it feels cathartic to play every time. 

LEO: ‘Nuclear Generation’ will always hold a dear place in my heart. For me it’s about not giving up, even when there are many daunting forces out of our control, decisions being made in locked rooms by a lot of old white men, that started long before we were born and will continue to really fuck things up. But through acknowledging and learning about the past and the effects on the current systems can rally us together to change our future, to “reinvent it, power down” -bringing the power to the people, turning off our phones and screens and realizing how much beautiful world we still have to fight for.

What’s a song you wished you wrote?

MOF: ‘It’s Obvious’ by the Au Pairs

URSULA: ‘Nervous Tonight’ by Portland’s own, Lotek.

L: ‘Hounds of Love’ by Kate Bush 

All of you sing; when did you each discover your voice? Were you ever self-conscious or nervous when you started out singing? 

URSULA: Singing in public used to scare the shit out of me. The sense of support and empowerment that I get from my bandmates has gone a long ways towards evaporating that fear. I definitely found my voice in this band. 

MOF: I feel I truly discovered my voice when listening to bands like Bratmobile, The Petticoats, Delta 5. My only experience with singing before was as an alto in High School Choir, while I loved the harmonies and comradery of being in a choir, it didn’t feel expressive to me. Hearing a vocal style sang by women that was individualistic, verging on talking or yelling-but not without melodic elements- was an “aha” moment for me. Exploring that with Ursula at the start of MW (we were a 2 piece at first) is when I feel I truly discovered my voice, she was super supportive and encouraging, which really helped me find my way. That supportive dynamic has continued with the addition of Leo, I feel very fortunate to have a safe place be vocally expressive.

LEO: When I got exhausted by the pressure to sound pretty. I like singing at the top of my lungs, or making freaky sounds and seeing where my voice can take me, but it took me SO long to be confident enough to let my voice do it’s thing in the presence of any other living humans. It is still a struggle, and some days it feels way harder than others. But I try to remember how good it feels, and focus on the gratitude that there is a place in my life where I can let go.

Who did the art for Create A Place? What was the thought behind it?

URSULA: Mof. 

MOF: I was thinking about the future & creating that future amidst isolation, through solidarity with like-minded people, when I drew the cover for Create A Place.

Why is it important to keep creating art in these crazy/uncertain times?

URSULA: Art is a way of processing/ trying to make sense of the human condition (sometimes it cannot be made sense of, and you just need to scream about it). It’s important to know that someone else out there is feeling something you feel, and they turned that into a piece of art that can be experienced and enjoyed. That’s pretty fucking magic. 

MOF: There are nuggets of wisdom and catharsis in art from the past, the recent past especially. It’s important for artists to continue creating- not just as an outlet for them personally, which is important- but as a life raft for future generations as well. We need to keep a document of what’s happening so that our collective history isn’t solely written by the ruling class.

LEO: I often don’t even know what I’m feeling until I can express it. Being able to make some kind of art, and look at it from the outside is a window into myself. Art is something to hold on to, to be able to fully fall into when my mind is running away from me or I’m lost inside myself. Focusing and immersing myself something can allow me the space to come back to myself when some time has passed and I can think differently. It is an anchor to keep me here, to recover into, to be able to take a breath, get up and do what I need to do.

Why is community important to you? Where do you feel yours is?

URSULA: Community is important because no one has all the answers. Crowd sourcing is the way of the past, and I think we’re seeing it return in a big way right now. The people I’m lucky enough to call friends make me feel seen, supported, and loved. Art for art’s sake is great- but I think having a community to share it with really takes it to a different level that’s so special.

MOF: Art doesn’t occur in a vacuum, and as Ursula said, having community to share with is what gives art meaning. I guess I could say I feel community most when I feel understood and valued on an emotional level. As that’s what art is to me- an emotional exchange of ideas- I feel I have found a large part of my community through this band and the people we have connected with.   

LEO: Feeling in community can be difficult in such an individualistic society. I have started to think of community as family, and it’s clear to me: The nuclear family is not enough. We need to form our own families, with all different kinds of people, with elders and kids and babies and teenagers and neighbours and mentors and friends and plants and people we just met and from places we’ve never been. Community is giving and taking care in so many ways, reinventing old ones and imagining new ones. It is accepting and letting others see the beautiful and ugly mosaic of who we are, so we can confidently be our vivid and dynamic selves together. I always say it takes a village to be a band, because it does. It takes so many people believing and doing to make anything happen. And wow, do we all need to believe in each other and a future right now.

Please check out: MR WRONG. Create A Place out on Water Wing Records. Mr Wrong on Facebook. Mr Wrong on Instagram.

New War’s Chris Pugmire: “I get giddy, high, almost hysterical. Then I get obsessed and need to explore it from every possible angle. Then I chase that compulsion again”

| gimmiezine
Original photo by Nathan Howdeshell. Handmade mixed-media collage by B.

New War are one of those special bands: they defy genre; they have voice, keys, bass, guitar and drums yet there feels like there is so much more going on; they push boundaries and most importantly their music has the ability to move you intensely and deeply. Their self-titled LP and follow up Coin are always on high rotation at Gimmie HQ. Latest record Trouble In The Air saw New War take up a new challenge recording in Melbourne Town Hall using it’s four-story high Grand Organ—the resulting collection of songs is haunting and transcendental. We chatted to vocalist Chris Pugmire about the album, the deep side of art, discovering music, being history buff, a transformative year spent in Germany as a teen, anarchism, lyricism and more.

As an artist what are the things that you value the most?

CHRIS PUGMIRE: Art that’s strong and slippery, that refracts meaning in a new way each time you approach it, that has the sense of a truth that isn’t fixed and didactic but introduces you to worlds or ideas you hadn’t considered or been exposed to before – even (or especially) if it comes from you. Art that expands or reflects your own inner and outer worlds, that has a complex emotional core that can take intimidating subjects like politics or history or economics or whomever controls whom and crack them open, make them seem less inevitable. Whether I make it or someone else makes it doesn’t particularly matter, I want to be thrilled. When I make something that ticks those boxes I’m ecstatic.

Same if I discover someone else. I get giddy, high, almost hysterical. Then I get obsessed and need to explore it from every possible angle. Then I chase that compulsion again. I make it or find someone. And so often it has nothing to do with money and what money does to art and people, it is money’s antithesis. It can be any act of creation: music, painting, drawing, literature, film, photography, birth, life, sex, death… etc, etc.

Why is music important to you?

CP: It combines so many senses. Hearing of course. But you physically feel it, bass pushing against your stomach and chest, treble pricking at all your nerve endings, beats making your heart race and whole lower torso to move in time. Vocals making synapses fire and drawing tears and shivering your spine. Sudden changes or silence or spikes or climaxes of emotion that make your head tingle, your cheeks hot. And that’s only physical. It’s so powerful, it can change your whole worldview in a few minutes. It can make you feel just about anything. It’s that alchemy, it makes you something new.

How did you first discover music?

CP: It happened via the radio, talking to friends and sharing mixtapes. Taking a punt on an album or a show because the cover or flyer looked interesting or you vaguely remembered a review. Like going to see Bikini Kill because it was this new kinda secret thing, what’s this all about? and feeling zapped by a zillion watt thunderclap. I read one of the ladies in Huggy Bear looked like a mean supermarket checker so I jumped at Taking the Rough with the Smooch which blew my mind. Swell Maps’ Trip to Marineville had the house on fire which was impossible to resist, there was no way it could sound bad with that cover.

I had (and have) a really cool older friend named Jennifer who I worked at a coffee shop with when I was 17, 18 and she made the best mixtapes with stuff like Opal, Thinking Fellers Union, Scorn, Faust, etc. and took me to see stuff like Tindersticks with a fake ID (most good shows were 21+). Then I volunteered at the Velvet Elvis, a great, slightly lawless all-ages club and it just kept going…

When you were sixteen you spent a year in Germany, previously you’ve mentioned that it was really instrumental for you; how? Could you please share with us a little about that year?

CP: I was raised Mormon and my world was very small. I was a little tuning fork and the church’s instilled fear, patriarchy, homophobia, sexual repression, etc. struck and struck at me and its deeply ugly tones felt like the spiritual death I was supposed to be being indoctrinated against. During the first Gulf War there was a palpable bloodlust both at church and school and it revolted me, so much I refused to speak for its six weeks. But my parents were for the most part not as rigid or cruel as this culture even though they made me be part of it and it was deeply confusing.

So when I went to Germany shortly after it was like the veil was lifted. I still had to go to church but it wasn’t the all-encompassing experience it was at home. In Germany I saw neo-Nazis spring up in the aftermath of reunification. You’d see them at soccer matches abusing African players or occasionally roaming the city, they were terrifying. There were attacks on Turks and Kurds and other immigrants in Mölln and Rostock. Part of a large family were murdered by fascist arson in Solingen. There were quite full-on demonstrations.

My cousin Jonny and I shared a room and we’d talk all night about that stuff, church, the future,  music, everything we could think of. We both had a taste for adventure and got up to a lot of no good. At school we studied Woyzeck (both play and film) and that had a profound impact on me as well, the instability of men’s emotions and how they could slip from desire to violence and how class and its humiliations played such a malign role in that destabilisation. The beginning of a lifelong fascination with the machinations of power and all little steps of experience and tastes of freedom that meant the church lost its grip and in a few years I wriggled free.

Your new record, Trouble In The Air, was recorded live at Melbourne Town Hall using its Grand Organ; what inspired this?

CP: It wasn’t something we considered or imagined until the invitation was extended by the curator. What a fun challenge, how would we pull it off?! We thought it gave us the chance to try a different palette both with the organ (simultaneous new possibilities and limitations) and drums. Our live engineer had done sound there and suggested drum machine might be preferable for the sake of clarity and balance between everyone.

You recorded the record live in 2017 and now in 2020 it’s seeing the light of day; in hindsight what are your feelings about this record?

CP: I like that it happened and it’s not overthought. That it’s a snapshot of freshly written songs the first and possibly only time they’ll be performed.

What mood were you trying to capture on this recording?

There’s a lot of moods. “Emerald Dream Eyes” is a love song. “Purple Heart” and “Cocaine Blue are mourning songs. “I am Position Yellow” is a frustration song. “Bang On” is a mystery song. “Redbeard USA” is an investigation song. And there’s a lot of other little moods in each song as well, and they all exist within the title and that’s the vision and overarching mood. All three records are like that. I mean it sounds dumb, of course they are. But they really are.

I understand that you wrote the record over three months, which is a very short time for New War compared to how you would usually write; how did that influence your song writing?

CP: It was the first time we’d written our parts separately, where we were emailing ideas back and forth and building the songs up at home and then rehearsing solid ideas with a lot of focus. Our other records were written by playing in a room every week for several years and refining initial ideas over a long period of time. And the same lyrically, often starting as a really long stream of consciousness and gradually whittling down to rhymes because I think decent rhymes are really hard! We’ve probably lost about two or three records worth of songs just by being picky. So for this record, because of the time constraint, we had to set all that aside and make all the initial ideas work quickly because there wasn’t time to nitpick. It was refreshing being able to accomplish not only the writing but the performance, it made me only want to think of new ways to approach any future recordings.

Lyrically what kinds of themes do you find yourself drawn to? Are they ever reoccurring?

CP: Just observing the world… what’s happening now, what happened before, how that affects what’s happening now… same with my life, my past, my present, the same thing… And dreams are a big part, whether their own thing or relating to all the aforementioned stuff. There’s a thread through all the songs and albums, there’s recurring images and words just like there are in dreams, history, life…

Who are your favourite lyricists?  

CP: I’ve always loved and found new ways to appreciate Kim Gordon. Her new record is conceptually and in its execution the work of a master. Revisiting Dirty and Goo recently, which were two of the first CDs I bought, I’m so struck by her incredible character acting and how wide her emotional range is. And that she’s so funny. And that she writes such complex moods into such accessible language.

I love Bim Sherman, Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail is a total genius lyricist and great essayist as well, Horace Andy, Ari Up and Viv Albertine, Nas, all of Wu Tang, Bahamadia, Guru, Rakim, Mobb Deep, AZ, Ana da Silva, all of Huggy Bear, Jarvis Cocker, Iggy Pop, Mark E Smith… The Sleaford Mods guy is fantastic. I’ve always loved Nisa from Fabulous Diamonds’ lyrics… I could go on forever.

What were the challenges you faced making this record in such a space and using the organ?

CP: That we only got to rehearse once before performing! Jesse got to play the organ a few times late at night (and besides the fact there’s so many keyboards on the organ itself he said it was like playing grandma’s organ), but we only had one full band rehearsal with the organ, using our shitty PA running both vocals and drum machine. So trying to write for such a weird instrument in such a big space and having to basically imagine how it would all sound until the day of the performance was hard.

Aside from music I’ve heard that you’re a history buff; where did this fascination stem from?

CP: Yeah! Mostly because history is so crazy and so much of it gets buried. I’m not into conspiracy but I love secret histories. Like how the Bolshevik and western versions of the Russian Revolution are total bullshit written by the victor or misinterpreted by the enemy.

Voline’s ‘The Unknown Revolution’ and Peter Arshinov’s ‘History of the Makhnovist Movement’ (as well as Nestor Makhno’s own writings) flesh out such a radically different version of the Revolution and the Civil War, where’s Makhno’s (Ukranian Anarchist) Black Army defeated the White (Monarchist) Army on several occasions, only to be double crossed by the Red Army, which as with Kronstadt, didn’t hesitate to eliminate anyone to the left of them in order to consolidate power. It’s where communism in the 20th century first fails as a humanist, revolutionary project and lapses into authoritarianism and portents the Ukranian Holodomor in the 1920s, Spain in the 1930s, Hungary in 1956, Prague in 1968, as well as Maoism in the Cultural Revolution and its variants in Cambodia, North Korea, etc. I think these are lessons the left always has to remind itself of, whether it’s a political or cultural tendency to lapse into Bolshevism. You have to plan for it or every worthy project from the smallest collective to a state eventually falls prey to authoritarians. Which sucks for everybody.

I digress. This fascination stems from stories, which the best histories are. Whether reading Lipstick Traces or Howard Zinn or Robert Fisk in my early 20s or reading Svetlana Alexievich or Ryszard Kapuscinski now, the best history tells everyday – but extraordinary – people’s stories with a novelist’s touch and a journalist’s economy and commitment to the facts. 

In true history nerd style, did you research the space before you performed/recorded there?

CP: All I knew was that the organ had burnt down at some point and had to be rebuilt? Jesse and I went and saw a classical organist perform on an afternoon not long after we got the commission. Watching that gave us the sense it wasn’t going to be easy, ha.

You were also once an Anarchist collective bookstore owner; are there any Anarchist ideas present in your life today?

CP: It wasn’t ownership in the classic sense but I was responsible for a few years. Are there still Anarchist ideas in my life? Absolutely. I might go weasel words and say anarcho-communist or libertarian socialist or whatever. I think mutual aid is the building block, that people innately lean towards cooperation and that hierarchy isn’t necessary for a society to function. That a more central apparatus would work better as a federation made up of worker’s councils or neighbourhood councils or whatever. And you’ve got to prevent that ossification that allows for authoritarians to get a foothold and consolidate power. I wish I was organised enough to be less of a worker and ‘artist’ and more of a proper agitator. I think that’s half the reason we’re in the shit because too many people wanna be artists instead of the hard yards of organising and that’s been the one of the main reasons elites have been able to wind back the clock to the 1920s or even Victorian times. Everyone’s pissed off but we don’t have our eye all the way on the ball. And the right wing always sticks together no matter what. And they don’t give a shit about culture in terms of it getting in the way of doing their job. The left needs to learn from that. Get tight and get organised and stay that way.

I know that New War like to keep moving forward and not repeat themselves; what’s next?

CP: Not sure yet but it’ll have to be interesting and different (to us) or it won’t happen.

Please check out: NEW WAR. Trouble In The Air out on Heavy Machinery Records. Coin available via It Records and New War via All Tomorrow’s Parties. There’s also a Ghostwalking 12″ release featuring Gossip/HTRK mixes on Fast Weapons.

Lithics On Forthcoming LP Tower Of Age: “The fortress you build up within yourself… tearing those walls down and the process of letting go”

| gimmiezine
Handmade mixed-media collage by B.

Portland’s Lithics first came to our attention in 2016 with their debut post-punk album Borrowed Floors. June 2020 will see the release of a new LP, Tower Of Age, both a continuation and evolution of their art-punk, with hints of no wave, sound we’ve come to love from them. Think a mix of Wire, Bush Tetras, Pylon, Erase Errata and Contortions.We spoke to Lithics’ Aubrey Hornor (guitar, vocals) and Bob Desaulniers (bass, guitar, tape loops) to find out more.

How did you first come to making music?

BOB: I’ve been playing guitar since I was twelve or thirteen and started my first band not long after. I had older friends that were in punk bands and played shows and I wanted to do that too.

AUBREY: I started playing drums when I was sixteen and my first band was in college.

Why is it important for you to create?

AUBREY: I enjoy the collaborative aspect and the creative process itself. Seeing an initial idea come to fruition through improvisation and group dynamics is gratifying. It’s a form of communication with music as the language.

BOB: When I was younger, music primarily appealed to me as an emotional outlet. While that’s still the case, in recent years I’ve become more interested in aesthetic or organizational considerations. My motivations are always evolving and I think that’s part of what keeps it an interesting activity for me.

In June you’re releasing your new LP Tower Of Age; how did the record start?

BOB: It takes us about two years to write a record. We’ve been playing some of the songs on Tower of Age live for a long time now. Recording the songs is only half of it though. Editing and sequencing is where you give the album its character.

Lithics uses a lot of cool wordplay in your lyrics; do lyrics come easy for you or do you have to work for them?

AUBREY: Sometimes it comes easy and sometimes not. It’s usually the last piece of the songwriting process. I work from notebooks of observations and poetry, and sometimes the words come from ideas I have for phrasing.

What are some things that were inspiring the writing for Tower Of Age?

AUBREY: I drew inspiration from everywhere-nature, literature, my personal life. It’s mostly hidden in abstraction in the final form.

What’s the significance of the album’s title?

AUBREY: It refers to the fortress you build up within yourself over time and the walls you erect to protect yourself. And personally, it’s about tearing those walls down and the process of letting go.

Lithics recorded with Evan Mersky (and Molly his dog) using tape; what kinds of things did you try during this recording that you haven’t tried before?

BOB: This was the first time we tried tracking instead of all playing live in a room. Wiley and I recorded the rhythm section parts first and really took our time getting takes we were happy with. It’s really difficult for everyone to get a good take at the same time and usually somebody is forced to compromise and leave in something they would rather not. This new way was less stressful.

 We also took a cue from our 2017 tour tape Wendy Kraemer and decided to be a little more adventurous and include practice recordings, tape loops, and weird audio fragments. I regret not taking this approach for Mating Surfaces.

Were there any challenges making the album?

BOB: Songwriting felt like it took a long time. We wanted to challenge ourselves and let our sound evolve without resorting to older formulas or making any major aesthetic shifts. Physically recording the songs is always a challenge as well, with many emotional ups and downs.

What’s one of your fondest memories from recording?

BOB: It was really nice to have Evan’s dog Molly running around the studio lightening the mood.

You’ve released a film clip for the first single “Hands” where was it shot? The location looks pretty cool!

AUBREY: Desert Christ Park in Yucca Valley California and Joshua Tree national park. The indoor scenes were filmed in our friend Carole Anne’s studio here in Portland. I went on a trip to Joshua Tree with some friends and we happened to find the Desert Christ Park at sunset when we took a wrong turn. It was really beautiful.

What’s your favourite thing about your new record?

AUBREY: I like the two improvised tracks the most: “The Symptom” and “Half Dormancy”. They are unique performances we were never able to reproduce and I’m glad they made it onto the record.

BOB: The band very graciously gave me a lot of leeway with editing and as a result the whole record feels more personal. I’m glad it didn’t end up as just a collection of songs recorded in a studio.

Outside of making music what would we find you doing?

BOB: I am not very well rounded so it’s mostly music for me. I recently started studying classical guitar, which has been an exciting and humbling experience. I am not much of a visual artist but I enjoy working with collage as well.

AUBREY: I spend my time looking at birds when I can and I’ve been getting into gardening. I also occasionally work in ceramic sculpture.

Please check out: LITHICS. Lithics on Instagram. Tower Of Age out June 3 on TROUBLE IN MIND Records.

Pray For Party Dozen is on the way: “Party Dozen is a band that no one asked for, so I think it’s funny, the idea of praying for us”

| gimmiezine
Handmade mixed-media + still life collage by B.

Sydney’s Party Dozen is the dynamite combo of Jonathan Boulet and Kirsty Tickle. They’re one of the most interesting and exciting bands around with an experimental musical fusion of saxophone, drums and electronics to create a unique, fierce sound. They’re getting set to release their highly anticipated sophomore LP Pray For Party Dozen. We interviewed them, getting to know them a little better and hearing more about the awaited release, out May 22 on their own label Grupo Records. Get on your knees and start to pray, the second coming is almost upon us!

Party Dozen is a project loosely based around improvisation; what appealed to you about taking this approach?

JONO: I think all live forms of music conjure some kind of energy, sometimes it’s a familiar energy and sometimes it’s not. Audiences aren’t stupid and they can sense when you’re checked in to your performance. For us, keeping our performances unhinged and untethered not only keeps shows fun for us but I think it brings a sense of danger and if we want to project more energy we simply play harder and faster. And even though there’s a lot of songs we now generally play structurally the same, there’s always room for spontaneity and expression if we’re feeling it.

You’ve known each other for over a decade; how does that familiarity help when playing music and writing songs together?

JONO: Obviously knowing each other’s tendencies and even subtle physical cues can help immensely when it comes to performing as a unit. I guess at the same time we’re always developing as players and not being too familiar with someone’s playing style can lead to surprises and new paths. Sometimes I think we’re dead on the same page but it’ll turn out we are on opposite ends of the book! A welcome surprise as there are no mistakes when you’re “making it up”.

How did each of you first get into music?

JONO: It started for me when I was 10. I tended to be a little on the hyperactive side but instead of opting for drugs, my folks bought an old drum kit from a country town that used to belong to a Jazz guy that was in the war but never came back.

KIRSTY: My start in music was pretty run of the mill. Bullied my parents for piano lessons age 4, because I was the youngest and my siblings were all having them already. Music was the only thing that ever really held my interest for a long period of time.

All photos courtesy of @partydozen Instagram.

How did you first come to creating music yourself?

JONO: When I hit high school my parents got me a keyboard. It had this looping arranger function on it where I could layer up 5 or 6 instruments. I would get home from school and play it every day, recording loops that I liked on to floppy disks.

KIRSTY: I started writing songs when I was around 13, just keyboard and vocal kind of stuff. But I didn’t get into experimenting until I met Jonathan. He really pushed me to think about music differently and follow my own path with creating it.

I understand that Party Dozen started while you were overseas and that you started out playing the reverse – with Jono on saxophone and Kirsty on drums – of what the band formation is now; firstly what inspired you to be a two-piece with these instruments? Why did you first experiment by switching instruments?

KIRSTY: Yeah, we did one jam like that. I think Jono really wanted to play sax and I’ve always wanted to play drums. But it was dogshit, so we went back to the ones we’re good at. My memory is that we spoke about making a band in Berlin, but recorded our first song while living in London. We started taking it seriously when we moved back to Sydney. Coming back to Australia was this real lightbulb moment for both of us – we love living here, we love creating here and we love the community here.

Party Dozen’s music has quite an aggressive vibe and has an edge to it that can push the parameters of what makes people feel comfortable both as a listener and as a live experience; was that an intentional goal when crafting your sound?

KIRSTY: For sure. We always want to push the boundaries of how much sound two people can produce, and then extend on that. For me Party Dozen is also an experiment in how to utilise our instruments in more interesting ways, and appreciating that that sometimes isn’t going to be “nice” or “pretty”. There’s a real strength in that for me.

You’ve previously mentioned that with Party Dozen you wanted to “form a band that could help us grow as musicians”; in what ways do you feel you’ve grown since starting PD?

KIRSTY: When we started this band I couldn’t really use effects pedals. So I’ve really grown in that department. I also feel like we’ve both gotten so much better at playing our instruments in a live setting – still plenty of room for improvement though.

JONO: Yeah with the current format of this band, the better we get on our instruments the more options we have for exploration. This band has forced me to play harder better faster stronger.

Where did the title of your forthcoming sophomore LP, Pray For Party Dozen, come from?

KIRSTY: I think it sort of started as a bit of a joke…

JONO: Party Dozen is a band that no one asked for, so I think it’s funny, the idea of praying for us.

What inspired the new record?

KIRSTY: Film Noir, cults, 1960’s rock, conversations about dead friends.

How did you record it? Jono you record, mix and master Party Dozen’s songs, right?

JONO: We recorded it in our little 15sqm box in Marrickville, Sydney. Generally we’ll improvise to a loop a couple times and pick the best one. We run the sax through an amp with a DI and generally use 4-6 mics on the kit. We mix and master in house because we’re possessive and greedy.

I know when writing songs that you like to experiment and that you like to play a few different takes over loops to find what sounds best; how important are feeling and intuition in your process?

KIRSTY: The writing process is very improvisational, so I’d say feeling and intuition makes up about 90% of it. If it feels good, we’ll explore. If we like the vibe, it’ll normally make the record.

JONO: You can tell pretty quick if a song is coming together and whether it’s worth pursuing. Once we’ve made a loop, you can envision the song and if that sounds good in your mind, it’s likely to sound good in reality. There’s only ever been a couple of jams that got to the jam phase and didn’t make it.

Were there any risks you feel you took while making the album? Or any happy accidents from the process that made it on to the album?

KIRSTY: There’s a song with no loops! Which is the first time we’ve done that, and we didn’t go into the recording aiming for that either – so I guess that’s a happy accident!

JONO: Nothing too risky. We were more focused on expanding our sonic palate. More colours to play with in the Party Dozen world. There was definitely an intentional focus on aesthetic and vibe this time around.

What gear really helped shape the sound of, Pray For Party Dozen?

KIRSTY: On my set up, I got some new pedals. A wah, a new fuzz and a couple of new delays.

JONO: I run all my loops off of a Roland SP-404, I use one crash, tighten the fuck out of my snare and try to hit everything as hard and consistent as possible.

What was one of your favourite moments of recording the new record?

KIRSTY: The opening track “World Prayer” is probably the most challenging track to listen to on the record. It was also the most fun, rule-free, throwing-shit-at-a-wall noisey tracks I’ve ever recorded.

JONO: Some songs you know just don’t feel right while you’re playing them, so it takes a few goes to get it right. But there are some songs, eg. “The Great Ape”, that feel right every time you play it. When it feels right the first time, you get this rush of excitement or a hit of some highly addictive drug.

What keeps music exciting for you?

KIRSTY: I get excited to just keep making. And trying different things. It’s not hard to keep excited with a band like PD… we can do whatever we want next.

JONO: Touring is what keeps it exciting for me. When there’s heat in the room and you can feel people’s energy on stage, nothing beats that.

As artists what are the things that you value most?

KIRSTY: I value time. Time to tour, practise, make records, hangout with friends who give me tonnes of inspiration. The more time we have as Party Dozen, the better.

JONO: I value a sense of humour, originality, and people with a sense of vision.

Please check out: PARTY DOZEN. Pray For Party Dozen out May 22 on Grupo pre-order here. PD on Instagram. PD on Facebook.

The Stroppies get set to release new LP Look Alive!: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

| gimmiezine
Handmade collage by B.

Melbourne band The Stroppies’ music is the best parts of jangly British C86 and New Zealand’s Flying Nun in its heyday with their own transformative modernisation. There’s a lot of bright moments to be found on forthcoming LP Look Alive! (out May 1 on UK label Tough Love Records), shining moments of poetry and simplicity. We spoke to Stroppies’ guitarist-vocalist Gus Lord to shed light on the new album.

Your new album Look Alive! was written mostly on the road, which I understand is a different process for The Stroppies than what you’d normally do?

GUS LORD: Yeah, I’ve never done anything like that before. Last year was really full throttle. We were in plans to go back to Europe this year, making new music felt just like the right thing to do. It was an interesting process working out of a notebook in a car.

What was the first song you wrote for this LP?

GL: The first one we wrote for the album was “Burning Bright”. We wrote that one before we went on tour actually on a Saturday morning screw around with me and Rory [Heane; drums]. The original demo is quite strange.

We like strange! Strange is good.

GL: Yeah, strange is good! There’s meters of tape in our studio space that would have a lot of stranger things on them that may one day see the light of day.

I hope so. What kinds of things were inspiring the songs?

GL: From my perspective and process, I’m just putting down words and putting threads together; I have to keep follow that, until those threads inform me what the themes are. Once I get an idea of what the themes are going to be, I fishhook that onto a personal experience. With the last record [Whoosh!] I was writing from the perspective of other people, whereas this record is a little more personal. They’re not confessional songs but they’re going a little further under the skin than the last set of songs did.

Did you find it harder to write more personal songs?

GL: I think they’re still very much stories, my definition of what makes a personal song is probably far removed from your Ed Sheeran or whoever is popular right now. Not explicitly really, when you’re doing it right things are relatively unconscious. I think songwriting is just hard full stop, at least it is for me.

What’s the story behind title track “Look Alive!”?

GL: When you frame something in the context of a title for a body of work it subtly re-contextualises it. It seemed like a funny thing to call the record. It insinuates alertness and has those connotations to army lingo. For me, I just thought the two words looked nice together. I had the phrase written in my phone for a little while and when we decided to call the album that, I was looking for a name for the album’s title song; I managed to whittle that into the second verse.

I’ve been looking at all the track names and it’s almost like it’s telling a story as you’re progressing through the album.

GL: Yeah. If you’re thinking of the first two singles that we put out “Holes In Everything” is a sweet affectionate song, the sentiment at least. Whereas “Burning Bright” is more discerning and unsure of itself. Both songs are about relationships, different parts of those relationships.

Where do you write the song “Aisles Of The Supermarket”?

GL: That was one of the other songs that we wrote at home. It was partly written in our front room, we recorded four different demos of it and it wasn’t until the final moment when we went into another person’s studio and ran a bunch of tape loops behind it that the song found its feet. That was a Claudia [Serfaty; bass-vocals] one, she had the poem that we put to the music.

You recorded your album in December last year?

GL: Yeah, it was a pretty quick turnaround.

Your last album Whoosh! was recorded in a studio and your work before that was recorded at home, now you’re back to doing stuff at home again; how’s it feel to be back in the more familiar environment, your own space?

GL: Better! I feel a sense of ease and comfort. A precedent that I wanted to establish with the band was not being locked into any one style of recording or benchmark of production. We’ve always done stuff fifteen instruments on a tiny little cassette player and then big studio affairs. It felt like that this recording was a nice synthesis of the two. We got to track it at home with Alex Macfarlane who put out our first record and has been helping us out with stuff since the band first started. We took the master tapes to the studio where we recorded Whoosh! and mixed it down there. I definitely prefer having space and time and my own house to whittle out ideas. It’s a nice working process for sure.

On Whoosh! you used rain sticks and an old door frame for percussion; did you use anything interesting on Look Alive! to create sounds?

GL: I bought a sampling keyboard from Cash Converters which is pretty much all over the record. It was a crummy, beaten up thing that runs on floppy disks and we just ran a bunch of stuff into that and tracked it in. The good thing about a sampling keyboard is you save a lot of space. There’s nothing too obtuse that went on this record beyond your regular guitar music fanfare.

I love that you picked up something inexpensive at Cash Converters and used that on your new record. Using stuff like that you can get sounds no one else has!

GL: Of course! At a hundred bucks a new piece of gear can stimulate parts of your process or give a certain project and certain sound. When your outgoings are that low it’s worth taking the financial risk and seeing what happens, that was a good one for us.

I’ve read that when you were making Whoosh! you were having a little self-doubt; are you more confident writing this time around?

GL: No, not really [laughs]. It’s just par for the course. The greatest joy I feel in the process is when I’m doing it alone or when we’re actually in the process of working the songs out. Everything after that is a bit overwhelming! We end up getting through it none the less.

You made the song “Entropy” from your last album by yourself didn’t you?

GL: Yeah. I recorded a demo of it which I think is the definitive version of it. The version on the album is cool but… it’s the one song that I guess for lack of time, we hadn’t learnt it so I recorded it. It came out pretty cool, it has a different flavour from everything else.

Totally. That song was one of my standout favourites of last year. The way you sing it, the feeling in it… it’s one of those songs you hear and you’re like, how does something this cool even exist?

GL: That you so much, that’s very kind.

What’s one of your favourite things about your new record?

GL: It’s a little more playful and organic. I feel like every time we write and record we’re moving closer to what this band should be, we’re figuring stuff out. I think with a lot of other bands I’ve been in, generally around this time you start to feel malaise, whereas with this I feel invigorated with this to keep going. There’s still a lot of meat left on the bone as far as songwriting.

What is the vision for where The Stroppies want to be?

GL: It’s really changed in light of what’s happened globally. We had another tour planned, obviously this record was going to get toured but now that we’re bound to home it’s all been reconfigured. I’m really just thinking we should make another record ‘cause—why not?! More broadly speaking I try not to expect too much from it, if any opportunities present themselves grab ‘em by the horns and enjoy the experiencing.

While you’ve been in isolation you made a film clip for “Burning Bright” using candles and paper.

GL: Yes. It was born of economy really. In my head I had a broader more grandiose vision of what it would entail but the reality of the footage wasn’t as such. Me and Claudia are obviously a couple and we have a really good creative relationship. It was just us playing around one isolation weekend with a face mask, Plasticine and candles.

It turned out pretty fun!

GL: Thanks, I thought so. You’re so spoiled for choice and possibility with modern technology, it’s ridiculous! We’ve shot all of our videos on iPhones. This one was shot on a nice camera and edited in iMovie. To my eyes they’re totally fine, passable [laughs].

I’ve always loved what people do with what they have. It fosters and nourishes creativity and imagination.

GL: Yeah. Buying a 4-track recorder was a massive thing for me, it stimulated and unlocked parts of my creativity I hadn’t really facilitated purely because of economy. I tried doing digital recording but I guess it’s because you have access to hundreds of different effects, there’s just so many different options. You can spend months twiddling knobs fine tuning a bass guitar sound when in reality, all you’re doing is creating a smoke screen for parts of the songs you don’t want to develop because you don’t’ feel confident with it. When I got a 4-track it was, ok, drums, bass, guitar and then you have the last track and you’re like, better write some lyrics and put something on that. Economy can be very useful in that regard.

Who did the artwork for Look Alive!?

GL: A guy called Nick Dahlen. I had done the artwork for our previous two EPs the experience of doing that was one I didn’t want to repeat. When we entertained the idea of doing another record and having it ready for this period of time, because it had been such a palaver to get the other two done, we actually got him to do the art work before we finished writing any of the songs or recording. It was a funny way to do it but it ended up working really well. I like the fact that there’s the ants on the cover, you think about an army of ants and obviously the army lingo of Look Alive! In a weird serendipitous moment here are three ants and only three out of the four of us made this record. It worked.

Why was it only the three of you?

GL: We had a pretty aggressively busy year last year, at the end of the second tour that we did that had a myriad of trials and tribulations – it was a tough tour – we all sat down… me and Claudia live together and we know we’re just going write. We said, “This is what we want to do, these are the days; what do you reckon?” And it just ended up being us three. It’s not in any malice or ill will, Adam said he just needed to live a life and that’s totally cool.

What were some of things on the tour that were hard for the band?

GL: We’d been to Europe a month and a half prior and had a really good tour, coming back the second time we’d driven ourselves around. We thought the drives will be longer and we’ll be going through more medieval towns and things will be harder to navigate so we’ll get a tour driver. The guy we got was a real piece of work! It was a massive buzz kill. Slot into that administrative and organisational things that were overlooked, it really put a damper on everything. Bad hotel rooms. Cancelled shows. I had to leave my keyboard in Austria because the airline was going to charge me $800 US to bring it home. There was lots of bits and pieces that added up, it was really relentless. It bore us down a bit. I guess, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

What’s one of the best things you saw while on tour?

GL: It wasn’t so much about what we saw because you rarely get to see anything at all just by nature of the rhythm of that experience—it’s get in the car and drive to show, then you’re in a hotel room. It’s just more about what we felt and what we experienced, there were so really great shows! The fact that you can travel to the Northern Hemisphere and people can turn up, it completely befuddles me. Beyond the thought of annoyances and headaches of the experiences the shows were such a pleasure, which was really cool.

What feelings do you get when you play live?

GL: I get this sort of complete disassociation from myself where I become completely unconscious of what’s going on—that’s when it’s good! When it’s bad it’s the polar opposite, a heightened self-consciousness, an ultra-awareness and my brain will meander off into absurd places; what I ate for breakfast? What am I going to wear tomorrow? That’s the worst end of it.

I always love asking anyone I interview this next question; why is music important to you?

GL: It’s something that I’ve been able to invest myself in and in turn define myself by. It’s afforded me friendships, community, camaraderie and solace. It plays a very important role in my life.

Have you always played music?

GL: No, I didn’t really grow up around much music. My friend Alex who I’ve played in a bunch of bands with and who has been very supportive of everything that I’ve done, his dad and my dad were friends since they were fifteen growing up in Sydney. Alex and I were born two months apart so we’ve been pals since we wore born. When I was around thirteen or fourteen, I’d see him and his dad play music all the time and I started because I got sick of sitting on the couch watching them!

Please check out: THE STROPPIES. Look Alive! LP out May 1 via Tough Love Records. TS on Facebook. TS on Instagram.

Perth punks Cold Meat: “We just wanted to create music with the raw energy which comes from not knowing how to play your instrument but just needing to get something out”

| gimmiezine
Original photo courtesy of Helta Skelta Records. Handmade mixed-media art by B.

Cold Meat may have released THE punk record of 2020 with their new LP Hot & Flustered on Helta Skelta Records. Their sound resides somewhere in the realm of bands like !Action Pact!, Vice Squad, Crass and early Rubella Ballet. We interviewed them to find out more about one of our favourite Australian punk bands.

When did you first discover your passion for music?

ASH (vocals): My family listened to a lot of music growing up and we were all encouraged to play instruments. I played drums in school and always wanted to be in a band but couldn’t be arsed practicing. It wasn’t until getting into punk and Feminism that I actually developed any real passion for playing music I think.

What’s the best thing about making your own music?

ASH: Being creative with friends and getting to play with great bands!

KYLE (guitarist): For me, probably just the release. I need something to channel my anger and frustration which I can’t express through other forms. That and all the people you meet and make connections with along the way who share a common outlook.

Photo courtesy of Cold Meat.

Growing up, who were your musical influences?

KYLE: As a young teen Black Flag, Misfits, Pennywise. Anything that was on the Crusty Demons MX vids.

What brought Cold Meat together?

KYLE: We just got talking about it at parties. Me and Ash had been jamming with her playing bass I think and myself on drums but then we talked to Char and she was keen to play drums so I jumped on guitar and we got Tim in to play bass. We just wanted to do something new that was pretty primitive, raw and energetic, like the late ’70s and early ’80s DIY punk had been. Char had never played drums before and Tim hadn’t played bass. We just wanted to create some music with the raw energy which comes from not knowing how to play your instrument but just needing to get something out.

Can you tell us about the first time you performed?

KYLE: I can’t actually remember it. It was a gig at 208 though. House show. I think it went alright ha.

TIM (bass): It was actually the first time I’d ever played live so I was incredibly nervous! Thankfully it was just in a lounge room surrounded by friends.

Photo courtesy of Cold Meat.

Congratulations! You’re LP, Hot & Flustered, was released yesterday (March 20); what were some of the things inspiring it?

ASH: As far as lyrics go it’s a bit of a mix between silly, tongue-in-cheek songs about petty, personal grievances and more serious, sincere songs.

KYLE: After doing a few 7”s we just wanted to do a full length. So we spent a year or so working on that. It’s not a whole lot different from the 7”s I don’t think. Just the kinda usual inspiration – anger, and frustration with current political and social issues and the utterly inadequate ideas and frameworks poised to “solve” these issues, and bands like the Electric Eels, Gang of Four, The Bags. At least for my part.

In the spirit of your record’s title; what’s something that gets you hot and flustered?

ASH: Kyle when he wears his fishnet top and pleather pants.

Is your songwriting collaborative? Tell us about your process.

KYLE: Yeah. I usually just come into band practice with an idea for a song and then we all jam on it and add our parts.

What’s one of your favourite Cold Meat lyrics?

KYLE: “He’s sucking the cock of Cobain” is a pretty good one. Or, “I’m going to spew in your ZZ top hat, because I hate ZZ Top”.

TIM: “He wants to lick your walls and he wants you on all fours” from Crawlers. I must admit I did think Ashley was singing balls for a while. This is not the first time I’ve misheard the lyrics.

Were there any challenges creating the album?

KYLE: Not really. Cold Meat is a pretty easy band to work with. It was more of a struggle writing for an album rather than just a 7” though. Trying to write songs that would fit conceptually and flow.

TIM: The recording went pretty smooth this time. We did attempt to record some noise parts using a vacuum cleaner, metal, glass and a hammer but didn’t end up using it on the final mix. It was still really fun smashing stuff and a great way to wind down after the recording.

Cold Meat are from Perth; how does your environment influence your art and creativity?

KYLE: For me, it probably doesn’t too much. We’re so easily connected now with social media and online content that I’m probably more influenced by what’s going on in the US, UK or Melbourne and Sydney right now. Although of course we did have the Victims, Scientists, Cheap Nasties etc. and I’m a huge fan of that stuff.

The LP’s amazing art work is by Jen Calandra; how did you come to her work? What’s the story of the cover?

KYLE: I think we just came across her work online. I instantly loved it though. I initially came across her black and white illustrations and thought they were perfect for punk art. Although they reach far beyond it too. We just asked her if she’d want to do the artwork for the album and she’s was keen. So, given we were all familiar with her work and loved it, we said she could do whatever she wanted. She came back with an idea and we went with it. I suppose you’d have to ask her if you want some deeper analysis. There’s certainly a feminist bent though.

You’re feminists (everyone in the Gimmie office is too!); when did you first start to realise the importance of feminism?

ASH: I don’t remember a specific turning point but I think going to uni and being made aware of inequalities between men and women in a range of contexts shifted my worldview. I think I was extremely sheltered before leaving school and home. I became angrier and angrier the more I found out about the astonishing rates of domestic and sexual violence, widespread economic disparities, disproportionate representation of women in politics, art, music etc. This was around the same time I discovered Feminist punk, literature and art, and started making connections with super engaged and inspiring women like Charlotte [Cold Meat’s drummer]. I think Feminism is about being vigilant in recognising and confronting inequality but also trying to ensure that the hard work of the Feminists who came before us is not forgotten or worse, undone.

TIM: The Riot Grrrl bands of the ’90s were probably my first introduction to feminism. This was in high school when my friends and I were all discovering music and punk together. Someone lent me a Bikini Kill album and it all started from there!

Photo courtesy of Cold Meat.

What have you been listening to lately?

ASH: Special Interest, Soakie, Ubik and Fitness Womxn.

KYLE: Lately, the Annihilated demo, the Electric Chair 7”s, Sandford Clark resissue. A lot of Venom and Darkthrone too. I dunno, guess it’s a sign of the times.

TIM: Nylex, Paranoias, Ubik

What do you enjoy doing when not creating music?

ASH: I teach art at a high school full time which is pretty great and if I get any time outside of that I like to try and make my own.

KYLE: Mostly reading. Study takes up around 90% of my time, that and procrastination. Trying to finish my PhD. I guess I enjoy that sometimes.

TIM: Ocean swims, reading and eating baked goods.

Please check out: COLD MEAT Hot And Flustered. HELTA SKELTA Records.

Jake Robertson’s Alien Nosejob: “I wanted to make it sound like a mixtape that you’d make and give to your friends

| gimmiezine
Handmade mixed-media collage by B.

We love mixtapes! Alien Nosejob’s music reminds us of one. Its genre-less and fun and we never know what the next song might sound like; it’s exciting to listen to their releases unfold, especially latest LP, Suddenly Everything Is Twice As Loud out on Anti Fade. Alien Nosejob started as a bedroom recording project by Jake Robertson, who is one of the most prolific Australian songwriters we know. Rather than us trying to describe his creations we highly recommend that you check out his work for yourself and care about what you think of it! We believe there’s a little something for everyone. We interviewed Jake to get more of an understanding about what he does, why he does it and how he does it.

I wanted to start by asking you; how did you get into music?

JAKE ROBERTSON: My dad is extremely into music, into British Invasion stuff, blues whether it be Prewar or all the way up to your white boy Eric Clapton kind of stuff. He constantly had The Kinks and The Who playing when I was younger. My brother showed me AC/DC and the Sex Pistols when I was six or seven and I got into that for a little while. I can’t really lie, nu-metal had a huge influence on me when I was eleven or twelve, that’s where it really kicked off [laughs].

What was it that you loved about nu-metal?

JR: I found something that mum and dad didn’t like [laughs]… that was probably a big part of it. That then led into Nofx and Rancid and that led me to Dead Kennedys and that got me back to where I started at AC/DC and The Kinks.

Nice! I think it’s cool you can say “I grew up liking new metal” …a lot of people would lie and play it cool and say they were first into whatever the coolest band/s are. Everyone’s got to start liking something somewhere, if you like it, it shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

JR: Yeah, one hundred percent! The thing is, even though I don’t listen to nu-metal anymore, I could put it on and totally see why I like it. I understand why it appealed to me so much as a youngin.

Why do you enjoy writing songs?

JR: That is something I ask myself and something that I haven’t been able to answer [laughs]. I think I like spending time doing something. I have a lot of hours to spend in the day, I could be punching bongs or I could be watching TV or I could be at home recording songs. I generally choose the third one.

You’re definitely dedicated to doing it, I think since 2012 you’ve had at least twenty releases that I know of.

JR: Yeah, I do it pretty frequently [laughs]. I think it’s just how I like to pass my time. I generally finish work, say “hi” to my partner and then lock myself in the studio for a couple of hours, then I eat dinner and so to bed pretty much. It’s all I do outside of work.

I did an interview a while back with Omar Rodriguez Lopez from At The Drive-In/Mars Volta and he was saying how, other people go out and party and socialise but for a lot of creative people, our party is at home making stuff, that’s our fun!

JR: Yeah, I definitely do find it fun. I do find it frustrating sometimes though but, then again I find going out and socialising frustrating as well, even though I like doing it. I think Mr Rodriguez is probably right.

What kinds of things do you find frustrating about making music?

JR: Making things fit. The things that I find frustrating are the things that probably draw me towards it as well. I’m a big fan of finding things that shouldn’t really go together and trying to make them fit together, quite often it’s frustrating. Naturally they don’t’ always fit together and I’m constantly questioning myself; why am I doing this? Which often sinks into a repetitive question with no answer. You kind get into a bit of an existential crisis; why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for? Am I doing it for myself? Obviously I’m doing it for myself, because most of my stuff I just have on my computer and I haven’t even released it. I guess I’m doing it for myself. This is the kind of stuff Bianca that my brain goes over and over and over! I’m always asking; why am I releasing this? What’s the point?

If you’re always questioning stuff maybe you’re never comfortable therefore you won’t get complacent and you’ll keep going, keep trying new things.

JR: Maybe. It’s not a matter of looking to write the perfect song or anything like that, I think my problem is that I have quantity or quality. I just like to shit things out and move on to the next thing straight away. Once it’s done it’s done!

How do you approach making a song? From what I know the writing is quite fast for you.

JR: Most of the time, it really depends. I don’t really write with any band in mind or any instrument in mind, I don’t write with any genre in mind either. I’ll pick up a random instrument and I’ll see what happens. Sometimes I’ll record as I make it up and that’s what ends up on the record, other times I’ll sing something in the shower, and record something into my phone while I’m driving or riding my bike like “do, do, do, do, do” or I’ll hum it and try to recreate it later.

I really love listening to Alien Nosejob because you are genre-less and your releases remind me of listening to a mixtape, you can hear bits and pieces of everything in there, which makes it really cool.

JR: Yeah, the record that Billy [Anti Fade Records] did recently Suddenly Everything Is Twice As Loud my aim was to try and make it sound like a mixtape.

It came through, I get it!

JR: Yeah. I wanted to make it sound like a mixtape that you’d make and give to your friends as a teenager.

We still make mixtapes.

JR: I still do as well! It probably been eight or nine months. I will get back to it thought, isolation is the perfect time for it.

I love with the Alien Nosejob HC45 EP that it’s done in the spirit of hardcore punk EPs, they’re usually traditionally released on a 7”.

JR: Yeah. That’s my favourite format. Originally with Alien Nosejob it was going to be one or two EPs, self-released and it would be done. None of the press releases said “Jake from these bands…” I made it so it was completely anonymous. I’ve lied and said I lived in Clunes which is where they filmed Mad Max! I just wanted to self-release a 7” EP completely void of labels or anything like that because thy majority of my record collections is 7”s done like that. I got bored and continued doing stuff though [laughs].

I also love how you did Buffet Of Love on a 12” in that italo-disco style and that’s how they used to release that genres singles on 12”.

JR: Yeah. That’s another genre that I absolutely love. With this Nosejob stuff, it flows to whatever I’m listening to at the time. When I recorded that I was listening to specific records – that I listed on the sleeve with the tracks – that I was loving at the time. Trying to replicate it a little.

What do you do to keep challenging yourself with your writing?

JR: Probably just form too many bands [laughs], that’s one way. From 2012 to 2017 I was playing way too many gigs per week with different bands; that was another reason why I just needed to do something hat was recording. I was getting exhausted. Now I’ve made Nosejob into a band as well. We’ve only played one show, we’ll probably only do one or two a year.

As a songwriter what are the things you value?

JR: Even though I’m guilty of it… I do value people that search for originality in songwriting… I’m trying to tread really lightly so I don’t say something stupid. I don’t really like when a band from a certain scene has a song that sounds the same as another band in that scene. I will try to look for some originality and hopefully it comes through in what I’m doing, I think though maybe I’m pulling my leg if I’m saying I don’t do that myself sometimes.

I think as part of culture everything is inspired by everything else.

JR: Exactly. I guess I mean the difference is inspiration rather than ripping off. Even if I am heavily influenced by something else I’ll put my own spin on things.

And that part right there is what makes it become original, taking things in a different direction from where you got them.

JR: That’s the aim. I have listened back to a couple of things I’ve done and I’ve been like, I didn’t put enough time into putting my own spin on this one [laughs].

Whatever you’re listening to at the time I guess can naturally filter into what you’re doing, sometimes without you even knowing.

JR: Yeah, it definitely does.

You recorded Suddenly Everything… by yourself, right?

JR: Yeah, I recorded everything all by myself.

I remember reading you explain that you’d have a ten second delay after you’d press record so you could get to the drum kit to play the track; was that process frustrating?

JR: Oh yeah, big time! I had to make a computer drum beat, if I was making it for a band I would make it with a computer drumbeat but I wouldn’t put any time into it so whoever plays the drums for it would give their own stamp to it; I pretty much do that with any instrument. I’ll do a simple version of bass or guitar or whatever and sing, then the band would learn it. With recording Alien Nosejob I had to get to that stage and then basically start again and record it properly one by one. I’d have to give a ten second count in at the start so I’d have time to press record and run to my drum kit. I’d play it and every time I’d make a mistake I’d have to start again, go walk that ten seconds to the tape machine and rewind to the right spot, and make sure I’m not recording over something else and do the whole process over again. Its very time consuming and very, very frustrating and annoying. It constantly makes you question why you are doing it.

With that album did you have songs you’d just written over time?

JR: Wait a second let me just get a copy of it, I can’t even remember what’s on it… [reaches for a copy of Suddenly… as his cat walks by] …oh “hey” it’s my cat!

What’s your cat’s name?

JR: Lumpi. She’s a little cute thing, if you want to see a picture of her, on the front cover of a 7” that School Damage did, she’s on that.

All of the songs written on Suddenly… were recorded at home in Thornbury in 2018, I’m pretty sure I just did all of these straight off the bat. Just by reading the songs titles I was listening to a lot of The Saints and a lot of Ramones at this point [laughs]. For that record I had a little studio set up in the house where my partner Carolyn has all of her print making stuff on one side of the room and I have recording stuff on the other side of the room. We would just sit back-to-back for hours a night on end making our end product.

Carolyn and Jake.

Nice! That’s like my husband and I, we have the same kind of set up. He has his little studio set up and we both have art tables, we sit there for hours and hours too.

JR: That’s cool. We just moved house and now we sit beside each other.

What are your working on now?

JR: [Laughs] It’s funny that you ask that. I feel like before I explain what I’m working on I should say that I recorded this during the Australian bushfires time in December—January, so this is not a COVID-19 record. It is a concept album about the end of the world. There’s one song in particular called “Airborne Toxic Event” and it’s about a poisonous gas destroying the world. I feel very odd about it at the moment, I’m currently mixing it. I’ve got my laptop on my lap in bed right now mixing this record. Every time I listen to it it’s like, oh god, the whole meaning of this record is just turned upside down now with everything that’s happening in the world and I feel odd about releasing it. It’s going to be called Once Again The Present Becomes The Past, it’s basically about how something very shit can happen in the world and it’s kind of like a snake eating its own tail… it’ll just happen again and again and again and again. Depending on how you look at it, it can be seen as a very negative thing or it can be seen as a positive thing like, hey, this has happened before and we’ve dealt with it. The styling is somewhere between Suddenly Everything… and the HC45 record. Also, one of my friends showed me this band, Sacrilege, that was a crust-punk band influenced by the first Metallica record—that had a little effect on me as well. If we have to stay isolating from a while it should be ready pretty soon!

Where did you learn to mix? I know that you’ve been mixing songs as far back as The Snoozefests.

JR: Wow, that’s the first time I’ve heard that name in a while! [laughs]. I did a crappy TAFE course the year I finished school. It taught me what to do and what not to do. There’s some things that I got taught to do that I didn’t like how it sounded so it taught me not to do things that way. I’ve dabbled in doing it but the first time that it was all me doing it was the Alien Nosejob stuff. The piece of advice that I got that helped me the most was from this guy in Perth, Luke Marinovich, who runs a blog Wallaby Beat which is all Australian custom pressed records in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Generally when I get close to finishing a record I always send it to a handful of close friends who I respect their music taste and ask them if they think I’m going about it the right way. When I sent it to Luke his response was, “There’s no mix like a bad mix!”. I thought about it and all of my favourite Australian punk records are not mixed at all. The guitar will be so much louder than everything else and you can’t hear the kick drum whatsoever. It’s so unconventional but it gives off a vibe that you don’t get with your records on Polydor or whatever. It has its own unique feeling, you have to stop overthinking everything—at least I have to stop overthinking everything! As you can probably tell with certain mixes or songs, overthinking is something that I don’t really do that much. If it’s close enough, I think that’s good enough, that’s what it is and I move on to something else.

How about with the Hierophants stuff?

JR: I guess because it’s a band it’s everyone having their own opinions. We got that mixed by Mikey from Total Contol and Eddy Current.

THE Mikey that mixes everyone who’s awesome in Australian music!

JR: Yeah, Mix Master Mike! [laughs]. He recorded the second Hierophants album. We got this Canadian guy who used to have a studio downstairs from my old townhouse named, Lucas; we had a crazy studio operating downstairs from me, we had the same backyard. There were constantly bands there – Tame Impala or Pond recorded there – we had to put up with noise all the time, they gave us really, really cheap rates so we recorded our record there. As far as mixing and putting time into, it was a project that we collectively passed off to Mikey and he got to put time into it and we just moved on to the next thing.

You’re self-taught with the instruments that you play?

JR: My dad and my brother showed me guitar when I was younger. In the style that I play, it’s pretty self-taught. You pick up little bits from friends. My girlfriend who plays keyboard in School Damage, she showed me some keyboard stuff pretty early on. I’m teaching her guitar in isolation at the moment, I’m finally paying it back. For the most part I’m self-taught, that’s what D.I.Y. music is really.

Do you have any songwriters you admire?

JR: A hundred! Ray Davies of The Kinks was the first one that I was blown away by at a younger age. Ed Kuepper from The Saints. Even just locally, I think Julia from J. McFarlane’s Reality Guest is a pretty great songwriter. All the people I play in bands with too like, Paris [Richens], Zak [Olsen], Billy [Gardner] and Albert [Wolski]. I’ve just fallen into a circle of friends that are really creative, they all come at it from a different angle but their end point isn’t that skewed from my interests. Australian songwriting has been pretty great in the last ten years!

Please check out: ALIEN NOSEJOB. Suddenly Everything Louder Is Twice As Loud out on ANTI FADE Records. HC45 out now on IRON LUNG records.

Melbourne punks The Snakes are: “An angular vortex of pain but you can dance to it.”

| gimmiezine
Handmade mixed-media collage by B.

The Snakes are one of our editor’s favourite bands. When we recommended their self-titled debut LP (on Anti Fade) on our Albums We Loved in 2019 list we described their music as early ‘80s underground L.A-style new wave punk. The actual underground though… The black market kind. You know, the “under the counter” kind. We interviewed The Snakes and found out they’re working on new music! Stoked much?!

How did you get into music?

LEWIS (vocals): Who has a choice? At some point some cunt’s gonna play some shit and you’re either gonna love it or hate it, I guess I liked it.

What have you been listening to lately?

CHARLOTTE (bass/vocals/harmonica): Ummm… Butch Willis, GG Allin, Roy Orbison, The Byrds, Rupture, Napalm Death, Traffik Island, Plantasia, Anohni, Ariana, X (Aus).

LEWIS: Death (from Florida), Extortion (aaaagain), The Kinks, Obituary.

JIMMY (drums): Jackhammers and my own inner dialogue.

STEPH (guitar/vocals): In the mornings we listen to ambient sounds such as the distant radio and twings and droplets from whatever James puts on the stereo. When we play cards we listen to hardcore and punk. And I like the start of the Exploding Hearts album so I listen to that in the shower. Same with The Loved Ones but that whole album is good. Could be in a musical rut… I like soul and country music a lot.

CHARLOTTE: You like Suzi Quatro, Steph.

STEPH: I like lots of things not mentioned. Loves Suzi but. Gets wild to Suzi!

When did you first know you wanted to make music yourself?

LEWIS: When I realised it was a piece of piss. It’s the socially acceptable way to be the loudest person in the room.

CHARLOTTE: I was in choirs my whole life but guitars were always for boys, I really just wanted the attention.

JIMMY: I didn’t, I was just jealous of my friend’s guitar when I was six.

STEPH: I got into music by being rejected from my family for not being as good a singer as my sister, and not being allowed guitar lessons like my brother cause I’m a girl. So I taught my damn self and now I rule the world!

Tell us the story of how you all got together. What inspired you to start The Snakes?

LEWIS: Three of us had on and off lived together for a while, two of us had planned to do a psychedelic proto-punk band called Giant Door (side note: Giant Door is one of the top three bands that never existed). We are two couples and at some point, Charlotte our bassist moved into a new house and we went over for a kind of house warming. We ended up jamming and writing about six songs that all pretty much ended up on the album. We had some shitty phone recordings and shared them with each other and realised we needed a drummer. It took us about two seconds to find him and that’s it.

STEPH: Jim completes us.

Photo by @sub_lation; courtesy of Snakes.

What do you feel are the key elements that make your sound?

CHARLOTTE: Jim’s drums swing, there’s no one like him.

LEWIS: Clearly the keys stands out, having James on them is a refreshing take. Flange plays a massive factor. It’s a mash of shit we listen to and shit we find fun. It’s an angular vortex of pain but you can dance to it.

How do you go about writing a song?

LEWIS: Charlotte generally comes up with the riffs with a few exceptions and we all just put our parts in from there. We’re natural, baby!

Photo by @sub_lation; courtesy of Snakes.

Last year you released your self-titled debut album on Anti Fade Records; can you tell us about recording it? Billy from Anti Fade recorded it, right?

CHARLOTTE: Yes, he did. We’d spent about a year playing together before our first show and he offered to record and put us out at that first show. Recording in Geelong was great but what was really fun was doing vocals and mixing with Billy. We had a lot of ideas, we had a vision, Bill helped us execute it.

JAMES (keys/vocals): Bully Gardner is our mentor and he wax trax layer to the max.

Cover art by Eve Dadd.

What’s your personal favourite track on the record?

LEWIS: We don’t play this one anymore but I really like singing “Drug Pig”. I came up with the lyrics on the fly and I love screaming “Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, smoke a gram of pure ice”. “Solid Income” too, it just kind of cruises.

CHARLOTTE: I hate “Drug Pig”, even though it makes me feel tough, there’s a part that makes me feel kind of sick. I love playing “Ugly Faces” it’s simple but it’s rude. I know Steph loves “Pop Song”.

When you finished the record; who was the first person you played the songs to?

CHARLOTTE: I think my friend Kieran, they frothed for it!

Eve Dadd did your album’s cover art; what’s the story behind it?

STEPH: Eve does art and is related to James. She is talented and a boisterous bitch that lives on the South Coast of NSW. We love and hate her at the same time.

CHARLOTE: She’s a Scorpio.

LEWIS: Me and Charlotte outright bought it, it’s on our wall.

Launch poster by Eve Dadd.

How do you feel when you’re performing?

LEWIS: Extremely confident and self-conscious at the same time. I just go for it, I don’t really give a shit.

CHARLOTTE: When I play, I’m singing my bass parts in my head. I like watching Steph solo and smiling at James.

What’s been the best and worst gig you’ve played? What made it so?

STEPH: Best show was one at One Year (in Collingwood). I had just discovered the beta blockers and dexie combo and I did not give a fuck and people could tell. Smiling is good when playing fun music. Worst show was that one with Bloodletter. Can’t remember why but I know it was bad.

LEWIS: Last Maggot Fest was great, it actually went off. Supporting The Stroppies was pretty dry, not The Stroppies, I love The Stroppies I just don’t think that that crowd was really down for us. I remember putting on a show and crawling on the floor and screaming but still there was a big gap between us and the crowd. Maybe we’re too high brow.

Photo by @sub_lation; courtest of Snakes.

Have you been working on new music?

LEWIS: Yes.

What would we find you doing when not making music?

LEWIS: Working like a dog.

CHARLOTTE: Watching telly. I just bought a keyboard too, been trying to figure out how to play “Everytime” by Britney [Spears]. Also pretty heavily into Tik Tok at the moment.

JIMMY: Drink, complain, bate.

Vid by VOGELS VIDEO. Check out more of what they do here!

Please check out: THE SNAKES. The Snakes on Instagram. ANTI FADE records.