The Paradise Motel: Australian Ghost Story (album review)

The theme of Australian-specific subject matter has been a constant in Paradise Motel's music and for that alone they qualify as a rarity. To my ears they are suitable carriers of the torch left once The Triffids expired as a band, especially on this new album - their first in eleven years. In the case of Australian Ghost Story, that torch highlights the dark tale of baby Azaria's mysterious death at the start of the '80s, and the subsequent trial by media - the first of its kind in this country - of the one-time accused woman at the centre of the story, Lindy Chamberlain. 
 

The story of Azaria Chamberlain's death has been told and re-told to the point of fictionalising and wild assumption; perfect fodder for a songwriter, which in The Paradise Motel's case has been generously applied. The band have lyrically always offered fragments of often menacing stories and scenarios of nameless characters, but with their new album set for release on the 30th anniversary of the Azaria's death, the subject of the stories has a name and the scenarios are documented. Really though, menacing is hardly broad enough a term for what is on offer here. Each track's narration jumps from reflection to mythologising to accusation incorporating the viewpoints of all the stories mainplayers, including the unique environment of the Red Centre. On opening track The Witnesses, it isn't apparent who the narrator, vocalist Merida Sussex, is voicing until the line 'my wife tracked the footsteps/we found her guilty' and the listener is suddenly reminded of Lindy's tragedy at having her husband turn on her during the trial. The song quietly berates the witness testimony's given credence at the time, yet avoids dwelling in heroes and villains territory as might be expected.

Chamberlain's trial is touched on during a couple of the songs, but it's the descriptions of the landscape and its role in the Chamberlian case, and when Merida gives a voice to Lindy that really draw you in. A Bend In The Terror for example sees the mother telling her deceased daughter 'now she is free', all the while reassuring herself and questioning her memory of the events, maybe even imbibing them so as not to forget the short time in which Azaria was alive. The imagined letter from Lindy to Azaria, Stations Of The Cross is kind of half spiritual babbling mixed with intruding cold reality, making for an engrossing finale to the band's rendering of this story. Musically Paradise Motel are swimming in familiar waters, they go between bare accompaniment and sweeping orchestral numbers, all while Merida's voice remains a central steady pace and pitch. Perhaps because of the subject matter, the band have gone for a more soundtrack-ish approach to the music. The string laden tunes are memorable but not distracting from the tales being told in the detached way in which Sussex sings.

The mood with which the band tells this now legendary story is at odds with such familiar things as the tragic-comical news footage often wheeled out showing Chamberlain's famous dingo remark. They instead choose to highlight things such as Lindy's deeply religious beliefs at the time of Azaria's death and the betrayal she felt by her husband and country. The Paradise Motel have written a concept album devoid of obvious romanticising about actual events, instead they present an impressionist, cloudy observation as would happen with a familiar story after many years of being retold.
 

I for one am overjoyed that The Paradise Motel have decided to record again after such a long break, and to tackle this particular subject makes their return all the more delicious. At a time in Australia when junk media trialing saturates prime-time TV, it's all the more important that this story and it's consequences for one Australian family are remembered. The legacy of Azaria Chamberlain's death has been a plethora of artistic statements; from the Meryl Streep film (Evil Angels), to countless paintings, and that bizarre opera to name a few. Australian Ghost Story is a fine continuation of that tradition and a very welcome return of The Paradise Motel.

 

lEIGh5

Click to watch:


THE PARADISE MOTEL: Brown Snake (video)

THE PARADISE MOTEL: Watch Illuminum (video) 

THE PARADISE MOTEL: Bad Light (video)


 

Karl Hyde (Underworld) interview (2010)

Karl Hyde is positively beaming today. His new album with Underworld cohort Rick Smith is rapidly taking shape; news of a headline slot in Australia at the We Love Sounds festival has him singing praises, and he's in celebration mode for  his newly found sobriety. Life for the Romford (UK) artist is a much simpler all-round affair today, thanks to several well defined turns he's taken over the years. Starting our talk at his first major shift in gears, the death of Underworld – 'the power-rock years' - Karl, in spite of chart action in the form of Underneath The Radar, was far from comfortable with his band's early success.

"Underworld 'MK 1' felt like being trapped and floundering and just searching for what it was that we were about to be honest." Hyde begins. "Rick (Smith) really bought us back to our roots after that first phase. I mean we always loved Kraftwerk and we loved dub reggae and anything with a strong bass structure, but the penny never really dropped until the end of the '80s when acid house came along." He continues; "I remember we were on an Australian tour and for the very first time we started to infuse this acid house sound into our guitar based music. It was something of a revelation for us because up to that point, I felt like there was something really wrong with this band but as soon as we started making dance music, it was like we were finally being honest with ourselves."
 

The truth of Underworld's false start, Karl decides was down to a desire to be accepted; "We were kind of driven to be a part of the broader scene happening in Britain at the time, but I can look back now and know why I didn't feel at all happy with what we were doing. We were listening to the music we loved while playing something completely different and really, we should have been getting to the core of what we were passionate about." It was outside of regular band duties, that Karl and Rick maintained a hobby that would ultimately build the foundation for their future sound; "Whenever Rick and I were out of contract or on the dole, we would make this dub-electronic dance music." He pauses, "It was really peculiar because we never thought to release it as Underworld, yet at the same time we were sitting on these recordings, the music happening in clubs – which was a lot like what we were making – was becoming huge. It's weird to think it, but we actually didn't know much about the club scene at all, so the last ten years has been spent learning what we missed the previous ten years!"

Hyde's lack of grounding in the UK's dance movement has seen him develop outside the standard house influences. As a youth, Karl even harbored a somewhat reinforced distrust of club music; "When we were growing up, the rock kids all thought that dance music was disposable rubbish. Basically the lowest form of music." He claims, "But what we've discovered since then through making it is, it's an intensely creative process absolutely full of challenges. Plus the reaction we get to this music makes it so worthwhile." Karl explains, "The rock culture's quite violent really, I mean people used to beat the crap out of each other at concerts and so moving in to the dance music scene was very appealing to me because the people were so much friendlier." He laughs, "You know, everyone dresses up and there's these fantastic light shows and in a way it's this kind of throw back to the 1960s hippy culture, but it's also a reaction I think to the overly aggressive rock and punk scenes that came before. These days you can see how much the dance scene has infiltrated rock shows with things like The Flaming Lips, whose concerts really embrace that spirit of the rave scene."

Karl as a songwriter has forged an unmistakable style of his own. His usual shout-speak delivery comes across as half rant, half poetry and offers very few legible phrases to pick from. Examining his written work, it's reasonable to think he is just hanging words together that fit with the mood of each track. Yet as to be expected, there's a method to the apparent randomness and, as if triggered by the subject, Karl is not short on words when explaining his outpourings. "People talk about what I write as being like a kind of 'stream of consciousness', but that always makes me think of somebody sat in a dark room, feverishly writing whatever comes into their head, and it's not like that at all for me." Karl explains, excitedly, "I write down literally everything I see, not what I'm thinking. I can be sat in a café or a park and I'll just note down everything no matter how insignificant, in as much detail as I can." Usually, Karl's lyrics would make their way into his songs through a trial and error process until they develop a significance of their own. However, he adds there is still room for the occasional freestyle; "I recently did some shows with Brian Eno, which were all fully improvised performances, and for that I took a load of my note books on stage and just started picking bits out and reading them no matter what it was."
 

Hyde, in his songs, often sounds as if he's urgently relaying information from various sources; of either all or no importance leaving it up to the listener to decode. Karl describes; "Often what will happen is the most significant or most personal lyric to me will sound the cheesiest, which is a peculiar thing really. Sometimes when you try too hard to be honest in your writing, people think it's a bit too much and switch off to it. I mean a song like Born Slippy went over people's heads in a way, because to be completely honest I was asking for help." He reveals, continuing; "I was through with being unhappy and getting wasted to hide how unhappy I was, so I let it all out in that song. Unfortunately it became something of a drinking anthem, but in reality I was horribly depressed about my own drinking and having difficulty seeing a way out."

It's clear that Underworld have developed from the experimental acid house band of the early '90s into a vital form of expression for Karl. Whereas the rock kids of his youth saw dance music as disposable, it was Underworld MK 1 - 'the rock band' that was irreverent for Hyde. Even in the most anthemic of Underworld's club tracks, you'll usually find a voice, busy building a huge scale scenario up from minute detail with dream-like inconsistency. "I can't write in a traditional way though, I've tried to but it just never works." Karl shrugs, "I listen to Lou Reed, and he sings in conversational American. I think he just writes down what he hears people say and builds a song out of it. It's brilliant." He beams, "I'm also really inspired by Sam Shepard - a great play write who did The Motel Chronicles. I could never write as good as him but, I see the world in these tiny fragments which is exactly how he writes. I mean he'll describe the corner of a room or the wheel on a car and it's completely fascinating. He finds beauty in these things and is able to capture it so well in his writing."

One of Karl's objectives in Underworld has been to constantly re-interpret how he and Smith perform the songs live. The duo often records their concerts as a way of guiding them to not repeat themselves and make each show different from the previous; He discusses, "Aside from doing music, I'm  also a painter and as soon as I finish an artwork it kind of looks at me and goes, well then what next?" He grins, "It's exactly the same when putting the shows together, in that the music is never fully stationary. It's already done as a recorded piece of music, so when we play it live, each time it can become something new." He adds, "Whenever we play, I've already done the show over and over in my mind so that way, when it comes to the actual event, I feel I can be open to exploring ways of deconstructing everything and rebuilding it as its happening."

 lEIGh5


click to watch:

UNDERWORLD: "Crocodile" (video)

UNDERWORLD: "Dinosaur Adventure" (video)

UNDERWORLD: "Scribble" (video)

Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl) interview: 2010

CRYING AT THE DISCOTHEQUE

Tracey Thorn recently married her life partner Ben Watt after many years as lovers, parents and the musical duo Everything But The Girl. It's a symbolic move however, as their careers as solo artists have taken them in totally different directions since Everything But The Girl's hiatus in 2002. While Watt - who discovered drum'n'bass in the mid-'90s, continues to tour as a DJ - Thorn has returned to her singer/songwriter beginnings. Yet she has smartly avoided the trap of comfortable familiarity on her new album Love and Its Opposite, approaching it instead with the wisdom and wit of a woman who's been making music her entire adult life. The singer's experience however, didn't make her over-confident when re-emerging as a solo artist on 2007's Out Of The Woods.

"I felt a bit of trepidation to be honest, because I hadn't done anything in music for a few years at that stage and I wasn't completely sure what the outcome would be." Thorn begins from her London home. "Thankfully there were still enough people interested to make it worth my while doing." It's hard to gage exactly where interest in Thorn and her music began. There are artists who claim Marine Girls' (Tracey's first band) as heavily influential; and while it was acoustic period EBTG that drew a considerable following, many die-hard fans baulked at 'Techno-Tracey' on the later, more successful club albums. "At least nobody could accuse me of repeating myself." She shrugs. A constant focus for many fans however is not the vehicle for the songs, but the identifiable situations within. Thorn could always articulate the bit that comes in between the giving of red roses and the slamming of doors, where only the best songwriters dare to tread. Tracey's forte is the day to day happenings of an individual, a significant other and the thoughts many would deem less impressive to build a song around than say, a good break-up story. "I'm usually a very biographical writer, but that doesn't mean the songs are all about me." Tracey explains, "Certainly I take stories from people around me or from things I've read that have an impact on me somehow. At the end of the day, I'm writing stories that are true in the sense that they say something true even if it isn't directly linked to myself. I think that helps make my songs at least relatable." One of the new tracks, Singles Bar - a first person account of a mature woman out on the prowl - stands out in the wake of Tracey's recent marriage. I wonder could it be seen as an aural 'last fling' for the songwriter?

"Well some of the details in that (song) are taken directly from friends' experiences." She offers. "Women who have found themselves in the position of being single again at a time in their life they didn't expect to be. It's harder for them to be out there dating again now they're older and I wanted to acknowledge them. On the other hand," Thorn adds with a twist "It's also a bit of a fantasy. It could be that the woman isn't single and she takes off her ring as she enters the bar. The fantasy of being single again after many years in a relationship is something I think a lot of people have." It seems a safe bet that living and working together with her husband Ben as one of music's most enduring couples - such a fantasy is relevant to the author also; "Living together for so long, Ben and I both know when each other has our songwriter's hat on." Tracey asserts, "There's a line between your actual life and your work and we have enough respect for each other to not be self conscious about what we say in our songs. We give each other's work room to exist outside of what we do together and that's really important."

The last album Watt and Thorn made as Everything But The Girl was 1999's Temperamental. After seventeen years making music together, they mutually agreed early this decade to give the band a break. Tracey eventually began seeking out new partnerships for making music so as to avoid a possible 'EBTG Mk 2' situation. On Love and Its Opposite, Thorn has worked with artists from the dance and rock fields, adding a wider breadth of influences. "There are many ways you can make a record and people often slip into patterns of behaviour I think," she confirms, "But if you step back from that and make a few different choices then you don't quite know what you're going to get and I think that's an interesting state of mind to be in when you start work on something new." One of the stand-out collaborations (on a cover of Lee Hazlewood's Come On Home To Me) is with Swedish troubadour Jens Lekman. I wonder wouldn't his often dry-humoured ballads and spontaneously observed prose be at odds with Tracey - a self-confessed over planner? "It's funny you should say that, because the stuff we've done together came about really spontaneously actually", She laughs, "I met up with him in London a couple of years ago and we got on really well so we decided to try working together. The first thing we did was a cover of a Magnetic Fields song for a compilation, and the recording was just done in one take in his hotel room in London." Tracey exclaims, "We just sang it into his laptop! It was about as spontaneous as it could be." She adds "He's got a very relaxed spirit about music which is just brilliant."

Also appearing on the album are Al Doyle from Hot Chip, Leo Taylor from The Invisibles and members of Lost Valentinos. Yet despite the guest list, Tracey and producer Ewan Pearson have avoided over indulging any collaborators. In fact, Pearson's stark production, following on from his recent work with Delphic and Goldfrapp, is itself an indulgence avoided. Tracey discusses, "That really appealed to me actually, taking a producer and getting them to do the very thing they're not used to doing. Ewan loved the idea too because he was keen to show people that he can do more than just dance music." The partnership developed naturally after the realisation that both artists, Tracey explains, could help each other move in a new direction; "Ewan worked with me on some tracks for the last album (Out Of The Woods) and although I had several different producers work on those tracks, he ended up mixing the record and pulling it all together. In that time we'd gotten to know each other well and I had come to really trust his judgment. At the start of making this album, I ended up going to Berlin were his studio is, and we just did some basic acoustic demos but at that point we both just looked at each other and thought, well this could be really interesting if we actually make a whole album together, but not an electronic dance record. So for both of us it was a step sideways, but it was good I think to get out of our comfort zones a little bit."

On the subject of collaborations, Tracey has publicly hinted at a desire to sing on a Pet Shop Boys track, but has refrained from asking the guys directly. "I have met them a couple of times and I'm sure they know I'm a huge fan." She laughs, "I mean Neil (Tennant)'s done some amazing collaborations over the years and written many songs for women to sing, and I'd be very happy to be added to that list of singers." Tracey's love of the 'Pets' extends to feeling of kinship, she explains; "I have always thought that they, along with us, were kind of outsiders in the UK music scene, which was so steeped in the rock tradition. The Pet Shop Boys seemed to get their influences from a different place than many of their contemporaries, like with writing songs for Dusty Springfield - who I admired so much - and writing these kitchen sink dramas with quite simple, but beautiful melodies. So I did feel a kind of kinship with them even though they were making these very slickly produced disco songs. But then, that's just a detail really."

Living in a three child house-hold, I wonder in closing what Thorn's greatest critics - her children - make of what their parents do for a living? "To be honest they're not that interested really." She laughs, "They're at that age where they only want to listen to what their friends are into, but I think they see it as a little bit interesting that I make music and their dad does too, but really we're their parents and so we're just old and don't know anything." Tracey jokes, "I'm sure as they get older they might take an interest and be able to understand the music a bit better, but it's fair to say the music I'm making now, no 12 year olds are going to get into. I mean every so often one will come in and go 'oh that's nice mum' but you know, the simple fact is I'm just not poppy enough!"

lEIGh5

Click to watch:

MASSIVE ATTACK & TRACEY THORN - "Protection" video

TRACEY THORN - "Oh The Divorces" video

Ian Astbury (The Cult) interview (2010)

STILL IN LOVE'S EMBRACE

Sitting down to talk to Ian Astbury it's impossible to ignore the staggering sense of history in The Cult singer's words as he unfolds the story behind one of '80s most enigmatic records, Love. The Liverpool based band's second album resonated with a mix of psychedelic and melodic power rock influences boasting a sound completely out of step with the then musical climate in the UK. 25 years later, Love is now recognised as The Cult's greatest work and so through demand alone, it was decided they would tour the set 'Don't Look Back' style. I start our talk by prompting Ian to take me back to 1985, and the circumstances surrounding his bands' most defining work.

"There was a lot going on at that time and because we made it, it's hard to have any real perspective in a way." He explains, "We didn't analyse it or check the process, but I do remember it being very intense and that we were just so engaged in it." Ian's voice becomes stern as he continues, "We were in the studio all of the time, you know, rather than just going in every other day. We weren't distracted at all from what we were doing, no one was on the phone or just hanging out, we were working very long hours with no breaks at all and experimenting with so many ideas." Astbury ads thoughtfully, "I think that's why that record has a constant unity all the way through, it was probably the most honest album we did, in that we had no career at that time. We were young and making music because we wanted to and everything was still so fresh."

Astbury unlike a lot of his punk peers was always practicing to become a better musician. His group – formerly known as Southern Death Cult – sat very awkwardly next to the bands usually recalled as defining England's post-punk sound. Californian psyche-rock influences – shockingly unfashionable in the UK at the time - were all over their album, yet its success was undeniable. Ian states; "Love definitely took on a life of its own, and we kind of become subject to its whims the more attention it gained. Let's put it in perspective though, I'm lucky to have had success at all, I mean a lot of people I grew up with who were also in bands are either dead now or just gone, they gave up and walked away."

The press at the time of Love's release weren't friendly, while some hardcore music fans took outright offense and, matters into their own hands; "I admit that what we were doing was fairly controversial at the time. It was controversial to be punk rockers and still love Led Zeppelin and to call an album Love in the aggressive post punk era was seen as potential suicide. These things drew a lot of heat from the media but worse still, I remember going out when She Sells Sanctuary got in the charts and some kid come up and punched me right in the face at a concert. There was so much hatred in his eyes, and all that was because we came from the streets in Brixton, we came from punk rock and I think this guy saw us as breaking the code by not pretending we couldn't play our instruments or for having success."

Ian claims his assailant helped him realise he was maybe on the right track with The Cult after all; "It was a wild time and everyone was very emotionally loaded and to cop a punch in the face for what I was doing in some ways was a great compliment, it at least was honest and it at least caused a reaction that is what good art does doesn't it?" Today Ian lives in New York and frequently tours with the remaining members of The Doors as Jim Morrison's 'replacement'. Perhaps he's living in the past a little, but it doesn't stop Astbury from having some strong opinions on what's touted as great contemporary music. So who deserves a punch, I venture; "I'm disgusted by Dave Grohl" He barks, "I mean it's just boring fucking jock rock. Guys like him were the ones that got into fights with the punks at school and were just plain thick." Ian ads, "What do you call them in Australia… bogans?"

It's clear that Astbury's fire is far from quenched as he begins explaining how playing live now the album that launched The Cult 25 years ago makes perfect sense; "I'm technically better, there's more weight to my character and I've had more life experience." He continues, "The good thing about the songs on Love is that they deal with things that are no less relevant now than they were then; life, death, sex, materialism, spiritualism; all the human experiences." He ads, "Because of dealing with a lot of personal issues myself over the years and watching my family growing and dealing with their own issues, I feel like now I'm more capable of fully understanding the weight of songs I wrote 25 years ago."

On a more practical side, Astbury is chuffed to be able to present the set live in a way, not possible at the time of its release; "The best thing is the sound systems we're working with now-a-days are vastly improved, so the songs will obviously be a lot better sounding. Also on the visual side of things, our backdrop screen isn't bad either. We've basically took a load of films and influential imagery, just things we've been into over the last 25 years, and made a huge collage; some of which is specific to the actual songs." He then ads, laughing, "Plus we've all put on a couple of pounds, so everyone can come and check out how fat we've become."

I find it impossible to not prompt Ian to reminisce on the song that earned him that fat lip – She Sells Sanctuary. Of this powerful beast of a song, he reveals; "Sanctuary came together very easily in fact, I took the bass line from a song called Spiritwalker, which was one left over from our Southern Death Cult days. Billy (Duffy) came up with the melody, and we worked out a vaguely psychedelic guitar sound which seemed to fit it well - we were heavily into '60s psychedelic music like The Doors, Hendrix and early Zeppelin – Also the producer, Steve Brown, had had a lot of pop success, so he really knew how to structure a song." Ian sighs and adds "It's funny, you write a song like that were everything comes together far beyond what you could've expected and then you spend the rest of your life trying to write another one as good."

Without a pause, Ian responds when I ask why is now the time to revisit Love and why he thinks it is still so widely championed; "Because of its earnestness, its honesty and depth." He ads, "It's the album that made us, so why not claim our rightful place in the legacy of alternative rock music." Once the tour for Love concludes, I can't help wondering if the album that launched The Cult will also to be the one that ends it. Ian is a keen film maker and producer these days and works more with The Doors than his own band. He explains. "We'll take this show to Australia, Eastern Europe and Japan but after that, we're done with it. I mean there might be enough demand for us to bring it back in a few years time, but I'm not thinking about that now because we're actually recording some new Cult material right now. We're moving forward at the same time as looking back I suppose." He says laughing, "We've got four new songs done and when an album's ready it's going to be coming out in a format called capsule." There's silence on the phone as I'm taken aback by Ian's statement. He waits a few beats before adding. "Do you know what I mean by capsule?" All I can offer in response is the time variety. "No it means it'll encapsulate relevant multi-format articles. It will have music, a film, an object such as a book or a T-shirt and you'll be able to buy it electronically or tangibly, USB, vinyl, CD, DVD, cassette anything." I'm not sure if Ian's joking, but his ambition to expand his next album's release to include cassette has me grinning like a fool. I think of The Cult's early fanbase who remember with excitement Love's original release, making room on their dusty cassette shelves for the next chapter in this unique band's catalogue.

lEIGh5

Click to watch:

THE CULT: She Sells Sanctuary (video)

THE CULT: She Sells Sanctuary (live in Melbourne, 2010)

DJ James Zabiela interview (2010)

Aside from astounding break-beat sets and lightning fast turntable skills, English DJ James Zabiela has all the big wigs asking what’s hot and what’s not in scratch technology. When he’s not crash-testing pre-sale Pioneer Electronics professional DJ gear he’s releasing killer mix CDs. His latest set Life, is already being touted as THE one to beat this year. Yet James’ humble manner defies his standing as a true craftsman at the decks. On the eve of his latest Australian tour, Southampton born Zabiela begins our talk by reflecting on a gradual rise in his local popularity.

“I’ve been to Melbourne probably six times now, but my profile was quite a bit smaller in the early days so it’s been interesting watching more and more people coming along each time I visit.” The tour is in support of James’ new double mix CD Life which will be given away free to all who attend his club appearances. The album was mixed completely live in one session and covers a wide selection of genres but, he explains, isn’t a true indicator of what his shows are like; “No because a lot of the stuff on there is mainly music I listen to at home or on my ipod while I’m traveling. Some of the more clubby stuff has made it into my set, but basically the intention of the CD is to give something to people to take home to say thanks for coming to my party really. The other intention of giving it out was to get my music heard by as many people as possible. I don’t treat my DJ set the same as I do making a mix CD, because I’m listening to music all the time and only a certain percentage of what I play in clubs represents what I’m into. The mix CD has music on it I would listen to early in the morning, as well as more dancey stuff so I tried to keep it very broad as opposed to just a typical DJ set.” 

The UK has produced a staggering amount of globally recognised dance artists and DJs. The impression of a great community of like-minded artists working together is given. Zabiela on the subject states; “In South Hampton, where I’m from, as well as Portsmouth and Brighton and a lot of places along the south coast, you find there’s a lot of people who’ll get into the studio together and exchange remixes and work on stuff together, but it’s mainly in pockets here and there.” Far from being a superstar DJ, James prefers the nuts and bolts side of his craft over the posturing. He continues; “I’ve lived here in South Hampton all my life and my family are all here as well, and really it’s not the most exciting place in the world, but it keeps me grounded. I mean a lot of people move up to London to get known but I think it just changes you. It’s a scary place for me, I’d rather just come home and sit and play X-Box.” He laughs. 

Although he now uses several different media formats when DJing, Zabiela once claimed he would never move away from vinyl. He’s far less strict now, but feels he perhaps has an advantage over upcoming DJs who passed over vinyl for more contemporary methods; “I’ve been at gigs where the DJ has been just using a laptop with a beat match program, and there’s nothing wrong with that but, if the laptop suddenly died and the only alternative was a pair of Technics turntables then they’re not going to know how to use them.” James points out, “Beat matching is one thing, but actually learning the structure of music really helps you when DJing. You don’t really have that kind of learning ability when you’re just programming. You don’t have to know different keys, tempos and rhythms and stuff like you would with vinyl and decks. I’m lucky to come from a more old school type of DJing where I had to learn those things and I think there’s a definite advantage to it.” Being from the ‘old school’ of DJing, how does Zabiela feel about the rise of the mash-up in dance music; “Yeah I like the cut and paste type stuff, I mean with a lot of club and dance music, and this goes back to why my mix CD isn’t all dance stuff, is that a lot of it is quite disposable I think and the mash-up has sort of highlighted that element in a way. Not all of it is disposable of course, there are always classic dance records that last but the mash-up can kind of prolong a records shelf-life, or even rescue a bad track.”

With such a methodical and intricate understanding of music and equipment, I wonder how does James keep the experience fresh for himself; “Well by changing the way I play records really, I mean I’ll be playing couple of tracks next to each other because they’re in the same key, but then I’ll find another record that compliments that mix and find a way to bring it in and out and add a new layer. Also I use the technology that’s there as well to edit, deconstruct and enhance the music in various ways.” Part of James’ career as a renowned turntable wiz is helping to advance the technology by testing pre-release equipment’s capabilities. As the boy mechanic of the dance music world, I wonder what’s it like being locked in the toy cupboard overnight; “More like eight months in the toy cupboard” He laughs, “For example, I had two CDJ-2000’s (electronic media turntables) in my flat from April last year and they only came out early this year. They were prototypes with very basic brains in them but I was able to test them and suggest improvements and additions.” He continues, “Last September I took the finished decks on tour with me along with the European designer and we would at the end of each gig discuss any problems that came up or any fine tuning that needed doing and write back to the engineers about it. So yeah it’s cool that a company as big as Pioneer actually listens to me.” He laughs.

In conclusion, James shares with me the main reason why DJing is such a satisfying career for him; “I think everyone’s got a secret desire to share their favourite music with as many people as possible. I mean who didn’t grow up making mix tapes for their friends or wanting other people to hear certain music the way they hear it. That thing is now my job, I mean the most integral part of DJing is sharing music with other people but also putting my own spin on it, so I guess I have the best job in the world really.”

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Bertie Blackman interview (2010)

Bertie Blackman following the recent release of Secrets & Lies: Remixed – on which the former Sydney folky turned her break-through 2009 album over to a group of largely unknown dance producers – is on a short break from a writing exodus in the US to headline the second annual Ben Sherman Big British Sound Show. The event features upcoming and independent Australian acts paying tribute to a favourite artist from the UK during their regular sets. Today, a pre-rehearsal Bertie talks bats, Brits, club mixes, Spice Girls and living in several places at once.

"I just got back from Chicago the other day, I'm writing over there at the moment." She reveals, adding why she chose the windy city to work in. "I really love that cities music scene, it has this really cool underground electronic and punk scene, plus and I wanted a change, and it's a lot cheaper than going to London to write." The singer exclaims, "Also its Gotham City you know, it's where they filmed the Batman movies." Giant camp bats aside, Bertie says of her motivation for being so far away from home; "I'm just enjoying being out in the world right now. It's like a big reality check for me to be so far away from Australia, I find myself imagining what it would be like to build a life over here away from my comforts. Also because I'm writing my next record, it's necessary to defrag a bit and immerse myself in a totally new environment." 

During the making of her last album Secrets & Lies, Bertie was adapting to her new home in Melbourne – she's from Sydney – a transitional time, which she admits to enjoying as a song writer; "I like to move around a lot I get itchy feet. I come from artistic stock and they are all nomadic in their hearts and I guess I am also… but in my feet." She laughs. It is widely known that Bertie's father is renowned impressionist Charles Blackman, famous for his Alice in Wonderland series of paintings. We discuss Bertie's connection to him as the restless world trekker; "I have actually been to a few places that he had lived in many years ago, but he spent more time in Europe and London where as I'm more keen on the US at the moment. I still like coming home to Australia though, I play a gig there probably every month, but the way things are now I can do any promotion I need to do remotely via the internet and follow that with a few shows while not actually needing to be there all the time."

Blackman's not planning on kicking back any time soon either, like Bowie, Nick Cave, Lou Reed and so many others before her – she has her eye on a certain European city synonymous with those musicians greatest work; "I'd really like to go to Berlin next, but I haven't told anybody that yet because they already think I'm insane. I mean my family calls me up and the first thing they usually say is 'where are you this time?'" Bertie giggles. "When I moved to Melbourne I just packed the car and went without telling anyone so they're kind of used to me being spontaneous, and I don't really have things tying me down so, it's not a big deal to do that."

In 2009 Secrets & Lies, Bertie's third album, earned her previously unknown stardom and accolades. The folk/rock/dance collection was just the right combination for a more mainstream cross-over. The dance element, however was being embraced long before radio picked up the album, and Bertie found herself an unlikely hit in the clubs. Capitalising on this somewhat, a new remixed version of the album has been released. Bertie discusses; "When I was first making Secrets & Lies we already had a bunch of mixes done straight up, and they were doing well in the clubs – I even had a couple on Ministry Of Sound compilations. It was very far away from my world, I've never been a dance head type, I'm more of a rock'n'roll kind of girl but I do appreciate the dance world and it's always interesting to see how other artists interpret your work. I mean there were a few mis-fires that didn't make the cut, I had to approve the final versions that were to be used, but really in the end we were spoiled for choice, so Secrets & Lies Remixed is just all of the best mixes compiled in one place."

Recently Bertie has performed in London at a Club NME showcase, much to the delight of the many Australian expats living there; "Everyone that came up to me after the show had an Aussie accent, which was so bizarre!" Now she's bringing a little bit of London to Melbourne as part of the Ben Sherman British Sound line-up. The event simply brings together artists to perform a couple of their favourite British songs in a festival atmosphere. Blackman explains her involvement; "Basically I was just asked to be a part of it, and I said yes. The line-up is great and I have a chance at last to show off my best British accent." She laughs, and continues without giving too much away of her chosen covers, "I'm going to keep it a surprise until the night because I think it's more fun that way." I ask Bertie if her current cover of Siouxsie & The Banshees' Peek-a-Boo is any indication of what to expect, "Yes, I'll do that one, but I can't give away any more." Blackman's part in the show promises to be quite spectacular, she divulges; "We're going to have a bit of a Spice Girls thing in our set. I've asked some girl friends to join me on stage and we're going to have Scary, Sporty and the others – I can't remember all the names now – I'm probably going to be either like a more controversial Victoria Beckham - because she's not really controversial enough as she is", Laughter all round, "Or maybe Moody Spice but I'm not sure yet, people will have to wait and see."

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Click to watch:
Bertie Blackman "Peek-A-Boo" video

Dave Faulkner (Hoodoo Gurus) interview 2010

PURE MAGIC

Bands wanting to stand out from the pack in the early '80s, ultimately lead to a lot of bizarre creations that we either look back and laugh at or revere depending on level of authenticity. Sydney's Hoodoo Gurus could easily have landed in the just plain funny pile, were it not for their ever increasing stack of classic singles. Ignoring the post-punk and Europop trends of the day wasn't so remarkable in itself, but harmonising Beach Boys style while rocking like The Stooges and sporting paisley shirts and bandannas must have seemed like taking the hard road. It is however, for those very things that fans identify the Hoodoo Gurus with and love them for. These days the shirts may be a little quieter, but the raw garage rock of new album Purity Of Essence and an imminent 'back with a vengeance' tour should have quite a few ears bleeding.

Talking today on his band's live return, it's clear in singer Dave Faulkner's voice that the rush of rehearsing for tours has never waned - "We packed up early last night because things were just going so well and we felt pumped and ready." – As a live act, the band have been showered in honours, but before we get into our talk on perfecting their live sound, I wonder how Dave's inclined to react upon hearing a Gurus classic on the radio. "I don't really listen to the radio, but what does happen occasionally is I'll be out at a pub with friends and one of our songs comes on the juke box and it really does take you out of the moment." He exclaims, "It's like suddenly you think 'oh yeah that's right I'm the guy that does that for a living." Laughing, he continues, "Early on that sort of thing was a bit difficult to deal with, as it was an interruption to my sort of 'normal life' - my life outside of the band - but now I just take it as it comes."

During the band's hiatus/unofficial split 1998-2003 I wonder was there a time when the singer took exception to hearing his 'old band's' music? "No, I mean no more than usual", He jokes, "But listening to the albums is never that pleasurable because we just think of all the things we could've done better. Even now in rehearsals I'm already starting to sing a couple of the songs differently to the album and I'm wishing had've recorded them that way instead." A bug bear of Dave's and probably a common one for singers, is wishing he could've done it differently on the day. We have a rifle through some back catalogue gems that would see him pop into the Tardis and have another go at given the chance. "Come Anytime I always thought I could've sung a lot better - I mean six months after it was released I had that thought". He offers with a little frustration in his voice, "At the time I thought I was doing the best I could but later on it became a bit of an annoyance to me." Dave sighs, "But you have to let these things go and realise that fans love the song as it is and whatever I might think would be better isn't necessarily an improvement from the listener's point of view." He concedes, "Our early albums I think suffered a bit in that they didn't really capture our sound as well as they could, but then I think we really found our identity on Magnum Cum Louder which was just us pleasing ourselves, and we continued to stick to our guns right through the latter albums, I think."

Current album Purity Of Essence boasts some of the band's heaviest rock moments to date. It brings me to ask Dave what has him laughing in the face of 'slowing down' with age. "Well we still have the energy to do it, and we've always loved rock music so why not make it big?" He laughs, "Once again it's just us sticking to what makes us happy as a band and trying to make the music we want to hear. Anybody who's seen us in concert knows that we breathe fire on stage, and the new album is as close to our live sound as we've ever come." On the subject of making up for lost time on the current album, Dave is non-committal. The break-up and subsequent reunion was, Faulkner points out not your typical clash of egos or I-never-want-to-see-you-pricks-again situations. He states, "There came a time where I just didn't have anything written and rather than try to force a substandard album, I thought it was best just to have a break for while. "He adds smiling, "I think of that period as like the Chevy in the garage up on blocks waiting for a few parts to come in, and then when the time's right you put the wheels back on and away you go."

The Hoodoo Gurus have produced many near legendary singles and are celebrating 26 years together, but it seems the length of a band's career has become less and less of a remarkable thing today. Dave, on the subject of longevity, once quoted "As long as people still want it, we're in." I wonder does Faulkner, despite having an enviable core following, ever feel there is a battle to maintain an audiences' interest.  "Always yes, it is hard for a veteran band to stay relevant when everything's so focused on what's the newest thing." He explains, "I mean the Hoodoo Gurus being the Hoodoo Gurus isn't a news story but 'hey here's a new band everyone's listening to, you must hear this' is. We can't compete with that sort of novelty or that huge industry of the constant new thing, but then again I think the music we are making now is adding to our value rather than diminishing it or that we're becoming irrelevant just because we have been playing for x amount of years."

For fans of Spinal Tap or Some Kind Of Monster, The Gurus made their very own in-studio band parody film during the recording of Purity of Essence, featuring cheesy label honchos and healthy dose of self-mockery. All class song performances aside, the viewer is left  almost feeling they're seeing a new band enjoying their first time in a proper studio and making a debut album with nothing to lose. Dave laughs and says of the film, viewable on YouTube, "We were quite prepared to throw out all the dramatic stuff and just keep the performance clips, but in the end I think it worked and shows a side to us I don't think people would expect." He laughs adding, "I mean we are the ultimate band of brothers, and like all siblings we have ancient squabbles that never get resolved but we also have an unbreakable bond. That (film) really is how we are when we get together, strange as it seems!"


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Melissa Auf Der Maur interview (2010)

What do you do when you're the bassist in one of the biggest '90s rock bands and suddenly find yourself out of contract and wounded from an under achieving solo album? In the case of Hole's Melissa Auf Der Maur, a high concept film/album/comic project was just the thing needed to move forward. The risk factor must also have seemed high when halfway through recording Out Of Our Minds, Auf`Der Maur began her own publishing company - MAdM - to see the project through after being dropped by her label. As to be expected, the engaging singer's spare time is a rare and precious thing these days.

 "I'm sorry this interview has to be so tight, I mean the clock has been killing me lately." She begins, "Every second of my time is on a schedule and this is just so weird for me as someone who's never had to work to the clock before taking on this project." Melissa explains at speed, talking through the previously unheard of commitments facing her day to day since the release of Out Of Our Minds. "I feel like I might be making up for lost time because there was like this decade where I was just coasting but now I'm in redefinition mode. I remember realising one day I didn't want to just be in this sort of limbo anymore."
 

Her active life as a musician began once the Canadian native was asked to replace Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff following her suicide in 1994. Then after Hole burnt out in the early 2000's, Auf Der Maur toured briefly with the Smashing Pumpkins, once again as a replacement after bassist D'Arcy Wretzki refused to be involved with the 'new model' Pumpkins. Melissa's first solo album came out in 2005, and that same year she began work on a concept that would consume the next four years of her life. "Thank god for my blog, because that became my life force." She laughs, "I was at least able to keep people abreast of the situation all the while hoping my frustration wouldn't get the best of me while I saw this thing through."

The elaborate Out Of Our Minds project's end was never clearly in sight, Melissa describes. "I never really lost patience but at the same time I was there going 'another year has gone by and I still don't have anything to show to the outside world yet'." She says of discovering her creative ambition was at odds with the business. "The weird thing in my case is I was always being creative and made no time at all for practicality and now I've had to learn to channel my creativity and live in dream land and music land when I need to and also how to run my own label and finance my production company embracing all the technologies from online to actual manufacturing of the things. For me the challenge has been how do I learn to be practical rather than how do I find time to be creative."
 

Melissa claims her first solo album suffered from her label's lack of interest and subsequently built up her own label to see through her current release. "My relationship with EMI/Capitol dissolved half way through making Out Of Our Minds, and I thought well it's just reckless to allow somebody else to hold the key to how I release my work and what I put out. That's when the real decision came - and all the hard work started - to do it myself and start the label."

The album and film in question tells the story of three women from different times in history meeting in a forest where the trees bleed and Vikings roam. Included are many references to mythologies and folklore with an overriding factor of death and regeneration, topped with Melissa's interest in historical fact finding. "Mythology has always intrigued me and so the Vikings are in my movie, because their mythology is so strong but it's hard to say how much of it is based in fact. They represent to me people whose actual lives have kind of been replaced with kind half-fictional story telling which is why in the movie there's this search for the Viking's heart. It's like a search for the truth and humanity behind the myth."

The music side of Out Of Our Minds ultimately fed the idea for the short film. The origin, of which Melissa explains, came about after a life changing personal loss. "The lightning bolt of what direction to go in came from the album's title track, but ultimately the death of my father planted the seed for the broader idea. Had he not died, I wouldn't have pushed myself so much to see this project through." The work on Out Of Our Minds is a wealth of creativity, boasting well defined ideas working together with no slack parts. In her film the central story is triggered by a car crash, which makes for a good analogy if you look at Melissa's surviving credibility and artistry following the Courtney Love and Billy Corgan ego trips she was previously
passenger to.
 

Although admitting to having no perspective on the project right now – that'll take time - she carefully considers her recent achievements; "I don't know what I'm more proud of," Auf Der Maur sighs, "the experimenting and the collaborative side of it or that someone like me can be young productive businesswoman." She adds self-effacingly, "I'm proud of the fact that I was able to rise to the challenge and also return to my roots as a visual artist and be able to marry that to the music. That took a long time to create, I mean the film alone took almost a year of my life and the album was on and off for a couple of years, so I took a lot on in regards to the quality of work I committed to myself to make."

On the path to completing Out Of Our Minds, Melissa has been joined by a drool-inducing production and collaborative crew. Names such as Alan Moulder, Chris Goss, Mike Frazer and Glenn Danzig turn up on the credits. "I was traveling alone with my hard drive containing all my song ideas for a couple of years; I'm a bit of a lone wolf you see, and I met up with these guys on my travels, who were all friends to begin with except for Glenn Danzig, and because I was writing the album as I was going, it was just easier to take what I had to them and work on it wherever I happened to be." Glenn Danzig's credit is as vocalist on the track Father's Grave. Melissa's only choice, as she explains, for duet partner; "Because the song needed to be told from the perspective of the dead father in the story to his daughter, it just had to be Glenn as he was like my musical parent as a teenager." She reveals, "He's like my last frontier actually. Glenn and Morrissey were the kings of my musical world when I was 15 or 16, so I had to really build up to asking him to enter my world." She laughs, "It was also the first time I had written a song for somebody else to sing and I felt like I owed him so much, so I just closed my eyes and thought 'what would Glenn do?' and it just worked out like magic."

While Australia is only now about to see a local release for the album, talk of touring the accompanying film is still only that. The third installment of the project - the comic book edition - is imminent in North America and Canada, and although eager, Melissa would prefer to contemplate an Australian tour once all of the mediums are available here. "Doing the Australian summer festivals with Hole were seriously my favourite tours of all." She beams, "I'm thinking of the possibility of a tour on the back of independent cinema screenings of Out Of Our Minds, but nothing is certain yet." She adds optimistically, "But hey, I'm feeling a lot more support this time around so I'm really hoping that's gonna happen."

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The Dynamites' Bill Elder interview (2010)

 
With Nashville Tennessee’s ‘only two kinds of music - Country and Western’ identity firmly in place, it’s easy to forget the cities rich soul and R&B history. Tennessee’s synonymous with The Grand Ole Opry and Hank Williams, yet its black soul music movement in the 1960s was rivaled only by that of Detroit’s. So when writer/guitarist and proud Nashvillian, Bill Elder formed The Dynamites in 2005, he came with an eight piece band in full position of that rare, authentic spirit, befitting the local soul tradition. Their mission: To demonstrate precisely how you can’t beat the real thing.

“I don’t have many contemporary influences to speak of at all.” The straight-talking ex-producer Elder, begins. “There are a handful artists out there still making soul music and obeying the traditional sound of it, but most are just using it as a reference or to embellish their stuff.” Elder’s band are remarkable for the sheer authenticity of their sound. Take the music of civil rights-era America and the scene’s brightest star Marvin Gaye and you can draw a very short line, sound wise to The Dynamites. Bill explains; “As soon as the bug bit me to put together a raw soul band I pretty much dug myself into a hole that begins in 1963 and comes out in 1971.” Bill laughs, continuing. “I guess that was the time when soul music was both important and popular music – it was all over the charts - so all the labels put out a huge amount of real, authentic material to get behind the movement, but sadly it’s not like that anymore.”
 

The lyrics on The Dynamites current album Burn It Down – their second -demonstrates a casual political edge to the band. The title alone has a strong resonance for Bill; ”Actually the original title for the album was Black President and we had written most of the songs before Obama had even declared his candidacy like a weird sort of premonition.” He explains, “The idea of regeneration was there early on in our minds, especially when we were confronted with this crazy woman who couldn’t even name a single national newspaper and was running for vice presidency (Sarah Palin), we definitely felt something drastic had to happen.” Settling on Burn It Down, Bill felt there was an even greater impact to this title. He explains; “What that meant was burning down the old dogmatic ways of thinking and rebuilding a whole new way. The album is about regeneration which is perhaps not obvious by the title - a lot of people see that as a kind of aggressive statement - but really what it’s talking about is destroying old ways of thinking and letting the new come through. That really is the whole message of this album in a nutshell.”
 

The Dynamites come armed with a vocalist who has been compared to the likes of Marvin Gaye and James Brown. Elder talks of how vintage soul giant Charlie Walker came to his attention; “Charles was a part of an exhibit at the Country Music Hall Of Fame. There was a very brilliant curator at the museum in Nashville who wanted to exhibit the soul and R&B history of the local area. They released a record to coincide with that called Night Train To Nashville, as well as staging a concert which Charles - who was one of the original artists from the scene still around and performing - played at.” Bill enthuses, “At the same time I was looking at putting on a couple nights’ soul review and back then, it was never going to be a serious ongoing thing. I was working as a producer full-time and basically was done with playing on the road, so this showcase was just going to be my way of paying tribute to the artists who I loved and who represented Nashville. Charles however was such an incredible performer and he blew everyone else off stage, I just thought ‘well he’s the real thing’. Someone who’s not just cashing-in on the sound or riding their name out, you know. He’s going out there on stage every night like he’s born to do it and I have never seen anyone so on top of his game as this man.”

The Dynamites have recently gained wild appraisal in Europe and are set to play their first ever Australian shows. I ask Bill what it means for his band to be embarking on ‘virgin territory’ after the tried and tested success of Europe; “It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go, nobody in the band has been there before and it’s nice to know we speak the same language” He laughs, “But you know sometimes I think how will music so specific to a place and time go down in another culture, but then I remember that some of the great American jazz artists from back in the day only found success in places like Paris, so you never can tell where people are going to be at digging your music.” In closing Bill ads; “We’re just so lucky that despite the current climate, it’s possible for a nine-piece retro soul band to go out and make a living from doing what they do just because they love it."

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New Young Pony Club interview (2010)

SERIOUS HORSIN' AROUND 
 

Anybody who warmed to New Young Pony Club’s debut single Ice-cream with its burst of neon joyfulness along with debut album, Fantastic Playroom, may find themselves having to do a little re-adjusting to the band’s newest set. Producer/guitarist Andy Spence takes some time to discuss his band’s darker, more mature second album, The Optimist beginning with its perhaps misleading title. “The Optimist, well that was just how we felt throughout the making of the album.” He states, “We were at least optimistic that we were making great music, and making something that was real, so naturally we felt good about it.”

The ‘we’ Andy refers to is himself and vocalist Tahita Bulmer - who make up the creative core of the band - completing the line-up is Lou Hayter (keyboards) and Sarah Jones (drums). The UK based NYPC developed an almost hit-guaranteed album with the poppy Fantastic Playroom in 2007 after being snagged by Australian label Modular prior to any local interest. A surprising start to things, as Andy remembers. “It was just that we had been all over Europe and to the US and never even stepped foot in Australia, so when Modular wanted to sign us on the strength of our independent single (Ice Cream) we were pretty shocked.” He continues; “Now we have had some of our biggest support from there and everything really sort of opened up for us after Australia, yeah.”

The band, after dropping an album’s worth of music, gradually developed a darker, more involving sound for album number two. The question is what dynamic within the band changed to affect the music so. “Well we don’t really disagree on very much when it comes to where we want to take our music, well at least we don’t argue amongst ourselves and get all precious about it. We usually know when it’s good and when it’s not working, quite simply and any changes made during the making of this album have come from us basically agreeing we needed to move things on.”
 

Spence is undoubtedly in the driver’s seat for NYPC, having produced all of the band’s music up to this point. He discusses his role. “Actually a lot more has been made of it this time around, but we actually funded everything, and I produced the first album as well.” He states, “To be honest it’s the only way we can work – the way we create our music is to produce it as we go along as opposed to taking the demo versions into a studio and getting other people in to finish it you know.” Despite the self-sufficiency, Andy explains, having outside influences is a given and something the band aren’t opposed to seeking out. “One thing we do rely on to make sure we’re keeping on track is our management and friends having an impartial opinion to help guide what we do.” He continues, “We actually invited in our old A&R guy from Modular in to listen to tracks, and he didn’t like any of it but there was actually some bad blood between us and so he was a bit narky but we wanted to see how much his opinion of our music would be influenced by personal differences” He laughs, “It was good though because there’s no point just having everyone tell you it’s great and having no second opinion at all. We needed to give ourselves a harder test this time around I think.”

On the point of the new album’s greatest strengths, Andy is confident they have prepared a set fit for all moods; “I think a lot of people are surprised at far we’ve gone in two albums, I mean how much our sound has changed and for me that’s a good thing, but we’ve also been criticised by people saying it’s not up and it’s not down it’s neither one thing or the other but I think that is what the album’s greatest strength is. I’ve always loved albums that have the really extreme up, positive songs and the equal darker moments as well such as David Bowie’s Low and Prince’s Sign O’ The Times.”

I tell Andy that Tahita Bulmer’s vocals on The Optimist are remarkable for their likeness to almighty punk goddess Siouxsie Sioux’s. He divulges a-not-at-all-surprising shared love for the singer. “I might be giving too much away here but we actually went to see her in concert half way through the recording. I mean we’ve always admired her but it was just a great reminder seeing her perform.” Spence muses, “You could name on one hand the amount of people like Siouxsie – strong female singer, still in full possession of the punk ethic, and doesn’t resort to selling sex as part of what she does.”

Andy Spence; optimist in conversation and by admission through his current album’s title. So what, if the future is bright, is on New Young Pony Club’s gotta-do list?, “I’d like to play bigger venues, connect with more people, maybe win a Brit award or a Grammy.” He laughs, “I’ll just throw those in for the sake of an answer but basically I’m happy with what we’ve achieved so far and right now, it just feels as good as it can get.”

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