KNOCK OUT BLOW
GOING SCARY BIG
ALL BANDS REMEMBER THEIR FIRST BIG DAY OUT TOUR, RIGHT? DANIELLE O’DONOHUE FINDS OUT WHY CALLING ALL CARS’ HAYDN ING DRAWS A BLANK.
WITH THEIR NATIONAL TOUR SCREAMING INTO WA THIS WEEKEND, CALLUM TWIGGER TALKS THROUGH SOUNDS AND SEASONS WITH TOM IANSEK’S HALF OF MELBOURNE TWO-PIECE BIG SCARY.
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realized I wasn’t seeing my friends as much as I used to, and that was when I realized there was a cost to what I was doing, and there was a price to all the adventures,” Tom Iansek admits belatedly. Ironically, in Big Scary’s debut LP Vacation, Bad Friends is lead singer/guitarist Iansek’s triumph. With a painfully suppressed murmur, the delicate Melbournian ambles through the decay of old friendships, and the story behind the song that shares that pathos. “I had a gig in Hobart, and was meant to fly back to Melbourne the next morning and play at one of my best friend’s weddings. We missed our flight, which meant we missed the wedding. It was a tough day,” he confirms, before adding, “it’s [a song] about outgrowing people in a way, and whether that’s being professional or not.” Iansek’s confession resonates in the track’s lyrics: “I watch the planes fly overhead/I will say nothing at all/I’ll sing the song of silence/I’ll sing no song at all”. Bad friends might make for compelling songwriting, but working in a duo can put pressure on the best of artists. Yet it’s a dynamic Iansek and bandmate Jo Symes have taken in their stride. “Jo and I were hanging out this morning, and she said I’ll see you after Easter, and we realized we’d been hanging out every day for the last month. We’re great mates, and it helps,” Iansek explains. “Originally, I was just looking to put some new project together, and I met Jo through a friend of a friend,” he confesses, half-laughing. Something sparked, because there’s undeniably vital creative chemistry between the two of them: Vacation was paraded as a triple J feature album last year, snagging a place in big cheese Richard Kingsmill’s top ten albums of 2011. Lined up against a wall, Autumn, Winter, Summer and Spring are the core of Big Scary’s EP catalogue. The graduated shift between each season is a suitable metaphor for the Melbourne two-piece’s steadfast refusal to adopt one musical style over another. “Nature and the elements were a recurring theme to me,” Iansek explains. “Lyrically, more than musically, perhaps.
Originally, it wasn’t going to be about seasons. We were just reliving songs every couple of months, and then we were like, ‘Why not just release songs as seasons?’, and then it kind of formed that way,” he adds tacitly. “We’re varied stylistically, and we had a pile of songs that sounded like they could be winter or summer anyways, and the rest we made up as we went along.” Sure, Big Scary’s debut LP Vacation is an album that takes mug-shots of Australian alt-rock kingpins like Nick Cave and Steve Kilby, but it’s not a record that can be rationalized into some simple narrative of genre. Leaving Home and Gladiator are contemplative, downtempo tracks that explore the minimalistics of Big Scary’s White Stripes guy-plus-girl guitar-anddrum fundamentalism, while Tuesday Is Rent Day goes nonchalant garage-punk. Iansek is keen to evade the media’s genre-trap, and sees tropes as more constricting than constructive. “Absolutely, there is a pressure to conform to one style. People want to sum Vacation up simply. It’s easier to market that way. And there is an argument out there that people will get it better if it’s all similar. There’s some truth to that, but you know, that’s not how we work. If we tried to adopt homogeneity, it would be like putting a square peg in a round hole,” he concludes. “Sometimes I wish I could ask people what we’re like, and then just use that for the press releases.” WHO: Big Scary WHEN & WHERE: Friday 20 April, Amplifier, Perth; Saturday 19 May, Groovin’ The Moo, Hay Park, Bunbury
Mentored by his Belleville High School alumnus Juan Atkins, the ‘Godfather’ of techno, May founded Transmat Records in the ‘80s. He’d introduce a romantically futuristic ‘high tech soul’ with tracks like Nude Photo (its laugh snatched from a Yazoo song!), Strings Of Life and The Beginning. Later May, disillusioned with the record biz, virtually ceased producing – although he memorably remixed Rolando’s Jaguar. He’d focus on, not only DJing, but also building Transmat’s roster – nurturing everyone from Carl Craig to Stacey Pullen and Aril Brikha. ‘EDM’ has exploded Stateside with Frenchman David Guetta producing urban names, but its African-American pioneers haven’t benefited – just as they didn’t during the ‘90s ‘electronica’ epoch. May is restrategising. In 2010 he issued a hit mix-compilation, Heartbeat. “My mix-CD sold something like 17,000 copies in Japan – that’s un-fucking-heard of! That’s like a platinum record these days.” The Japanese label, Lastrum, “really cared” about its promotion. Today few companies in Europe, or the US, properly market comps. Consumers don’t have the attention spans. Media interest in touring DJs, too, has declined, says May, last here for Creamfields 2011 with his homeboy Kevin Saunderson. The Australian press still covers tours, but elsewhere promoters don’t even arrange interviews. Greater importance is placed on DJs circulating tracks – offering “this so-called package”. As such, dance music’s narrative is being lost. 18 • THE DRUM MEDIA
May – his music inspiring Björk, Burial and Azari & III – has often been critical of DJs who act as “wannabe rock stars.” Some behave “ridiculously” – to the detriment of dance culture. “Dance music is a group of individuals who are like these outcasts of the whole music industry. Nobody really cares about dance music artists. We’ve never really been a part of the legitimate music scene.” And, here, May admonishes himself. “Let’s be honest – I used to give attitude to the media, too,” he admits. But the techno rebel was “on a mission” to defend a black music from co-option – and he impressed journalists with his conviction. He’s no longer “mad” at new gen DJs who neglect their platforms. “They don’t know any better.” In fact, May is upbeat about underground techno. Aside from his most famous protégé, Craig, he rates Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano for their artistry – and admires Ben Sims’ longevity. “You’ve got a fair amount of guys who are showing other guys the way – but are the other guys willing to hear or be interested in knowing the way?” In 2009 May relaunched Transmat with Canadian Greg Gow’s The Pilgrimage EP. He’s presently A&Ring a label comp with tracks from Gow, Zak “DVS1” Khutoretsky, and John Beltran – plus surprises. Excitingly, May will include previously unreleased material of his own – notably his equivalent of that Depeche Mode number, the now mythic Hand Over Hand. Its airing is, he realises, “a big, big deal”. “I played it at a Red Bull Academy in Norway when I was talking and there were a few people who said, ‘Can we have that? That’s beautiful!’ So there’s still a response to the song in its current state – without me even having to update it. I’m really happy that it’s held on and it’s had an opportunity to still touch people some 20 years later – and [it’s] never been released. It’s nice. It’s a good feeling.” WHO: Derrick May WHEN & WHERE: Friday 27 May, The Likes Of You, Ambar, Perth
“I was completely out. I woke up on the stretcher in the ambulance. It was pretty full on. Tom [Larkin, Calling All Cars’ manager] was freaking out. He was down the front. But as soon as he knew I was okay he was like, ‘Sweet, publicity’.” Like the rock’n’roll trooper he is, Ing was back onstage a couple of days later in Melbourne – although his feet were firmly planted in front of the mic for the entire set. It’s been a pretty big summer for the Melbourne threepiece. Fresh from the release of their second album, Dancing With A Dead Man in August, the band were one of four young local acts picked to support the Foo Fighters on their December stadium tour. Calling All Cars are no strangers to big stadium rock shows, having toured Australia with AC/DC and Queens Of The Stone Age, but Ing says the notoriously nice Foo Fighters certainly know how to make a support band feel welcome. “All the crew took us aside and were like, ‘Here’s a pass. You can go anywhere you want. You’re allowed in the Foo Fighters band room, just don’t be a dickhead.’ It was rad. We were hanging out with them afterwards. Just being there and standing side of stage and watching Dave [Grohl] do things was crazy.”
starring their famous tour-mates. The YouTube video features appearances by Foo Fighters Dave Grohl and Nate Mendel, Fucked Up’s Damian ‘Pink Eyes’ Abraham and Tenacious D’s Kyle Gass and Jack Black. “We got to meet Jack Black and everyone backstage at the Perth show and we said, ‘Is it cool if you do this video?’ and explained it to them. And he goes, ‘Yeah, that’ll be sweet, but before I do that I actually want to see what I’m endorsing’. “So at one point in Adelaide there was Jack Black and Dave Grohl standing side of stage while we were playing. I was like, ‘Holy shit’. Then afterward we were having a drink and Jack was like, ‘So are we going to make this video?’ The quote he said to us was, ‘You called the cars, and they came’.” After such an eventful summer, Calling All Cars have taken a step back out of the limelight to begin the process of writing album number three. For Dancing With A Dead Man the band wrote about 40 tracks that they whittled down to the album’s final 12 songs. The plan this time is to again write a lot more songs than are needed, so the three band members have decamped to a tiny little town on the New South Wales southern coast for a little inspiration and a lot of peace and quiet. The town has a population of just a couple of hundred people. “When we walk into the town you can tell we’re not from around there. We get those typical comments like, ‘You’re wearing your sister’s jeans, mate’. Yeah, good one.” WHO: Calling All Cars WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 19 April, Indi Bar, Scarborough; Friday 20, Prince Of Wales, Bunbury; Saturday 21, 78 Records (early), Rosemount Hotel, North Perth (late)
LUCKY NUMBERS
DETROIT INNOVATOR DERRICK MAY TALKS DEPECHE MODE, TRANSMAT RECORDS AND “WANNABE ROCKSTARS” WITH CYCLONE.
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The Melbourne singer says his memory of the day isn’t great, but he’s seen the YouTube footage and was able to fill in a few blanks. “I was crowd surfing and saw one of those circle pits, so I thought I’d get in the middle of that and as I was running into towards it he didn’t see me and I didn’t see him and we just collided,” Ing says with a wry chuckle.
While on tour, the band couldn’t resist the opportunity to film a clip to announce their upcoming BDO appearance
MAY ON A MISSION echno innovator Derrick May once hung with Depeche Mode in his Detroit hometown, the New Wavers a seminal influence. Now Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore has cut a ‘techno’ album, Ssss, with ex-member Vince Clarke, the pair showing the ‘kids’ a thing or two. “I can totally relate!” May laughs quietly. “I think it’s a good thing if they can do it – and if they can do it well.” The DJ/producer has described Depeche Mode as “the Radiohead of their day”. “I’ve been in the studio next to them – they were working once and they made a track. I had a copy of it for years. It was only on a cassette. They never released it. It was absolutely fantastic! They just didn’t release it, for whatever reason.” The Brits were, he reasons, merely exercising their talents.
ouring with the Big Day Out is a significant milestone for upcoming Australian bands. But Calling All Cars frontman Haydn Ing is a bit hazy on some of the details of his band’s run on this year’s festival. Ing’s Sydney Big Day Out appearance ended in the back of an ambulance after being knocked out cold by a flailing arm as he jumped into the audience only a couple of songs in.
MEET NEW ZEALAND FIVE-PIECE SIX60. YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THEM ON RADIO, THEY’RE NOT SIGNED TO A LABEL, THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A PUBLICIST UNTIL RECENTLY, YET THEY CAN BOAST TWO PLATINUM SINGLES BACK HOME. MICHAEL SMITH INVESTIGATES THANKS TO VOCALIST/ GUITARIST MATIU WALTERS.
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heck out the clip for the latest single, Forever, from kiwi rockers Six60 and you’ll see some 15,000 fans going ballistic at a festival called Homegrown in Wellington that, like our Homebake, exclusively celebrates local acts. While you might assume it’s been staged, it turns out the band just decided to get some live footage to better represent their performance rather than come up with some storyboard job, so those kids singing along genuinely know all the words. Considering they’ve had no airplay and no label backing, it’s testament to the power of social media that Six60 hit the NZ commercial singles charts with two double platinum-selling singles, Rise Up 2.0 and Don’t Forget Your Roots, one platinum-selling single, Only To Be, plus a triple-platinum #1 self-titled debut album. Not bad for a band that had met as students at University in Dunedin in 2008 and hadn’t actually thought to record in the first place. “We’re five completely different people,” Six60’s singer and guitarist Matiu Walters admits, “with different upbringings and tastes in music, so it’s a miracle that we met each other and that all our influences turned into songs and it didn’t sound crap [laughs] – you know what I mean? When we first set off, we were pretty much a cover band to be honest and it moved from small gigs in our room, into the living room [laughs], into flat parties, twenty-firsts and later into the smaller bars around Dunedin. And we pretty much played for a beer contra or something like that. “The songwriting probably came like a year after we got together, when we decided we really wanted to put a memento together for the time we had at university, with no intention of going anywhere. But we made a Facebook page because everyone was doing that at the time and word got around and the
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word got around enough that it encouraged us that this was something we wanted to do. It’s pretty crazy the way things have gone the last couple of years.” As the online buzz built, so did the size of the stages Six60 were invited to play, moving from local bars to festival stages not only across New Zealand but also here, playing the Big Day Out. “It’s incredible how important timing is in your career. I wouldn’t call it luck, but we happened to be in the right time and play a good show while the right people were there, so we were very fortunate in that respect.” The debut album, which, in physical form, is a beautifully crafted gatefold black-lined gold card artefact with no information about what’s on the two discs inside – “I had the privilege of working with a local new Zealand artist,” Walters explains, “to create something different since this generation, no one’s buying CDs so we wanted to make something pretty special and entice people into buying the physical” – is a pretty diverse collection of tunes. It’s a reflection, again, of the diverse musical tastes within the band. “By no means was it an intention of ours to make something so diverse. It would seem to be just a natural progression for us. But in saying that, when I listen to my iPod, or when anyone listens to their iPod or their music, they don’t really listen to one genre in particular. Or maybe they do, but they’re probably really boring people [laughs]. As much as people told us that we should have, we didn’t want to be a band that just wrote the same shit over and over again and perform the same stuff – and for some reason it seemed to work for us.” WHO: Six60 WHAT: Six60 (MGM) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 28 April, Capitol, Perth