A chinwag with: Gia Como, asian milhouse, Nonie Trainor, and Brushtail.
On aging old releases, Bob Dylan, the first Gia Como shows, writing songs about nothing, and other aimless tidbits.
at Mrs Brown, 7:30pm, Monday June 7.
Josh: Your interview mate let's go
laughs
Jack: You're putting the pressure on Josh
laughs
Josh: Sorry I'm like pure chaos right now
Ryan: It's like those interviews you see on YouTube on press circuits where they just don't want to be there.
Josh: have you seen that one of James Brown? He's fully off his head, she's asking him questions and he's answering but with his song titles
laughs
Papa's got a brand new bag! I look good, I smell good, I feel good!
Ryan: Has the year gone fast for anyone else?
[All]: Extremely fast yeah
Ryan: It's the first of June…half way though
Nonie: I feel like we're in March
Jack: March 2020
Ryan: It feels like everything's rushed, but actually, we've all done a lot this year. It hasn't been sat on or digested much…
Jack: Yeah for sure
Ryan: It got me thinking about getting caught up in the lead up to a release and the release moment and forgetting that it lives on, for two years, or five years, or…
Josh: Technically forever…
Ryan: Until the internet stops existing…how have you felt about recent releases and how they've evolved over time?
Josh: like my old stuff?
Ryan: Yeah
[a bunch of people come in and say hi]
Josh: It's fine, everything's fine, my old releases are funny. But they're not bad, I don't hate them, but it's just funny to look back
Nonie [to Ryan]: How do you feel about your old releases?
Ryan: I'm proud of them
Josh: I'm not proud of all of them
laughs
Ryan: I don't have much music
Nonie: but with No Nomad…
Jack: Yeah it's been a while
Ryan: Yeah I think it's more on the technical side, like the recording quality
Josh: Nah let them bleed
Ryan: When you listen to our most recent stuff, it's so much better from that point of view
Josh: Where'd you track the last two?
Ryan: Poons Head, with Nick
Jack: Nick's great
Josh: Those horn lines sound so good. Who did the horn arrangements?
Ryan: Julia!
Nonie: She's such a boss
laughs
Ryan: Yeah she killed it. There's one line with so many layers, just building chords, so sick. And she did it really quick too.
Ryan: Let's talk about new Miraud!
Jack: Yes. It's done. Definitely excited
laughs
Ryan: When did you decide to do new stuff?
Jack: This track that we're releasing is like two years old
Josh: But we re-tracked it
Ryan: When did you re-track it?
Josh: I don't know...earlier in the year
laughs
Jack: We were doing a day a week for a bit, just writing and stuff. Then decided to go with Lavenda
Josh: It's real solid. Just personal opinions
Jack: It is. It's kind of funny working on a track that is that old. And we already played live back then. It was much more rocky before
Josh: And we added a bunch to it
Jack: The big bridge…
Josh: Yeah
Jack: And now that Josh sings…changing the game
Josh: On the record, I just put two peace signs up
laughs
Ryan [to Josh]: How long have you been singing for? I probably asked last time but…
Josh Since mid last year
laughs
Ryan: Was there a trigger or anything like that?
Josh: Nah just felt like it. I was ready to just give it a go, but then I found I really enjoyed it. Because I've tried it before and didn't enjoy it
Jack: I remember you saying back in the day 'I can't fucking sing, I can't do any backing vocals'
Josh: Yeah I was just not having fun, had some self-confidence issues or something, but a lot of that has been sorted. More work to do but a lot of that has been sorted
Ryan: I've never really sung
Josh: You should give it a go, it's hell fun
Ryan: I think it was Dave that pointed it out like, 'how long before you sing on something?' and my response was 'nah, not me', but now maybe…
Nonie: Did you sing when you were little?
Ryan: Nah no choir or nothing like that
Nonie: Just do it!
Ryan: A part of me wants to try other instruments instead
Nonie: You can do it at the same time
laughs
Ryan: I don't know if it's me
Nonie: It's your bad attitude
Josh: Ryan you're being naughty right now
laughs
Nonie: I reckon it's the best way to express stuff…just like in the shower. I feel like with singing you don't need to be technically perfect to do it
Jack: Anyone can sing
Ryan: Oh yeah mine would be some sort of talky sing-y thing for sure
Nonie: Well Bob Dylan can't sing for shit
laughs
Jack: This can be a Bob Dylan hate thing
laughs
I can't stand Bob Dylan
laughs
Josh: So many people love Bob Dylan
Jack: I can't do it
laughs
He's a good lyricist I know that
Ryan: I saw him at Blues and Roots in 2012 or 2013 and he would have been like 75 or something. He played with his back to the crowd and they had the massive screen with the camera on his face, and it's just the back of his head with a cowboy hat, people calling out 'Play Like a Rolling Stone' and he just said nope
Josh: I'm sure he had a good time though
laughs
Nonie: I'm sure he was paid an exorbitant amount of money.
asian milhouse - Flickering Through Mist
Ryan: So just a single for Miraud or are there plans for more?
Josh: We've got another one that's almost done but I just haven't had time to work on it
Jack: It's hard to get our schedules right. Miraud just kind of sits there as a fun kind of collab, if we've got time we'll just do it. We want to play live…
Josh: Yeah that would be nice at some stage.
Jack: Yeah
Josh: My 2022 is looking baaad already. Like wow.
Ryan: International?
Josh: Yeah like big gaps
Ryan: If Miraud is live down the track, Gia Como is live very soon…for the first time. How is the live thing progressing?
Jack: yeah it's been progressing. It's been a really, really fucking stressful few weeks for me. Organising people…
Josh: you have a show this weekend?
Jack: Nah next week. It's been funny because we've just been rehearsing separately for now. I've been rehearsing with Sam and Beth, and the dancers separately. We've been kind of coexisting doing rehearsals at different times, then we'll all come together and smash it out for a week. But it's a really different process to being in a band, because we're just playing to track with guitar and vocals and dancers. It's more about getting the performance comfortable and everyone moving the same way. It's really different, something I've never done before. It's exciting, stressful, but exciting. There's definitely a lot more being put into the visual aspect of Gia Como
Ryan [to Josh]: I remember last time you talking about the visual aspect
Josh: Yeah, a show's a show. You got to put on a show, nothing worse than just seeing a band playing
Nonie: I think the concept of accessibility of having people that are hearing impaired being able to come in and it's something for everyone, as a piece of theatre, I don't know…
Ryan: I love how with Gia Como and Buckland, it was visual from the start
Nonie: Well Dave's a theatre maker…
Ryan: Yeah exactly. I feel like with some bands they might reach a point, playing bigger rooms, and then they decide to start doing stuff. It can be a bit fake or something
Josh: I think it's hindsight as well, most bands starting at 18-19, you're stupid like 'oh we shouldn't have done that’
laughs
Nonie: I think it takes a different set of not giving a fuck to do something a bit 'wacky' or different. Like starting a band there's a bit less lee-way, or you're a bit more embarrassed.
Josh: And also not everyone's that creative. Like I can't put a visual show together if I tried.
Ryan: Maybe our show's are a bit boring…
Nonie: I mean you have the sax player on rollerblades
laughs
Ryan: True…
Nonie: and Clancy's a bit of a vision.
Ryan: One thing that makes me think of, do you think people talking during shows now is more common? I don't know if I've just created this idea in my head but it seems like everyone is talking now at gigs!
Josh: I've found this going over east a bunch. The crowds are kind of listening a lot more. Everyone's paying attention to the show. In Perth everyone's a bit looser, and I kind of enjoy that.
Nonie: I think as well at a place like The Bird the crowd isn't going just for music, they're going to do whatever
Ryan: Would you find it disrespectful as performer?
Josh: I don't really care
Jack: I don't think I mind. I think I prefer between songs there being a bit of chat rather than just silence.
Josh: If I go to your show, after every song I'm gonna go ‘shhhhhhhh’
laughs
Nonie: I think it lowers the stakes though
Ryan: The only time it really gets me is when it's a really epic, journey-type song and there's a moment where it's really intimate…and you just get the crowd talking. It kills that performance or the show part of it.
Jack: In tighter spaces it can be a bit disrespectful I guess if you're up the front while whoever's playing, but between songs is cool.
Josh: I guess it depends who you're performing for. Is it for you or the crowd?
Jack: One of the reasons I've incorporated dance for Gia Como stuff is…if you don't know how to dance or move to the beat, follow these people. But I'm also worried that could be intimidating...
Josh: You should have got people who weren't real dancers
Ryan: Or two real dancers and one regular
laughs
Josh: Or people planted in the crowd just going crazy
laughs
I'll do it
Nonie: Yeah I'll do it
laughs
Gia Como - Madeleine
Ryan: I was reading a really good Julia Jacklin interview today, and she said that she hasn't been living life enough to write songs recently. And I was just wondering how that sentiment sits with you?
Josh: I don't know during Covid, what did I write about, nothing…
Ryan: Yeah I heard it in the lyrics to 'Ah Well'; in my room…
laughs
Josh: Yeah I was just trying to copy that Beach Boys tune In My Room
Jack: Is that the one that does the full acapella thing?
Josh: Nah. But that's actually my main inspiration at the moment - The Beach Boys, or just Brian Wilson.
Ryan: You know No Nomad started because me and Austen were arguing at a party after he was shitting on The Beach Boys, and I came in and defended them
laughs
Josh: You have to pay attention, it's like deceptively simple.
Nonie: So many don't like pop music, it's like 'grow up'
laughs
Josh: Unless you're creative enough to write songs about nothing, or things out of thin air…
Jack: I definitely have themes I recurrently write about that are kind of cathartic. I'm definitely not writing about day-to-day shit. Most of the shit I write about is identity, or past experiences, or people or whatever.
Josh: But how are you going to form an identity by doing nothing?
Jack: You so can!
Josh: But like so much of identity is physically…
Jack: But I don't know
Nonie: The internet!
laughs
Josh: So much of our identity is formed from social situations or…
Jack: I still think you can question your identity or form it by yourself wherever you are
Josh: So if you did nothing for like three, four years and didn't leave the house do you think you'd still write or stop after a while?
Jack: I think you'd stop after three or four years, but, I've definitely spent the last two years, not obviously at home, but last year spending a heap of time alone, thinking inward and thinking I really came to terms with a lot of stuff
Josh: What happens when you've come to terms with all those things, and there's no more things to come to terms with? Julia Jacklin has written a shit load of songs, probably written a lot already. If you've written about it already, if you don't do new things, what are you going to write about?
Jack: I don't know if I agree. You can always write about the past. You can write about your childhood, or something from five years ago, 20 years ago, doesn't matter. You've got this bank of shit you can feed in to or take bits from and create a story
Josh: what if you're someone like me who has trouble accessing their memories
Ryan: Well you can just go full Bob Dylan and write about contemporary news and events
Nonie: I think also the whole lockdown and social movements and the political ramifications that come with it all…there's a lot of writing fodder there that's not accessed by the privileged…sorry Julia Jacklin
laughs
I think David's Cuck the Fops wasn't a response to Black Lives Matter but a response to…existence. You don't have to write about your personal circumstances.
Buckland - Tangle of Shame / B w/ U
Ryan [to Jack]: When's FLUX [proposed debut album] coming out?
Jack: I'm really unsure. I just want to play live for a little while. I'm not totally sure on all the songs yet, there's a possibility of them changing them. I think another single, maybe even an EP. FLUX was the plan, and I've done this before, but I'm not getting tired of shit that I wrote a while ago, maybe I am, but I don't know if I want to release the full package of songs until it's ready. It's more about getting it ready for live stuff at the moment.
Ryan: I think that's really smart. What was recording that with Jordan and Beth and Sam and all the crew like?
Jack: We started in January last year and were going one day a week until that first lockdown, then kept going for another like four months. It was cool, Jordan lived up the road from me that time, wandering out, going for it. It was really cool recording with him, he brings like a different element that's not cohesive with the genre at all but just his mixing brings a bit of a different dynamic to it that I really enjoy.
Ryan: Were the songs good to go when you went in the studio?
Jack: I'd written a heap of demos and we were recording them at home in 2019 and in Melbourne. They were sitting there for ages, then as soon as I came back to Perth we were into it. They were all kind of done and we just re-did them.
Ryan: And the killer guitar parts?
Jack: Yeah that wasn't meant to happen. We were recording Love Myself! and Sam was living with Jordan, just wandering around the house. There's this big gap in Love Myself! that didn't have anything yet. I hate playing guitar, and I thought it'd be great to have a guitar solo here but probably just do a synth solo. And Jordan said, 'Just get Sam, he's doing nothing', and I asked him 'Do you want to come in and just like...noodle around?’. And he came up with the solo on the spot and recorded it in like an hour.
From then on, we thought maybe we could add it to other songs as we're going along. That large 80s sound in a guitar solo, pitch harmonics and shit which he loves doing. And it's just a domino effect, this song, that song, and now he's in the band.
Ryan: How are the drums working live?
Jack: I think in the beginning I envisioned a full band. But as it progressed and I was writing I started to want more of a visual aspect with dancers and stuff like that, and hopefully down the line bridge the gap between live music and the club scene. But yeah on some of the tracks Chet Morgan is playing drums and they're on a track now. But yeah I don't think I ever want a band with Gia Como, more of a visual thing.
It's just good to be back, I haven't played in like 2 and a half years. Nervous…
Ryan: And they're really nice shows to be the first shows!
Jack: Yeah we got pretty lucky actually. I love Web Rumours so that's cool.
Ryan: We sort of circled around performing for yourself or performing for the crowd. How does that translate to writing?
Josh: I write for myself. I show my friends, I'm less concerned with putting it out. Maybe I shouldn't be saying that to someone running a label
laughs
Ryan: But that's the thing, that's my philosophy too. It's as simple as 'This is cool, maybe other people will think this is cool too, let’s share it'. You can just tie yourself up in knots when you think about what someone else is going to think.
I also think I'm just really used to rejection of musical ideas. I'll bring in an idea or demo or chords or whatever with band and they might just fizzle out in a jam
Nonie: Do you think that spurred your solo stuff?
Ryan: Yeah like if I've still got the project and I believe in the idea I'm still going to do something with it
Josh: Yeah don't have to get rid of it.
Ryan: Yeah sometimes it might just not be right for the band. But also there's times when you could push back it and really believe in an idea and work on it longer.
Nonie: Some things don't grow in the first few moments, you have to work on it
Josh: I'm really used to pushing back. Sometimes you gotta do it. Like 'This is the song, we gotta play the song'. I used to be really uncomfortable with telling people what to do, but when you think you've got a good idea, you think 'I've got a good idea, and I'm gonna fucking run with it'.
Ryan: I know it's early days for Buckland, but when I first heard the line up…it's so many great songwriters as well as musicians. Do you think that could evolve?
Nonie: I think David has a catalogue of stuff that he's written. I would love for Buckland to become a writing thing or something but it depends. The rehearsals are so fun. Like me and Clancy in a room is bad enough, and then you have David, Conor, and Jeremy too
laughs
Ryan: I can't wait for that all to bloom.
Nonie: I can't wait for David to do more theatrical stuff, he's really talented.
Josh: I want to see him stomp
laughs
