#everguide

Written for Everguide, 2013.

Recent interview I did for Everguide

If I were to compile a superfluous list of standout albums for 2012, Poliça’s Give You the Ghost would receive a crowning glory. Riding on the coat tails of alternative electronic music’s positive reception in recent years, four-piece Poliça have burrowed their way into the ears of many a music critic. Their freshman release is barely a year old, and Bon Iver’s described them as, “the best band I’ve ever heard,” while Pitchfork birthed this ambitious aphorism: “Fiona Apple fronting TV on the Radio". When a relatively unknown vocalist is compared to the likes of a '90s veteran chanteuse, one gets a sense of the pressure she might feel. On the phone to Poliça’s frontwoman Channy Leanagh from her home in Minnesota, USA, I can hear the disbelief and exhaustion seeping through the line. Channy is a classically trained musician who used to play the violin. It’s hardly preparation for the exposure from being a feature on Jay-Z’s blog. She’s softly spoken to the point of barely audible and breathes humility, her voice trailing off intermittently. I’m feeling like she doesn’t really want to talk to me. Or maybe she’s tired after a long day of interviews. Or, perhaps more accurately, feeling the strain of a fast-forwarded rise to fame.

Over the course of a weird and wonderful decade-plus escapade that has spawned some five or so mind-controlling, wig-out LP releases, Sand Pebbles were to develop into Melbourne radio guru, RRR’s Stephen ‘The Ghost’ Walker’s love child band. Dark Magic is their latest and loveliest folk rock opus.

With dual vocals and guitars led by Andrew Tanner and Tor Larsen (The Sun Blindness), the band’s two other mainstays have been bassist and songwriter Chris Hollow and chief guitarist/writer Ben Michael X. Several drummers have drifted in and out of the scene but currently Wes Holland holds down the oscillating beat.

They’ve always referred to themselves as ‘Flower Punk’ and not as a psychedelic squad. They believe they are ‘Slightly-Delic’. We believe they are great. Sand Pebbles. Hypnotic. Cosmic. Kinetic. Freewheeling. Exploding From The Eye Of The Universe, they say.

Here’s what went down when we yarned with bassist Chris Hollow about Dark Magic…

Nick Argyriou: Malcolm McDowell produced your latest record and was involved in the mixing. Alex DeLarge? Chris Hollow: Malcolm produced Dark Magic and contributes some vocals and keyboard. His name is Malcolm McDowell but he's not the Malcolm McDowell. Funnily enough our last record, Ceduna, was produced by James Dean, but obviously not the James Dean. We're hoping the next one can be done by Whoopi Goldberg. The Whoopi Goldberg.

NA: Every Sand Pebbles record has seen an evolution in style and texture. What is it that makes Dark Magic uniquely different for the band? CH: On previous albums we’d banned acoustic guitar. The ban was lifted for this record. Also, Tor has come to the fore on this record. He and Tanner trade lead vocals pretty much song for song. I love that because it means we’re getting two distinct perspectives – innocence and experience. NA: You were banned from the Meredith Music Festival in 2006. Did you think a recall was in order for the 21st anniversary? CH: Yeah, I do. I think our Meredith story is one of the best Meredith stories going around and reconciliation would be great content. NA: Why exactly were you banned again? Rose Tattoo stage invasion… like when Jarvis Cocker raided Michael Jackson at the '96 Brit Awards? CH: It’s the most rock’n’roll thing we’ve ever done. Invade the stage and let Rose Tattoo know that we don’t appreciate them being running dog lackeys of the Liberal Party’s Right Wing while taking out a couple of unwitting bouncers sworn to protect Angry Anderson. The thing is, it wasn’t actually us – just some angel-headed, cosmic cowboy loner rebel hero with a Sand Pebbles sticker on his jacket. But the ban makes us out to be rock’n’roll outlaws. I’m sure Angry has seen worse. I’d hope so.

NA: Post 2008 Ceduna, you guys were quoted as saying the next record was going to be more acoustic which is as you mention, another band ban lifted now. What was that ban on acoustic guitars all about anyway? CH: Bands are more interesting when they have strict rules. It’s helped us to not sound like everyone else. Some of our rules have included: No crash cymbal. No acoustic guitar. No blues. No super long shows. Rules are meant to be broken, too.

NA: Talk us through 'Long, Long Ago' - perhaps the loveliest song Sand Pebbles have ever arranged? Perhaps too lovely. Your thoughts? CH: A friend ribbed us saying it was our Seals & Crofts moment, but we’re not afraid to go soft and fuck anyone who doesn’t dig it. We’ve done plenty of hard songs. There’s plenty of hard bands out there. Too many.

NA: I read that you and Tor were the primary drivers behind the more folk edge of the record, tapping into a little Bert Jansch and Pentangle and Tor's mission of self-discovery to Scotland? CH: I hated English folk music for a long time. Growing up, my father was a folk music devotee and would play The Chieftains, Steeleye Span and The Bushwackers and many more. I reacted against that like any good teenager. But, as I get older, I find myself drawn to it. I haven’t built the bridge enough to listen to All Around My Hat but I love those ‘60s albums by Bert Jansch, Pentangle, Donovan and Fairport Convention. All those records have a great mix of acoustic guitar and double bass with wild electric guitar and real inventive drums.

NA: How did Ben Michael X and Andrew Tanner deal with this shifting of the sonic guard? CH: Tanner’s first musical love was The Band, so it’s in his make-up. Ben hates all that shit. He didn’t really enjoy doing anything folky. So, he dealt with that in his own way – just tried to make as much noise as possible, which gave most of the songs some nice tension. He’s happy to bide his time. He knows our next record will probably have electric drums and be a New Order style dance album.

NA: Drummer Wes Holland was happy either way? CH: He was just excited to be playing and recording for the first time. His contribution was to organise Tim Holmes [Death In Vegas] and Will Carruthers [Spacemen 3, Spiritualized] to do some incredible mixes for us. Very un-folk mixes, which was brilliant. Wes’s perfect album is Primal Scream’s XTRMNTR.

NA: Tor is singing like a bird again alongside the light and dusty tones of Tanner. The relationship just continues to blossom vocally between the pair. CH: Yeah, two incredible voices and they blend beautifully. My bugbear is that these days, if you can sing you have your own band. My take on the old days – I’m talking late ‘50s/early ‘60s was – if you could sing, you’d find other people who could sing and you’d sing together and you’d have two, three distinct perspectives in the band and all this energy going into one entity. These days, most bands have [only] one voice.

NA: 'Dark Magic', the song has an eerily similar intro melody to the Sesame Street Theme. I love it. Do you hear it? CH: Ha! I can’t hear it. I wish I could. I love Sesame Street. I bought the ‘70s episodes for my kids and they love them, too. Funnily enough, they have a warning at the beginning to not show them to children of the millennium. Too politically incorrect. 

NA: As a driving bass player; the quarterback of the band, Nick Maxwell-esque – what’s it like having three electric guitars swarming the sound, on record and live? How do you check their heads? CH: Three guitars are wild. Live, I feel like the bass is the part people can hook onto. They might go with the guitarists and follow their flights of fancy but if it’s too much, they can always find the bass and feel safe again. Haha.

NA: You must be sick and tired of the tag of 'Melbourne's most underrated band' after being around since 2001 now and having been revered here and the world over? CH: I get more sick of people giving us a hard time for being psychedelic or, not being psychedelic enough. We’ve never called ourselves psychedelic. We have called ourselves flower punk and I can defend that tag much easier against all-comers. Some guy on Mess + Noise had a great quip: “They say psychedelia, their haircuts say otherwise.” Brilliant. 

Words: Nick Argyriou

AN INTRODUCTION TO A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

We are excited to announce Flight Facilities’ Australian DJ Club tour this October and November presented in full by Triple j, Pedestrian & Everguide. Having finally released their second single, Foreign Language (feat. Jess), Flight Facilities are set to return from Europe, digest the schnitzels and baguettes and embark upon a tour of Australia.

Partnered with remixes from Beni (Modular), Rocco Raimundo, Drop Out Orchestra, Will Saul and Elizabeth Rose, the DJ duo have been fortunate enough to receive recent support from BBC Radio 1, Triple J and Radio Nova as well as chartings throughout Europe, USA and Australia.

Packing a few surprises in their excess luggage, check Flight Facilities out on one of their Australian tour dates:

Don't be late. Check in closes November 28th., full Australia tour dates below:

OCTOBER 13th UNSW ROUNDHOUSE SYDNEY

OCTOBER 15th ELECTRIC CIRCUS ADELAIDE

OCTOBER 22ndFAT AS BUTTER NEWCASTLE

OCTOBER 28th CLUB SANDWICH GEELONG

OCTOBER 29TH STONE FEST CANBERRA

NOVEMBER 11th ELSEWHERE GOLD COAST

NOVEMBER 12th AFTER DARK SOCIAL CLUB MELBOURNE

NOVEMBER 19th THE BOWLER BAR BRISBANE

I woke up on my friends couch with half a hash brown on my forehead an entire eight minutes before I was supposed to be at work so excuse me if my writing is below par and my skin extra greasy. And frankly I have tomorrow and Saturday off so I’ve practically checked out already. I did though manage to wrangle a review spot for Lifelounge’s new move to steal some spotlight from 3000, “Everguide” (their new iPhone is the greatest source of things to do since poncho.tv, check it out). Unfortunately all i was able to muster thus far was the reportage spot for Saturday’s Art Vs Science show.