The Vine interview: Regurgitator
An interview with Quan Yeomans from Regurgitator, for The Vine. Excerpt below.
Interview - Regurgitator
With the help of drummer Cameron Potts (Cuba Is Japan, Baseball), Regurgitator’s core creative duo of Quan Yeomans (guitar, vocals) and Ben Ely (bass, vocals) are back in action. Previously, the ‘shock pop’ band – stable for most of the last decade with Peter Kostic (Front End Loader, Hard-Ons) behind the kit, and up until recently, Seja Vogel (Sekiden, Seja) on keys – were responsible for some the most interesting sounds to emerge from the burgeoning Australian alternative music scene of the mid-1990s.
Now that Yeomans and Ely have left Brisbane for Melbourne, Vogel is pursuing a solo career, and Kostic is geographically removed in Sydney, Regurgitator’s music will be released in an unconventional manner for the foreseeable future: Yeomans states that the band will “eschew the stock-standard album release/record label scenario for a ‘take it as it comes’ approach more in synch with current trends of the listener”. TheVine got in touch with the singer/guitarist in late August 2010 to discuss these trends (and others) in depth.
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Before we talk about the new material, I’d like to go back a few years to talk about Love & Paranoia (2007) briefly.
Oh, do we have to?
I’d like to know what you took away from that album release. How do you feel about it now?
I don’t know. Slightly embarrassed, I guess. I don’t really feel anything for that record, to be honest. I remember all of the things we did to get through it, in Rio [de Janeiro, where the band recorded the album], which is kind of funny. And it was fun having Seja there and being in that strange apartment in the middle of Rio de Janeiro. It was kind of interesting, but musically, [blows raspberry] - it means nothing to me in particular.
You’re embarrassed by it?
Oh, well, I wouldn’t say embarrassed. I don’t think about it. No-one comes up to me and goes, “What do you think about that record?” I don’t really feel embarrassed on a regular basis, but I felt a twinge then when you asked me about it, so maybe that’s a realistic understanding.
Full interview on The Vine.
More Regurgitator on MySpace. Music video for their song ‘Bong In My Eye‘ embedded below.
Filed under Published Writing | Tags: Brisbane, Interview, melbourne, Music, Published Writing, quan, quan-yeomans, regurgitator, the-vine | Comment (0)The Vine interview: John Butler
An interview for The Vine. Excerpt below.
Interview - John Butler
It’s a pretty safe bet to name John Butler Trio as Australia’s biggest independent act. Since their humble beginnings with the 1998 LP John Butler, the singer/guitarist and his regularly-rotating musical partners released Three to wide acclaim in 2001 and have continued to grow in stature ever since.
Butler [pictured right] owns Jarrah Records, an independent label created to release his band and The Waifs; in 2005, he and his wife inaugurated the JB Seed grant program to support artistic expression and encourage social, cultural and artistic diversity in Australian society. In the last five years, Butler and his supporters - including Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins and Blue King Brown - have given away somewhere in the vicinity of $500,000 to Australian musicians, managers and social activists through (the recently-renamed) The Seed.
Above all else, though, John Butler is known for his music, a heady mix of blues, roots, rock, and - more recently, with the release of April Uprising - pop. When TheVine reaches John Butler, he’s on a tour bus somewhere in France, having just played at a music festival. He and his current band - drummer Nicky Bomba and bassist Byron Luiters - have spent much of 2010 overseas. The trio completed their most successful US tour thus far, which included their biggest headline show to date at the sold out, 8,500-capacity Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Ahead of his biggest Australian tour since the release of 2004’s Sunrise Over Sea, there’s a lot of ground to be covered. Butler is up to the task; he speaks with TheVine for over 40 minutes.
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Andrew: It’s been interesting to follow you over the years, because it seems your outspoken nature and what you and your name stand for are all ideas that many Australians can identify with. Besides your music, which obviously resonates with people, I wonder if this idea, that people feel like they can identify with you, speaks to why you’ve achieved so much as a public figure. What do you think John Butler stands for in the eyes of the Australian public?
John: Wow, what an introduction. That’s great. A real journalist, this is refreshing. Well first of all, who I am and how I define myself is a work in progress. And in another way I think it would be kind of pretentious to think of what I stand for to people. It would be almost a little bit too self-concerned to presuppose what anybody thinks about me.
I think to some people I’m a loud-mouthed fringe hippie who hugs trees. I think other people think I’m a blues artist. Some people think I’m a sensitive new age guy who writes songs about his children and his family. Some people think I’m somebody who’s lived in Australia for 24 years, and is Australian, and loves Australia but still has an American accent. [laughs] I think I’m many things to many different people. I think some people hate me and some people love me and there’s probably a lot of people who don’t give a shit and that’s probably a healthy thing.
Full interview on The Vine.
More John Butler Trio on MySpace. Music video for their song ‘Revolution‘ embedded below.
Filed under Published Writing | Tags: artist, australia, independent, indie, Interview, jarrah-records, jbt, john-butler, john-butler-trio, Music, Published Writing, the-seed, the-vine | Comment (0)Mess+Noise EP review: Bigstrongbrute
An EP review for Mess+Noise. Excerpt below.
Bigstrongbrute - We Can Sleep Under Trees In The Morning
Written partly between “a brutal Brisbane summer and a bitter New Jersey winter”, this EP from Bigstrongbrute - musical alter ego of Paul Donoughue - is the successor to his self-released album, Gardens In The Gutter (2008, now out of print). What began as a solo project has blossomed into a group effort, both on stage and within this release: friends lend bass, trumpet, flute and piano to augment Donoughue’s frail guitar tone. Besides a contribution from Jessie Warren (aka Carry Nation), who provides guest vocals on ‘In My Own Mind’, it’s Donoughue’s deep, distinctive voice that dominates the mix. His songs are meticulously crafted, yet the end product is played loosely enough by the band to impart a sense of spontaneity and charm.
Although the middle tracks are populated with guests and musical bluster - Fergus Hill’s trumpet on ‘You Were Always Right’, a jarring, distorted electric guitar solo by Andrew Ford on ‘Supply & Demand’ - the EP begins with Donoughue alone, backed by acoustic guitar and piano. These six songs are kept intentionally uncomplicated and lo-fi (though Todd Dixon’s recording is clear and warm). They’re the sounds of loneliness forced into social interaction, before again seeking solace.
Full review at Mess+Noise, where you can also stream the track ‘You Were Always Right’.
More Bigstrongbrute on MySpace. Highly recommended.
Filed under Published Writing | Tags: album, bigstrongbrute, Brisbane, mess-and-noise, Music, paul-donoughue, pop, Published Writing, Review | Comment (0)Mess+Noise album review: Drawn From Bees
An album review for Mess+Noise. Excerpt below.
Drawn From Bees - Fear Not The Footsteps Of The Departed
Beware artists who tag themselves “art rock”. Which is exactly where Brisbane quartet Drawn From Bees positioned themselves with the release of their first EP, The Boy And The Ocean, in late 2008. They’ve since adhered to an admirable work ethic that’s seen them write, record and self-release material every six months under their own label, Bonefinger Records. Fear Not The Footsteps Of The Departed is their first full-length.
Drawn From Bees aren’t short on ambition, nor willingness to experiment with different songwriting styles. This isn’t amateur hour: every sound here is calculated almost to the point of sterility. As a result, what they achieve with polish is offset by an absence of warmth and humility. The songs are damned good, but it’s a record largely devoid of personality.
Full review at Mess+Noise.
More Drawn From Bees on MySpace. Music video for their track ‘Run Away‘ embedded below.
Filed under Published Writing | Tags: album-review, Brisbane, drawn-from-bees, mess-and-noise, Music, Published Writing, Writing | Comment (0)Rolling Stone story: The Go-Betweens Get Their Own Bridge
A short story for the September 2010 issue of Rolling Stone, about The Go-Between Bridge opening in Brisbane.
Click the below image for a closer look, or read the text underneath.
The Go-Betweens Get Their Own Bridge
by Andrew McMillen
In the tradition of Melbourne’s ACDC Lane, Queensland now has Go Between Bridge. In 2009, Brisbane residents voted to name the city’s newest river crossing after The Go-Betweens, who formed at the University of Queensland in 1977 and went on to achieve international acclaim. On June 25 this year, Robert Forster marked the structure’s completion with a concert on the bridge itself. Ahead of the event, Forster described the naming as “heart-warming, and a bit surreal”. Forster opened with “Steets Of Your Town” from 1988’s 16 Lovers Lane. The song was written by band co-founder Grant McLennan, who died from a heart attack in 2006, aged 48. Beforehand, a crowd of 5,000 witnessed Yves Klein Blue, The John Steel Singers, Bob Evans and Josh Pyke perform adjacent to the silent Brisbane skyline.
The above photo was taken by Brisbane-based music photographer Matt Palmer.
Elsewhere: I reported on this show at length for Mess+Noise. I also interviewed Robert Forster for M+N’s ‘Icons’ series a few weeks before The Go Between Bridge opened.
Filed under Published Writing | Tags: bridge, Brisbane, go-between, Journalism, mess-and-noise, Published Writing, robert-forster, rolling stone, Writing | Comment (0)