I, on the other hand, need plenty on introduction. I am not in regular contact with musicians. I am not a smooth interviewer or skilled journalist. I sometimes see famous people from afar, having managed to get backstage at a festival or gig and I often go into fan girl mode and need to escort myself promptly away from almost certain humiliation. So you can imagine my state of panic, excitement and nerves when the ‘LoudNLocal’ boys offered me the opportunity of my lifetime…. to chat with none other an Paul Dempsey, my longtime idol (with a healthy amount of school girl crush thrown in for good measure). The following transcript is an example of my awkward rambling, and his patient and generous responses. Being in quite the state, I forgot to record the start of the interview but can recall it went something like this …

Me: Hi Paul, Sarah here calling from LoudNlocal, thanks for taking the time out to chat with us!

Paul: Sure, no problem.

Me: (thankfully remembering to press the record button) Let’s start with your recent tour, how did you go with previewing your new material?

Paul: oh yeah, of course, it was fun! The shows were great, I love playing live, and the new songs felt good to play. I guess that’s the main reason I like to preview them, I wasn’t really looking for, you know, the audience response or anything, because it’s kinda hard for people to respond when they’re hearing something for the very first time, it’s more having those shows coming up just forces me to finish a bunch of half finished ideas…. I certainly achieved that. They felt good to play and there’s something about playing songs live that suddenly makes them more real.

Me: sure, have you been trying out any new sounds at all?

Paul: yeah I have been in my demos that I’m recording but the shows I did were just me with my acoustic guitar, so, there’s not to much more to that

Me: and what made you chose those venues (Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and WA)

Paul: I didn’t really want to play in Capitol cities or places that I’d been to recently, I just felt like getting out of town a bit and escaping the cold in melbourne …

Me: Now your playing Queenscliff Music Festival this year, it’s a festival you’ve played before, what’s the appeal?

Paul: it’s just a really great atmosphere down there. I like festivals that are out of town a bit and Queenscliffe is a beautiful place. It’s just got a great feeling and a great atmosphere, it started off small many years ago and it’s become a great strong and successful festival, and they always choose a great lineup that has something for everybody and it’s predominately if not all Australian artists. I’m excited, this year is he first time that I’m doing it as Paul Dempsy not Sfk. I’m bringing my band with me and it will be he first show I’ve done wit a band for years.

Me: Are you going to have a chance to have any down time and check to other bands?

Paul: I hope so! I will have just gotten back from Chicago and lots of frantic rehearsals and stuff. Hopefully by the time we get down there and do our thing we’ll be able to let of some steam and enjoy some music

Me: I see that Kate miller- Heidke is on the line up, and chance of a collab?

Paul: there probably is quite a decent chance actually!

Me: I’ll be keeping an eye out for that!

Me: (some rambling about the weather, then pulling myself together moved on) So where are you at with the process of writing and recording for the new solo album?

Paul: I’m leaving in about 5 weeks to go and record it in the states, so I’m almost there. It’s mostly written, I’m just finishing up a few things. You know I’m always writing up until the very last minute and in the studio as well, you never know what might come along, so I’ll keep on writing until the final day of recording. I’ll be gone in mid September and should be all finished by the end of October.

Me: so why did you choose the states for your recording?

Paul: for the producer/engineer that I want to work with, a guy called Tom Schick, he has a studio out there in Chicago, and I was keen to work with him so it just made sense for me to go over.

Me: are you going to be involved in any of the production yourself?

Paul: oh definitely, when is doing my own demos and stuff like that they’re very much produced, I kind of throw all the ideas at it and craft it as much as possible so that when you’re in the studio your not kind of sitting around, I like to go in there and know exactly what I’m doing. Things are already produced to a certain degree before I go in, but I definitely wanted to work with Tom as well because it’s always nice to have that second opinion and someone being a bit of a devils advocate, so it’s definitely a co-produced type thing.

Me: do you think that you’ll be learning from Tom about working as a producer as well, I know you’ve done a bit of production work with some up and coming Aussie bands.

Paul: yeah, I learn from every experience and I’ve been very lucky that with everyone I’ve ever worked with it’s been a positive experience. I’ve heard some really unfortunate stories from friends and colleagues who’ve had bad experiences in the studio and were really lucky we’ve had overwhelmingly good experiences and I’ve learnt something from all of them. It will be my first time working with Tom, and we’ve had a few Skype conversions and I’m a fan of the other work he’s done, so I’m excited! (Tom’s worked with Sonic Youth, Paul McCartney and Rufus!)

Me: what brought you together with Mossman Alder (who Paul had produced for and supported him on his recent tour)

Paul: They approached me, they were ready to record their first full length album, we got together and did some pre production, and we spent a few days together in their rehearsal room to make sure everyone was on the same page and liking each other’s ideas, then I spent about a month in all on their album. It was great for me, and they’re a really awesome band and I’m happy with how the record came out.

Me: are there any other up and coming bands that you have your eye on at the moment?

Paul: I just finished another record for Mike Noga (drummer for the drones), this is his 3rd solo album, we’ve just finished work on that, it should be out before the end of the year. I think he’s a great song writer and great singer and has a great bunch of songs, so keep an eye out for that.

Me: I definitely will! You have a few connection with the drones, you’ve been in a doco with Gareth (Liddiard) recently…

Paul: yeah, myself and Gareth and Sarah Blasko, we all sat down to have a chat with these guys  about what it’s actually really like being a working musician. There’s obviously some misconceptions and slightly more romanticised notions about what it’s like to be in a band. It was nice to sit down and have a frank conversation about some of the ups and downs.

Me: what was the take home message from you?

Paul: my attitude is that I certainly would never complain about what I do for a living, I absolutely love it, and in many respects it’s a dream come true that I get to do what I love as a full time job, but the fact is there are some romanticised notions that it’s all easy, all parties and good times, but in Australia at least, it’s like running a small business and you have to do a lot of work and you have to sacrifice a lot before you get to the point of being able to do it full time

Me: have you seen any shift with the way people are marketing themselves, with a lot more social media opportunities and electronically produced music?

Paul: yeah, I guess there is a shift … Anything I say right now if going to be a generalisation, but I do see a lot of younger bands starting out and they’re really hoping to get noticed by making some sort of viral video… Look it’s sort of different and it’s the same. There are always going to be bands out there looking for shortcuts, and there are always going to be bands that are prepared to just work. In that respect nothing’s changed. He internet obviously makes it possible for bands to look for more shortcuts, but there’s still plenty of awesome bands who are just going out playing their asses off.

Me: anyway you guys certainly did that over 20 years touring and playing with ‘Something for Kate’. I was wondering how you go about differentiating the writing; to decide whether it’s a ‘Something for Kate’ or a solo song?

Paul: yeah, I don’t really think about it to be honest. When I’m working on my own stuff I play everything, and all the ideas are mine, and I don’t have to collaborate or debate anything I do it all my way, it’s totally self indulgent (laughs). It ends up just sounding a certain way. If I brought exactly the same piece to a something for Kate rehearsal it would get … There’d be a lot of push and pull,making it apart and putting it back together until all 3 members of the band are happy with where it’s at. It just comes down to the collaboration. Something for Kate stuff just sounds the way it does due to collaboration and my stuff takes on a different sound because it’s just me following my own trains of thought.
Me: you tend to mix your shows up a bit with some covers, some something for Kate tracks and your own work, why do you use that approach?

Paul: just for fun really, it keeps it interesting. When I play solo shows I have a loose set list in case I can’t make up my mind, but I generally just follow my instinct in the moment. You get a vibe from the crowd and mood on that night, and inlet that guide me. It’s no secret that the music I write is very particular  and throwing in a cover can be a bit of a circuit breaker from more serious and complicated songs …
Me: and you seem to have very diverse taste is music!

Paul: I love a good song, I don’t care where it comes from. I’m very open about my musical taste, I’ll happily play a Slayer song followed by a Taylor Swift song, a good song for me is a good song, and there’s so many different factors in that.

Me: what prompted the ‘shotgun karaoke’ series on YouTube?

Paul: SFK were on kind of a long tour, and every evening after sound check I would go into the backstage room and on the spot play a cover that one of the band members challenged me to play, they’d just throw it to me on the spot, and I might have 10 mins to learn then we’d film it on an iPhone and throw it up on you tube. We were doing that every night of the tour as a music challenge. By the end of the tour there was a lot of people saying “you got to put these out” so we made a record …

Me: that series single handedly helped me procrastinate my way through uni so thanks for that!

Paul: (laughs) no worries!

Me: I better let you go, thanks for speaking to loud n local. I have to say the boys at LoudNLocal have done me a bit of a favour, I’m not usually one of the interviewers but I’m a bit of a fan girl and they’ve passed this one on to me so I really appreciate it!

Paul: oh wow that’s cool! My pleasure, no worries, good to chat!

Me: (hangs up, swoons then nearly passes out)!

Interview & article by: Sarah Rossiter

Jamie Cibei: Busy….haha noooo, I haven’t even had breakfast yet!

Aaron: ahh beautiful we are in the same boat then. How’s the day going?

Jamie: ah yeah boring, you know just doing the Bluejuice administration duties today.

Aaron: ahh bummer, well I might just ask you a few questions if that’s cool?

Jamie: Yeah man no problems, go for it.

Aaron: First off, what’s your favorite town/place that you’ve traveled with Bluejuice?

Jamie: O God, Id say Perth or Brisbane, only because the crowds in those cities seem to be a lot less restrained than in say Sydney or Melbourne. Sydney and Melbourne all the people seem to be a bit ‘cooler’ than say the other places they kinda don’t get as crazy as say Queensland and so on.

Aaron: Now when you guys release Vitriol it went mental and Triple J pumped it which was brilliant, did you guys ever anticipate for it to rise to status that it did?

Jamie: ahhh no, we thought that it would do alright, we were confident that Triple J would pick it up but as far as the response to it after that no, not at all.

Aaron: Im pretty sure it ended up getting something like the second most played song on Triple J for 2007 is that right?

Jamie: Yeah it did, I don’t know if the statistics are accurate but there’s some website that shows songs played on Triple J and I think ours is now the most played so yeah its pretty weird.

Aaron: Yeah I can imagine, Now when you guys played at the Tsunami gig it was Jake that got arrested mid performance by the police yes?

Jamie: Yeah it was haha

Aaron: So did anything eventuate out of that?

Jamie: Yeah well the cops jumped up on stage and made him put down his mic and marched him away and we kind of didn’t no what was going on, but yeah he got arrested for wearing a cop shirt and had to go to court a few months later but the court through out the case and said it was bloody bullshit and I think the cops had to pay the court costs and everything.

Aaron: Ah ok so it was for impersonating the law?

Jamie: Yeah but apparently there is some clause that states that you can wear a police uniform for entertainment purposes therefore it was thrown out.

Aaron: Now in 2007 you guys won the Red Bull outstanding potential award which was a prize of $15,000. So what did you blow the money on?

Jamie: strangely we haven’t spent it yet! Its smoldering away in someone’s bank account, I’m not sure who’s, but yeah we are going to use it for recording later on in the year and maybe some touring expenses but nothing too exciting.

Aaron: I presume you guys had a pretty big bar tab that night I would imagine?

Jamie: Ahh yes, yes we did.

Aaron: you guys are well known for your full on live shows that look very physically demanding, how do you guys go when you on tour playing heaps of show?

Jamie: Yeah it can get tiring, we don’t drive while touring as much these days like we used to like from Sydney to Melbourne or Adelaide and so on but yeah it get demanding. Our last show Jake managed to break his leg so perhaps his body takes most of the toll during our shows.

Aaron: How did he manage to break his leg?

Jamie: O and he broke his hand a couple of shows ago. He didn’t break his leg during the show, he broke it after a show. He was dancing and someone jumped on him. We were supporting Tricky a few weeks ago and he managed to break his hand during the show while he still had his cast on for his broken leg! So yeah its exceptional work.

Aaron: Yeah that’s a great effort.

Jamie: It was just couple of days before our Splendour show which I mean was probably our most important show of our career so far and it was pretty funny him walking on stage with a cast on his leg and one on his hand.

Aaron: yeah cool, we actually traveled up to Splendour from Melbourne, it was wild.

Jamie: ahh crazy good work

Aaron: how was that playing to such a crazy crowd at such a big festival?

Jamie: Yeah it was crazy, just unbelievable.

Aaron: So who are your biggest influences?

Jamie: Well as a band I get the impression that we all hate each others influences.

Aaron: haha well what about personally?

Jamie: personally I guess the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, maybe the Beasties when they were good, that’s about all.

Aaron: now are you guys as a band pretty happy with the sound you have at the moment or do you think you’ll keep experimenting?

Jamie: At the moment our live set is pretty much half new songs and I think the next album will be maybe not as all over the place as the last album but I mean it won’t be a polker album, it’ll just be a bit more focused than the other album.

Aaron: So where did you guys get your name Bluejuice from?

Jamie: well we’ve been meaning to make up a story for this question. In the end it was a poor choice of a band name, but yeah it’s a movie, it’s a race horse, its apparently an industrial urinal cake name which is my favorite.

Aaron: haha yeah I think you should go with that one in the future.

Jamie: yeah I think so.

Aaron: well that’s about all I’ve got for you mate, thanks for that. I think its about time for some breakfast.

Jamie: Yeah I think that’s a good idea.

Aaron: cheers mate have a good one.

You can catch Bluejuice playing at Valley Fiesta which is a free community event and is being held in the Valley Entertainment Precinct from Friday, September 12 till Sunday, September 14
Other acts include: OPERATOR PLEASE, URTHBOY, DJ DEXTER (AVALANCHES), JEFF LANG, KATY STEELE (LITTLE BIRDY), AVALON DRIVE, WINNIE COOPERS and many more.

Jane: Good thanks

Aaron: So what are you up to? im not distracting you from anything too important am I?

Jane: Ah I’m trying to answer another question I’ve been given which is: what are my top 6 favorite songs ever and why? Its a really big call!

Aaron: Shit yeah that’s tough

Jane: yeah I know, I end up writing 2 pages per song then go back through my ipod and find another 4 I wanna add!

Aaron: Have you found a number one yet?

Jane: Nar its too hard!

Aaron: Don’t worry I wont ask you any in depth serious questions like that one.

Jane: Ah cheers otherwise you have me for days!

Aaron: You have been lucky enough to travel the country and the world with many amazing artists, who has been your favorite artist and you favorite place? and why?

Jane: Does it have to be with The Herd or any band I’ve been in?

Aaron: Nar anyone.

Jane: Ok well it was with the other band I work with ‘Fire kites’ and my favorite artist to travel with was Bill Callahan of ‘Smog’, and he just totally screwed me up every time I saw him, I was just so honored I could barely talk when I was in a room with him.
Best place I’ve ever been would have to be Africa, I spend 3 months in Zimbabwe learning all traditional dances and singing. It was really a life changing experience.

Aaron: Ah great, have you ever been to Seymour?

Jane: No I haven’t

Aaron: well I highly recommend you get there one day.

Jane: You get me a ticket and I’m there!!

Aaron: Consider it done!! so who are some of your personal influences?

Jane: Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald I guess from the old days, then contemporary would be someone like Martina Toplibird and someone like Camille.

Aaron: Do you ever get any spare time to get out and see some other hip hop artists?

Jane: Not really I don’t really get time to get out there and sink my teeth into it. Its funny being a vocalist in a hip hop band you seem to always find me in strange places, I go to a lot of shows and a lot of them aren’t hip hop funny enough, who’s someone I like at the moment…. I really like Illzilla from Melbourne.

Aaron: Yeah I was at the Herd gig in Melbourne the other night where they supported you.

Jane: Ah great, yeah well I used to sing with Mantra the MC five or six years ago when he was barely old enough to get into a club so I get all older sister on him now!

Aaron: The Herd are at the forefront of the expression of political themes in Australian hip hop, with your album ‘Summerland’ what are the main messages that you have tried to incorporate into the songs?

Jane: I guess the content of the lyrics is just stuff that we are interested in and I suppose we are all pretty interested in politics in general whether it is social or the hard hitting stuff. I mean there’s a few hot topics going on in there, like indigenous rights that’s something that’s still completely unresolved and which we get pretty fired up about and also the change of parliament is something that got us fired up hence the new single ‘the king is dead’. It’s just pretty much our everyday life pretty much anything that whips up 20 – 30 year olds heads.

Aaron: The latest Single ‘The king is dead’ is a very powerful song with a clear political view, are you happy with the way fans have received the song?

Jane: Yeah its always awesome to get a great response from the fans, but I mean we just make stuff that we feel we just have to get out of our system, I mean the day of the election we just had this elation on the day and we decided we needed to cement this so we started writing ‘the king is dead’.

Aaron: So where did the name Summerland come from or what inspired it?

Jane: Yeah it a place called Summerland point which is up between Sydney and Newcastle, its just this funny old town that you could tell in summer would be pumping with holiday makers and happiness, but we went in the off season and it was all gloomy and these massive houses were being renovated far beyond what we thought necessary in our eyes. It was just an interesting place to sit and contemplate the craziness of the city and talk politics and what we want to write about. So yeah that’s where it all comes from.

Aaron: Cool I’ll have to get up there someday and have a look.

Jane: Yeah its pretty funny! Dunno what you would do up there! haha take a boat or something
.
Aaron: Im sure I’d find something.

Jane: yeah, the fish and chips are good.

Aaron: mmm fish and chips

Aaron: Now Summerland is the bands 4th album, are there any plans for a 5th yet?

Jane: ahh yeah I think there will always be more, we have a lot more in us, and we all have a lot of solo stuff going on at the moment but yeah there’s nothing that’s gonna shut up The Herd.

Aaron: So are you experimenting with any solo work at the moment?

Jane: Yeah I’m planning to write one soon, I suppose it’s a bit of a scoop I guess but yeah next year I’m hoping to get that underway. I’m currently looking for the right producers to collaborate with.

Aaron: So what Type of style are you looking into?

Jane: Well that’s the question!haha I dabble in so much stuff, I dunno I guess you’d hear a lot of my influences coming through and I guess vocal procession, soul, Jazzy, thingy majig, haha

Aaron: Sounds good, I look forward to it. Now being such a large band do things ever get chaotic in the studio or when running Elefant Traks with so many different idea’s and different personalities?

Jane: Ah yeah! Its insane! Its like a tornado constantly. But it’s a really creative tornado, we kind of whip each other up to constantly keep moving, there’s really no time off your always taking in stuff and thinking about the next thing. I mean we get to know each other pretty well and we know how to bring each other down when we need to.

Aaron: you must have some pretty strong bonds?

Jane: Yeah we know each other fairly intimately, you get to hear, see and smell many things.

Aaron: Summerland is a very different album compared to your previous 3 not only in sound but also lyrically, what do you think changed?

Jane: I think everyone’s just kind of developed as musicians, lyricists and composers and all of us bring different things to the table which is great about having so many people because there are so many ideas. I mean we’re like fine cheeses were getting more elaborate and refined. I was involved a lot more with building up beats with just vocal and harmonies and I mean everyone was all hands in and just making it the best and biggest we possibly could. I think we’re always going be experimenting with new sounds. That the dream of being an artist, I couldn’t go to bed at night if I knew id reached my goal. We all constantly want to strive to be the best we can so in the future I think we’ll always have the same bases but well just get better.

Aaron: Now the question all us Loudnocal boys want to know the answer to has to do with the song Zug Zug, we want to know who the girl with the prosthetic leg was and did she really have another one signed by the prodigy?

Jane: haha yeah she was the coolest chick, her name was charlotte, she was from the UK. We met her in Byron Bay when we played at the Great Northern on ‘the sun never sets tour’ and it was a thumping gig and she was up the front getting down in a kind of Peter Garret style (both burst into laughter).
I thought ah she’s got character and then she came up to me after the gig and kept saying how wicked it was in her deep accent and told me she was on a quest traveling around the world checking out beats. Then she asked if I’d sign something so I said yeah fine do you want me to take it back for the guys to sign as well? That’s when she just clicked off her leg and gave it to me! Which was possibly the coolest moment ever, and it was even better walking backstage with this leg that felt surprisingly real and fleshy it was crazy. Then when I walked in and asked if the guys could sign this they were all like: ahhh noo way!! That’s awesome!! and they totally lost it. Then we couldn’t work out where was appropriate to sign it? I mean its someone’s leg! So yeah its one of those moments for life, its something I’ll take to the grave, I loved it. There was only one leg signed by the prodigy and she wanted us to sign the other one so we were pretty honored.

Aaron: That’s amazing.

Jane: yeah I hope she’s out there and looks at this and digs it.

Aaron: Well that’s about all I’ve got for you, thanks a lot for talking to us and be sure to come to Seymour and party with us someday.

Jane: haha yeah no problems, cool man thanks for that. Have a good rest of the day.

Aaron: I will thanks Jane catch ya.

The Beautiful Girls own name, McHugh tells me, came out of a time when the northern beaches of New South Wales were dominated by punk and metal bands. “All the bands that were coming out of that scene were all heavy punk and metal bands with these tough guy names. We wanted to be the opposite of that, so we got the pussiest, prettiest name we could come up with”. With that, The Beautiful Girls were born. Ever since then though, McHugh adds, they have been copping “the same old jokes. You know, ‘Where are the girls, you guys aren’t that beautiful’. I guess it’s been a blessing and a curse, because it’s a name that stays with you, and it’s easily attached to our music.”

Coming out of that scene at that time though has had an influence on McHugh’s songwriting. “There are some punk bands I love” he says. “I’m not down with those upper and middle class punk bands, but I love the whole attitude of punk, when it is genuine. I try to bring some of that to our music. We’re like the punk rockers of the acoustic scene”.

Another major influence on McHugh’s songwriting was, “inadvertedly”, his father, who he tragically lost at a young age. “When I was younger, I really hated it. Dad was always trying to teach me about music, I would listen and he would be talking about what instruments were doing what. My Dad was a musician. He listened to a lot of country, lots of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. And also the old blues guys. Later on I started getting into a lot of punk and Michael Jackson”

There wasn’t a T.V in the McHugh household as he was growing up, which was both helpful and inhibiting. “It meant I wasn’t really up with what was popular. My friends would be talking about all these shows and I wouldn’t know what was going on. I never really listened to the radio much either, so I wasn’t up on the popular music”. But this has helped mould McHugh into the independent songwriter he is, one who isn’t influenced by the popular trends of the time. He played in the school band from 7 years old, but was never pressured to make music his life. “Music has always just been about music” he says. “Sometimes I do think, ‘fuck I don’t care about music’. But it’s something I can always come back to, and escape to it when I need too”

It’s been a steady climb for The Beautiful Girls. The band began in 2000-2001, with Clay McDonald and Mitch Connelly joining forces with McHugh. The bands reputation has been rising constantly, through relentless touring which has taken them all over the world. 2005 saw them release ‘We’re Already Gone’, an album McHugh says helped “weed out some of the acoustic fans. We we’re left with a lot of new fans, and the older ones who just really loved the band.” He describes the album, with its elements of reggae, blues, folk and rock, as a real risk for the group. “It was impossible for us to stay the same. The previous record (Learn Yourself) wasn’t that popular. We needed to challenge ourselves, and get better.” Then in 2006, Mitch Connelly left the group. This has seen old friend Bruce Braybrooke join The Beautiful Girls as their full time drummer.

McHugh tells me that the next album will see the band evolve even more. “It’s gonna be rockier, but at the same time you’ll know who it is straight away. We can’t wait to get it out”. McHugh escaped to Byron Bay where he set up a studio in a small two bedroom apartment. He wrote and recorded about 35 songs, and the group is aiming to have it out early 2007.

For now though, The Beautiful Girls are happy to be running all over the country playing to thousands of fans. After selling out entire tours in Canada, wowing them in the United States, and developing a huge fanbase in Japan, The Beautiful Girls will soon be heading overseas again, taking in all these places as well as countries over both Europe and South America.

Mat McHugh clearly loves what he does. It’s refreshing to hear the passion in his voice for his band and his music. “I just love music man”. We love hearing you make music, Mat.

XR – Yeah it was mainly we talked about it for about two years with vince and the people at Narana, It was to get awareness and raise some money to start the program and it wasn

Sid O’Neill- Pretty nervous actually….yeah. Excited, but nervous.

Chris M- Well I’m sure there is heaps of people down to see you. Have got many coming from Apollo Bay Surf Coast area where you guys are from?

Sid- Yeah…all of our friends pretty much, yeah.

Chris M- Yeah….cos I know when you first started the Apollo Bay crew was really supportive and you had a lot of them at all your shows….

Sid- Yeah!

Chris M- How are you coping with having your brother in the band with you?

Sid- Yeah it’s alright, we get along pretty well. He kind of doesn’t party as much and I always party so it’s a good balance. And he likes organising things and stuff…..

Chris M- How’s the warehouse going?

Sid- hahaha yeah

Chris M- cos I remember after you played with TZU at the Corner and everybody was like ‘Come back to Sid’s Warehouse!!’

Sid- Well did ya go?

Chris M- Nah I didn’t I went home to do something else…

Sid- Ohhhhhh haha….nah it’s really good. It’s a good place.

Chris M- Is that where you rehearse?

Sid- Nah we just live there. We don’t really rehearse all that much. We’ve been playing a lot of gigs so we get to rehearse then….

Chris M- Ok cool. Well how was the tour with TZU?

Sid- Yeah it was fun. Some of the crowds were a bit hip-hoppy and some of them were a bit our way….it was good to mix it up a bit.

(We all spy a monopoly game in the room we are in)

Chris M- What’s with the Monopoly?

Sid- I love Monopoly!

Chris M- It’s awesome!

Sid- Is that like a special edition or something?

Chris M- It does look weird….

Marc Brooks- Is there anything you do before a gig to help you relax or pump yourself up?

Sid- I don’t do anything really…a lot of the time I’ll have a few beers but I’ve lost my voice and that kind of makes it a bit worse so not today…

Marc- Will you get a chance to go out and check out any of the other bands on the line up?

Sid- Well we’re playing next…

Marc- Will you get a chance to after that or are you of to Tassie pretty quickly?

Sid- Yeah as soon as we finish we’re going….

Chris M- When you play festivals do you try and get out and see other bands?

Sid- Yeah you do. Yeah definitely. But you’ve always got other shit to do as well. It’s a good place to watch bands from as well.

Chris M- 2005…Do you think its been a bit of a breakthrough year for The Vasco Era? You’ve had the ‘Miles’ ep come out in April 2005….

Sid- Yeah….that’s pretty much all we’ve done for the year. Just pretty much that single and that’s all we’ve done. We’ve nearly got enough for an album now.

Chris M- Are you planning an album release?

Sid- Yeah definitely, in the next hopefully two or three, no, three or four months. We’re excited, but we’re not going to rush anything. We are only young, I’m only 20…….

Chris M- Yeah! Same age as us! Do you do anything else for money, or do you just play music?

Sid- Nah just play music. I don’t need that much money….

Chris M- Well that was my next question, do you manage to make a living out of playing music?

Sid- About as much as the dole. But it’s kinda, you’re doing what you love, you get to travel all the time, we don’t live like we’re on the dole really. But you get paid like you’re on the dole. I don’t care about the money. I don’t have anything to spend money on anyway.

Chris M- How would The Vasco Era catergorise themselves? Blues? Roots? Dirty Blues?

Sid- I wouldn’t call us blues and roots. Live we do a couple of things which could maybe be blues and roots. Especially when the album comes out it’s definitely not…. like it’s got some slow songs but they’re more Neil Young than roots. It’s more….yeah, blues I guess, but not roots, I don’t think. We’re not the political kind of blues and roots.

Chris M- We were having a chat with a lady in Torquay and she was saying there is a lot of artists coming out of the Surf Coast scene. How do you see that scene?

Sid- Well we don’t have that much to do with that scene. Like, we see Ash Grunwald all the time at festivals. But I don’t think…wasn’t like there was a scene down there when we grew up or anything. Everything was separate. It’s just like coincidence.

Chris Duell- So was it like, everyone’s gone ‘yeah that’s great’ and everything’s kind of spawned from that?

Sid- I don’t really know. We just, we started and we didn’t really know that much about Ash Grunwald or Xavier Rudd……We’ve been playing for just over a year, so we are just as lucky as anyone.

Chris M- How did the Vasco Era begin? Did you and your brother grow up playing music?

Sid- Yeah….Originally I played drums and I was in a band. Ted (Sid’s brother) was the bass player. Then that band ended and I started playing guitar. Then Fitzy was like…we knew him well, he was probably the best drummer in Apollo Bay. So it made sense.

Marc- Did you have many outside influences or did you try to be as original as possible?

Sid- Like who has influenced us?

Chris M- Yeah…. Well what did you grow up listening to?

Sid- Umm…. Neil Young and Lou Reed…heaps of shit. Then when I was 13 I used to listen to punk. I liked singer songwriters as well, like Bob Dylan and all those other characters. Probably the obvious influences as well, like the White Stripes and the Black Keys.

Marc- Has it got to a point where you are getting recognised when you go out?

Sid- Yeah, sometimes, but not often. A fair few people know who our band. A lot of people know the name, but don’t really know what we sound like. So that’s why we have to do an album.

Chris M- The song ‘Kingswood’ has got a bit of airplay this year, even on commercial radio stations like Nova. Has that helped the band?

Sid- I don’t think its made a difference to tell you the truth. Before we released that song we had the same sized crowds as we did after it. You need more than just one song. A lot of people who listen to Nova would just hear the song at work and go ‘yeah cool song’ but not necessarily go out and watch that band.

Chris M- So do you think you have established your following through live performances?

Sid- Very much yeah.

Chris M- Are you stuffed after you’ve played a live show? You guys go pretty hard and it’s awesome to watch…

Sid- Nah not really, like you’re sweaty and shit but you don’t really notice.

Marc- What emotions do you feel on stage? Do you notice the crowd when you’re up the performing?

Sid- Yeah, but I think you notice that but you’re thinking about your sounds and all that shit.

Chris D- So when you’re playing, can you hear what’s coming out? Are you picky about the sound?

Sid- I wouldn’t call myself picky, but I like it to be pretty loud.

Chris M- What do feel when you come off stage?

Sid- Well I usually want to talk to the people that always watch it and see how it was. And then get pissed or something.

Chris M- Growing up around the Otways, do you prefer to be playing a stage like this where you’ve got the grass and the trees or somewhere indoors?

Sid- It just depends really. I’ve had fun playing to no one. It just depends how you’re feeling. We did some gigs recently at the Northcote Social Club. We did two gigs there, we only should have done one because they were both half full which was so much shitter. It was a bit of a let down in terms of crowds but the gigs were awesome.

Chris M- How do you see the Melbourne scene?

Sid- Yeah it’s good. We aren’t playing another of own gigs in Melbourne until we do an album. But it’s been really good for us.

Chris M- When’s the album coming out? Are you recording at the moment?

Sid- Well there’s no supposed to be date. We’re not recording. Just doing demo’s and stuff.

Marc- Like you said, you’re not in a rush…

Sid- Yeah. Hopefully by the end of the year or something. But it doesn’t really matter when you bring it out, I don’t think……Playing a few festivals like this, people are going to start to know who we are…..

Marc- Yeah….well all of our group of friends do….fuck we brought a crew….

Chris D- We brought 18 carloads….

Sid- That’s a lot of people….

Chris M- That’s a fuckload of people…

Sid- So you guys are coming to watch us…

Chris M- Yeah for sure…

Sid- What are your names again?

Marc- Marc

Chris D- Chris

Chris M- Chris. Or Mitchy, Duellsy, and Brooksy.

Marc- Just go Marc, Chris and Chris. It’s so much easier. You only have to remember two names.

Chris D- Do you feel like you’ve accomplished something? Like, you’re only 20, but you’re about to play the main stage of the Falls Festival to 10,000 people plus…

Sid- Yeah, but I kind of always…ever since I was about 13 I always saying this is what I wanted to do. I was pretty set in my ideas. I didn’t expect it would be like this when I was 20, but I thought if we kept playing, maybe one day we could be doing this. We were always playing, I really didn’t have any other options.

Chris D- So it’s not freaking you out?

Sid- It’s not freaking me out at all. Because in the last 6 months really, we haven’t really….like in the first half of this year we did the EP, and there was lots of stuff happening, but it hasn’t been much. It’s not like it’s gonna…..I mean it’s good. I love it, but I don’t find it scary or anything. For about two minutes before I go on stage I probably get a bit scared but yeah…….

Chris M- Don’t worry, I’m sure we are gonna love you guys anyway. We’ll be front row centre going nuts….. At what age did you first pick up a guitar?

Sid- I started guitar at about 16 or 17. Probably 17 actually. It hasn’t been that long….but I was always a drummer

Marc- So did you finish school or leave to play music?

Sid- Nah, I finished school, but I was never concentrating really. I didn’t do anything at school. I knew what I was going to do, but I couldn’t fucking leave home from Apollo Bay and go to Melbourne when I was 16. Like I always knew, well I didn’t know, but I didn’t give myself many options.

Chris M- Well I reckon that’s about it. We’d better let you go get ready….

Sid- Alright. Thanks guys.

Us- No, thank you

Ash- Um, its probably not the answer I’m supposed to give, but, actually pretty blank. Like, not many emotions, its really weird. But when you think about it later it’s like YEEEEAAAAHHH that was sick!!!!! At the time you’re like really pumped but, its just weird. I don’t know if I’ve got a weird quirk or something, but you feel pretty blank straight after it, just because it draws so much vibe out of you. Sometimes you’re just really fucked after, and you think, well I didn’t do that much, why am I so tired? But, it’s an emotional thing. But other times, especially when I first started playing festivals, after being in front of those big crowds a couple of days in a row, especially when it was new to me, it would energise me heaps. Like I could do anything I wanted. I could go out, I could drink then surf then drink surf and do all this stuff that I shouldn’t, and I’m thinking ‘I should be dead by now’. But I was just really pumped. But now I must admit I’ve got a bit more used to it, just a little bit, but I still totally dig it.

Chris D- I came and saw you last year (at Falls), and you opened up at the top stage, and then you come here and you’re playing to the entire hill, this massive crowd…. do you feel yourself playing differently?

Ash- Nah, I reckon it’s exactly the same, and about the same level of fun, although I feel a sense of accomplishment. I’m like ‘yeeaah yeeaahh I got up to the big stage, and I didn’t fuck it up!’ You know, I was like ‘wow, they gave me that spot’…. even when I came here I didn’t usually think about any festivals until I get there, and I’m sitting here and I’m reading through the program, you know, and you look- ‘Ahh, look who’s on what stage’ or whatever and you think well geeeze, you know….

Chris M- Well you look at it, you were down here (the main valley stage) versus Lior (at the same time in the top tent stage), and Lior’s had a big year…..

Ash- Yeah he’s had a huge year!

Chris M- and they’ve put you on the main stage and him up top. How does that make you feel?

Ash- Yeah, well I was pretty stoked by I, and then the gig went pretty well….

Chris M- It went awesome!!!

Marc B- It went nuts!!!

Chris D- Yeah it was really cool!!!

Ash- Well yeah, I got into it. Cos, you know, Faker were on before me and I’m sitting there thinking…well I’m hearing this rock and I was hearing people cheer and I was thinking, is this as far as it goes for playing blues to…. like I know young dudes have gotten into it, and I just think that’s really sick, and I started to believe anything was possible. And then just for a split second I was thinking, ‘oh…I hope it doesn’t work out that this is as far as it goes and this gig is where I find out ‘oh no, this is rock!’ That was the question. But no, it was cool, their (the crowd) singing was helping my mojo!!!

Chris D- Well just looking around, there was heaps of people who knew the words to every song…

Marc- it was fantastic!!

Ash- I think this year that, and then doing a couple of these festivals, and then doing the Missy Higgins support tour a couple of months ago are the two examples where I thought, this is it, this is going to tell me whether there is any potential for playing blues to…. just everyday dudes who aren’t actually into blues. But yeah, they’ve gone alright, so that bits good.

Chris M- What about those support dates? Are you after an opportunity to play to a wider audience?

Ash- Yep, yeah, I wanna see if I can go over to…..it’s interesting, how you go from doing a Robert Johnson cover to Missy Higgins or something, ya know. Or, I did the supports for Pete Murray…it’s really bizarre. But they’ve all gone alright! That’s the funny thing. But I think this style of music, its not really that inaccessible. When people hear it they generally dig it. It’s just for years people haven’t heard blues and roots in the mainstream.

Chris M- So its just a matter of getting your sound out there?

Ash- Yeah definitely….

Chris D- And you’re some of the people that are doing that,

Ash- Well hopefully!! Cos I was a weird little kid, you know, I sort of sat outside my generation like some people do and who just sort of like…’why does that kid like listening to reggae??’ And who knows why? But they do. And I was just really into my blues. But now, if I was growing up and I was 15 now, I wouldn’t be so weird for liking blues! Because a lot of kids, like the kids who are 15 or whatever, they like it. So it’s pretty crazy when you think about it. It’s pretty cool!

Chris M- So, you’re a Melbourne boy…..

Ash- Yep,

Chris M- Based in Melbourne?

Ash- Based in Torquay…

Chris M- The Victorian scene, like along the Great Ocean Rd and the Melbourne scene, how do you see the blues scene there traveling at the moment?

Ash- Well, the blues scene, that’s what I grew up in- the Melbourne blues scene. And that’s one thing…before this roots thing and everybody’s into it now in the mainstream, the Melbourne blues scene was still sick! You know, there was Chris Wilson, Collard Greens and Gravy, Lloyd Spiegl…a whole lot of people in that scene, and I’ve learnt a lot from all those people, and used to go watch them…I used to go watch Chris Wilson every Tuesday at the Dan O’Connell. I’d go there and think ‘what the hell? This guy is amazing! He is amazing! Why am I watching him for free?’ And Melbourne’s always been my home, so it’s a good thing….

Chris M- What about nationally? Do you think the blues is capable of really taking off? Is there a strong scene nationally?

Ash- Certainly for roots there is. And the really good thing is that roots is a million different things that are all sorts and they all get locked in together. So that’s a good thing, because if somebody likes a reggae band, and they walk away thinking ‘yeah that roots music was cool’ that helps the guy who is playing some blues or some country, cos people say ‘well hey, I like roots music’, so we can all be bunched into that. But there are a lot of good blues acts out there. And even here (falls) you see the Vasco Era and stuff, there’s a new generation of dudes coming through playing pretty bluesy stuff. And then, did you hear Rob Sawyer?

All 3 of us- Oh yeah!!!!! Rob’s awesome. Seen him plenty of times this year, big Rob fans.

Ash- Yeah he’s great! And what he does sort of draws a lot of inspiration from reggae, and also just from good guitarists.

Chris M- Yeah he is an amazing guitarist.

Ash- Yeah!

Chris D- You have played a few overseas gigs, like festivals, is blues bigger there? Is it easier to get into there? Or is it the same sort of deal?

Ash- Yeah it’s the same. Take blues music, I think blues…is in a different category to the roots music…the blues scene is smaller than the other styles in certain places, surprisingly particularly in America.

Chris M- Have you played the States?

Ash- Yeah, not a great deal, I just played this little thing in Memphis, and it wasn’t really that big. I was surprised that this wasn’t such a big deal. I played this thing called the International Blues Performer of the Year, where you go over and you compete over there and um…. it wasn’t that big. But this year I went to Belgium and Spain. The Spain thing wasn’t that big but the Belgium festival was a little smaller than this (falls) but one stage, and 10,000 people….

Chris M- so it was all really concentrated on the one stage….

Ash- Yeah. And they have a sick festival scene, they have heaps of stuff. Apparently in summer they have 5 festivals a week!

All 3 of us- What? A week? That’s awesome!

Ash- A week! Like, on every weekend they have 5 festivals. Because they just stay in, in winter and they go to the pub. But all the pubs are shut in summer and they just hit it. And they do the festival thing and its like drinking and going crazy, and that’s my kind of festival.

Marc- So what’s the deal…. you played today, and you’re off to Tassie now…. do you get time to check out any of the other acts?

Ash- I did. I used to, but now it’s really…. like I’ve just been at Woodford and just came down and bang and then I’m off to Tassie and then the Feelgood Festival. But you just see what you happen to see by accident, or whoever you make an effort to try and see. But if you go and see everything you’d be stuffed!!

Marc- So tomorrow you’ll…..when is Feelgood? Is feelgood the next one?

Everyone else- Nah Feelgood’s later on…

Ash- Right now I’ve gotta fly out at 7:40 to Tassie…

Marc- Ahhhh Feelgood’s in Sydney isnt it….

Ash- Yeah yeah…and then….

Marc (going slighlty insane)- Ahhh hahahaha that’s all to much for us….hahaha

Ash- Yeah and then after this Tassie one I have to leave really quickly and go up to Sydney. And then I’m touring down from Sydney just all down the south coast and then up, and then fly out of Brisbane. So it’s pretty hectic at the moment…but it’s fun! But I’d better get going now guys….
Us- You are awesome…thank you so much
Ash- Thank you