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SPEEDSTAR |
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 On this page:
*Speedstar interview
*Speedstar Discography (available on Whammo)
*Speedstar Australian Tour dates
SPEEDSTAR - THE WHAMMO INTERVIEW - MAY 6, 2004
Brisbane's Speedstar are further proof that the real revolution in Australian music is being powered, not by gritty distortion, but by melody. A host of inventive acts have emerged to counter the media's focus on 'new rock', including Gelbison, Fourth Floor Collapse and Epicure, but few could boast a sweeter-sounding record than Speedstar's 2nd LP, Forget The Sun, Just Hold On, the long-awaited follow-up to Bruises You Can Touch. With the help of Scottish producer/engineer, Tony Doogan, the band have relegated their distortion pedals and opted for acoustic renditions of their piano-based compositions, garnishing live studio recordings with an array of traditional instruments and highlighting the strong vocal performance of singer, Alister Bell. With the band riding high on radio's strong reception of their new single, Unbreakable, it was the perfect time to catch up with Ben (guitar) and Richard (drums) for the low-down on Speedstar's latest album and tour...
Whammo: Hey, I just listened to the album for the first time.
Ben: Oh God.
Whammo: I thought it was beautiful.
Richard: Thank you.
Whammo: Who produced it?
Richard: Tony Doogan. Scottish guy.
Whammo: Oh, Reindeer Section?
Ben: Yeah. People think of Belle And Sebastian or Super Furry Animals but, for us, the main reason why we got him to do it (the album) was Reindeer Section; that second record of theirs. It was the unanimously loved record for 2002.
Whammo: When I heard that record, I was looking for who produced it because there were quite a few tasty sounds on there.
Ben: He definitely added the right sort of touches and vibes.
Richard: Mad bastard that he is.
Ben: In a nice way, sort of. We got along really well with him but you wouldn't say 'he's a really nice guy'. He's mad. It's that Scottish thing...
Richard: ...where you're not allowed to show affection. He couldn't show excitement for anything, just approval. He'd slag off the Beatles.
Whammo: Huh?
Richard: Yeah, you can't be in the music industry and write off The Beatles in any way. It's clearly absurd.
Whammo: So, what we're dealing with here is an abrasive but absurd producer of the highest order.
Richard: Which is what we needed. We didn't need our arses kissed. He made us comfortable, strangely enough, in his own way and got us to experiment and trash things when we needed to. He got us to record it live. Most of it was recorded live as a group rather than single tracking.
Ben: I think he actually really enjoyed recording music more than listening, mixing or working on it. He hated it when we were doing pre-production stuff. He just loved the actual process of trying different things in the studio but wasn't interested in doing it unless we were in the studio.
Richard: It was a bit scary because we like to have a clear idea of what we're doing. He was a manic in the studio. They were big days. I mean, most bands do have big days in the studio but we weren't drinking whiskey and snorting coke.
Whammo: Well, why not?
Richard: (laughs) Well, there was just a coffee machine and the whole record was made on coffee. Tony would run from the control room out to the studio floor and bung in mics and run back.
Ben: He doesn't use assistants.
Whammo: Ah, control freak.
Ben: He's just the kind of guy that locks himself in a studio for three weeks and goes insane.
Whammo: The vocals sound great. I mean, I don't go for this 'Australian Coldplay' thing.
Ben: It's lazy journalism. It was more applicable with the first album (Bruises You Can Touch).
Richard: If you've got a singer who can sing high they're either Tom York, Jeff Buckley or Chris Martin. They don't say that about the guy in the f**king Darkness though.
Whammo: Oh shit, don't get me started.
Richard: Part of the discovery about writing this album was that...we're not a rock band. It took the garage revival to realise that we may not know what we are, but we're definitely not rock. There's an assumption that if you're a band in Australia, in some way you're rock. It's just the way the landscape is; it's kind of tough to fit in for a lot of bands if you're not rock.
Ben: Most of the songs are based on piano which is rare unless you're some kind of piano balladeer. Most bands are guitar-centric and we really didn't want to do much guitar stuff at all.
Whammo: Well, that should be the theme of this interview, because while the country continues to rave about stale reconstituted rock falvours, the freshest releases have come from bands that aren't distortion-based.
Ben: That was the thing with this record. It's not so much a case of how we wanted it to sound, but what we didn't want it to sound like. Any time we wanted something big or emotional, we didn't want to do it by having a distorted guitar. The first record suffers from that. You've got all these nice, beautiful kind of songs and whenever we really wanted to pick up the intensity, we just put the distortion on.
Richard: It's lazy.
Ben: I think we did that on the first album because that's how we thought power was made.
Richard: We thought distortion was intensity.
Ben: And with this one, there's one song with distortion on the entire record.
Whammo: So, I haven't see you guys live yet. I'm thinking, it's pretty easy to go out there when you've got the aid of distortion. What happens when you don't have the benefit of that?
Ben: Well, that's why this album sounds like it does. We did it totally from the perspective of recording it. Before you're a band that makes records, which is pretty much our whole life as a band - we've been playing seven years - songs don't exist outside the way you play them live. Why would you bother saying 'here's the song and it finishes with Flugal horn, string section and a gospel choir'. Everyone would say 'that's great but we don't have any of those things in the band'. That's why this whole album comes from the perspective of: 'we'll record it and then worry about how we're going to play it live'. It's very different. It's hard to hear a glockenspiel over a lot of people yelling...
Richard: "Play Khe Sahn!"
Ben: Our harmonium version of Khe Sahn doesn't go down so well.
Richard: Our whole attitude - live or recorded - is as it should be with any band. Only the Savage Gardens of this world go out there with the attitude that they can recreate the whole album.
Whammo: I thought the power on Forget The Sun, Just Hold On came from dynamics.
Richard: This was a live record and that's the beauty about recording live. You have the opportunity for accidents to happen. Normally, with other records, you'll just track all of the drums in a week before anyone's even tuned a guitar, which is the traditional approach. With that approach, you don't have an opportunity for things to change.
Whammo: I think that sort of technique was in place when you recorded to tape. I'd like to hear of more bands jamming out their stuff and then figuring it out from there. That's exactly what you guys did, I guess. What was the strangest instrument you used on the recording?
Ben: It's not that any of the instruments are that bizarre - well, I guess they are to us - but I think the secret with a lot of these older instruments is to have someone playing them who really doesn't know what they're doing.
Whammo: I could do your whole next album.
Ben: (laughs)
Whammo: Next album: 'Glenn Mitchell As Speedstar'.
Richard: Or 'Glenn Mitchell And The Speedstars'.
Whammo: Now we're on to something. Your people, my people...we'll hook it up.
Ben: Maybe it should just be 'Glenn Mitchell feat. Speedstar'.
Richard: It's such a good concept.
Whammo: I knew something brilliant was going to happen today. |
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FORGET THE SUN, JUST HOLD ON
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 SPEEDSTAR
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cd
Comparisons with Coldplay have frustrated Brisbane's Speedstar. It's a tag they justifiably label as 'lazy journalism' and despite the obvious breezy melodies and strong vocal performances, the listener can immediately recognise a definite stylised take on cerebral pop from the opening track Are You Feeling Better, Angela? It represents a strong start to a consistently likeable collection of acoustic compositions, expertly nurtured by producer, Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian, Reindeer Section). Arrays of diverse instruments add texture to simply written love songs that pass by in quick succession, leaving the listener dazed. Much lighter in intensity than their first LP Bruises You Can Touch, the new LP never quite communicates the same darkness but instead takes a different angle, managing to transmit sadness and hope simultaneously. A good example is The Saddest Summer On Record, which contains the lyrics that inspired the album's title. The single, Unbreakable was obviously chosen for its upbeat feel and tempo: two qualities that don't seem to be important to this talented 5-piece. Attention to detail allows for some amazing sounds whether it be acoustic instruments or analogue keyboards and at times a single chord is given the spotlight, simply because it sounds fantastic. After all, less is more, or so they say. Allister Bell's voice is certainly easy on the ears and with a singer of this calibre the band's more subtle strengths will be easily discovered. For heartbroken lovers and melancholiacs, Speedstar is the perfect musical accompaniment to a good dose of longing and a massive tub of chocolate ice-cream. By the end of the album you may have forgotten your estranged lover and devote yourself to a beauty that won't let you down: Forget The Sun, Just Hold On.
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THIS EVERYDAY LIFE (5-TRK)
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SPEEDSTAR: NATIONAL TOUR DATES
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May
27....The Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay
28....The Tivoli, Brisbane
29....The Troccadero, Gold Coast
June
3......The Brass Monkey, Cronulla, Sydney
4......The Newtown RSL, Sydney
5......Cambridge, Newcastle
8......The Manning Bar, Sydney Uni
10....The Enigma Bar, Adelaide
11....The Evelyn, Melbourne
17....Woollongong Uni, Woollongong
18....The Green Room, Canberra |
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