It’s been a long time between drinks for Melbourne’s Zoophyte. After the release of their acclaimed debut Another Point of View, back in 2007, and a year of successful touring, the band has been rather quiet. But with a new single, “Let You Go”, just released and new album Somewhere Elsewhere out soon, they’re very much back on the radar. Front man and original member Cam Lee spoke to Tone Deaf about the process of rebuilding and the band’s new sound.
“The last release was mid 2007 and we spent the best part of 8 months touring all around Australia off the back of that,” says Lee. “And as that gathered momentum and things started becoming more serious, people started to drop off. By the start of 2008 everyone had sort of left and the new bass player at that time, Gilps [Andrew Gilpen], who’s still in the band, was the only person who was left. We made a pact together to write a song a week for the rest of the year and so by the end of 2008 we had fifty or so starts on songs which we then thought, ‘Oh we’d better get a band together’”.
Joined first by Elvis Alius on drums and then later by Rob Muinos on guitar, Zoophyte spent the next eighteen months demoing and refining the songs that Lee and Gilpen had written, deciding which tracks would make the final cut. “So from all those starts, we ended up demoing thirty-two and then that got culled down to sixteen which we recorded for the album, and then we chose the thirteen from that. So there’s a couple of b-sides, which are finished work, and a lot are appearing in live performances as well. A lot of the older material that we’ve had in the past doesn’t fit with the current line-up and sound, so it’s sort of a whole new show if you like,” Lee explains.
This change in sound is apparent on the new single and will continue throughout Somewhere Elsewhere; the genre fusions of the previous incarnation making way for a straighter, rockier sound. One that the band is happy to embrace.
“I like what we’ve done in the past as well, but I suppose as the old Zoophyte, we were five very different musicians with very different backgrounds,” Lee says. “Which was a plus, because a lot of the music we made was quite unique and had different influences across the board. But I suppose, as a body of work and as an album, it wasn’t a very cohesive listening experience, from front to end.”
“So I suppose with this, initially writing with Gilps, we had a very strong bond in what direction we wanted to go and what sounds we liked and it wasn’t something we laboured on. We’d get together and come up with something we liked and just had a connection there. And collectively, when everyone else joined as well, we all had a very similar goal in mind. So it flows a lot more and is a more listenable piece of music from an album point of view.”
Zoophyte has been around since 2004 and the band, along with the act of creating music, is clearly important to Lee. “I think music is one of the few art forms where you can do it as a group. That connection with the other band members and the whole writing process is a very connective process. And so those relationships and that part of things is great fun. I love recording and making sounds and the performance level as well – connecting with an audience and having people say that your music hit a chord with them. You get a buzz out of that.”
The band is beginning to ramp up their live profile again to coincide with the release of the album. Last weekend saw them performing with Eskimo Joe and Tex Perkins at the Rock In The Vines Festival and they’re launching “Let You Go” at the Prince Bandroom this Friday. “We’ve had quite a bit of time off and done some gigs here and there, so it’s great to sort of show off the work and get in front of people. That’s another part of making and playing music is actually connecting with people, so that’s really exciting.”
While most of their shows are in Victoria, Zoophyte will be making their way around the country very soon, according to Lee. “Once the single’s launched and leading into the album or second single, we definitely want to get up the East coast and get back over to Perth again. We had a gig down in Tassie actually, with a festival, a couple of weeks ago which was really well received, so we’re keen to get all around Australia and get out there again. It’s been a while.”
Zoophyte’s brand new single “Let You Go” is out now and to celebrate the band are launching the single with a show at The Prince of Wales Bandroom this Friday April 13. Get your tickets!
