BLACK LAKES have just independently recorded and released their debut EP Only For The Woods” as the first installment of a two EP release, with the second Trick Hotel due out early next year. After all growing up in rural NSW and moving to Sydney at different points, they often wrote with each other under different monikers before launching BLACK LAKES.
The band is made up of identical twin brothers Stephen and David Kelly, their cousin Brenton, and the brother of the kid down the road, Phil Shingles. With a largely organic feel the band set up a full analogue studio above the Annandale Hotel in Sydney and created the two EPs, (collectively known as the Trick Hotel EPs) over five weeks, embarking on their exploration into the Indie/Psych West realm.
Tone Deaf: What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?
Brenton Freeman: I’m classically trained so my childhood was full of anxious waiting before local eisteddfods or fear of angering the dragon lady piano teacher who might hit you with a ruler at any given moment.
Though I’m definitely not ungrateful for this upbringing, when I started to play guitar and performed with friends in high school to the tune of [Nirvana’s] “About A Girl”, music suddenly made a whole lot more sense. With that seed sown I caught on quickly to the anti establishment theme throughout all good rock music from punk to Pink Floyd, and I still think music has a huge role to play in acting as a medium for that alternative view.
You used to go by the name of Radio National, what was the reason for the name change?
Mainly just because we simply didn’t like it. Changing the name became a sort of stepping stone towards more where we actually wanted to be, it was always an overhanging cloud everyone knew was there but wouldn’t bring it up because we didn’t want to go through the arguing and the stress of trying to find a new one.
We are all quite different and agreeing on finalities of equal relevance to us all is often very hard, but in this case it was worth it.
What was the first real catalyst that you’d hit on a new identity for the band?
We set up a rehearsal space upstairs at the Annandale hotel to finish writing the two EPs, the new space combined with Phil joining the band on guitar and me finding a fuzz-wah pedal all helped contribute to that defining point. We always did the alt-country twang thing a little bit, but the new jams were becoming more droned out, modulated, and dripping a little.
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
All of them. It started with Joe Cocker and The Who, then ended with George Carlin and Bill Cosby… why wouldn’t you?
Only For The Woods has a distinctive folk flavour that blends with rambling psychedelia, what drew you in this direction compared to your more straight-laced rock origins?
Folk music is probably the best bed to lay a story on, it’s easier to ramble over if your’re shooting from the hip, so to say. That and it’s a late night genre, which is when we do most of our listening, a lot of Neil Young and Lee Hazlewood etc.
We entered the Psych realm from the ambient side of things, we always had a lot of reverb and delay, they just became more spun out. This mix really intrigues me, there is a lot of post-punk type music with spaghetti western guitar lines all doused in loads of reverb, which I love, but I would like to go for a different take on it, to write a great psych country album would be a goal for the future I think.
You spent five weeks recording above a pub in Sydney, how did the location affect what you were writing and producing?
Well, needless to say we drank a lot. Recorded a lot on Mondays to Wednesdays and left the weekends to the bands downstairs. We got to capture that great raw sound, Wooden hallways and big rooms. Noise was never an issue and we had a good crew around all of the time. It was very comfortable since we spent a lot of time there anyway, which means the takes were natural and relaxed – the perfect alternative to the expensive, rigid studio option.
It feels with Only For The Woods, that you’re doing to Australian rock traditions what bands like My Morning Jacket are doing to American ones. Do you have particular Australian bands that influence or inspire you?
Not enough actually, I really should do more digging, Australia has such a vast range from the last 40 years to offer, I only recently started listening to The Scientists, which makes me want to dig deeper.
We are all massive fans of The Go Betweens, The Triffids, Paul Kelly, The Church. These bands you can really feel the space, and ambient acoustic tones are a big thing as well.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
Someone with a wealth of experience that would get straight to the point, who could write simply but still connect. Someone not afraid of changing the rules to suit but also able to make the pop sensibility work for them. I’m thinking it would be Paul Kelly.
What can we expect from your second EP, Trick Hotel? A change in style?
Maybe not a change in style as both EPs were recorded at the same time, although there are definitely some different sounds. There are some faster tracks and a classical guitar song – with some more synths in there for good measure.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
We started off very much as an instrumental band and have always felt very comfortable not singing for long periods so this is something we would love. I’m thinking Dusk Till Dawn-type setting; dusty, hot, desolate, and flipping the whole thing into a bad trip without any warning.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?
Some of the bands I would have are; The Men, The Fresh & Onlys, DIIV, The War On Drugs, The UFO Club, Crystal Stilts etc.
I would love to try to get some of the great recent American psych, post punk and alt-country bands around at the moment over here and put them with someone like Total Control or The Twerps. Not sure where, any paddock close by or CBD park will do, and of course it’s BYO, free entry and government funded. I’m sure there is a nice bikie gang around willing to do the security on the cheap.
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
Our next gig is at Brighton Up Bar in Sydney on Sat 1st December together with Bayonets For Legs, Mannequins and Six White Horses.
Facebook Even here: https://www.facebook.com/events/129259203890253/
The Only For The Woods EP is available now on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/only-for-the-woods-ep/id565646878
Read the Tone Deaf review here.
