It’s pissing down in Melbourne and The Workers Club’s heater couldn’t warm up any faster.
Alpine’s Phoebe Baker has just walked in and sat down next to her bubbly co-frontwoman, Lou James, at our cosy little table by the window. Immediately she asks if they’ve got mulled wine here – she can smell it. Rugged up in a black puffer jacket, a thick black turtleneck knit, black scarf, and red leather gloves, Phoebe has done a far better job at fighting the cold than Lou or myself. I start feeling even colder by comparison.
The mulled wine has come to the table, along with beer and vodka, and Lou was just telling me about the story behind her tragus piercing. Ours are matching, as she pointed out the second we met. (We trade stories, and her stoned one knocks mine out of the park.)
Last night I got sent a stream of Alpine’s forthcoming sophomore album, Yuck. It’s the followup to the indie six-piece’s acclaimed 2012 debut, A Is For Alpine, which debuted at #1 on the Australian iTunes Chart, spawned a #31 entry in the Hottest 100 with ‘Gasoline’, and won glowing praise from Pitchfork and the ARIAs alike. This time around, a few years down the track, and their sound is still similar on the surface: hyper glossy pop hooks, sharp yet lush instrumentation, and plenty of Phoebe and Lou’s gorgeous breathy harmonies, which operate in an even closer symbiosis this time around. But beneath their infectious exterior, the lyrical content on Yuck shows the band have done some growing up in the time between releases.
We’re now well into the buildup to the band’s release date for Yuck, so today has been a big day of press. Naturally, it’s been a bit tiring. Lou says she got sidetracked this morning with The Herald Sun and started ranting about gentrification, so tonight they’re keep to just have a chat over some drinks away from the cold.
Lou James: It’s been so long since we released the first album, and then it’s been a really long time since we’ve done interviews, so doing interviews has actually been awesome because it helps me to conceptualise in my mind how to describe the art that we’ve created. In your head you’ve been doing the whole process from the get go and you know all the ins and outs of it so you feel like, well, the album’s the album. Have a listen.
Phoebe Baker: And like, you write it on the spot and you’re expressing how you’re feeling, but then that moment is ages ago now, so it’s nice reflecting on it.
Tone Deaf: Just quickly, I realised today that ‘Hands’ is almost five years old now. Let that sink in for a second.
Lou: It’s ancient. ‘Hands’ is my angst song.
Phoebe: I love it.
Lou: I find each song to perform has its purpose, and ‘Hands’ is just this really like… I always get really tingly with the suspense of the duh duh duh duh. It’s still really exciting, and the very last ending note is still really strong. I feel that song is just so… I don’t get sick of that one.
There’s like no song that I don’t love, because obviously creating it you feel super proud, but I always get a bit like, ugh with ‘Icy Poles’. I cringe a little at the lyrics. I mean that’s on the EP, though.
It’s so interesting to see how much we’ve developed since ‘Icy Poles’ to say, ’Damn Baby’. It’s like, what? It’s kind of really cool to look back.
Phoebe: Did you like the album?
I got to have one full listen last night and it left a great first impression. What have reactions been like from friends and family?
Phoebe: Friends are really bad at reacting. They know that we’re expecting them to say, ‘Oh that was great!’, but because they know that’s expected it can never sound that sincere. Like when I see a friend’s band I’m like, ‘That was awesome!’, but I never feel like I’m saying it how I really feel.
Lou: It was funny with my parents.
Phoebe: Parents are the worst. [Laughs] I love them.
Lou: They live in the UK now, so I sent them the album when it was done and they were interesting, because I guess it’s really hard because they’re your parents. My mum got back to me and was just like: “There’s so many songs that I like!” And I could hear that she genuinely meant it. ‘Damn Baby’ is her favourite song.
Phoebe: Really, ‘Damn Baby’ is her favourite song on the album?
Lou: Yep.
‘Damn Baby’ stood out on my first listen. It has that big brass section, which is so different from the whimsical soundscapes on A Is For Alpine.
Lou: We always wanted brass.
Phoebe: And now we got it. [Laughs]
Lou: There’s about three or four songs that have brass now. Brass is just, I don’t know…
Phoebe: Bloody awesome.
Lou: I guess when you compare it to A Is For Alpine, without brass now those songs feel a little bit minimal.
I feel like the sound has definitely been bolstered on this record.
Lou: Yeah, I like that. ‘Bolstered’ is a good word.
It’s a little heavier; a bit more fleshed out. Like it’s had a couple of protein shakes, or something.
Phoebe: Ooo, yeah. That’s nice.
Lou: I would say protein shakes after having a few big nights out. Do you know what I mean? Like, trying to detox and get back. It’s got a bit of that, eeugh.
“You’re learning more about yourself and the world around you, and it’s always the same themes, but it’s a different chapter of those themes in this album.”It’s good to have you coming back. How was the break?
Phoebe: We toured heaps after the first album, all around Australia and all around the US a few times. Touring was crazy, and really exhausting. Like awesome, but hard. When we got back to the States, it was like –
Lou: [Gasps for air]
Phoebe: It was like, you’re all great, but I don’t want to see you for a good few months. I think we all needed our own space, and just some time to recover and settle.
Lou: And the guys are all in relationships. So they needed to like, get all lovey-dovey again.
Phoebe: We’re the single losers.
Lou: Yep, we’re the two single losers. [Laughs]
Phoebe: It feels like a long time, but it also went by really quickly, and pretty steady. We all still have day jobs as well.
Last I heard you were working at a T2 and a bathers shop. Is that still happening?
Phoebe: We’re both pub girls now.
Lou: I’ve gone from retail to hospo. My manager was telling me that it’s good I’m working at a pub – like it’s kind of a rite of passage for a musician.
Like old mate Courtney Barnett, just down the road.
Lou: Yeah! I’m seeing her tonight. It’s exciting, because she’s playing The Forum and I’m like, fuck, we’re playing there, too. So I’m going to be sitting there watching her and taking notes for research. I mean it’s been so long. We’ve only played two shows since, forever.
Phoebe: Although we did play NGV like a month ago now. But not for a steady period.
Lou: I was saying to someone else, all the old songs, because we toured so much the last album, I know how to move and where I want to move for the performance for each one. Like, I don’t know how to move to these songs yet. [Laughs]
It’s going to look hilarious. Or it could just look amazing because it could be so not-thought-out.
Phoebe: Spontaneous. We like to not script it too much.
There’s a narrative music journalists like to use about the curse of the sophomore album. Did you find that to be true?
Phoebe: There is that undercurrent of pressure. We tried not to take any notice of it as much as possible, because I think if you’re worried it effects your music. But they are on the back of my mind, and now leading up to the album’s release we’re hoping it does well. It’d be great if we could have a career of music and be able to support ourselves. Because it’s hard to handle band and jobs, and manage it.
You’re studying as well, right?
Phoebe: We both are.
Lou: I’m doing a post-grad diploma in Communications, and Phoebe’s doing her masters in International Development. Which is a bit random from doing a degree in music, but there you go.
Work, band, and uni. That’s a lot.
Lou: And trying to have a love life along the way.
There’s a lot on the album about your relationships – rocky ones, especially – so as long as love life keeps failing I guess it’s good for the band’s sake, I guess.
Phoebe: Oh, it’s definitely failing, so.
Lou: It’s already failed.
Phoebe: It’s like, non-existent.
Lou: At least have each other. [Laughs]
You draw a lot from relationships, thematically. ‘Need Not Be’, in particular, explores that territory pretty deeply. I feel like that song’s a really good 20-something, figuring-things-out kind of song. Is that just reflective of where you’re both at right now?
Phoebe: Totally. Just accepting your vulnerabilities and that confusion. I think before maybe our vulnerabilities and sensitivities scared us, and now we’re just owning it.
Lou: I think it’s just understanding it more. I mean, I’m 27 in a month. Phoebe’s 27. When we got signed we were 21. That’s such a big time gap between then and now, and I mean even like a testy experience, like touring as much as we did, you really start feeling disconnected to home.
Phoebe: And your identity starts to feel a little bit disconnected as well. Like, what am I?
Lou: Don’t get me wrong – it’s an amazing experience. It’s not like it’s bad. It’s awesome. It’s like, you know, when I have kids one day I’m probably going to be seem like a really cool mum because of what I’ve done. It’s really cool, but at the same time it is really hard.
I was having a relationship with a guy who lived in America and I was trying to have a relationship with him whilst I was touring with him as well, and then I came back here and it was long distance and it ended. So that was so hard for so long.
A lot of that was happening whilst trying to grow up, coming into a later adult life as opposed to the earlier adult life. It’s interesting. You’re learning more about yourself and the world around you, and it’s always the same themes, but it’s a different chapter of those themes in this album.
Maturity is the major thing I took away from the record. Obviously three years changes someone as a person, and naturally that has dripped down into the sound as well. The songwriting is more serious, and the sound has gotten bigger itself. What kind of experiences inspired you this time around? And does that come from everyone in the band?
Phoebe: Instrumentally, mainly from the guys. Although we do pitch in with arrangement here and there with keys, and we even had an African thumb piano at one point. Just random bits. But lyrics and melodies are all me and Lou, on the most part.
Lou: We’ve known each other so bloody long, like since we were 13, and then we lived in the same house together last year as well.
Phoebe: We had similar upbringings, so thematically we tend to sing about similar things. But I think touring definitely informed it, and just learning from the first album and playing shows and learning how songs we wrote translated onto stage and translated to the audience. And just feeling more confident, I guess.
Lou: I mean even the gig we did at NGV, it was traumatic for me. It was like 36 degrees, it was so hot, and we hadn’t played a show in like forever. So I was terrified. You know the biggest thing you can do is forget that there’s five other people who are your best friends on stage with you, and I just felt really alone and terrified. And so that was really hard. But then Phoebe was having a fuckin’ awesome show –
Phoebe: It was one of the best gigs I’ve ever had. But I could tell just by watching Lou that she was a bit reserved. She’s performing, but she’s not giving all that she’s got.
Lou: She can sense things. You never know what you’re going to get. But luckily I have Phoebe there as a sidekick – and also the other guys.
How did you all actually meet and become friends?
Lou: [Phoebe and I] were at boarding school together. I remember there were these school concerts you could do, and I remember Phoebe sat herself up on the piano, and sang about – do you remember the song about the ribbon?
Phoebe: Yeah. ‘Life was wrapped up for you in a ribbon’.
Lou: Yeah that was the lyric!
Was this an early original?
Phoebe: Yep, I was like, 17?
Lou: But I remember just being like, wow.
Phoebe: It was vice versa. Lou performed a few times. But you sang the Dido song and…
Lou: [Gags]
Phoebe: … It was beautiful. So lovely – this English rose voice.
Lou: We both kind of dabbled in performance stuff. It’s funny, because sometimes I think I just felt into it but I’m like – oh no wait, I guess I always wanted to do it.
And Christian [O’brian, guitarist] was your teacher?
Phoebe: So I was in a band with two friends and we were so shit. But we wrote songs, and we’ve got a little CD that I hope is never, ever earthed. Like, there was a song about wanting to be a hippy. The chorus was like, “I wanna be a hippy/ I’m a hippy inside.” [Laughs] And then it was like, “I wanna shake my ass in front of politics.” I didn’t know anything about politics then, anyway. So stupid.
Anyway, Christian was the guitar teacher and we became friends writing together after school. I was really shy, and I think that’s where we started to first bond, musically. And then after school we started slowly writing and doing duo vocals – just a few songs, then we knew we had to get Lou on board and Christian got Phil, and we brought Tim in, and then we met Ryan out at a bar…
Lou: It was just kind of serendipitous. It was meant to be. I’m so happy that none of us are session players. It’s old school. It’s literally like a bunch of friends in a band.
What are your personal favourites on the album?
Phoebe: Well they’re all really good. [Laughs] But like, they’re varied. It depends on the day. I think I really like ‘Jellyfish’. It’s just a little bit different from the others, and it was one of the more recent songs. I think, finally, we were just getting more and more confident as we were going and writing.
Lou: ‘Shot Fox’ for me, just because that was written about a pivotal moment in my life. So the title of ‘Shot Fox’ is an old Australian saying: “grinning like a shot fox”. When a fox has been killed, they still have a smile on their face – so you’re smiling even though you’ve been defeated. It’s a breakup song, but I don’t know, it’s also a different way of actually being really happy that the person who you’re no longer with still exists, because it means you can move forward. You’re sad knowing that they’re still there, but they brought you all those beautiful memories. You move forward without them, but they’re still a part of your story.
The lyrics on these songs are lot more direct, which shows confidence. It’s harder to do it that way.
Lou: I think we actually tried to make the lyrics a little bit less abstract.
Phoebe: But then some is really abstract, but more honest sounding. I think just more assertive. Even if it is poetic, it’s still like, “I know what I’m saying”.
So it comes out on the 12th, and then it’s back to touring. Are you ready for that next chapter?
Lou: Who knows what to expect. Hopefully it’s received well, because that means we could tour with it. But you just don’t know.
Phoebe: I think we’re just going to make the most of it. We don’t know what’s going to happen, so we’re just going to put on a show whilst we’ve got the opportunity to put on a show.
Lou: I can’t really imagine not doing it though, so the idea of it ending is actually terrifying.
That sounds a bit morbid. It’s not planned to be the last album, is it?
Lou: No, no. We don’t want it to be. But you’ve got to be realistic: the music industry’s tough. It’s really tough.
Phoebe: I mean, if it goes well, that’s awesome, and if it doesn’t, that’s fine as well.
Even if it all goes well we’d still all be very much thinking about how we’re going to financially support ourselves – which sounds so boring.
Lou: But I think a lot of bands go through that realisation. You start off in your early 20s and you always think life figures itself out, you make money, blah blah blah. We’re a band who have had success, but we haven’t exploded to the extent where we can support ourselves just off our music.
That’s why writing this album we weren’t caught up about the expectations of the second album. It’s like, no, let’s just write a bloody good album that we’re super proud of and that’s all you can do. Then you just go along for the ride.
Alpine’s new album Yuck is out June 12th via Ivy League/Liberation.
Alpine National Tour Dates
Wednesday, 24th June 2015
The Gov, Adelaide
Tickets: Oztix | Moshtix
Thursday, 25th June 2015
Barwon Club , Geelong VIC
Tickets: Oztix
Friday, 26th June 2015
Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC
Tickets: Oztix
Saturday, 27th June 2015
Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Tickets: Oztix
Friday, 3rd July 2015
The Triffid, Brisbane
Tickets: Oztix
Saturday, 4th July 2015
Metropolis, Fremantle WA
Tickets: Oztix
Wednesday, 8th July 2015
Anu Bar, Canberra
Tickets: Oztix
Thursday, 9th July 2015
The Cambridge, Newcastle NSW
Tickets: Bigtix
Friday, 10th July 2015
Uni Bar, Wollongong NSW
Tickets: Moshtix
Saturday, 11th July 2015
The Metro, Sydney
Tickets: Ticketek
