The John Steel Singers have been busy. Members have gotten married (not to each other), toured America, built a studio, and still found the time to put together a brand spanking new album – and a great one at that. We caught up with frontman Tim Morrissey to chat about their sophomore release and all the weird and wonderful things that went into the process of making it.
After scoring a spot on the Brisbane leg of the Big Day Out tour in 2008 (as a result of winning Triple J Unearthed), the Brisbane band released their debut album Tangalooma in 2010. Despite touring heavily, they have remained pretty quiet for the past three years. Morrissey speaks of the initial shock when realising it had been that long, describing the feeling as “What did we do… did we actually achieve anything in three years?” But judging by the sound of their new release, Everything’s A Thread, the five-piece have definitely produced something to be proud of.
After smashing through quite a few bassists (“We have been a little Spinal Tap there”), the group decided to reduce themselves from six members to five, with keyboardist/trombonist Scott Bromiley stepping into the role. Morrissey sets the record straight. “It wasn’t due to a crazy firing of people. It’s just a lot of the time the bass players we’ve had haven’t been able to stay on and they’ve had other things that they’ve had to do and, in the end, it was just easier”. He says that now “everything’s a little bit more concise”.
Everything’s A Thread, released on 8th November, is a far cry from the indie pop of their debut. Morrissey is happy to “cry from the bell tower” to prove that this album is different.
“I think one of my main concerns with the last album was that there was quite a disparity between the poppy singles and some of the album tracks,” Morrissey says. The frontman felt that these pop songs deterred a “discerning music lover” from digging deeper to the album tracks – the ones that the group preferred.
“I think one of my main concerns with the last album was that there was quite a disparity between the poppy singles and some of the album tracks”Departing from Tambalooma, Everything’s A Thread instead inspires a darker, more psychedelic vibe. “I’m hoping that this time around there is less disparity between those two things and that we can get a few more of those people on board.”
The album was born on the Sunshine Coast and without the help of a producer. Early tracks were laid down in a “temporary sort of studio” that was established at guitarist Luke McDonald’s parents property in Coolum. Previously, the band had attempted the “bog standard” thing to do (purely by chance and circumstance, Morrissey insists). They recorded a few tracks with a producer in LA, but found the traditional studio process differed to how they work best.
“You sort of pay this money and you’ve got these time constraints…and unfortunately we’ve discovered that we’re very slow. Being in a studio for like $1000 a day, or something like that, doesn’t really work, especially when we need like a year to put together an album. It’s not affordable.”
Another incentive to create the album on their lonesome was in the plethora of obscure instruments they were able to purchase. They scoured Ebay and Gumtree for “whatever recording gear and weird instruments and microphones that we could get our hands on”.
Enthusiastically, Morrissey details the highlights of the “eclectic” purchases. They bought some $30 PA mics, describing the sound as, “like when they do announcements over the store”, and a Kawai synth, plundered from “a guy from work.” The synth is a personal favourite of Morrissey’s, and he credits it for “completely changing a lot of the flavour of the album”.
Having worked closely with producer Robert Forster on their first album (of The Go Betweens), Morrissey does reflect on the downsides of recording without a producer. “Every now and then it is good to have an authoritative voice.”
“When you’ve got four people with four different ideas about what should happen with a track, you can have the producer come in and go ‘Luke’s idea is the best, so let’s go with Luke’s idea’. Whereas when you’ve got equal footing, then you know that sometimes you might end up putting all four things down.”
“You sort of pay this money and you’ve got these time constraints…and unfortunately we’ve discovered that we’re very slow”One thing you can be almost certain of with The John Steel Singers is that they’ll have an interesting clip to accompany whatever they release. So far, the group have been crammed into a getaway car driven by a dog, propelled through a trippy, endless vortex, and been mistaken for buried treasure. The first clip from Everything’s A Thread featured an appearance from D-Wizz, a so-called underground legend among the Brisbane music scene. “He’s a very eccentric character, but you know, we do love him.”
The clip for the album teaser ‘State Of Unrest’ features D-Wizz in a cape and a Hawaiian shirt miming along to the track while dancing through the bush. Morrissey suggests that they put him in the clip in order to bring more attention to their music. The frontman says that D-Wizz has “hundreds and hundreds of songs” under his belt. Sadly, for fans of D-Wizz, the chances of seeing him tour with the JSS boys are slim – as he just flew to Korea.
“All of his luggage didn’t get on the plane cause he had too much weight in the bag. One of the bags was full of candy canes and spam…he is an eccentric character, but very awesome at the same time.”
Having recently finished building their Brisbane-based studio The Plutonium, embarking on a short east coast tour, and gearing up for another tour starting in December, it’s surprising to hear how shocked Morrissey is when asked if he’s exhausted. “We haven’t done such an extensive tour probably since we were in the states last year. But we’re very much looking forward to doing it.”
“We’re pretty good friends in this band. Catching taxis to the airport and flying in planes is stuff that we haven’t done in so long. You do appreciate, when you’ve been away from it for so long, how enjoyable it can be.”
Everything’s A Thread is out now via Dew Process. Click here to read our review of the record, and head here to read the band breaking down the album track by track.
The John Steel Singers Australian Tour 2013
FRI 15 NOV – SMALL BALLROOM, NEWCASTLE
Tix avail via Oztix: 1300 762 545 or www.oztix.com.au
SAT 16 NOV – OXFORD ART FACTORY, SYDNEY
Tix avail via Moshtix: 1300 438 849 or www.moshtix.com.au
FRI 22 NOV – JIVE, ADELAIDE
Tix avail via Moshtix: 1300 438 849 or www.moshtix.com.au
THU 28 NOV – SPOTTED COW, TOOWOOMBA
Tix avail via Oztix: 1300 762 545 or www.oztix.com.au
FRI 29 NOV – THE ZOO, BRISBANE
Tix avail via Oztix: 1300 762 545 or www.oztix.com.au
SAT 30 NOV – SOL BAR, MAROOCHYDORE
Tix avail via Oztix: 1300 762 545 or www.oztix.com.au
SAT 7 DEC – SLANTED & ENCHANTED FESTIVAL, PERTH
Tix avail via http://slantedandenchanted.com.au/
More info here.
