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Purplene.
 If
you don't do something properly then it's not worth doing. It
was this attitude that took Purplene from Sydney to Chicago
to work with one of the most notorious sound engineers in the
business, Steve Albini. Despite the magnitude of this occasion,
it was the 'simple' things that blew Purplene's bassist Adam
Jesson away.
"It was awesome, we had a ball. Steve's studios are amazing. We pretty much all had our own bedrooms with TV and video which was pretty cool and a full size billiard table to play on. We didn't have to make the bed, well, we made them but someone washed the towels and stuff which was cool," Jesson gushed.
"Steve himself was cool; very professional and very knowledgeable," he adds. "We wanted to get overseas and record an album with him so we got our money together and got a bit of a grant to help. We've all got full time jobs and we had to play as many shows and save as much money as we could to get there. Some hefty debts were taken out as well, but it was a commitment we were all happy to make."
Purplene's self-titled album is one of beauty. Riddled with melody and a quiet ambience that distills every note individually, whilst allowing for crescendos to augment the silence, is there any doubt Albini's hands were behind its creation? "One of the reasons we used Steve was that he captures instruments so well. It's all analogue and it's all just mics, amplifiers and guitars basically. I especially love the way he captures drums, which has a lot to do with the space of the music because it's so crisp. We wanted a record that was a reproduction of us live, rather than us trying to play an album live. The record is pretty much how you'll hear us live - as long as we play the right notes and in time."
Whilst in the US, the boys played some shows to the American crowds with encouraging results. "We played one in Chicago, one in Detroit and one in a 'uni town' called Champagne. We played with some good bands and they showed us a bit of the town. The crowds weren't huge, they were mainly mid-week gigs, but the response was really good. We headlined the Champagne show which was pretty weird."
Working in Chicago also allowed the band to focus on the recording without the diversions of everyday life. "We're used to recording in Sydney and doing a 12 hour day, going home and then getting up after a couple of hours of sleep. Then there's always girlfriends involved so it was good to have no distractions; we pretty much didn't leave the building the whole time."
The music Purplene produces doesn't strike me as that created out of a stressful and distracting environment, although there are several references to people lurking in dark corners. "Generally the song writing process involves Matt [Blackman] or Dave [Ledlin] coming up with a riff or a complete song and they bring it to rehearsal. We've all got pretty distinctive styles so we sort of add our bits and that's how it ends up. I guess we've sort of developed a sound over the past few years. It wasn't a conscious thing; it's just the way it turned out. I don't know about the lyrics though, you'd have to get inside Matt's head, which would probably be quite scary at times. He doesn't keep them to his chest obviously because he's put them on the record, but they're just his thoughts and feelings."
Although Jesson claims that the unique sound that Purplene have created was not intentional, their music has filled somewhat of a niche in the Australian music industry. With such an incomparable sound, and the time and money Purplene have invested in their musical future, the boys hope to one day make their living from it. "That would be the ultimate for all of us. We haven't quite had the opportunity yet, but one day, you never know..."
Cassie Hilditch
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Purplene play the Jade Monkey on Sat 26 June. 'Purplene' is out now through Spunk/Inertia.
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