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Walk The Earth.
Unsurprisingly, DW Norton is in the studio. "I'm producing a young band called Scare," the former Superheist guitarist explains. "They're from Brisbane and they're really good, actually. The youngest is 16 and the eldest is 18, and they sound somewhere between Franz Ferdinand and The Hives. I think they've got a bit of a future."
And Norton should know - since Superheist imploded a few years back the well-respected guitarist has carved out a niche as an in-demand producer, working mainly with heavier bands (acts whose recent releases bear his credit include Day Of Contempt, Mindsnare and Tidal). He chuckles when I ask whether Superheist's demise made him focus on his alternative career. "Well, I was always doing it, cutting my teeth as an engineer-slash-producer for the last ten years and I'd make records in the off time from Superheist. I guess at first young bands might have been glad to have The Dude From Superheist produce them, and then it became a bit more than that to the point where I've proved myself a bit more. And now I'm getting a bit older it's my main focus - I gotta make sure I pay the bills! But I love doing it, especially when it's a good band."
So where does that put his new band, Walk The Earth - who are about to make their Adelaide debut at Tidal's CD launch? "Well, everyone in Walk The Earth has their own thing going on - the singer and the other guitarist have their own business, and the bass player is also an up-and-coming engineer and producer and he's working for me. Because it's not like it was in Superheist where you lived and breathed it, it allows you time to enjoy it. So when you do get to rehearsal or to the show or into the studio it's a real escape from what you're ordinarily doing, whereas with Superheist it was 24 hours a day, it's all you thought about."
Norton is clearly enjoying working with his new colleagues. "Make no mistake, in Superheist it was no picnic," he laughs. "There was always quite a bit of turmoil going on at all times. I mean, some bands are like that - get along great musically, but personally it's a nightmare - but with Walk The Earth everyone gets along, it's really relaxed and everyone enjoys it."
Unsurprisingly the band have a CD on the horizon. "We're recording an album and self-financing it. I've learned a lot over the years about how once record companies sink their money into you never see any return on it," Norton laughs. "I don't think I ever saw a cent from record sales in Superheist, and we sold a lot of records." Whilst the album's a way off yet, Norton reveals "We hand out one song free at every show we play. At our Adelaide show I guess the first 100 people through the door will get a Walk The Earth CD."
That should be reason enough to get along early.
Andrew P Street
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Walk The Earth play Tidal's CD launch at the Adelaide UniBar on Sat 9 Oct.
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