|
|
 |
Karnivool.
 "If I were to bring justice to the music industry, The Strokes wouldn't be there for one," jokes Drew, lead guitarist for Perth alternative rock act Karnivool. "Man, I hate that band. You can quote me on that too: I try and bag The Strokes in every interview that I do. Just call the article 'Fuck The Strokes'!"
After four years in hiding, Karnivool have now emerged from the shadows to present their debut full length album 'Themata'. For those not terribly impressed with their 1999 CD-EP 'Persona', let it be known that this group has since then evolved into something quite spectacular.
"The first EP came together pretty easily, I mean I basically just picked up a guitar and wrote some songs, and didn't really think about it, and I'm the first to admit that it was pretty average," Drew remarks.
"Since then we've learned to take more time in writing; I mean, it's been about four years between releases, but it was only the last half of the album we wrote a lot faster and things seemed to start coming together a lot quicker. We placed a lot of extra pressure on ourselves as Forrester Savell, the guy who recorded and engineered us, said he was coming over from the US in April and we were like 'shit, we better have something for this guy,' so we really had no choice but to knuckle down."
On the topic of Savell, it's clear that the group were more than impressed with the way in which he worked on 'Themata'.
"I cannot say enough good things about Forrester," exclaims Drew Enthusiastically. "He is a man who really has his shit together, and the band and him were all pretty much on the same track as to what we wanted it to sound like. We always wanted the album to sound pretty polished as we are all fans of that style of recording, and I'm confident that that is what the general public will perhaps take notice of when they first sit down to hear it."
The group were more than a little intimidated by their first recording experience, so it was interesting to hear about of the method they decided to employ in order to complete the recording this time around.
"The recording process was actually really, really cool, and nothing at all went wrong. We ended up doing everything ourselves with Forrester, apart from the drums which we did at Planet Studios over here in Perth, which are really awesome studios, but burnt down a week after we were finished there, which was a bit of a bummer," states Drew in a more serious tone.
"What we decided to do is just hire a Pro-Tools [digital recording] rig and travel around to a few exotic locations down the south-west, which was a great way to do it. We went to this beach house and just chilled out, and that ended up working really well for us."
Given the prolonged period between releases for Karnivool, it seems logical to conclude that perhaps the group were experiencing some problems behind the scenes. When asked whether the thought of leaving had ever arisen, Drew was more than willing to discuss his thoughts honestly.
"It wasn't so much that I ever really wanted to leave the group, but it was more that I doubted myself rather than the other members of the band," he explains.
"I also doubted very much that we would ever get the album finished and that was becoming a problem for me. There's actually sort of a side story which accompanies this one: when I was about six years old I had the idea for a cool little mobile which I was going to make, and make this space man cardboard cut out with the moon and stars and hang them all off of my light fitting. I thought that was the coolest idea but I started it but never finished," he muses. "What was funny is the whole time we were recording I had that spaceman mobile in my head, but we persevered with the doubts, and we obviously ended up getting the album finished. I guess now all I have to do is go and finish the mobile as well..." he states before pausing momentarily.
"Perhaps we could give away free spaceman mobiles with a re-release of the CD! That would be a symbolic element that would be pretty cool to incorporate."
Adam Hood
 | 'Themata' is out now through MGM. |
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
