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Faker.
Stefan Gregory and his Faker bandmates - vocalist Nathan Hudson, drummer Paul Berryman, guitarist Phil Downing, and bassist Nick Munnings - are eagerly counting down the days until the release of their debut album, 'Addicted Romantic'. Having recorded the album twelve months ago, the Sydneysiders are keen to get it out into the public arena.
Gregory, one of the band's two guitarists, says that despite the fact they've been playing most of the songs on the album for a year now, they still enjoy playing them - not an easy feat considering how much the Brit-pop sounding quintet has toured of late.
Having heard tracks like Teenage Werewolf and Kids
On Overload on radio, I was eager to see how the live show
would go, and on their last visit here it certainly looked like
the band was in its element.
"We had heaps of fun on that tour with End Of Fashion - they're a really great band to tour with," says Gregory. "We had similar philosophies or something, I guess, but I think it's one of the funnest tours we've done so far, so we love End Of Fashion."
In terms of the band's live performances, Gregory notes the scene in Sydney is thriving, with bands such as The Redsunband, Expatriot, and The Glass Age his favourites.
"We've had heaps of fun playing on the Sydney scene," he says. "We've been getting really good vibes. It's such a satisfying thing to play to a patter of people who are really getting into the music and dancing and going crazy, and we love doing that. That's the great thing about being a musician in a band."
With my first listen to the album leaving me a bit disappointed, it took a few listens to fully appreciate the band's studio sound. As is my wont, the visual energy of the live performance was missing, leaving me feeling initially let down a bit.
"A live act is always different to an album," Gregory responds. "It's always going to be a different thing, I guess. We're still really excited about the sound of the album; working with [legendary producer] Lindsay Gravina; he's an artist, and he really does know how to produce an exciting sounding album. But I think a live experience is always different to a recorded experience. You can never capture a live show on an album, so you've got to approach it in a slightly different way."
As for the album title, Gregory says it comes from a song lyric. "It seemed to sum up the album, which is all about being a romantic, being an addicted romantic," he explains. "I guess it's about the follies of love and addictive relationship and... I guess about going crazy over love; getting yourself beat up for it and whatever, and we felt that that summed up the content of the album, because all of the songs are kind of about that."
When asked whether he thinks this is reflective of the band as individuals, Gregory replies: "I think everyone has a bit of it in them, I hope. I mean it's a sort of a characteristic of love more than anything else, but I think there's a bit of that in the band, for sure. Nathan [Hudson, singer], who does most of the songwriting side of things had a lot of that in him, so you can ask him about the lyrics, I guess."
As for hitting the road again, Gregory is keen to get back to touring.
"It makes a big difference, just playing in a band, and playing every night for a certain amount of time, where it's really playing a lot together, hanging out together and going on tour together, and you just get to know people and build up that energy, or that balance between each other, and get to know each other, and get to know what everyone else is doing."
Ann Marie Sosnowski
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'Addicted Romantic' is out now through EMI, and Faker play at the Enigma Bar with Bit By Bats and the News on Sat 18 June.
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