|
|
 |
The Exploders.
The Exploders are heading west this month but believing this
was part of a run of national tour dates, it was a surprise
to hear from bassist Paul Doery how little thought went to visiting
our fair city.
"We've never been to Adelaide so I just made the executive decision: 'We're going to Adelaide!' I looked into a few dates and we locked one in [25 March]. Because venues were pretty booked up, we heard that Jive was a pretty nice place to play so we thought we'd just book it and see what happens," Doery explains.
Before their debut appearance however, there's some more solid gigging going on for the band. "Next week we're doing a run up the East Coast with the Pictures. It's all about making our way around other cities because in Melbourne we're pretty well known after playing there since the start of 2005. We've been up to Sydney and played the Annandale with Love Outside Andromeda, as well as Hobart and Launceston!"
I ask how much planning and deliberation goes into conquering all corners of our music-mad land. "If we want to play headline shows then we've got to start playing smaller shows a lot unless you've got mega radio play like Wolfmother - you just can't turn up and expect lots of people. We still play to small crowds in Melbourne occasionally but we've got to tour more often as we haven't had many opportunities. Now that we're signed to Rubber Records and being on the radio definitely has more people at venues going, 'Oh yeah, I know you guys.,'" Doery deliberates.
The journey to this stage where people can pick up their first LP is an interesting story which Doery explains at length. "The luxury we had was by the time the first record came out we had written nearly three albums' worth of songs. The first album is what's been recorded along the way and re-released with all the production notes. It was recorded in three different stages, we'd already recorded it all before we got signed so we started doing some demos and Rubber said, 'Hey guys, you've got some really good stuff here, let's make an album out of that and we went, 'Okay that'll save us a big recording bill if no-one likes it!'"
Lake Bolac, in country Victoria has been described as 'the dark backwoods.' I asked how much that isolation from the Melbourne scene was a factor in the development of the band to date. "Definitely! I think our music is slightly different to a lot of bands going around Melbourne and that's what helped us in the beginning. There's a lot of great bands in Melbourne but after a few drunken nights you can't tell one band from another. We never saw bands when we were teenagers; it was too much of an effort so all we had was the radio and whatever records and CDs you owned. When we were a bit older, on the weekends we'd still go home and play music as we never really went to the city, it was too big for us country hicks. And we're very disorganized. For a start, we rarely practice as most of the time we're living hours away from each other. We're trying to get some sort of structure now that the record's out but we're hoping to hit the road a play few big shows. In the latter half of the year we're hoping to record our second album; we're actually looking into updating our studio back at the cottage at Lake Bolac so we can do all our demos there."
Their album has some interesting electronic quirks as evidenced on opening track, BBC Intro. "TJ [Allender, vocals and guitar] bought an organ and was flicking with the switches and decided to record it. We're not breaking the grounds of originality but at the same time we're not blatantly ripping off anybody. We draw from our influences but put our own spin on it because we weren't around then to woo people with our crazy intros back in 1967," Doery muses.
The show should be an experience: drummer Matt 'Screamin' Lemons' Britten is said to channel the ghost of Keith Moon. You'll have to see for yourself when local lads the Trafalgars and Swayback round off the line-up for those who like to shake some action on a Saturday night.
Lauren Boxhall
 |
The Exploders play Jive on Sat 25 March.
|
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
