Wolf & Cub

Joel Byrne has recently moved house and it's early on a Tuesday morning that we settle in for a long chat about, among other things, 'Vessels', the long-awaited debut album from Adelaide psychedelic rock band Wolf And Cub. Earlier this year guitarist/singer Byrne flew to Scotland for two weeks to mix the primary tracks with producer Tony Doogan, best known for his work with Scottish groups Mogwai, Super Furry Animals and Belle And Sebastian. The 'Vessels' LP and all the work preceding it has left the band drained and anxious for its release.

Right now it's the relief of knowing that the technical stuff is all but done with that comforts Byrne before the quartet prepares for a full-scale promotional Australian tour.

"Yeah I'm totally over it," says Byrne of the long wait, his soft voice tinged with humour, "I'm ready for the next one...I'm happy about it. I'm glad it's out and hopefully it will sell." Without holding back and fuelled by ambition, it's clear that Byrne will use 'Vessels' to reconsolidate the band's live reputation after a very educational learning experience in the studio.

"That's very much what it's about now. It's pretty much move on to the next one and hopefully this one will make that next one a little bit easier to make."

"As far as I'm concerned, that's where we're at live. I love recording but I hate having to make albums. I hate having to capture songs at that particular moment because I know that every time we play live it's gonna be different and more than what it could ever possibly be on the recording. For us it's always live. The record is just something that's a point of reference for people that wanna come see us play."

The band recorded the basic tracks in Adelaide with experienced producer and good friend Matt Hills who did his best to facilitate the ambitious terrain the band wanted to cover via oodles of guitar and FX tracks and the band's trademark twin drum attack. Upon taking the songs to Doogan, Byrne had to rethink his original plan.

"I had a preconceived notion for how I wanted it to sound. And that notion might have not been necessarily wrong but, probably in the context that it was done, it was not the best way to do it...I thought I'd go with the advice of someone who's been there and done that before."

Byrne is quick to clarify that he was neither pushed nor dictated by the label, Remote Control in Australia and New Zealand and 4AD worldwide, nor by Doogan, to make the songs sound the way they do.

"I learned how to listen and, I guess, just work with the producer. Otherwise it just doesn't work. You have to respect what they know and they sort of have to respect to an extent what your ideas for the song were and you have to meet somewhere in the middle.

"Having said that, to argue wasn't really...we really didn't have that option because time was a constraint. And money. We had two weeks to mix and a lot of what he [Doogan] had to work with was difficult because there were so many things. We recorded so many guitars, all this stuff, and there was so much to sift through. I have to commend him."

The band has kept a relatively low profile in the months preceding the album's release and the tour, which starts in September, is the time and place for Wolf And Cub to get its groove back.

"Exactly!" agrees Byrne, "And we know it. I'm feeling the pressure a little bit but this is important to us."

In the live setting, bands of all shapes and sizes can go either way; on a good night a band can be on top of the world and on a bad night it can be a struggle to get through a whole set. Byrne understands this and is continually tightening his grip over the things he can control, namely his guitars and many pedals and vocals.

"We're all looking forward to playing. I'm sort of a bit constipated in a sense. I just wanna get it out," he laughs. I reply that in that case I won't be near the front.

"That's what I suggest."

Lenin Simos

Wolf And Cub play at the Rocket Bar on Fri 6 and Sat 7 October. 'Vessels' is out now through Remote Control.