SubAudible Hum

The art of the protest song has died out in the past decade - or, at least, the art of the good one has. There's a fine line between being politically aware and being irritating, after all. Melbourne's SubAudible Hum want to make you think, but they don't want to force it down your throat.

"I don't think our music forces anything down any orifice," laughs singer Danny Griffith. "It's that spoonful of sugar thing, or disguising the carrots on your child's plate. It's in there - the dissenting worming tablet in the cat food. We're conscious of not being a political band. Politics is boring. What we do is just observations and opinions. We're doing it from a human point of view. We are very far down the line from the powers that be, but we're not stupid.

"It's a matter of the art and the music coming first," Griffith explains of the band's ability to communicate a message without resorting to slogans, "but the statement side comes a close second. It's an important time in global history - we're approaching the void, in many ways. To be a band and in a position where people are going to listen to you on mass, to not use that to talk about this would be disrespectful. I don't understand how it can all be about wearing a wrist-band and tight jeans and talking about partying all night. It's so lame."

Not that Griffith is any more willing to listen to dumbed-down protest music than the rest of us, he hastens to add.

"The problem is that it's so much more complex. Wars don't start because one dude wants oil. The Iraqi war is about so much more than oil and to just come out and say, 'no war for oil', that's just the slogan that left-wing political parties use. Like any government, they pick a sound bite and slogan and go with it and kids think they're cool by wearing those shirts. But that's just as blinkered a view as saying that anyone committing a crime or thinking outside of what the government tells you is a terrorist."

The band's second album, 'In Time For Spring, On Came The Snow', is out this month, despite their debut only having come out toward the end of last year. As Griffith explains, the decision to record a follow-up so quickly was inspired simply by SubAudible Hum's passion for recording.

"It's not like we had material just lying around that we wanted to record," he notes. "We actively wanted to record another album. I think it's just that the climate in the Australian music scene is just very fleeting. I didn't want to wait around the standard two years till an album developed. I like going in and doing stuff."

Griffith is a confessed fan of the studio environment, adding that 'In Time For Spring...' was approached very much as a studio effort.

"None of the songs were written with a live audience in mind. 'Self indulgence', I believe they call it," he laughs.

There's a downside to the recording process though, he adds.

"I get really anal about how much time we're spending and wasting time, but luckily Ryan [Nelson, guitar] has a much more," he pauses to think of the right word, before continuing hesitantly, "...I wouldn't say lackadaisical, more that he's concerned about the project first, rather than time or money. I'd rather not have to worry about that, but this is reality."

That's not to say that they're considering going down the major label road, though - Griffith says the band are far too used to having complete control over what they do.

"We've been independent for so long and as much as we'd like to give over certain duties, trying to take power out of our hands is ridiculous," he comments. "With our old manager, I felt sorry [for him] because we just couldn't let go. We're fiercely independent. We have management at the moment, but it's calmer and much more ground level than getting someone who has that kind of ego about being a manger, which you just don't need."

The band's desire and passion for control over their work also extends to the art of the album, which was created by Griffith.

"I'm really into digital art. It's not like I do much of it at all, but I just sort of attempted it," he says sheepishly. "I haven't seen the CDs yet, so it remains to be seen whether it works."

Alistair Wallis

SubAudible Hum play at THE GOVENOR HINDMARSH on the 20th of October with LOVE OUTSIDE ANDROMEDA & guests