Features

Ingrid Helene Håvik of Highasakite: “To be singing in Norwegian is pretty special”

/ Paul McBride / 5 Comments

highasakite

NORWEGIAN indie-pop five piece Highasakite haven’t had the pleasure of visiting our shores just yet, but singer and songwriter Ingrid Helene Håvik is already busy forming an image of Australia in her head.

“I know you have dingos there,” she says. “And those big animals that jump; I don’t remember what they’re called. And I’ve heard the food there is amazing. Actually, it’s so far away that I don’t know anything about it. I think we are coming to Australia at some point – and I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this – but the plan is to go maybe around September or October some time, and then in maybe February 2015. We’re just starting to plan it now, so it’s not a solid plan yet.”

The Bon Iver-approved band’s new album Silent Treatment will be released on April 11th, and is an ethereal and expansive affair, with all songs written by Håvik.

“We’re really excited,” she says. “We hope a lot of people are going to hear about it and we love playing it for people. The album is already out in Norway, so we have played everything and we’re touring with the material in the States right now. I’d probably call our style indie-pop music, or even just pop music to be brief. [My lyrics] are based on all sorts of things; from dreams I’ve had [which] I write down and use later, and many different things from different places. I can only write at home when I’m really isolated, not on tour.”

The Oslo-based band’s origins can be traced to the Trondheim Jazz Conservatory, where Håvik and drummer Trond Bersu began to write and record together – in English.

“I sing in English because it’s more natural to me,” Håvik says. “I’ve listened to music that is in English my whole life, and I’ve never really listened to any Norwegian lyrics before. English is the music language for me. It’s more natural for most people in Norway to sing in English; to sing in Norwegian is more of a curiosity in Norway. To be singing in Norwegian is pretty special.”

An already hectic touring schedule was recently made busier with an appearance at SXSW, and being added as support to growing global stars London Grammar.

“[SXSW] was really a lot of fun and super busy,” Håvik says. “People came to our shows and that’s all we were really hoping for. We played four shows and had to cancel one; our crowd sizes were never embarrassing, so it was all good fun. We saw a Norwegian guitar trio band too, but that was all I managed to see. Supporting London Grammar on tour has been going really well and it’s been a lot of fun. We’ve had full houses and everything. In the beginning we were really nervous when we started playing the new songs, but we’ve played a lot of shows already with this new material, so we feel pretty good. After the London Grammar tour we’ll be going home to Norway. We’ll be doing some shows in Europe and some summer festivals, and we’re going to the States again in May. Then we’re going to Japan.”

Silent Treatment by Highasakite is out April 11th.

Scott Owen of The Living End: “I guess we just get along as mates and respect each other”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

living end

THE LIVING END have just played five Soundwave shows and will headline The Big Pineapple Music Festival next month; not bad for a band technically on a break. Upright bass player Scott Owen explains why the Melbourne trio doesn’t sit still for long.

“Soundwave was fantastic,” he says. “We didn’t know what to expect as it was all very last-minute; we only got added to the bill two weeks before the festival. It was unexpected, but you can’t complain about getting up in front of audiences like that. Everyone seemed to file in there early and there was a really respectable amount of people there. [Short notice] can work either way for us; sometimes we rehearse our arses off before a show and for one reason or another it’s difficult to pull it together, and then sometimes you just have to jump into the deep end without a chance to rehearse, and they can be the best gigs. We went for the middle ground and only had a couple of rehearsals in the week leading up to it, and left it at that; just enough to dust out the cobwebs a little bit, but not overthink it.”

The band will be the top-billed rock act at next month’s second Big Pineapple Music Festival, which also features Dead Letter Circus and Spiderbait.

“Because we’re at a stage right now where we don’t have a new record out, we’re just kind of getting up and trying to tailor our set – and this probably sounds wanky – to please everyone,” Owen says. “We figure with festivals you’re there for a good time, not a long time, so we just try to play things that we think people are going to know and things people can sing along to; I think that’s our job at a festival. We didn’t really think of doing [AC/DC’s] ‘Jailbreak’ until the day of the gig at Soundwave in Brisbane, but every now and then we’ll pull out a cover and it’s normally something that’s planned. We’ve got six albums, so there’s a lot of catalogue to choose from and it can be difficult to try to think of what will please everyone, but that’s why we tend to rely on the songs most people are going to know. It’s not our own show; people are there to see a bunch of bands, so we just try to offer a good time.”

This year marks two decades since the band formed in Melbourne, but Owen isn’t keen to make a fuss of the anniversary.

“We did a retrospective tour the year before last, where we went out and played all of our albums for seven nights in each city, and that was a good way to look back over everything,” he says. “I think we’re more into looking forward than looking back now, although the plan is to do nothing for pretty much the rest of the year, apart from a few gigs here and there, and then sometime next year we’ll get together again and start thinking about the next record. This is the first time we’ve all not lived in Melbourne. Over the last couple of years we’ve all moved in different directions; Chris [Cheney, singer-guitarist] is over in America, I live in Byron and Andy [Strachan, drums] is down the coast in Victoria. There’s a bit of a distance between us and we figured it’s a good opportunity to just chill out for a reasonable amount of time. Fortunately we’ve never had any major difficulties with each other and we’ve been lucky to continue to get people to want to watch us play. I guess we just get along as mates and respect each other, and just enjoy getting up onstage and playing together. I really don’t know how to read it any more deeply than that.”

The band’s sound includes elements of rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll and punk; a formula that has worked well for the trio, although Owen’s ‘bass stunts’ – primarily standing on his instrument mid-performance – wasn’t always the polished party-piece it is today.

“When Chris and I were in high school we were only interested in’50s rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly,” he says. “Getting up on the bass was always part of the act; it was happening from day one. The funniest time was when Chris and I started playing; we were only about 16 or 17 years old when we started playing pubs around Melbourne. One of the very first times we played a proper pub – and we were still just doing rockabilly covers at the time – Chris climbed up on my bass to play a guitar solo and it all went horribly wrong and we ended up in a pile on the floor. It was devastating; we were thinking we could never get up onstage and show our faces again after such an epic fail. But we got over the hurdle. Luckily it hasn’t happened in front of an enormous audience.”

THE LIVING END PLAY THE BIG PINEAPPLE MUSIC FESTIVAL SATURDAY MAY 17.

Joss Stone: “I’d like to investigate music that was born in Australia”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

Joss Stone

SHE MAY HAVE worked with Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr and Jeff Beck, but Joss Stone will be on the hunt for new Australian talent when she tours here next month.

“I’m trying to find people to collaborate with when I’m there,” she says. “I’d like to investigate music that was born in Australia. It’s nice to be exposed to other things; things that aren’t influenced by America or the UK. Maybe I’ll have a little sneak around Byron Bay and see what’s about. I really enjoyed Byron last time; it was more earthy, which I liked. We were only in Australia for a week, but that was my favourite spot. I’m definitely excited to be going back there; hopefully we’ll get more time.”

The 26 year-old English soul singer and her ten-piece band will be part of a mammoth Bluesfest line-up, as well as doing a run of shows with multiple Grammy Award-winner India.Arie.

“Expect a very good band playing what is hopefully very good music,” she says. “I love my musicians; I hold them in very high esteem. I’ve been working with them for a very long time and I just love playing with them. We have a really nice time on-stage; we just ‘soul out’ a bit and try to play a bit of music from each album. So far I have six [albums], and we like to play the songs people know as well as a few new ones. The double bill [with Arie] was just one of those things. Obviously, the second they asked me I was like ‘yes please’; I love her. When I was about 14 or 15 the song ‘Video’ came out and I got her album, and I would play the songs with the tape or CD in reverse, so I could try to learn the way she sang and her little ad-libs. I could never do it; I’m terrible with ad-libs as I’m not really that type of singer, but I would listen to her over and over. I think some days she’ll start the set and I’ll finish it and vice versa, and hopefully if we feel the vibe we’ll sing together, if I’m lucky. I know her songs, but I don’t know if she knows mine!”

Stone’s last release, 2012’s The Soul Sessions Vol. 2, was a collection of 11 soul covers, but her upcoming – as yet untitled – record promises to be more eclectic.

“It’s a little bit different this time,” she says. “A little bit more hip-hop and reggae. There are a couple of tracks on there which are just classic soul, but it’s so hard to talk about right now as we haven’t even finished the percussion yet, so I don’t know what it’s going to turn out like. In all honesty, I could turn round and go ‘oh I fucking hate this, let’s just cut it again’. I’m trying to keep that safety, you know what I mean? New influences come in naturally when I’m beginning writing, then I latch on to whatever that newness is and make that choice to continue in this path; it’s a conscious decision from that point. I’ve got thirty songs, but I’m going to see. I’ve just done two weeks in the studio, and I’ll have to listen back and see which ones I like. Normally an album doesn’t go longer than fourteen to seventeen tracks. I never really like to play a full show where I just play new songs to a group of people who haven’t got the album. Putting in new songs can be cool, but until everybody gets the album, it can be a bit of a bummer to go to a show when you don’t know any of the songs. When the record is out I’ll play them all, but when the Australian tour comes around I’ll just play a couple. I’ll rehearse my band; by now they know all the songs, but we’ll rehearse and learn a couple of the new ones, so when we get to the stage I can kind of call it, you know? I know what’s going to happen in general, but I don’t know what the audience is going to be like until I meet them. In fact, they are the eleventh member of my band. That’s the fun of it.”

Stone was a part of short-lived supergroup SuperHeavy in 2011 with Jagger, Dave Stewart, A.R. Rahman and Damian Marley, and has performed with big-hitters like James Brown, Rod Stewart and Melissa Etheridge, but one musician inspired her more than the rest.

“Jeff Beck; I’m in awe of him and the way he plays,” she says. “When he’s talking to you he’s just a normal guy, but when he plays it’s entirely different; it’s like ‘wow’. If we’re playing on the same day [at Bluesfest] we might even do a little song together. He’s amazing.”

JOSS STONE PLAYS BLUESFEST APRIL 18 AND THE TIVOLI WITH INDIA.ARIE APRIL 20.

Martha Davis of Martha and The Motels: “We’re going to bring Australia some very luscious sets”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

martha davis the motels

NEW WAVE LEGEND Martha Davis is in a surprisingly positive mood considering the catastrophe that just occurred.

“I’ve just realised that my basement has completely flooded,” she says. “It’s pretty much a nightmare; I’ve just moved my studio down there and all these rugs and things are ruined. It’s not even raining; we had a lot of snow in the last week and I’m pretty sure I’ll be drying out rugs until the day we fly to Australia. But everything works out in the end, doesn’t it?”

The 62 year-old singer has reason to be upbeat, as a new line-up of a band that formed in California in 1975 looks to bring back The Motels’ sound of old on an upcoming Australian tour.

“I’ll be coming with my ‘new’ band, which has really been my band for ten years; longer than the original Motels were together,” she says. “These boys are amazing; they’re younger, very cute and way-ass talented. I’m also bringing along Mr. Martin Jourard, who was the original sax and keyboard player for The Motels. He and the guys love each other and we have so much fun, and it’s such a joy to have the saxophone back. We’ll be playing a lot of the old favourites and a couple of new ones; we’ve gone back into the catalogue and dusted off a couple of songs we haven’t done in a while, so we’re going to bring Australia some very luscious sets.”

The band scored an Australian number four hit with ‘Total Control’ in 1980 before going through multiple line-up changes, but Davis is clear about what she wants for the band from now on.

“People really missed the saxophone when it wasn’t there,” she says. “Clint [Walsh], my guitar player, has been doing solos and he’s absolutely stunning, but there’s something about when that saxophone kicks in that really makes people go wild. Then there’s Marty’s antics on stage; he’s always been a crazy guy and his keyboard stuff is wonderful. Sometimes I think it’s more a Marty show than a Martha show! The saxophone is so evocative and has a really precise emotion; for me it sums up a wet street or alleyway and is so noir-ish in a way. I love that imagery and the lonely saxophone sound. Is it lonely, or is it just me? That’s probably why I’m a band girl rather than a solo girl; I love how the harmonies and sounds of different things layer to make an atmosphere as opposed to just having a song.

“Our last Australian tour [in 1988] was a crazy-ass tour. I should really pull out that itinerary because we played everywhere from Darwin to Tasmania; we played places that most Australians haven’t been to. I think we were there for 50 days and we played constantly; the drummer ended up in hospital in the end. It was non-stop and we went to every nook and cranny, but it was hilarious. Everything I do is hilarious; it’s a funny job and you can’t get around that. I always say to people that you should watch Spinal Tap and then realise that everything in there is true. But it was long and fun tour, although we were a very different band then; more jazzy. This tour is going to recall the first album more and be true to the record.”

While there will be an element of nostalgia in the upcoming shows, it’s not something Davis is happy to depend upon.

“Me and the boys spent some time in the studio before it flooded,” she says. “We just wrote three new tracks which are really wonderful; these guys are such great players. I’ve always got songs lying around so there’s always stuff to be used. Once we get in the same place it comes together pretty quickly. We’re preparing for Australia more than we are for the album right now, but there will be new songs coming out soon.”

MARTHA AND THE MOTELS PLAY THE NEW GLOBE MARCH 19.

Alex Cameron of Bad//Dreems: “We’re about to sign with a record label”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

bad dreems

ADELAIDE indie-rockers Bad//Dreems are set to have a pretty big year.

“We’re about to sign with a record label,” says guitarist Alex Cameron. “I can’t say who it is, but we’ll announce the signing probably in the next couple of weeks, and the next release is a seven-inch called ‘Dumb Ideas’, which comes out at the start of April. That’s the first step towards an album that we’ll probably record later this year and release towards the end of the year or next year. There might be an EP in between.”

The quartet’s debut EP Badlands earned rave reviews and helped the band find their sound. This time, they’ve enlisted help from an experienced source.

“We’ve always got heaps of songs,” Cameron says. “We had fifteen demos for this seven-inch that we whittled down to get these two. One of the ways to do that is to demo a lot of songs and pick the best. The last EP was a collection of songs that spanned from when we started in 2012 through to just before we recorded it in January 2013. You can probably see an evolution in the songs; the first song we wrote was ‘Chills’ and the last was ‘Hoping For’, and I think that ‘Hoping For’ was the song that we think crystallised our vision into something that was around the mark of what we were going for. The difference may be that we’ve recorded with a new producer; Mark Opitz. He’s a pretty famous Australian producer; he worked with a lot of Australian bands of the ’80s. He originally worked with Vanda and Young doing a couple of AC/DC albums, then the first album he did himself was The Angels’ second album, which sold about 300,000 copies, and he worked with The Models, Hoodoo Guru and INXS. We thought it was a left-field idea to record with him, and we didn’t even know if he was still recording, but we got in contact and he really liked our stuff. I wouldn’t say the bands he recorded in the ’80s are particular inspirations of ours, but it was more of the way he captured what were good live guitar bands, and also the fact that he’s a very song-based producer and good at helping to bring out a band’s sound. Also, he’s good at sifting through songs and turning them into the best pop songs possible. He was given a lot of credit for the massive albums bands like INXS had, as he was able to pick out songs that had potential and take them to the next level. We were happy with the EP recording, but this time we were able to capture more of the live energy of the band. First and foremost our songs are based around playing them live; we don’t want to record with overdubs and there aren’t extra instruments in there padding out the sound. The EP didn’t quite have the same energy, but this time we’ve got that a lot better. I think the drum track for the single was the first take. We set up all our stuff in the room, gave it a run through and [Opitz] was like ‘Okay, that’s the drums done’.”

Triple J have been big supporters of the band, but radio airplay isn’t a make-or-break factor says Cameron.

“Triple J support didn’t happen overnight for us,” he says. “’Hoping For’ was the fifth single we put out. Having said that, Triple J have been supportive of all our things from the start; whether it was on Unearthed or Home & Hosed. There are two approaches that we wanted to avoid. One of those was caring too much about whether Triple J was going to play our songs or not, and pinning all our hopes on that. Triple J support is great, but if you pin all your hopes on it and it doesn’t happen you can be left high and dry, when there are plenty of other avenues to get your music out there. The second approach that some bands take is to be anti-Triple J and don’t want to put their stuff on Unearthed or associated with it. We just make the best songs we can and if Triple J support it so be it, but we’ve got other irons in the fire, and keep pushing ourselves to keep playing live and doing different things. The other thing I’d say is that the band started off not trying to ape any particular genre or make a new sound, but just trying to make really good songs. There are certain touchstones and elements that we reference, but our goal is to write songs that can be appreciated by everyone from the man on the street, to the music critic, to the hipster if you will, to the guitar shop guy. Some of my song-writing idols, from Dylan, Springsteen, Paul Westerberg, Kurt Cobain and Robert Smith; they wrote songs that are appreciated by everyone. That’s our goal as songwriters, and while we’re a long way off achieving that level, if you aim for that other things will follow. We just worry about the song-writing and the rest will take care of itself.”

Upcoming slots at Bleach* Festival and supporting The Scientists will give Queensland fans a chance to catch the band in their natural setting.

“Half the set consists of new songs now,” Cameron says. “We play most of the EP and plenty of new material. The shows are rock ‘n’ roll shows; we don’t go in for smoke machines or giant fans up there. We just really enjoy playing live, especially at the moment. It’s interesting when we play now because people actually know the words to the songs, which is pretty moving and inspiring. Bleach* Festival will be awesome; we’re big fans of Violent Soho. Supporting The Scientists will be one of the highlights of our career so far; we could pretty much pull up stumps and be satisfied. They’re idols of ours, and that might one of the few times I’ll be nervous playing in front of them, not that they’ll even be watching probably. I’m sure their fans will be pretty discerning too, so we’ll certainly want to be on our game.”

BAD//DREEMS PLAY BLEACH* FESTIVAL MARCH 14 AND THE TRANSCONTINTENAL HOTEL MARCH 27.

Taasha Coates of The Audreys: “It’s a really strong friendship and creative relationship”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

audreys

ADELAIDE folk and roots duo The Audreys may be triple ARIA Award-winners, but it’s mostly producer Shane O’Mara’s fault, explains refreshingly down-to-earth singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Taasha Coates.

“I reckon we’d still be a shitty folk band playing in the local pubs if it wasn’t for Shane,” she says. “He heard something in our music that we hadn’t heard ourselves, and pushed it in a direction that’s made it a better beast than when we started out. We just really like each other and push each other in the right way. Early on I had a tendency to be too precise and be really anxious about minute details and mistakes and he was always [saying] ‘no, get over it.’ He taught me that it’s about the performance and not about being perfect. We’ve made four records with him now, and it’s a really strong friendship and creative relationship.”

The band’s new studio album ‘Til My Tears Roll Away follows 2010’s Sometimes The Stars, and is set to propel Coates and guitarist/banjoist Tristan Goodall back into the spotlight.

“I think it’s a rockier album,” Coates says. “The label picked ‘My Darlin’ Girl’ as the new single. It’s great if you have a good relationship with your label and you trust them; that’s the kind of decision they are much better at making than you are. We gave them the record and basically told them to do whatever they wanted. You can be much too close to your own music, and the few times we’ve tried to write something for radio it’s been shit; radio is a fickle beast. When I first started making records I was conscious of making music to play live, but Shane always told us not to think about it. Now we try to make the best record we can and then worry about playing the songs liven once they’re recorded. I think it’s hard to listen back to yourself, but I absolutely loved every moment of making the last record; it’s something I’ve grown to love. We did most of it in five days; all the tracking was done live, then we re-recorded most of the vocals at Shane’s studio back in Melbourne and brought in guest players and singers and did all the mixing as well. We had a doo-wop group sing on one of the tracks, and lots of mates of Shane’s and local musos; there’s a sing-along song at the end that has something like 24 singers on it or something. It was great fun.”

A new album of course means touring, albeit with an extra person on the tour bus this time around.

“I’ve had a baby since the last album,” Coates says. “When I got pregnant I was really nice to myself and gave myself the time to enjoy motherhood, but then started to miss music after a while. It’s actually quite a good career to fit in with a child as you can fit it around everything, unless you’re away touring. When you’re playing, it’s at night when they’re asleep, or they can come along. We’re doing a tour soon; a national tour all around the country. We’ve been playing the new songs as a duo for about six months now and it’s been good fun. We can’t wait to get on the road with the band.”

THE AUDREYS TOUR NATIONALLY IN MAY/JUNE. ‘TIL MY TEARS ROLL AWAY (UNIVERSAL/ABC MUSIC) IS OUT MARCH 14.

Katie Noonan: “A lot of the themes are of sisterhood, solidarity and looking after each other”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

katie noonan

WHAT DO YOU GET when you cross a renowned Brisbane singer-songwriter, a contemporary circus group and a slice of lesser-known Australian history?

The answer is ‘Love-Song-Circus’; a show featuring the voice and music of Katie Noonan, the acrobatics of Brisbane’s Circa and a new way of looking at sometimes uncomfortable aspects of our past.

“I was inspired by an exhibition called ‘Love Tokens’ at the National Museum,” Noonan says. “It’s a collection of coins which have beautiful messages on them; inscriptions that convicts would write for the family they were forced to leave behind. The romanticism of that imagery really captured my imagination and I decided I wanted to find out more about these people. As a woman and a mother, I wanted to find out about the stories of the women; stories which have been explored by precious few people. I started a long journey of research into these women’s lives and came up with a song cycle of sixteen pieces that formed the basis of this body of work called Fierce Hearts, which became ‘Love-Song-Circus’ in collaboration with Circa as an ode to these incredible women. It was very different and challenging, but also very rewarding.”

Originally, I wanted to try to find the love letters of the women; to explore their love, lust and longings, and put their words to music. Unfortunately literacy was a gift bestowed generally upon the wealthy and generally men, so many women – particularly convicts – were illiterate. That made me rethink everything. I read lots of books, PHD reports and prison records, then wrote a series of poems which became lyrics to the songs, from the point of view of the women. In doing that, I wanted to make sure everything was factually correct, and I went on trips to get a sense of the physical world they would have seen; places like Tasmania where the bulk of the women went, and around Sydney. A lot of these stories are quite sad, but many of the women overcame adversity and became very strong. They were the original boat people, but they were forced to come here. England and Ireland at the time had incredible poverty and desperation which led to women stealing the loaf of bread, which is the quintessential convict tale. Rather than getting a helping hand they were sent to a place that was so alien to them.”

Joining forces with circus group Circa brought a new aspect to the telling of the stories.

“When I think of modern examples of strong women, I often think of physical theatre and the circus,” Noonan says. “Obviously, contemporary dance and ballet portray the strength of women in a really different way, whereas in circus you have these incredibly strong women in a physical sense. I really admire Circa’s work; I think they take circus work to a different place than most; it’s certainly not from a cabaret or burlesque point of view in any way. The directors come at it from a theatre background and there’s a sense of narrative and drama, and they add a really interesting element to these stories. A lot of the themes are of sisterhood, solidarity and looking after each other, and they are reflected beautifully by the bodies of the women in Circa. It feels like a really lovely combination and has been a successful relationship.”

Performing ‘Love-Song-Circus’ at a series of hometown gigs is just the start of a busy year for Noonan.

“I’m doing lots of writing and working with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra,” she says. “I’m also writing my next record with my band The Captains, but these songs are my main focus as the album is coming out. We’re opening in Brisbane, then a week at Adelaide Fringe, then Sydney. I’d like to get it to Perth, but my big dream is to bring it to Tasmania, where most of these women were based. In fact, I’d love to do it at the Cascades Female Factory on the earth on which they worked.”

‘LOVE-SONG-CIRCUS’ PLAYS AT CREMORNE THEATRE, QPAC MAR 4-8. FIERCE HEARTS IS OUT FEB 28.

David Krahe of Los Coronas: “We try to have a melting pot of different sounds on stage”

/ Paul McBride / 1 Comment

las coronas

FOUNDED AT A TIME when grunge ruled the airwaves, surf-rockers Los Coronas gained early support from an unlikely source, explains guitarist David Krahe.

“Fernando [Pardo, guitarist] and I started the band in 1991, when we were DJs in different clubs in a rock ‘n’ roll neighbourhood in Madrid,” he says. “When we met we were fans of rock ‘n’ roll music of the ’50s; especially surf music. There were very few instrumental bands at the time, so our biggest influences came from the old stuff, like The Ventures, Dick Dale, The Challengers and The Atlantics from Australia. When Tarantino made Pulp Fiction, everything about the surf rock scene exploded because of Dick Dale’s ‘Misirlou’. There was a promoter in Spain who decided to book Dale for the first time because of the film, and we were probably the only instrumental band in Spain, so we were booked to support. It was a good time for the scene because people knew the music more than before.”

While their sound and genre might be set in stone, arriving at it was perhaps more down to necessity than the band first intended.

“We started to play rock ‘n’ roll music at first,” says Krahe. “We were big fans of guitar players like Link Wray, and at the same time it was really difficult to find a good singer that liked the same music and could sing in English. We couldn’t think about playing in anything but English, so the best way to achieve our goal was to focus on playing instrumental music, and everything then came easy to us.”

Surf-rock may be their signature style, but the quintet aim to bring other sounds into the mix.

“Los Coronas’ music is a merging of different things musically,” Krahe says. “We try to transform what would otherwise be an orthodox style into something people aren’t used to listening to; like a mix between rock ‘n’ roll, surf music, and Spanish sub-genres of Flamenco music like rumba or paso doble. We try to have a melting pot of different sounds on stage, and people in Australia know us from our last tour, and they know we like to have a fiesta – a big party – with everyone. We have some punk in there; our song ‘Rockaway Surfers’ is a little tribute to The Ramones. It’s our humble tribute to them and their place in our life.”

Australian fans can ride the waves with the band on an upcoming tour, and – perhaps inspired by a local legend – experience a career first for Los Coronas, says Krahe.

“In March we’ll be playing around Australia and New Zealand,” he says. “We’d like to organise a European tour after that, and for the rest of the year we’ll be playing in Spain to promote our last two albums, as in 2013 we released two; Adios Sancho and one called El Extraño Viaje, which is a covers album and has two songs with vocals for the first time in the band’s history. We’re going to be showing off those two albums. Last year we were playing at Woodford Folk Festival and we shared the stage with a new line-up of The Saints, and I was really surprised as I didn’t know Chris Bailey was still playing under The Saints’ name. They were really good.”

Los Coronas play the following dates:

Sunday 2nd March – CLANCYS RED ROOM, Dunsborough
Tuesday 4th March – LIZOTTES NEWCASTLE, Newcastle
Wednesday 5th March – BASEMENT, Sydney
Thursday 6th March – BASEMENT, Sydney
Friday 7th March – WOMADelaide, Adelaide
Saturday 8th March – ENLIGHTEN, Canberra
Sunday 9th March – GOLDEN PLAINS FESTIVAL, Victoria
Thursday 13th March – REPUBLIC BAR, Hobart
Friday 14th March – CORNER HOTEL, Melbourne
Sunday 16th March – WOMAD NZ New Plymouth

Beth Hart: “Who wants to deal with being a recovering drug addict?”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

beth hart

BETH HART is a singer-songwriter, storyteller and survivor all rolled into one.

Hand-picked to play Byron Bay Bluesfest after director Peter Noble saw her earn multiple standing ovations supporting Stephen Stills, the Californian will help the festival mark its 25th year.

“We put on an eclectic show,” she says. “It has blues, jazz, soul, rock ‘n’ roll and some singer-songwriter stuff. I’ll usually play a couple of songs from all my past records and then focus on the last two or three. There’ll be lots of energy and hopefully it’ll be a good time. I do a different show every night anyway, so it’s fun to play with it at a festival. I’ll watch the audience a little bit and kind of get a feel for what the vibe is or what kind of festival it is. Then we’ll work up a set before we go out and hope it works. It really drives some of my band members crazy when I change things around halfway through, but it’s important to be in tune with what’s going on, put on a good show and give people what they want. If I get the feeling they’re wanting something a bit harder or more aggressive I’ll change the set and throw something else out.”

As she speaks candidly about her past battles with the addictions that sent her spiralling out of control and saw her spend a stint in jail, Hart remains pleasingly upbeat.

“It’s a one day at a time thing,” she says. “Thanks to being involved with people that have come before me and have gotten sober I’ve had a lot of help. It’s been a little over thirteen years since I took drugs, thank God. I still have my little slip-ups here and there with alcohol but I’m healthy and married to a wonderful man, and I thank God I still get to make music and I’m still really excited about it. In the last couple of years I’ve gone in some different directions as a writer and that’s been really challenging in a good way. When I was on drugs it had got so bad that I wasn’t able to leave the house. When I was going through early recovery I had agoraphobia, so it was definitely a rough recovery, but I think that’s what’s kept me from ever going back. I would never survive it again. Is there a part of me that wishes it never happened? Sure. Who wants to deal with being a recovering drug addict; it never really goes away, but I think of it as a real gift and I mean that. It’s an opportunity to share something and they are the points in my life when I lean on people I love and my ego gets smashed. It’s like ‘holy crap, what am I going to do?’ It changed me and it still does, but the changes I’ve found are things like the ability to care for other people who are struggling instead of judging. It’s been a blessing.”

Since becoming sober, Hart’s resumé boasts a series of A-list collaborations with Slash, Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy, and two albums with guitarist Joe Bonamassa.

“It just kind of clicks with Joe,” she says. “He and I really get off on similar genres of music. We both feel very passionately about the music, and when it comes to the songs that we chose for the Don’t Explain and Seesaw records we were both so invested in trying to bring something that was honest. I love him for that; he has such integrity and total commitment. I think he’s such a great artist; just fucking fantastic.”

Another positive aspect of having a sober and rehabilitated Beth Hart back in business is the prolific nature of her musical output.

“I’m making a new record in August with Rob Mathes,” she says. “I should be making another record with Joe Bonamassa a little bit after that, while simultaneously writing the following record after that as well, as it’s going to be with Kevin Shirley instead of Rob Mathes. So I’ll be doing lots and lots of writing in the upcoming months, which I love, so I’m having a good time and it’s flowing. There’s nothing worse than trying to write and being in one of those stalemates where I can’t move or come up with a thought; that’s always terrifying. I’m having a good time with that right now. I’m going to be touring, making a record, and then back to touring in the fall. That’s how I make my living; lots of time on the road. Last year I got a bit run down, so I took off with my instruments into the mountains where there was no TV or anything like that. Getting away from everything and everybody was really helpful for me. I’d never really rejuvenated like that before.”

Despite mixing it with big names in North America, it’s in New Zealand where Hart has had her biggest chart success to date, hitting the top spot in 1999 with single ‘LA Song (Out Of This Town)’. Her explanation for her success there?

“Oh God, I would be the last person to ask that,” she says. “I have no idea; I’m just happy when we can connect in some way.”

BETH HART PLAYS BYRON BAY BLUESFEST APRIL 17-21, THE BASEMENT SYDNEY APRIL 12 AND THE CORNER MELBOURNE APRIL 15.

Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5: “We’re not just phoning it in”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

cut chemist

WITH WOUNDS HEALED and lessons learned, Jurassic 5 are back and better than ever, explains DJ Cut Chemist (Lucas MacFadden).

“[Getting back together] was super-easy and amazing,” he says. “It was like no time had passed. The magic we had on stage ten years ago never went away. We got an offer from Coachella, who were interested in getting Jurassic 5 back together and having us perform. I think it was the perfect timing as everybody had done their own solo things and were ready to come back together and do something. The fact that they asked us at that time was kind of perfect timing for everybody, and everybody was up for it.”

The alternative hip-hop group formed in California in 1993, but split in 2007 amid rumours of the dreaded “musical differences”.

“They just didn’t get along at that time,” says Cut Chemist. “I left in 2004, and I read it somewhere in an interview and I was heartbroken. I had my own solo career during the split; I had a deal with Warner Brothers at the time, and put an album out through them. I toured a lot for the Hard Sell album with DJ Shadow in 2008, and in 2009 I worked on a project called Sound Of The Police, which came out in 2010. After that we started talking about the reunion, which then happened in 2013. It’s been a year now and it’s been great; one hundred percent. People can’t be cynical about it because we’ve done so many different shows, not just big festivals. I think there was some talk in the beginning about us just doing it for this or that reason, but we’re doing it because we love it and when you see our show you can tell that we’re not just phoning it in.”

With a diverse group of members featuring five rappers and two DJs vying for creative input, it would be easy to suggest that the reunion will be a short-term one. Not so, says Cut Chemist.

“I think any past disagreements became irrelevant,” he says. “It had just been so long, and people doing their own thing outside the group gave them the perspective of what they can do on their own and what they bring to the group. I think the split reinforced everybody’s idea of themselves and it’s given us a more professional approach this time around. We’ll be taking it year by year, you know? As long we have a project and work to do this year we’re good. Last year was the reunion, and this year it’s to expand the brand and get it back up and running, and continue re-establishing ourselves. Next year it could be anything, and I couldn’t say right now, but we’re not just going to go dark again. J5 is a strong brand and we want to keep it going for the rest of our lives, and any way we need to do that we’ll do it; whether it’s touring here and there, putting out product, videos and documentaries or whatever. It’s something we don’t want to die.”

The group may have an EP and four albums worth of material to play live, but new tracks can be expected in the coming months.

“We got something coming out,” says Cut Chemist. “We have a single that may or may not be ready by the time we get out there, but it will be some time this year. We don’t know about anything bigger yet. Right now we’re just trying to take baby steps towards locking our show down and our touring down, then we’ll work on putting out some music and see how that goes. Not only has our music changed in terms of technology [since 2007], but in the way people buy music too. We come from a day and an age when people bought the product in a case, but in the age of free downloads and singles content we’re trying to figure out how we can adjust, and that’s what this year is going to be about.”

Australian fans can catch Jurassic 5 in March during a five-date tour; something Cut Chemist is looking forward to.

“Australia has always been one of the best places to tour, no matter if it was Jurassic 5, with DJ Shadow or myself,” he says. “I’m just looking forward to being out there and digging the shows, because I think people are going to go crazy over the show; it’s going to be nuts. I just can’t wait to see the support and excitement we get from the Australian audiences, because you guys get wild. Expect a very entertaining show that encompasses a lot of the elements of hip-hop; DJ-ing, creativity onstage, and all the different things coming together. We’ll be bringing in a lot of new sounds; we’re not stuck in the time when we were making music before; DJ Nu-Mark and I try to mix it up a little bit. Anyone who has seen Jurassic 5 in the past won’t be disappointed.”

JURASSIC 5 PLAY EATONS HILL HOTEL MARCH 22.

Stephen K. Amos: “I’m going to tell you what I want”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

Amos

AUSTRALIA can’t get enough of Stephen K. Amos, but there’s one thing he wants to clear up.

“I met an Australian outside a show in London a few days ago,” he says. “And he just went ‘Oh my God, I didn’t know you lived in England!’ Of course I live in England! When I’m in Australia I tend to do a lot of television shows in a short space of time, and they get shown throughout the year, so people assume I actually live in Australia and everything is live.”

While television appearances will likely feature, a new stand-up show is the main reason for the Londoner’s visit this time around. “My new show is full of belly laughs and I like to throw a couple of things out into the audience to get their reactions,” he says.

“If anything happens in the audience or the venue and it’s funny or worthwhile I’ll run with it. The show is tentatively entitled ‘What Does The K Stand For?’ and it will basically answer all the questions that people ask me. I get asked the same sort of things that anyone would get asked; if someone has a funny name, looks a different way, is from a different place, or has different religious points of view and beliefs. I also get asked if I’m in a relationship, so I’ll be talking about break-ups and make-ups. I’ll also be looking at mortality, as I’ve done some calculations and worked out that I’m halfway through my life already.”

While generally known for his black humour and observational comedy, Amos’ new material is of a more personal nature than anything he’s performed before. “I was dumped rather grandly a couple of years ago. I didn’t see it coming at all, and I was given those ‘it’s stopped being fun’ and ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ lines. I thought it was all bullshit and crap, and I’m sure a lot of other people have been through that as well. We’ve all had relationships and know what it’s like to be loved and fall out of love. One of the questions I ask is, ‘is it better to be the dumper or the dumpee?’ I never seek permission from any of the people I talk about on stage. It’s up to me; if I was involved, that makes it my story.”

When asked if he has any regrets about switching from a potential career in law to one in comedy, the 43-year-old answers strongly. “Comedy is the one job in the world I can think of where you can say exactly what you want. There are no set regulations or compliance laws.

“With being a lawyer, the chances are you’ll be defending someone you know to be guilty or cross-examining someone you know to be innocent. It always makes me laugh when I see people’s Twitter accounts and they have ‘these views are my own’ on there. Oh, really? You had to put that there? Do we not all have a personal life any more? You’ll never see me saying anything like that. If I go to my bank manager to ask about a loan or something, they’ll tell me what the bank wants them to tell me. If you come see my show, I’m not going to tell you what you might think I’m going to tell you, I’m going to tell you what I want.”

Despite not actually living here, Amos keeps an eye out for anything topical he can add to his Australian shows, while avoiding other aspects of tour life. “I did shows last year in Australia, just at the moment when the battle for leadership between Rudd and Gillard was happening. That was such good fun as it was so ridiculous. I still can’t believe Julia Gillard was challenged for her leadership and they took it to a vote; only in Australia could this happen.

“When I’m doing festivals overseas a lot of comedians tend to hang out together. Bearing in mind that doing a festival means you’re away from home and loved ones, so the only people you know well are the people you’ve worked with for a number of years. The one thing we don’t do, which would be very annoying, is to sit around trying to out-joke each other. That would be unbearable. I’m currently on tour in the UK now, and finishing in February. I’m doing another radio series at the same time, and putting the final pieces together for the tour in Australia. After that, it’s back to the UK for another show, then a tour of America.”

Stephen K. Amos has the following Australian shows:

Feb 12-16, 18-20 – Adelaide Fringe at The Governor Hindmarsh
Feb 26-28, Mar 1-2, 4-10 – Brisbane Comedy Festival at the Powerhouse Theatre
Mar 12-16 – Adelaide Fringe at The Arts Theatre
Mar 17 – Adelaide Fringe at The Governor Hindmarsh
Mar 23 – Geelong Performing Arts Centre
Mar 24 – Frankston Arts Centre
Mar 28-30, April 1-6, 8-13, 15-21 – Melbourne International Comedy Festival Athenaeum Theatre
May 9-11 – Sydney Comedy Festival at Enmore Theatre
May 16-18 – Perth Comedy Festival at Astor Main Space

Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint: “We’re still learning from our mistakes”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

stella mozgawa

PLAYING new songs live for the first time never gets any easier, explains Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa.

“We played our first show in New York two nights ago and it was pretty nerve-wracking,” she says. “There were definitely a few band members ready to throw up at the drop of a hat. There’s always anxiety, but we survived, and we’re still learning from our mistakes, so this time around we know how much preparation goes into executing something like that.”

Warpaint’s excellent new self-titled album – only the Los Angeles quartet’s second since their 2004 formation – sees the band’s sound evolving in unexpected ways.

“It’s a little bit different to our last record,” says Mozgawa. “We weren’t really a fully functioning live band when we recorded before. We spent about two-and-a-half years promoting that record and performing live, and finding out the type of band that we actually were, just naturally throughout that process. I think during the whole process of touring the last album and then working out what we would want to do for the next one we realised that we wanted more space in our music.”

“I feel that the first record has a lot of excitement in it, but it’s a lot of teenage excitement and it’s not very measured. When we wrote the new songs they kind of went somewhere else, and we wanted to maintain the focus, but it’s hard to say what they’re like stylistically, as every song is a bit different. The album is just the most natural expression of who we are as a band at this very moment. It’s been called minimalist, and that was intentional I guess; to do things a bit differently, but I don’t think there was necessarily a strong, overriding theme of minimalism. That’s just what we found worked at the time, but we are still a band very conscious of not being over-produced and still having that natural element. Minimalism certainly has a lot to do with how we operate. We recorded it in Echo Park, Los Angeles, at a studio called Fivestar, and we mixed the majority at Assault and Battery in London, which is our producer’s home studio.”

Despite the clear vision the band had for the album, they found that one final ingredient was missing. Enter English producer Nigel Godrich, sometimes referred to as the “sixth member” of Radiohead.

“I think we got to a point towards the end of the mixing process with two songs – ‘Love Is To Die’ and ‘Feeling Alright’ – where we really needed some kind of objectivity, as we had been living with the album for many, many months,” says Mozgawa. “We needed someone who could see it from another angle, and we were really lucky to have Nigel available to us to do that. He’s really much more of an artist than a producer, and he made a real difference to those two songs.”

Not satisfied with simply releasing an album and embarking on a world tour at the same time, an upcoming documentary will accompany the album, which Mozgawa says will show the band in a new light.

“There are little pieces of it being released systematically over the next few months. It will tie in to the different elements; from the single release onwards. Eventually it will be a fully-formed piece. It’s being done by Chris Cunningham, who doesn’t do things in an obvious way, ever. It’s going to be more of an art-form that a conventional documentary; quite personal and something a little bit different.”

As part of their world tour, the band will make the trip to Australia to vie for audience attention as part of a stellar indie-rock Laneway Festival line-up, among the likes of Lorde, Haim, Kurt Vile and The Jezabels.

“We played Laneway three years ago and came back in July of that year as well, and we’re a different band in many ways,” she says. “We’ll be playing new songs as well as old, and hopefully people will have heard the new album before we come.”

WARPAINT PLAY LANEWAY FESTIVAL, RNA SHOWGROUNDS FRI 31 JAN. WARPAINT IS OUT NOW.

Mark Hosking of Karnivool: “It was a nice cap on what has been a very busy year”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

karnivool

THEIR LATEST ALBUM might have won them an ARIA, but don’t expect Karnivool to go changing to try to please us, says guitarist Mark Hosking.

“I certainly didn’t expect it to happen with this band, you know?” he says. “We were nominated for a couple, I think, and hard rock is such a weird area. We don’t even really define ourselves as hard rock, and it’s hard to say what we even are. The new album is quite challenging, but we don’t make apologies for that as it’s part of what we do. I think all awards need to be taken with a little bit of humble pie, but it’s a nice accomplishment. You never know how these things are going to go, so it was a nice cap on what has been a very busy year.”

More than four years in the making, the Perth quintet’s third full-length record sees the band once again pushing the boundaries of rock music.

“Asymmetry is a continuation of the journey that this band is on,” Hosking says. “We’ve always said we’re never going to do the same album twice. With this one we really had a chance to try a few things we’ve never tried before. The process of taking a long time to write music, turning every stone over and making sure we always find something we can use to our advantage is just the next phase of how we’re trying to be creative with this band. If we had our way we’d do an album every year, but we just know that’s not physically possible with the kind of stuff we’re doing. We do need time to breathe, and to be honest there are a couple of songs on the album that have come together in weeks, and others that have taken six to seven months. We’re happy because if we wanted to change it we could, but we seem to keep falling back to this period of time which tends to be around three to four years, when it feels like it’s cooked, if you know what I mean.”

Australian fans won’t have to wait long to see the band, with a national tour locked in for January.

“We definitely back our live show,” he says. “It’s something we feel is strong and we love to do it. There’s always trepidation about how new songs will be received; some people are going to like them and some people aren’t. On the live front, some people hear the more challenging songs and it clicks, or they get it more when they hear it live. We know that live, we have a better chance of getting our music across to people and they can better understand what you’re trying to do.”

Despite the ARIA win and plenty of recognition at home and abroad, Hosking is clear that the band won’t be resting on it’s laurels.

“We’ve just had a discussion about what’s happening in 2014,” he says. “It’s all a bit of a balancing act as we all have other things going on in our lives now and we’re no spring chickens any more. In saying that, we’ve made a big commitment to tour, tour, tour this album hard. We’ll be doing at least another run around Australia. There are some festivals overseas, more European action, and hopefully we’ll be getting to the States, as we’ve promised so many people we will. Around that, we’ll be trying to get these new ideas out of our heads and starting to form the next album.”

KARNIVOOL PLAY THE SHOWGROUNDS MARQUEE JAN 11.

Bob Hardy of Franz Ferdinand: “Everybody is up for a party and it’s generally a great atmosphere”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

franz ferdinand

FRANZ FERDINAND bassist Bob Hardy definitely isn’t a man with a plan.

“I never think any more than two or three weeks into the future,” he says. “I was at art school when we started and joining a band was just like ticking a box for me, then we had some unexpected success. We were expecting to maybe sell 500 records ourselves at gigs. The first big moment was having a record company wanting to sign us, which felt insane and went much further than our ambitions did at the time. We’d just been playing parties for our friends; that was our reason to start a band. The Mercury Prize was a surreal moment but I was pretty drunk at the time, so I don’t remember thinking much about it.”

Almost ten years after their breakthrough single ‘Take Me Out’, the Scottish indie-rockers will hit our shores with new material in tow.

“Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action came out in August,” he says. “So we’ll be playing a wide selection from that, mixed in with material from the previous three albums. We’ve been playing the new songs since the beginning of August at festivals and we did a small US tour last month. We’ve enjoyed playing them and they fit into the set well. It’s nice to have fresh material to inject into the set and they’ve been going down well, so we’re happy. It’s kind of weird, but whenever you’ve got a new song, it’s almost like it’s not real until you’ve played it at least once, and then every time after that it feels like a proper Franz Ferdinand song. The first time is always a little bit odd, but we’ve played them a couple of dozen times now, so there aren’t nerves any more. To be honest, the new songs in the set are the highlights for us because they’re the ones which are freshest and we’ve played the least amount of times, and personally, they’re the ones I most look forward to.”

Recording of their latest album saw the quartet decamp to familiar territory in Sweden.

“For our first album, our producer Tore Johansson had a studio in Malmö which was really great,” he says. “This time around we were doing a few songs with Björn Yttling from Peter Björn and John, and it was a similar deal really. He has a studio in Stockholm which is incredible and we wanted to use it. On those occasions we were travelling for the producer more than the country, although one thing about Sweden particularly is that there are incredible amps and guitars and stuff. Because the exchange rate has been in their favour for so long and they have such a strong currency, over the years all the best gear in Europe slowly gets sucked up into Scandinavia because they can afford it, you know? They have amazing vintage amps, guitars and keyboards, so that’s one definite advantage.”

Previous album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand had hints of a more electronic sound, but Hardy maintains the heart of the band lies with guitars.

“There are synths on this album, used sparingly,” he says. “On our third album we used banks of synths in the studio. There’s a track called ‘Lucid Dreams’ at the end that goes into more of a dance direction, but on this record we’ve gone back to the guitars being the bedrock of all songs with synths added for flavouring. On the third album there were songs that came about because of certain synth sounds or a groove played on a synthesiser. We still play a broad selection of songs live from all our albums, so those elements will be there for sure. Our default mode going into writing always starts with guitars or possibly a piano.”

Ask Hardy what he’s most looking forward to about their Australian gigs and the answer is immediate.

“Sunshine is obviously a big draw,” he says. “I really like Australia. It’s got probably the best bits of Europe and America combined. The food’s excellent and the people are really nice. It’s just a different pace of life, I find. Everybody is up for a party and it’s generally a great atmosphere.”

FRANZ FERDINAND PLAY THE TIVOLI NOV 17.

Director Jon S. Baird: “I didn’t want to be a slave to the tapeworm, you know?”

/ Paul McBride / Leave a comment

filth director

JON S. BAIRD’S decision to write and direct a film based on an Irvine Welsh novel could be called a crazy brave move.

Based on the Trainspotting author’s book of the same name, Filth tells the dark and twisted story of crooked Edinburgh cop Bruce Roberton’s bid to secure promotion amid his descent into drug-ravaged, sexually-depraved madness.

“I was introduced to Irvine through a mutual friend at the book launch for Crime, the follow-up to Filth,” he says. “We were both pretty drunk at the time and the first thing I said to him was I think Filth is his best book, it was the first one I read and I’d love to do it, just as an off-hand comment. That was back in 2008. Someone else had the rights at the time, and I think there had four previous attempts to do it, all of which didn’t work for one reason or another. The first thing we said was that at its heart it should be a very dark comedy. The book is funny, but also so dark that we needed to give the film some sort of empathy with Bruce and we started that with comedy.”

The film stars X-Men’s James McAvoy in the lead role alongside Imogen Poots, Jamie Bell and Jim Broadbent.

“It was weird because before we cast James, he was probably the last person we thought was going to be Bruce,” Baird says. “We’d looked at his other roles and we thought he didn’t seem right. Then when we met him he just blew us away, he’s such a clever and edgy guy. Irvine has gone on record to say that of every character he has created that have been translated onto the screen, James’s portrayal of Bruce is the most like what he had in his mind, and there’s some pretty big company to keep there. That says it all really, if Irvine is saying that about you.”

Finding the middle ground between the literal filth of the book and that which is suitable for a film audience was an added challenge for the Scottish director.

“I didn’t want to be a slave to the tapeworm, you know?” he says. “I wanted to include it, because it’s such a big part of the book, but it was never a stress or anything like that. We decided quickly that we’re going to personify the tapeworm, we’re going to take the doctor from the book who is looking after Bruce’s physical ailments and involve him in more of a psychological decline. His conscience in the book is the tapeworm, and we added that to the doctor to make a psychiatrist. Irvine gives you the best characters and dialogue in the world, but he doesn’t give you the clearest of narratives, which was a challenge. If the book was sanitised too much I’d have been absolutely murdered, and if it was a literal translation nobody would have gone to see it. The litmus test was Irvine himself. He was the first person I showed it to, and thankfully he liked it, and that gave me confidence to go on. Obviously when you’re making the film, there’s a whole new challenge to bring it off the page.”

“The scene that James thought the hardest to shoot was the one with the young girl in the bedroom, but I wanted to give him as much reassurance that it wasn’t going to come across as harsh as it felt on the day. There’s always an element with Bruce that the joke is on him, and that scene could have been a hell of a lot darker. My favourite is the scene where Bruce and Amanda are on the staircase; the part where they’re arguing to-and-fro, and then they get to the bottom and there’s a big explosion of emotion and insanity. We could tell on the day we shot that by the crew’s reactions that this was a good scene.”

Working with Irvine Welsh has had some side benefits for a director relatively new to the business.

“Throughout the process we’ve became very good pals,” he says. “In the next few days we’re going off to Japan to do some of the press over there, and it doesn’t feel like a work trip at all; more like a boys’ holiday together. He’s became such a good mentor, for want of a better word. He’s 55 going on 15, and is such a sweet, self-effacing guy and very unlike what people think he’s going to be, myself included. He’s just a really solid human being, and I don’t know where all his stuff comes from to be honest. He gave a lot of emotional support throughout the process, but wasn’t massively involved – apart from writing the book obviously!”

FILTH IS RELEASED NATIONWIDE NOV 21.