This is tonight! DO IT!

OHAI Michael Tomlinson from Yves Klein Blue, didn’t see you there on that Vespa.

Sitting in the courtyard of a Lygon St Cellar, I recently caught up with Glenn Richards to talk about his new record. For his string of achievements, Richards is humble and far more softly spoken than you’d expect. We talked about the working process, unhinging difficult themes on the new record and why the last Augie March album was the one that slipped through the cracks.

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How are you feeling about the new album?

Excited. The new record won’t be a huge surprise to people when they hear it. They’ll hear the different musicianship. It’s certainly a lot rougher than the Augie records, we did it as quickly as we possibly could. There’s some days when you do what you gotta do, but some days when you deviate. Melbourne winters, they sometimes get you down. I have my moods, but I’ve been doing it for quite a while.

Could you call yourself a veteran then?

When I was in Augie, I got called a veteran seven years in. Another five years into that, do I qualify as an old man?

Was this record always on the back of your mind?

My brother Chris and I always talked about doing something, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything like that without including Dan (Luscombe). And of course we’ve done lots of things musically together but never actually made a record. He’s got a strong mind. He’s incredibly creative and an incredibly adept person, so he was the number one on my list. And Mike Noga; although he’s a drummer it’s such a small branch of the other things he does. He’s another really talented, really self effacing sort of person. I love those guys. I couldn’t think of a better group.

Do you think this record could have been different, had you released it earlier?

Thats always a hard one, you never really realise how exhausted you are after the last touring cycle, again you could have a good day and decide, now’s the time to start. But if you’re going to write anything real, you can’t expect that you’ve filtered everything that’s happened for the last three years until it’s ready.

If you work hard, the songs will come. But you’ve gotta live as well. Touring is not really living.

(more…)

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate – ‘Swampdance’ (mp3)

Oh, bands with silly names. There sure are plenty of you out there.

To be fair, Transvaal Diamond Syndicate‘s name does make sense in the right context, and if you can’t be arsed caring about that, it at least sticks in your mind. Ostensibly a blues rock two-piece, they’ve been smart enough enough to beef up their recordings with added bass, percussion and a great horn section – the effort was definitely worth it. They’re right up there with contemparies The Fumes and Dan Sultan, and hopefully soon they’ll be playing to audiences just as devoted and sizeable. At any rate, their hard work ethic when it comes to touring should keep them fed from merch sales alone.

Their EP ‘Diamonds and Dust’ is out September 15, and they’re playing a shitload of gigs over the next few months, beginning with the Sunshine Coast Blues Festival on Saturday.

www.myspace.com/transvaaldiamondsyndicate

Big Scary – ‘Hamilton’ (mp3)

It’s taken a while for Big Scary to figure out their sound, but I think they’ve nailed this one. ‘Hamilton’ is the release for the month of Spring, and it’s probably the best out of the three to date (see here and here). You’ve got these dissonant bits that loiter around in the verse before the chorus explodes out to this majestic cacophony of cascading melodies and striding drums. For lack of a better word, it’s ‘epic’ in the vein of tracks off Arcade Fire’s first record. Some incredibly lofty sounds here for just a gang of two. I haven’t stopped babbling on about this band to everyone and it’s unlikely that I’ll be doing so in the months ahead.

They’ll be playing Big Sound, One Movement Festival, Falls Fest and joining Hungary Kids of Hungary’s Escapades tour over the next few months, so make sure you catch them around at some point.

www.myspace.com/bigscaryband