For the past decade and a half 78 Saab have been an integral part of the Australian music scene; playing a pivotal role on the festival circuit, hitting the road for a string of nationwide tours and releasing hit after hit of good ol’ fashioned indie rock and roll.
For the past decade and a half 78 Saab have been an integral part of the Australian music scene; playing a pivotal role on the festival circuit, hitting the road for a string of nationwide tours and releasing hit after hit of good ol’ fashioned indie rock and roll. Following the recent release of their fourth studio album Good Fortune, vocalist Benjamin Nash happily explains how the record came to fruition. “On our previous albums we spent a lot more time being pastoral, with a lot of organ and a lot of acoustic guitar. On this album we really wanted to bring it back to an electric guitar focus,” he shares.
“We’re all also big vinyl enthusiasts,” he adds, “so we wanted to keep it very tight and compact; less than 40 minutes like a lot of classic records. We had a pool of about 20 or so songs which we continued to strip back to their bare essence,” he pauses to think.
“Lyrically it’s a bit darker than previous albums. Over the past few years all of us had gone through a few personal upheavals; [with] things like that you can’t help but feel affected by and they somehow found their way into the lyrics against the tide of ‘good fortune’ I guess.”
Upon listen, Good Fortune thoroughly encompasses the dynamic and energetic classic and soulful song-writing the quartet have been refining for the past 15 years. Enriched with their signature guitar tones, poignant vocals and muscular underpinning bass lines, Nash believes Good Fortune symbolises the growth and musical imminence of the group.
“We’ve definitely got a lot better at nailing our sound,” he asserts. “We recorded it really quickly; it’s easily the quickest we’ve ever made an album. We recorded the tracks extensively over a few days and then sent them over to Tom Whitten for production…” he pauses and laughs, “Obviously being an independent band time is money, but we don’t want a really lo-fi sound, we want to get a really solid sound out of the studio but there’s not much time.
“We have to do all the little things right and we all think it came together really well.”
Renowned nationwide for their vibrant, vivacious and beastly live performances, 78 Saab have purified their act throughout almost every rock ‘n’ roll venue in Australia over the length of their career. With refinement and development an integral element of the group’s progression, Nash shares their current beliefs on performing and their combined growth on stage, noting “I like to think compared to all of the other rock bands we play everything a little bit faster and a little bit looser.
“There’s obviously a few more beers involved” he laughs. “In the studio it’s like to science to us because we know the exact result we’re after, as when we’re playing live we like to have a lot of fun and bring out a few surprises. There’s no kind of concept coming in when we’re coming into our shows. We like just coming onto the stage, plugging in and going from there.”
He pauses as he finishes the last of his beer, “Also now I think we’ve got a really good back catalogue now stretching about 14 years. We’re really able to pace our shows now and choose where we want to take them. It’s been a really interesting process witnessing how we’ve changed live as a band.”
After 15 years under the sweaty Australian rock spotlight 78 Saab have well and truly established themselves as fundamental cornerstones of the Australian rock ethos, with their already long and affluent history, Nash shares his future visions for 78 Saab and their plans for expansion and evolution and why they believe the most exciting prospects for the group are yet to come. “The main thing is just to ensure we keep ourselves excited and on our toes, if you grow stagnant it really reflects in your music.
“We’ve reached an end point in the way we’ve gone about recording, especially with how we’ve gone into writing our last two albums. There are some really strong common threads. I think with everything we’ve been listening to lately and the way we want to move ahead we’re really keen to try out something new and maybe be a bit more expansive in our instrumentation.
“We’re really keen to see how the next few years turn out for us,” he nods. “We’re doing this because we love to make music, not because we’re making millions of dollars. If you don’t love something you shouldn’t do it.”
Before embarking on what will undoubtedly be a summer filled with festivals, beers and dozens of shows around the country, 78 Saab will play an intimate performance showcasing their grandeur new material along with a select few of their old and classic favourites. “I’m really looking forward to testing the new material on stage and gauging the reaction. It’s an exciting time and I’m really confident with what we’ve produced so it’ll be great to show it off and have a great time with some old and new friends”.
Good Fortune is out now through Other Tongues and features first single Whatever Rules You Break. 78 SAAB will launch Good Fortune with a massive album launch at The East Brunswick Club on Saturday November 6. Tickets from The East box office, 9388 9794 or eastbrunswickclub.com.
