As it is, the fact that he achieves many of these very achievements achievements in Germany instead of Australia means that his infrequent homecomings are a cause for celebration and much quaffing of ale. Just check out these accomplishments: He was given artist in residence/arts ambassador position for the city of Dachau, Germany, to help promote the image of the city, which included a year’s free accommodation in a villa to base himself for recording and in between tours); he was selected through competition in Germany’s Rolling Stone mag to join the tour of Ray Cokes’s live talk show Ray’s Guesthouse; he wormed his way into a metal festival with Sepultura, Agnostic Front and Skindred; his video for Spiders was number one on POP10 for three weeks in the state of Saxony-Anhalt; he’s played 100 shows through Europe, including Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands; and he’s begun working on a music show on Leipzig TV, a gig that will involve hosting and conducting interviews.
So, Tim McMillan, with all of that going on, what the hell are you doing back in Melbourne? “I’ve come back for three months,” McMillan says. “I’ve been pretty much living in Germany full time, but we’re just recording at the moment. We’re doing pretty much five shows in Australia, and that’s it!” That recording is for a new album, the following up last year’s Angel. And while that album was a fine example of McMillan’s trademark ‘laid back Goblincore folk’ sound, the new one will encompass more of a prog influence – Proglincore, if you will. “We just got the money this week,” McMillan says. “We did a crowd funding thing and we got three grand from that, so we’re waiting to book in to a studio. Like last year, [Matt] Crute did the drums in Australia and we brought the tracks over. We’re hoping to get a day to do something in the studio here, and finish it off in Germany …” Is that an efficient way to work? Some musicians love it and others don’t. “Last time we worked by email we ended up taking out some of the tracks because it took away from the live energy of some of the songs. And that gave us a lot more variation from song to song.” It doesn’t look like it’ll happen this time around, but one of McMillan’s dreams is to have one Mr. Devin Townsend produce an album. Given Devy’s appreciation for musical forms that fall well outside of his established metal persona, such a union would surely produce some pretty incredible music, especially when filtered through McMillan’s current listening diet of Devy, Jethro Tull and Ugly Kid Joe (who he got to join on a tour stop recently).
Melbourne fans will get to witness the goblin majesty at the Rock The Bay festival, which returns to the Espy on Saturday February 16. It features Australia’s hairiest band, The Beards, as well as Electric Mary, Sleepmakeswaves, Bellusira, Engine Three Seven, King Of The North, The Khyber Belt, Sleep Parade, Breaking Orbit, New Skinn, Moroccan Kings, Manatarms, One, Sons Of Abraham, Holliava and more. For hardcore McMillan fans it’s one of those ‘sure bet’ gigs. “Yeah! We’re playing it again. It’s pretty much the only gig we play in Melbourne. I’m looking forward to that. I’ve got the new lineup with Paul Haug on bass, from Contrive, and Rachel Snow, the violin player, is playing pretty much full-time now.” The lads are also playing at the Ferntree Gully hotel with Sydonia, and at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. It’s a good indicator of the kind of variety a band opens itself up to when the material is so unique that it doesn’t fit into any one particular basket. “I’ve been lucky – I can make a living off this now, and I think that’s one of the reasons. Like in Germany we can play a big festival with Sepultura and then we can turn around and do a festival for over-60s.”
BY PETER HODGSON
