“The words that we’re using now aren’t the words we were using then,” Ellard says of those early days in the ‘80s and ‘90s. “It was basically inner city music that we made in Australia, at a time when we were more isolated from the rest of the world. Since then, all of these terms have been stuck on it to label it, and I don’t think any of those terms actually mean anything.
“Nowadays people are making music thinking, ‘Alright, this is for dance music listeners, this is soundtrack.’ None of that was really in anybody’s mind back then. It was liberated from all of that. There are still obviously dance parties happening all over the place. Maybe the difference back then was that people hadn’t gotten into the fear of drugs, of young people doing things they disapproved of. At the time, it was a little less constrained, a little less constricted. And the parties were bigger. None of that was directly to do with us, we were just there on the side when all of these dance parties were starting up. We were convenient, but we were never really a dance party band.”
These days, Ellard’s musical interests are deeply entrenched in game design (“If you’re interested in what’s going on right now,” he says. “Then you’re interested in game.”). Despite being the only original member of Severed Heads still standing, after all of these years it has remained a collaborative beast, and you suspect it’s part of the reason why he keeps finding the inspiration to fight off stagnation.
“There are people who come and go, it’s like people stopping by to bring their own ideas before moving on to do their own thing again. It evolves, and it changes. We’ve always tried to be progressive, to do something new, something that’s moving forward. That was pretty clear back in the last century, when people were hoping for new things. What’s really interesting at the moment is that people hate new things. They just want old things over and over, and that whole progressive thing is getting harder and harder to do. That’s really the dilemma we’re facing. We used to be part of that search for something new, but that’s not as wanted anymore.”
Beyond the scope of the music itself, Severed Heads – despite what the name implies – is truly a band that refuses to die. Ellard has attempted to close the book on his strange fortunes here many times, with an “absolutely final” gig back in 2011 quickly followed by many others. Despite his best efforts, it seems like the Heads are here to stay.
“I’ve tried many times to [disband]. It was a joke name that we made up in high school because we wanted to piss people off, and to be a middle-aged man still using that years later is a bit tragic. But it’s like brand names. Coca Cola, Disney, they just won’t go away no matter what you try to do. Every time I try to do something interesting and different, people get frightened. We’re in very conservative times. Most bands last two years. And if you’ve been going for too long, after a while people just can’t take it anymore.
“When we play live tonight, we’ll be doing a set that people will recognise. People want to hear things that they know, that’s your fundamental audience. But they’re going to be new versions, new workings of them. There’s some compromise between making people happy, and trying to move forward.”
By Adam Norris
