“It’s always great to turn up somewhere and have a decent amount of people come into a room that obviously really like your band, because they’re singing along to the words and getting right into it,” says bassist David Morgan. “That’s what keeps us going back out on the road.”
On that note, in celebration of their brand new single Burn, next Friday Bonjah will take over Howler. Burn harnesses the rockier, groovier sound introduced on last year’s third LP Beautiful Wild, which nominates it as powerful addition to the setlist.
“[Beautiful Wild] is a bit more of an upbeat album compared to our other albums,” Morgan agrees, “so that’s a hell of a lot of fun to play live.”
Beautiful Wild came out last April and Bonjah spent the year’s remaining months touring to all parts of the country. Despite such a loaded schedule, the spirit of fun that reared its head on that record wouldn’t keep quiet. “We had a couple of ideas floating around for songs, then Moz [Glenn Mossop, vocals/guitar] showed us Burn.” Morgan says.
Much like Beautiful Wild, Burn was recorded with Melburnian producer Jan Skubiszewski; also known as Way of the Eagle. After developing a creatively stimulating partnership during the Beautiful Wild sessions, Skubiszewski was the obvious man to call on to help out with the new tune.
“He’s a great producer, a great engineer and also a great musician,” Morgan says “It really clicked when we worked on Beautiful Wild together. We thoroughly enjoyed it, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, so it was a natural decision.”
Producer input can be vital in a variety of ways, whether it be getting the right sounds, extracting optimum performances or encouraging musicians to try new and unexpected things. As Bonjah’s working relationship with Skubiszewski continues to strengthen, the recorded output benefits accordingly.
“We’ll definitely look to work with Jan whenever we can,” Morgan says “It’s a great thing to be able to work with an outsider that brings something to the table that everyone really appreciates and it does the push the boundaries and brings a new angle for how to approach the music.”
The Burn tour is additionally significant as these will be Bonjah’s only Australian headline shows of 2015. This seems awfully out of character for the four-piece, who’ve habitually jumped on the road at any given opportunity. Once the tour concludes, they’ll head to Canada, but it’s not overseas commitments keeping them away from local stages for the rest of the year. Rather, the studio beckons again.
“We’re going to knuckle down and work on a record really,” Morgan says. “We released Beautiful Wild last year, but there was a couple of years in between drinks from that album and [2011’s Go Go Chaos]. We don’t really want to leave it that long until the next one.”
Around the release of Beautiful Wild, Bonjah spoke to Beat about how they’d found their true sound on that record. A realisation such as this is somewhat dangerous, because it could encourage an imitation of the previously successful mode. Entering their next phase of recording, Bonjah are wary of this trap. “We don’t want to really repeat what we’ve done,” Morgan says.
Indeed, while Burn does carry forward the extroverted style of Beautiful Wild, it’s not necessarily a presage of what’s to come. “The vibe and the direction we headed for with Beautiful Wild was definitely something we really enjoyed and we felt more comfortable doing. But who knows what the future’s going to bring?” Morgan says. “It’s quite exciting to think there’s a blank canvas there and we can do whatever we want from now on.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
