“The best word to use would probably be ‘chaotic’, actually,” laughs Simons. “We had some Christmas and New Year’s parties, then we jumped straight into mastering the EP and then rehearsals, with some Gypsy And The Cat shows in Sydney and Melbourne. Even that was chaotic,” he laughs, “having to try and cram way too many guys on the bus!
“Laneway was crazy in particular because we weren’t expecting to get a slot on that, and prior to that we’d only played two shows! It was amazing getting the chance to play alongside some of our favourite bands and the people that have had a direct influence on us – like Beach House and Foals. It was just unbelievable.”
If Buchanan have managed to achieve that much in only a year and a half, Simons is excited at what the rest of the year could possibly bring once debut EP No Photo officially comes out. In terms of the record’s sound, Simons says “think big drums,” he grins. “Prior to this we had a collection of demos which was just released on iTunes (Safety Beach); this is the first properly-mixed and mastered release we’ve ever done,” he explains. “We’ve been so surprised by the reaction to everything we’ve done, but it just goes to show that hard work, talent and patience equals something in the end. For the first time we also had a drummer in the sessions so we were able to have heaps more experimentation.”
When it rains it pours, according to Simons, who claims that, with the EP done, Buchanan are pretty much ready to get back in the studio and start putting down tracks for the follow up. With a whopping 40 new tracks from a month of demoing, Simons admits it helps having a home studio handy.
“You can get up at three in the morning and run down to the studio as soon as you get an idea pop into your head, then spend the next day tweaking it; so it’s not hard to get a collection of songs happening pretty quickly. Personally, I would like to see the development of an album as one body of work but it comes down to the group consensus. We produced No Photo on our own, but the previous EP ‘Safety Beach’ was produced with Tim Cross [ex-Mike Oldfield collaborator] in England. Ideally, I’d like to work with him again but we’d like to get some co-production going with bigger name producers too. I also just love England so I’d love to go back there. I’m from there but I haven’t lived there in 10 years. It’s an inspiring place in many ways. People living in England claim that when you live there for too long you get stuck creatively, but if you can effectively travel in and our of England and back to Australia, I’m sure it would keep things fresh.”
