The week prior, guitarist Evan James Purdey and vocalist Adam Curley sat at a Fitzroy bar. It wasn’t too long ago – around a year and a half – they put together the initial idea for Gold Class, with a clear focus resulting in the prompt release of their debut single, Michael.
“It was one of our first songs,” Purdey says. “That was after three rehearsals. There was one rehearsal where it was long, dirge-y ten minute jams, then after that we pieced together song ideas. After a few rehearsals, that was one of two or three songs we had. In terms of deciding to release it, we just thought it had a chorus.”
“That was October last year,” Curley says. “We started playing in January, with our first show in April. We were sitting around and Evan said he had some guitar ideas he’d been playing around with. I think I wrote some vocal stuff to those parts, then that was all scrapped by the time the four of us got together. We just started from scratch.”
“That’s been the modus operandi, to put something together then deconstruct it completely until there’s a song,” Curley adds. “It’s laborious, but it’s good. You think ‘Thank fuck’ when you get to the end and you have a song.”
There’s a sense that Gold Class arrived fully formed in the live setting. This notion is compounded by the forthcoming full-length;resolute in its vision and dynamic. “I don’t think any of us are particularly interested in releasing three EPs then a record, what’s the point of that?” Curley says. “The record should just be the songs you have – the songs you’re playing live on an album.”
“It made it harder to separate the songs,” says Purdey. “We couldn’t have done an EP or two EPs. This is a body of work and we put it out as one whole package.”
The live force of Gold Class’s performances is undeniable, a frenzy of elements anchored by Curley’s stoic and soaring vocal prowess. “I don’t think the show itself has changed,” Purdey says. “I think we’re better at it, less nervous. As soon as we sped up the songs it felt natural. And that’s what carries us through a gig, rather than trying to nail anything or be militantly tight.”
On record and in a live setting, Gold Class is a compound of each band member’s distinct element – puzzle pieces that can stand in isolation, but click together so wonderfully. “Mark [Hewitt, drums] is a mind reader,” Purdey laughs. “He can play everything. We’re jealous, so we make him play drums. A huge part of getting him to play in this band and a reason we’re thankful he was available is that it is so easy to communicate with him as a musician. You can say something pretty abstract and he’ll go ‘Oh yeah,’ and know what you’re talking about. You can get all Captain Beefheart, ‘play like a yellow tree,’ sort of thing.”
“That’s probably the case with all of us,” Curley says. “There aren’t many musical terms that get thrown about, they’re all pretty abstract ideas. Everyone seems to be on the same page generally, understanding what each other is talking about. We do talk about keeping things pretty minimal. If anything gets too elaborate, or too grandiose, it gets cut down pretty quickly.”
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
