It’s been a relatively big six months for Baby Animals. The Sydney band released the compilation LP, Greatest Hits, in February before embarking on a national 30th anniversary tour through May, supported by Killing Heidi.
The band are now taking a break from the live circuit, which gives Suze DeMarchi (vocals/guitar) and Dave Leslie (lead guitar) a chance to demo material for a possible fifth LP. In the meantime, Leslie will make an appearance at the Melbourne Guitar Show, which comes to Caulfield Racecourse over the first weekend of August.
Although not the most prolific act on the scene, Baby Animals have long occupied canonical status, but Leslie says they don’t feel like old timers.
“The 30-year thing was a bit of a shock. A lot of it was a bit of a blur. I had a moment in the van with Suze the other night where she just gave me a whack and said, ‘Fuckin’ 30 years Lesso. Who would have thought that?’ It’s weird. We’re still writing tunes, but it’s been a big adventure.”
Baby Animals formed in 1989 and released two albums – Baby Animals and Shaved and Dangerous – before going their separate ways in 1996. The four-piece reformed in 2007 and recorded the acoustic album, Il Grande Silenzio, the following year. Then, in 2009, DeMarchi and Leslie said farewell to the original rhythm section of Eddie Parise and Frank Celenza, and subsequently recruited drummer Mick Skelton and bassist Dario Bortolin.
Baby Animals’ fourth LP, This Is Not the End, arrived in 2013. Greatest Hits features two new songs plus a cover of Linda Ronstadt’s ‘How Do I Make You’ and the 2018 single, ‘Tonight’. However, their live shows tend to focus heavily on the first two records.
“I still look forward to touring and playing those tunes,” says Leslie. “When you look down the setlist there’s nothing where you think, ‘oh god, this song’. There’s no dead spot in our set, so I’m grateful for that. We enjoy each other’s company and enjoy playing music together. You really can’t get much better than that.”
Leslie took part in last year’s Melbourne Guitar Show, performing a set with his band. This year’s appearance will be a little different.
“I’m just doing a meet the musician type of deal on Sunday afternoon. It’s a question and answer type of thing. Peter Hodgson from the I Heart Guitar blog is conducting it. I’ll sit there like a stooge with a guitar plugged in, maybe demonstrate a few things, have a bit of a jam, talk about approaches and philosophies and guitar stuff. I’m just glad to be involved.”
The music industry has gone through various transfigurations since Baby Animals started out, one being the declining prominence of guitars and rock music. There are ongoing pronouncements that the guitar has had its day and will soon be phased out, but they’ve yet to be wholly vindicated.
“I don’t think it’ll ever die out,” Leslie says. “Every guitar player’s got their own individual voice. Even though it’s only six strings strapped onto a piece of wood, it’s capable of so many varied expressions of emotion. It’s a freak. Hopefully there’ll always be a need for it.”
As for Leslie’s personal connection with the instrument, the guitar scarcely leaves his conscious mind.
“It’s still something that I lose massive amounts of sleep thinking about,” he says. “I think about parts and plugging this into that, it’s never-ending. It’s been an obsession since I was about eight years old. The guitar will never let you down, you’ll let it down.
“Sometimes I think I probably don’t do enough of the right sort of practise. Sometimes you get into a bit of a rut, but then you listen to someone like Doug Rappoport or Eric Gale and you think you think, wow, the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know.”
Dave Leslie can be seen at a Meet the Players session on Sunday August 4 at Caulfield Racecourse as part of Melbourne Guitar Show. The show goes down the August 3 and 4. Head to Australian Musician’s official MGS website for more info on what’s going down.
