It’s important to pinpoint for Packard and the group, because although a lot of our conversation revolves around the shifts away from those bands, a message of newness laps behind everything. “[It’s about] new Gods really being the individual these days. You talk to people about religion and everyone always [says], ‘I’ve got my own personal relationship [with] what I like to call God.’ You’ve probably heard people say things like that. It seems to be the modern way of experiencing spirituality,” Packard elucidates.
Singer Dominic Byrne (Little Red) has written an EP which feels far more soundscapey and meaningful than his previous work, with sweeping, elysian harmonies. “I think it’s definitely an outlet for music that he could make that wasn’t necessarily good time party tunes, as Little Red were more known for,” say Packard. “I feel like the kind of more soundscapey aspect comes from Adrian [Beltrame, also Little Red] on guitar and me on keys. Bringing that kind of tonal quality, because we’re both really into sound.”
Packard’s keys are far thicker and more atmospheric than those we’ve heard in Ground Components. “You’re right, they are pretty different,” he agrees. “In Ground Components it was all about electric piano and organ, and kind of bashing away. I mean it really came from a more punk rock background. Since [then] I’ve developed lots of love and appreciation for dance music and electronic music, which I wasn’t really that into before. Before I just really liked guitars! I just wanted songs to rock,” he laughs. “I feel like since then I’m a lot more open and into electronic sounds, synths, that kind of stuff.”
Known for primarily playing a Roland, Packard has branched out with his hardware. “On the record I use a whole bunch of different stuff,” he says. “The one I’m using live is just a Nord Electro – it’s quite versatile. On the record I mess around with synths. I have friends who have ridiculous synths collections. I don’t have that many myself, so I just kind of went around to their houses before the recording and said, ‘Give me everything you’ve got.’”
Packard is also a pretty talented saxophone player (actually he’s something of a multi-instrumentalist, counting clarinet, drums, guitar and accordion in his arsenal), as audiences have recently discovered. “On one song, Razorblades, I’ve been playing sax,” he says gladly. “You know, possibly more in the future but at this stage it’s just the one track.”
New Gods’ debut self-titled release comes out on the last day of this month, and Packard was pleased with the general turnaround time.
“It seems like bands these days tend to spend quite a long time between records, and working on them. I feel like we worked pretty quickly,” he says. “Dom is so prolific and writes so many songs, we’ve got a lot of material to work with.” Byrne’s fertile brain meant the record didn’t have to be an EP, but the choice was made with reasons. “Initially we thought we might do an album, and recorded more songs than we needed,” Packard explains. “But because we’re a new band we thought we might start with an EP as a bit of an introduction to the band. It came together in a few months.”
While New Gods are certainly new, the frothing masses anticipating the EP are totally aware of the circumstances behind the band’s configuration. New Gods have repeatedly been dubbed an ‘indie supergroup’. “Oh, I feel terrible about that,” Packard laughs and I can see him cringing in my mind’s eye. His next few sentences are sprinkled with halts as he responds kind of abashedly. “I don’t know how that managed to be the thing that everyone is saying. I can’t imagine how anyone would interpret it as a supergroup. I mean you know, we’ve all played in bands before but it’s not like it’s five guys from the biggest bands in the world coming together! It’s just Melbourne; everyone’s played in bands before! I wish that wasn’t what was being said. It feels pretty irrelevant to me.”
BY ZOË RADAS
