Bearing the terrible clichéd nature of this question, what do you reckon people will say you sound like?
Indie rock folk alt Xmas jingles.
What do you hate about the music industry?
I wouldn’t be dishing out hate in such a general way, however, I “actively avoid” having anything to do with people in the industry who clearly just aren’t into music. The industry is just a deep pool of people who are trying to head in whatever their own version of ‘up’ is – I love working with people who have a sympathetic version of ‘up’, but honestly I don’t think about the other ones enough to hate them.
What inspires or has influenced your music the most?
Well the band as a whole site a very wide array of art and music as influences, which mean a lot to them, but I guess I can’t really speak on behalf of the others right now. Personally though, my first and foremost musical heroes were John Rodgers and Ken Edie whose music made me think very differently about life. It’s unbelievably unique and phenomenal Australian music – I shouldn’t start ranting about that here though because I’ll never stop. Others are Elliott Carter (may he RIP), Olivier Messiaen, Boulez, Radiohead, The Beatles of course…
What do you think a band has to do these days to succeed?
That really depends on your definition of success, but I’d say that the foundation for any version of success is fantastic sounding music with depth. At least, it should be…it is to us.
When are you playing live/releasing your album/EP/single/etc?
We are in the middle of a big national tour right now, celebrating our single Six Months In A Cast. We finish our NSW leg this week, then head to Melbourne to play the Workers Club on Friday December 28, and then Falls Festival on Saturday December 29, rounding off our single tour. We’ll be recording the rest of our new album through January and February with our favourite pep-pep, awesome Brisbane producer, Matt Redlich. Our next single will be out in February, followed by our album a few months later.
What makes you happiest about what you’re doing?
Spontaneous creation and connection with people on a deeper level than words. I love music which sounds and feels fantastic – I get that from fewer places the older I get, but TTWT definitely has it in droves, for me.
What’s the strangest place you’ve ever played a gig, or made a recording?
I played at Kevin Rudd’s budget launch a few years ago – it’s hard to know where to begin describing the strangeness. Extremely funny though! Attempted to record a double bass/percussion film score with Ritchie D and Yukon Snakes in The Gap water reservoir, but unfortunately we couldn’t get our shit over the razor wire.
Do you have a pre-gig ritual? If so, what is it?
We all have a little cuddle and then crowd around Tom’s iPhone for this vocal warm-up thing on YouTube.
How do you balance making and playing music with your other commitments?
Simple answer is, I don’t. I have a terribly obsessive personality, but that’s me.
