“All the people involved in the making of this album were, or have become, really close friends,” Sinclair says. “We’ve never been interested in working with people simply because we’ve heard that they’re a crack-shot session musician.”
In spite of suffering from a self-described case of “man flu”, Sinclair’s natural manner and self-deprecating sense of humour make it easy to see why he’s one of the most admired and popular figures on the local alt-country/ folk circuit. Diamonds In The Bloodstream came together with help from several of the band’s talented contemporaries, including solo artists Liz Stringer, Tracy McNeil and Van Walker, as well as O’Mara’s Amarillo band mate Jacqueline Tonks.
“There was a lot of love in the studio,” says Sinclair. “[Love] within the band and for the people who helped us along the way, including our engineer Roger Bergodaz – he’s a very lovable guy.
“The live music scene in Melbourne is really close-knit,” he adds. “All of our mates are musicians, and they just happen to be incredibly talented, so that makes life a little easier.”
With goodwill in abundance, Sinclair says the making of Diamonds In The Bloodstream was fairly relaxed. This contradicts reports that the band members were anxious to repeat the success and acclaim that surrounded 2013’s self-titled debut. “You know, it’s funny, I read that we felt pressure,” Sinclair says, “but I’m not really sure how that made it into any of the other press. What I’ve said was that it was in the back of my mind that I was writing an album that people were going listen to critically. I never really thought anyone cared that much before.
“If anything this record was incredibly easy to make,” he continues. “It was the first one that was a struggle. Because we’d worked really hard for the past couple of years gigging around the place, we were really match-fit when it came time to get into the studio. We had it in the can in five days because we just did live takes. Every song on the album was recorded live – we wanted them to sound like they would at a show. We just over dubbed some extra guitars and the backing vocals and it was done.”
A notable change on Diamonds In The Bloodstream is the restrained use of harmonica – an instrument that featured heavily on the band’s previous release. “It was a conscious decision on my part,” Sinclair says. “I’ve played the harmonica for years, but I’ve never felt comfortable with it. I’m not a good harmonica player and when I go out to watch a band and I see someone whip one out, honestly, I’ll be apprehensive.
“It’s just such a tired way to play acoustic or Americana or folk music,” he elaborates. “You have to be really clever with it for it to work and lot of people are, but there’re also a lot of people that aren’t. I certainly didn’t want to fall into that category. We used it well on the first album, but I’m trying to phase it out of our live shows, because to tell you the truth it drives me crazy having that thing around my neck. I don’t want it anymore – I want to feel free.”
Raised By Eagles will be launching Diamonds In The Bloodstream at Howler this weekend, which is part of a national co-headline tour with Perth’s Americana sweetheart Ruby Boots, aka Bex Chilcott. “I’ve known Bex for a while,” says Sinclair. “She comes to Melbourne fairly often and we’ve shared stages before. I’ve always been so impressed with her, not only her songwriting, but her delivery and her voice. It’s just one of those voices that sounds like classic country – think Lucinda Williams. When I listen to her play I just want to go home, play my guitar and write. It’s always good to be involved with artists that inspire you. Working with Bex has been a bit of an education in terms of work ethic. She really has a great handle on the business side of things. It’s been a lot of work putting these shows together.”
But here comes the fun part, “Because we’ve been sitting on these songs for a long time, it feels so good to be able to share them with people,” Sinclair says. “We have a small but very loyal fan base, which is thankfully starting to grow, so it’s all very exciting.”
BY NATALIE ROGERS
