“I stumbled across it in a shop and it just caught my eye and it was a bit broken,” remembers Wilson. “So it was kind of a bit of an orphan so I like to fix them up, I like to restore all kinds of things so it was a bit of a project. Once I got it working again, it’s a bizarre looking thing, got it into shape to play it just had this very distinctive guitar tone and that led me into this album.”
The album he speaks of is Stompy and The Heat’s self titled debut, originally released late last year and which is now getting a release on vinyl. The distinctive guitar tone can be heard right across the record and Wilson is quick to point out the impact the guitar had on the record. “They (the songs) came around via that guitar,” he says. “Certain guitars have got certain vibes and a certain spirit in them and this one pretty much provided all the sound of this album. It’s all based on this kinda cruddy sounding guitar. A lot of the guitar sounds are actually that cheapo guitar through a five watt amp.”
Originally conceived by Wilson and long time friend and drummer Pete Marin, the record was heavily influenced by their love of ‘60s rock‘n’roll, soul and R&B, bands like The Pretty Things, The Small Faces and MC5. These bands also influenced the way in which they approached the recording of the album, particularly their desire to maintain as much of the live feel and energy as possible.
“It was nice to record, get the ideas down rough, then spend a few months making sure that’s what we want and then going into the studio and getting things down really quickly and keeping the energy there rather than having to labour over it and do too many takes,” he remembers. “We went in quite prepared and not over rehearsed, we wanted to sound a bit loose. A couple of the songs I sprung them on Pete on the day. Because he’s that type of drummer – if you surprise him he plays really well and he’s good under pressure.”
Another pivotal moment for Stompy and The Heat was the addition of Bow Campbell on vocals. Wilson himself was set to tackle the vocal duties however was not entirely happy with the initial results. Luckily, he knew just the guy for the job. “I’ve known Bow for a long time and have always wanted to work with him,” he says. “I did this as kinda really my show and I was doing everything. And I sang all the vocals and then I thought, ‘You know what, I’m not really happy’ or ‘I’m not as happy with the vocals as I am with the rest of the stuff, the rest of the instruments’. I’m all about trying to get the best result you know? I talked to Bow and I sent him the tracks and he really liked it and wanted to be involved. I mean he just came in and he re-did my vocals and made them sound good you know, he’s a fair dinkum singer. He leaves me for dead.”
During the recording process Wilson was also lucky enough to be able to call on a number of his musician friends to come in and help out on the record. “When it’s time to get guests involved and stuff like that I’m lucky enough that the people I know are fucking great,” he says. “There’s a great pedal steel player on there, if I want some girls singing I’ve got Emma Donavon there, you can’t get better. So I’m very fortunate that I can call these people up and say, ‘Hey come around, can you do this for me?” I don’t take it for granted. The way I see it is I’m so much on this you know what I mean that by the end of it I wanted to get people in to help me out. I’m not Prince you know what I mean,” he laughs.
BY JAMES NICOLI
