The boys are about to launch their debut EP and have pooled their various bases of knowledge to create an impressive sound and aesthetic, which is more rockin’ blues than the folkin’ rock they began with on that day in Walkerville. “At the time, we were writing music that was supposed to get played, but after a year and a half it became increasingly apparent that that wasn’t going to work,” MacDonald explains about the band’s infancy. “So we started making music that we enjoyed. Our tastes matured. We went through this period where we were all listening to old Robert Johnson recordings.”
MacDonald also credits fellow Emergenza competition participants and blues princes Ten Cent Pistols with expanding The Groves’ sonic appreciation. By February 2010 when MacDonald and his bandmates were rehearsing in a sweltering studio in Rowville, the creeping passion for that raw sound finally came through into their own music. “Our guitarist had this 13-bar blues progression and we wrote this song in about 15 minutes flat. It was the first song that we really enjoyed writing, and it came really naturally. That first song is on the EP and it’s about two and a half years old. [It] was a turning point,” he says. “There’s something about blues. When it’s such a set structure you can jam on it over and over again. [There’s] a lot of room to create.”
The self-titled EP, which the band is giving away for nothing at the launch, features artwork with some beautifully dark, sparse landscape shots which look like a heavy rain is about to fall on hot earth. “[Michael] is really clued in with that kind of stuff, he does multimedia design. He does all the website design, all the layout, all the art direction, and he designed [the] drum head which was actually a 21st present for our drummer. We figured we’d get him something that we had a use for as well,” he laughs.
With the art angle covered, MacDonald also mentions he and Reid both study journalism so press releases aren’t something they have to outsource either. The cherry on top is Ricciardi’s recent graduation from Box Hill TAFE’s audio engineering course, and so the EP was recorded in the vocalist’s home studio with the aid of good friend Stevie Mayo. “All we had to pay for was the printing of the EP which was cheap as shit, so we thought we’d give it away for free on the night. We figured all our mates have been coming along to these gigs for the last, what, four years? And haven’t got shit for it.” Very thoughtful of you, guys. “It was really cool being able to contain the whole process within the band, and not really feel pressured for time or anything like that,” MacDonald elucidates, although conceding, “It’s also been a problem as well. We can’t really set ourselves deadlines. This EP should have been done a year ago.”
Aside from being a talented studio engineer, Ricciardi’s voice really takes this band’s cred up a notch. Sometimes a bit Daniel Johns and sometimes a bit Bernard Fanning, he’s got that exceptional ability to reach high notes whilst still sounding utterly rock ‘n’ raw, kind of like a harmonica.
The EP launch is going to be a balls-out affair at Revolver Upstairs, which MacDonald says as a venue has never given them anything but great gigs. After that, check the band’s Facebook page for upcoming shows, of which there will be several before the year’s end. It’s the kind of stuff you can’t not jolt around to with your hair all in your face, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to go off live.
BY ZOË RADAS
