One of the most intriguing records of 2010 was The John Steel Singers’ adventurous debut album, ‘Tangalooma’ .
One of the most intriguing records of 2010 was The John Steel Singers’ adventurous debut album, Tangalooma . Eccentric, idyllic and otherworldly, Tangalooma was defined by its multi-layered intricacies, beguiling melodies and off-kilter playfulness. However, in the space between completing Tangalooma and its release, the Brisbane experimental-pop six-piece were already preparing its follow-up.
"I was very happy to have the album out, but the most fun thing is always the new songs that we’re writing," says vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Tim Morrissey. "It’s always the most exciting time to be in a band. While we were waiting for the music industry side – for the album to come out – we spent that time working on songs, so we’re happy with this next bunch of songs," he enthuses. "We’ve been doing some extra recording here and there in our rehearsal space, so we’re trying to get the next album all ready to go. At the moment, it’s great to break that up by going out on tour with another great band."
The great band that Morrissey is referring to is, of course, Jonathan Boulet. "The Jonathan Boulet band are a great bunch of guys to hang out with, which – for starters – is one of the best things about touring," states Morrissey. "You can potentially go out to a rural town and play to ten people, but you don’t care because you can have the most fun and more fun than a sold-out show in Sydney, sometimes. I first met Jonathan at The German Club in Brisbane one night for a mutual friend’s birthday party, and they all seemed like really nice guys."
After producing their debut album, The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster surmised that the John Steel Singers will make at least six great albums withTangalooma marked as the first of them. Despite already being an ambitious band, that kind of statement must give them extra drive? "It does, actually," Morrissey affirms. "Funny enough, sometimes if you’re having a crap week or something and things aren’t going right, it’s nice to think of that interview with Robert.
Will the John Steel Singers be working with Forster again on the follow-up to Tangalooma? "I’m not sure about working with Robert directly, but Robert is constantly in contact with us and we’re good friends with Robert now, even on completely non-work related matters," says Morrissey. "Every now and then, he’ll call up and I’ll be working with Scott [Bromiley] and Luke [McDonald] on a song, and he just happens to call while we’re there. There’s been a couple of times where we’ve gone ‘Robert, we’re working on a song, can you throw us a lyric?’ So he’s still filtering into the new songs and he’s actually given us some lyrics here and there for some of our new songs."
"At the moment, we just got some new recording equipment, which is making it easier to record things and potentially an album. It’s always sort of a weird conflict you’ve got going within yourself where when you’re recording; you’re like ‘I can’t wait to go on tour but I’m enjoying this recording’ and when a tour comes along, you’re like ‘touring’s great but geez, I can’t wait to get back to recording’. It’s just that constant battle within yourself where you just want to be able to do it all, all the time. Hopefully, we really want to have it finished by the end of this year and released next year – that’s the big goal for us." Morrissey has always held a deep love of The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Split Enz, but currently he’s drawing much musical and lyrical inspiration from Roxy Music, Silver Apples, Wire, Talking Heads, Eno and 70s Bowie.
The John Steel Singers have already performed at various festivals (including Big Day Out, Falls, Laneway), supported several international acts (The Polyphonic Spree, Built To Spill, The Dodos), and embarked on their first international tour in 2009, in which they played The Great Escape Festival in Brighton. That Brighton performance was one of the band’s most poignant experiences, which inevitably encouraged their international ambitions. "At the moment, we’re trying to organise an overseas tour," Morrissey informs. "It’s definitely a goal for us to get overseas. We don’t have any wild expectations of making it or even making money and all that sort of thing – we just really wanna get out and experience different countries. It would be nice to get out and see the local scene in different countries and expand our horizons."
The JOHN STEEL SINGERS team up with Jonathan Boulet for a massive double-headline show at the Corner Hotel this Sunday March 27. Tickets available from cornerhotel.com.
