“It was the end of 2011 and I was really worried about where it was going and what we were doing,” he says. “I came to the decision that we could make the same album again and some people would love it and some people would hate it. Or we could do what we want and some people would love it and some people would hate it. We made the album we wanted to make.”
Originally, The Snowdroppers sound was characterised by a strong Americana/blues attitude but Wishbone says after touring Too Late To Prey the band resolved to incorporate more of an Aussie touch. “It was basically getting a bit honest with ourselves. We went, ‘Well hang on, we’re not a bluegrass band, we’re not a blues band.’ We’re not good enough musicians, we’re just a rock band; albeit with those influences but at the end of the day we realised we just like classic rock. We’re an Australian rock band and we shed the costume and allowed ourselves to be a little bit more.”
The major re-formatting of the music industry in recent years has increased artist’s freedom to call the shots on stylistic moves and release frequency, but it’s still difficult to maintain a commitment to making the music you like, when you like. However, Wishbone is adamant that The Snowdroppers weren’t going to churn out another record just to satisfy industry norms.
“You hear, ‘You’ve got to release something everything 18 months,’ ‘you’ve got to do it this way,’ and I talked to a couple of people who were like, ‘No fuck that, you release it when it’s ready.’ It’s easy to be forgotten about, but do you put something out that’s sub-standard just to maintain some kind of presence in the industry? That’s fucking ridiculous. You make music because you like making music and the songs you play.”
Having an Australian sound is more complex than speaking in the Australian idiom or including blatant nods to Australian bands. Nevertheless, Wishbone details The Snowdroppers determined intentions to imbue the new record with distinctive Australian qualities.
“Me and Pauly the guitar player, we write the songs for the most part, we wanted this to sound like an Australian record. It’s not as if we went and listened to the entire Midnight Oil back catalogue, Hunters & Collectors, Hoodoo Gurus, AC/DC, The Sports, The Triffids, and we just digested that and re-created that. It was more that there’s something about those bands that is inherently Australian.”
Johnny intimates that while deciding not to heed to outside expectations put them in a liberated position, the songs didn’t exactly rush out.
“Songwriting for us doesn’t come easy, we find it incredibly difficult. We’re not one of those bands that go, ‘Oh I write a song everyday, we write on tour, we’re always writing.’ It takes us that forced time away to really sit down and we’re in the writing zone.”
The obvious stylistic and thematic structuring of Too Late To Prey consequently made some tracks sound somewhat forced. In contrast the unique storytelling perspective of Moving Out Of Eden (recorded with Welsh producer Richard Jackson) shines with convincing confidence. Wishbone endorses Jackson’s ability to execute stomping sounds without disguising the personality of the band.
“He did the Future Of The Left albums, which we really liked. We liked his mixing because it was quite bold but still maintained that grittiness.”
In an effort to give albums optimum sellability, it’s not uncommon for a standardising production filter to be switched on. Wishbone confirms that this trend which he perceives to be prevalent in contemporary music didn’t interfere with The Snowdroppers’ specific aims.
“You look at the pop stars now and everything from the production quality to the fashion, and vocally, it’s quite American. Some people go, ‘Oh dear, wow, that’s a bit dangerous if you want to go overseas to America, they’re not going to get it.’ Well fuck that. If they don’t get it, they don’t get it. We’re an Australian band. I don’t want to go, ‘Let’s make this more American, let’s make this more palatable globally.’ It was just a sub-conscious thing to try to get that Australian-ness, however you get it or whatever it is, back into the recording.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
