Pop-rock Refugees

DARREN LEVIN talks to The Boat People’s Robin Waters about true love, rural escapes and breaking the space-time continuum.

What do you guys listen to in the Tarago when you’re on the proverbial road?

Well, we’ve been flying a bit more lately which does unfortunately preclude the communal listening experience (unless you want to share headphones but then how do you choose which bud? Left channel? Right channel?). This week, I’ve been mostly eating: Yeasayer’s All Hour Cymbals, Ratatat’s Classics, Spoon’s GaGaGaGaGa, Bon Iver’s American Analogue Set, Black Francis, MGMT, Durrty Goodz’s Axiom EP, Grateful Dead’s American Beauty and Machine Translations’ Seven Seven.

Do you enjoy listening to your own records?

No, not really. You get pretty sick of them after hearing them 60,000 times during the recording process. I force myself to sit down and listen to all the old Boat stuff before we do a new record though – just to get some perspective. It’s usually more enjoyable after a bit of space. Having said that, this record gave me the least number of winces when I sat down to hear the finished version. I’m not sure why. I think partly because we are becoming more comfortable with who we are as a band. I feel quite grateful for any lingering dissatisfactions though. I didn’t feel like I wanted to do something differently or better. I’m not sure how I’d know what to do with myself artistically. When it comes to our own stuff I much prefer listening to all the early demos and jams. You can hear all the possibilities of where it could go without having to choose one and you can also catch a sense of what made you make those sounds or write those words in the first place.

Chandeliers is full of lovely bells and whistles. Do you envision that stuff in your head when you’re writing? Or is that J Walker’s input as producer?

J knew this group from country Victoria called the “Confederated Flemish Bell and Whistle Orchestra Association” so we got them in. Actually we kind of think of this record as our “stripped back” one but I guess it is only in relation to our earlier stuff. We once spent a whole year doing overdubs for what was essentially a three-song EP. I think we were keen to add some J-ness but when it came to overdubs neither of us could find many places where we felt we could put things without destroying the minimum amount of breathing space required. I think this indicates that probably the stuff you are talking about mainly happened in the rehearsal room although we did have the odd day of recording that centred around hitting bits of corrugated iron and running the sound through guitar pedals etc.

Tell us something we don’t know about J.

Well, when we were playing J demos he really connected with ‘Hours and Hours’. But it was only after we’d recorded it that I was talking about the lyrics and we realised that the inlet I refer to at the start of the song, was actually where he took the girl who is now his wife on their first date. Spooky (well, romantic spooky)!

You describe the band as “funny” in the album’s presser. Funny haha or funny strange?

I think we are both, sometimes in a causal way. For example, I think we tend to joke around a bit between songs and go off on nerdy tangents (the former) but then when we are playing we can be quite shy and introverted (the latter). How is this related? Well I think sometimes – and perhaps this is a particularly Australian trait – when you start to wear your heart on your sleeve you also feel that you’re whining or whatever so you try to diffuse it with humour, which is a strange thing to do.

Tell us a joke.

This is old but I’m not very good at remembering jokes so … “Did you hear about the agnostic dyslexic insomniac? He’d lie awake at night wondering if there was a Dog.”

This record gave me the least number of winces when I sat down to hear the finished version. I’m not sure why. I think partly because we are becoming more comfortable with who we are as a band.

‘Babysnake’ is about the only ‘love’ song in the world with the lyric, “I could be with any other girl”. Please explain.

Well, certainly I don’t think I could pull any girl I want and in any case the concept of “pulling” someone doesn’t really give due credit to the fact it takes two to tango.

Some of the ideas in the neighbourhood of this song circle around conceptions of love. Arranged marriage is often seen as being in opposition to real love. On the other hand, the idea of “one true love” is seen as very romantic. However if we compare the two, aren’t they in fact the same thing? The only difference is that parents are replaced by fate. In my mind, neither of these concepts are concordant with how people feel love. Once again, as it is possible to feel more than one conflicting emotion about a person, it is just as possible to have the same emotion for two different people. I think when most people experience this “split” emotion they presume that neither of these conforms to aspirational model of true love. I feel like this model is a falsehood. It is strange to me that people would try to escape from a relationship so they can simplify the emotions they feel to conform to this model. We’re getting a bit repetitive here: All I’m saying that to me fate isn’t romantic, isn’t love but a choice in a storm is.

The album has a joyous vibe. Did you have fun making it? And what was it like recording out in South Gippsland? Are you surprised the record didn’t sound more rural like, I dunno, Music from the Big Pink?

Yes and no. I was brutally unwell during most of the recording process, the mixing desk blew up at one point, there was some torrential hail and a two-day power outage due to heavy winds. I grew up on a farm but I’m not really into the “rural escape” model. The band members get very bored if we’re not the actual person laying something down so I think distraction is important and creatively invigorating. We kinda just headed out there because we wanted to work with J. The songs themselves are where the joyous feeling comes from I think and they lead us through the process and came out unscathed. Having said all that, I really enjoy recording – it puts me in quite a manic frame of mind but that usually causes me to burn out pretty quickly.

C’mon fess up: there aren’t 52 bands in your clip for ‘Awkward Orchid Orchard’. It’s all an elaborate ruse, yeah?

Hey I don’t know. I didn’t come up with the clip but I’m told there are indeed 52. I like just looking at the pretty colours. Paul Underwood did our yesyesyesyesyes clips too as well as all our artwork. He is a genius.

If you had a time machine, which one of these historical events would you attend and why: The Stones at the Altamont in 1969, The Beatles at the Cavern Club in 1961 or Wolfmother at 161 in 2004?

Time machine? Bands? Fuck bands! 13 billion years – universe born. Four billion years – earth formed (moon breaks off earth in spectacular fashion. Three billion – first lifeforms. 200 million - dinosaurs!!! 250,000 – first people. I’ve got 13 billion years to choose from and the furthest you want me to go back is ’61?! No way! I’m gonna put that sucker through its paces.

CHANDELIERS TOUR

Thursday, August 14
Transit Bar, Canberra, ACT

Friday, August 15
Chilli Lounge, Wyong, NSW

Saturday, August 16
Spectrum, Sydney, NSW

Sunday, August 17
Brass Monkey, Cronulla, NSW

Thursday, August 21
Bon Amici, Toowoomba, QLD

Friday, August 22
The Zoo, Brisbane, QLD

Saturday, August 23
Cooloongatta Hotel, Cooloongatta, QLD

Saturday, August 30
East Brunswick Club, Melbourne, VIC

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