Art Of Fighting Find 'Runaways'

“Just like Second Storey was a response to Wires, this one’s a response to Second Storey,” explains Art Of Fighting’s vocalist Ollie Browne, discussing how each previous album from the Melbourne four-piece has ultimately helped define the next. “Second Storey was a very considered album, we spent a lot of time arranging the parts, and when recording, adding lots of textural overdubs and little extras. As a response, we wanted this one to be far more impulsive, almost as if the songs were controlling us, not the other way round. Sometimes you can get more honest results in music when you surrender your objectivity over it.

The result is Runaways, the band’s third album, due for release on March 10. Recorded in their hometown – first at Guruland, a large warehouse space above an auto mechanic’s workshop in suburban Oakleigh, then Martin Street Studios, a shopfront facility in affluent Brighton where overdubs were done – in the latter half of 2006, it will further Art Of Fighting’s reputation for translating and magnifying the tender and personal.

“These new songs are far more intimate, lyrically and sonically, than those on Second Storey and we felt the music should be too,” explains Browne. “All of this is not to diss Second Storey, as we achieved what we set out to with that one, but I think with Wires, and this new one too, you can hear far more tension and release in the music, because the playing and recording is a lot more present. This presence, the closer sound, and keeping limits on the overdubs has made the record a lot more direct, not only song-wise, but aesthetically as well.”

The band – Browne on vocal and guitar, his brother Miles on guitar, bassist Peggy Frew and drummer Marty Brown – played a handful of shows prior to Christmas to introduce the new material to expectant audiences, although most of last year was spent focused first on the writing and then the recording, with producer Steven Schram, of their latest set.

“The long view is that we go into the studio with a united perspective. The problem is, we're all perfectionist maniacs so that view always goes where it’s meant too, out the window,” admits Browne. “It gets pretty intense when the solution to a problem is seen from completely opposite angles. Especially with Miles and I being brothers, who’ve fought as such for years. I think that can be tough for the others, but especially for third parties, who don’t know that while Miles and I argue pretty viciously sometimes, it’s harmless, as sibling tiffs always are. All up though, through the pursuit of our own little band democracy, we generally reach a consensus when one needs to be reached, maybe a little later than we should have, but with no bad feelings.”

The sessions got off to a slightly difficult start when Miles Browne called Schram a “cocksucker” on just their second day together. “It wasn’t quite time for that in our relationship,” concedes his brother, but overall the making of Runaways wasn’t as stressful as previous recording stints.

“We all love recording, and for me personally it’s the only time I ever actually feel like a ‘musician’, going to work every day. It’s a great feeling. There’s an excitement too, because the band finally starts to get an inkling of what the songs we’ve been conjuring are going to sound like on tape. Because we were not under the same time pressure we have been for past recordings we had time to listen and respond to what was emerging. There was also a lot of down time and stupidity which I guess goes with being in a band, particularly as we really only get to spend time together these days when we are doing band stuff.”

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