New Souls On Board

“It’s moved a little more slowly than I would have liked, mainly because of line-up changes. Music has always been written, but it’s a matter of finding the right people to develop it and we haven’t had that. Now we have a solid line-up.”

Anthony Petrucci is in a proactive mood. He’s just been out mailing off posters to venues for the upcoming national tour by his band, Souls On Board, and now’s he taking stock of a musical timeline that’s grown slowly but steadily over the last few years. The Melbourne band released their second EP, the brooding, promising ‘Blood Face’, at the end of 2006 and their upcoming gigs will then segue into the recording of the debut album they’re currently demoing.

“It might take some time to figure us out. When we started people came along and quite liked it, even though we’re eclectic. But it probably takes a few albums to reach your own sound,” explains Petrucci, who started the group to realise his compositions. “To me there’s an overall aesthetic, and hopefully it will become more defined as we put more material out.”

The newly sorted band that will tour and then record is Petrucci on vocals and guitar, longtime guitarist and keyboardist Mark Campbell and the new rhythm section of bassist Richard Bowers and Something For Kate thumper Clint Hyndman, who is doing double duty between the two bands. They’ll record in June, possibly in a rural locale where an engineer can set up a portable studio, with the disc intended for October release. And while the album will feature recent material, Petrucci’s gift for enigmatic pop will continue to dominate.

“You want to make a pop song that people can understand and enjoy, but I also come from an artistic viewpoint of constructing a song with themes and how the parts interweave,” he explains. “That can still be called pop, but hopefully there’s more to it than that. With a lot of the material we’re writing it’s not deliberately ambiguous, but it suggests more than it tells you.”

Phoenix Bar, Canberra
Wednesday 18 April

Manning Bar, Sydney
Thursday 19 April

The World Bar, Sydney
Friday 20 April

Ric’s Bar, Brisbane
Saturday 21 April

Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne
Tuesday 24 April

Electric Light Hotel, Adelaide
Saturday 28 April

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