INTERVIEW: THE JENSEN’S NEW ALBUM CROSSES SCI-FI WITH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND WE’RE HERE FOR IT
With their brand new album ‘Hammer and Blush’ pushed back a whole year from its original May, 2020 release date too, the year of 2020 has not been kind to the Brisbane five-piece. Despite this, the band have come out the other side in pretty good shape according …
The Jensens have had a pretty turbulent year. After their slots at Pineapple Music Festival and Splendour in the Grass were postponed and their first single of the year was dropped the same day Australia shut down, the band felt pretty down in the dumps. With their brand new album ‘Hammer and Blush’ pushed back a whole year from its original May, 2020 release date too, the year of 2020 has not been kind to the Brisbane five-piece. Despite this, the band have come out the other side in pretty good shape according to the band’s front-man Joe White, as the band gear up to support their most recent single ‘Paper Walls’ on a tour around Queensland.
‘We're pretty much back to normal,’ says Joe. ‘We played a gig last weekend...they were all dancing and having a good time, there was definitely an excitement in the air and everyone felt like this was the start of normality’
For Joe, normality has been the farthest thing from what he has felt throughout the quarantining process of 2020. Finishing and mixing an album left him feeling pretty chuffed however and the 15-track album aims to project these feelings into a three-act LP extravaganza.
‘At the start of the album we're a bit more optimistic, there's a few like call to arms songs,’ explains Joe. ‘And then as we get towards the end of the album it's really just processing the world around us and how relationships have changed due to online communication. We get a little bit sci-fi with it, but it's mainly just commenting on how weird it is to be alive in 2020.’
Joe also explains that this three-part structure reflects three distinct musical styles with the latter third reflecting this theme of living in a digital age.
‘The start is up until River of Gold. There's more 70s influence there. Late-70s Fleetwood Mac-style. And then it gets more abrasive with Paper Walls towards the middle. The last third is more experimental, very experimental. Half of the songs on the end don't have a real drum kit and don't have any guitars,’ says Joe.
Abrasiveness is just what the band were hoping to reflect with their most recent single ‘Paper Walls.' Rough and harsh is intentionally what the single reflects in both sound and lyrical content. According to Joe the song’s lyrics and general theme weren’t even written during the year’s COVID-19 quarantine, but he felt the lyrics coincidentally reflected the harsh truth of isolation.
‘I think that the lyrical themes apply to many situations of taking stock of your life and being like 'well, I don't have to keep doing things I'm doing them, if I'm not happy with that,’’ explains Joe. ‘People could definitely have developed bad habits, or developed just even unconsciously the feeling of hopelessness. One of the things that's really been hard is the inability to plan anything. It definitely fits in with that.’
Reflecting further on what the metaphor behind what exactly a “paper wall” is, Joe suggested a paper wall is an empty promise you make to yourself, a fairly recurring feeling in isolation.
‘A paper wall to me and in the song is sort of like a new year's resolution that you never follow through with, so you've built a wall and you're like 'yeah, this is a sick wall, this is great, I've done what I needed to do,' but there's no stability to that wall and it's going to broken over with the slightest push, says Joe. ‘You're gonna start something, you're gonna change something, but really you haven't put enough thought and effort into it.’
‘Paper Walls’ is one of the first few singles to be released off of the band’s next album Hammer and Blush, which is presented with a confusing and intriguing album cover. Working with artist Uncle Chronic Bone, the band was presented with a numerous array of potential covers but just knew this one was the one. Being an image that seems to morph and change the more you look at it, Joe was adamant to not let too many details slip.
‘I don't want anyone to know what that is, says Joe. ‘I love how it looks like it's in outer space...it was shiney, glossy, confusing, abrasive, it really seemed like it summed up the album for us.’
With laws expected to change from November 1st allowing punters to dance and drink at the same time in Queensland venues, Joe is hoping that the upcoming ‘Paper Walls’ tour will be exhilarating and thrilling. With the new album dropping in May of next year, the Jensens are hoping with crossed fingers for a national tour as well.
INTERVIEW: NEON PATTERN SUNDIAL (FKA BEN ALPINE) IS TAKING IT ALL IN HIS STRIDE
Gabby had a chat to Ben Alpine, all about his new release ‘All In Your Stride’, his creative process, influences, cover art, and his time in isolation - including his Top 10 Iso Tunes! Check it out >
![Ben Alpine - Press Shot 1 2020 [HI-RES].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d96cb88130d950f0cc37e46/1596438079331-EV7XSPLCWXJJTFN04YIZ/Ben+Alpine+-+Press+Shot+1+2020+%5BHI-RES%5D.jpg)
Hey there Ben! First off, a huge congrats on your debut single 'All In Your Stride'! How has the single been received so far? Any favourite critiques?
Thank you! Yeah the reception has been really great and to be honest a little overwhelming! I’m not sure what I’d expected, but I don’t think I realised I’d be spending the entire release day responding to messages from friends and reading blog posts about the song. It was so cool though, definitely very very stoked and thankful.
Ben Madden wrote a review on the song which was so cool to read. I just feel like he took from the song exactly what I want people to, especially saying that “you’ll feel positive about your day by the end of it”. Otherwise it’s just been so cool to hear from friends. I had shown it to a few people that I’m close with as we were making it, but tried to keep it under wraps for the most part. So it was awesome to now have people really dig into it and ask about the details in the artwork and things like that, which is exactly what I want people to do.
Tell us about your creative processes; how did 'All In Your Stride' come to be?
I don’t really think I can say that I have a definitive creative process as that sort of thing always changes. it’s sort of split up into two parts….
Firstly, I’ll create the demo mostly by myself. I’ll just work on it whenever; in my bedroom, on trains, at uni, mostly with headphones. I’ll just record everything really rough and try to not get too caught up in lyrics or synthesis or getting the right take.
Then I’ll bring the demo to my friend and producer/mixer Marc Scollo, and we’ll go through and flesh things out, tidy up the arrangement and basically re-record everything at a much higher quality. Marc is basically like 49% of the project if you ask me. This is where we replace the sample drums with a live kit, and start arranging vocal harmonies and all that stuff. Usually the song changes a lot during this process. I definitely rewrote some of the lyrics right before recording them...
All In Your Stride was in it’s ‘demo’ stage for over a year before Marc and I started on what became the final production. And I started it at a time that I wasn’t very inspired so it sat dormant for months and months before I picked it up again. I rewrote a lot of the lyrics at the last minute which seems to be pretty standard for me at the moment. I don’t really consider myself that great of a lyricist and feel like I have a lot to learn.
My friend Bek Nafiz was pretty important in the process, we did a session mid-2018 that basically got the entire foundation of the song down. It was her idea for all those funky guitar lines. I should also mention Alex Siderov who played drums on the track.
I'm very intrigued by the single's cover art, it's quite beautiful. Tell us about the concept and the images you've used.
Yeah! The artwork seems to be getting a lot of attention which is so awesome. It was basically all Jack Mackinnon. I just gave him a bunch of photos I had taken that reflected the aesthetic of the song to me. Which were mostly these vast landscape images that gave off this optimistic feeling, to me at least. He picked those ones and put them together that way and I loved it immediately. He absolutely killed it I reckon.
The photos are either from my travels or places that I’ve spent a lot of time and are all important to me. I picked up photography about 2 years ago, and I wanted the aesthetic of this project to be very rooted in reality and that sort of dreamy representation of it, so using those photos was a no-brainer.
Some of your influences include Hippo Campus and The Japanese House, how do these artists inspire you and your music?
Like everyone I listen to a lot of different music, especially electronic music and a lot of pop, but I feel like those two artists reflect the more ‘indie’ guitar-driven side of my sound, especially on All In Your Stride. I was listening to Bambi by Hippo Campus and Good at Falling by The Japanese House a lot during making this so the input was definitely there, both of those albums are some of my favourites. The Japanese House’s tuned and harmonised vocal arrangements were 100% a huge thing for me.
COVID-19 has had an extreme effect on the music industry, and I’m sure you’re missing festivals and gigs as much as me. What was the last gig you went to? Any events you were looking forward to that were cancelled/postponed?
The last show I went to was my friend Earnest Jackson’s single launch for his song Sweaty, which is a massive tune and their performance really went off. Before that I saw Golden Features who is always amazing. And I was getting really really excited to see Bon Iver and Tame Impala before they both got postponed!
Give us your Top 10 songs that are getting you through lockdown.
In no particular order! A real mix here of random stuff I’ve picked up and had on repeat...
Phone Numbers by Dominic Fike & Kenny Beats
Ego Death by Ty Dolla $ign, Kanye West, FKA twigs & Skrillex
Playing On My Mind by The 1975
INTERVIEW: DAMON FROM ALIENIST TALKS NEW SINGLE, COVID TIMES, AND FAVE LOCAL ACTS
Picking up the support slot for Northlane and Gravemind on your home turf after only playing a handful of gigs is not a bad way to begin your bands career! Wollongong’s Alienist got to do just that earlier this year. Having released one single Social Faker back in October the guys were ready to take on the metalcore world when Covid struck laying to rest gigs for the foreseeable future.
Picking up the support slot for Northlane and Gravemind on your home turf after only playing a handful of gigs is not a bad way to begin your bands career! Wollongong’s Alienist got to do just that earlier this year. Having released one single Social Faker back in October the guys were ready to take on the metalcore world when Covid struck laying to rest gigs for the foreseeable future.
How did Alienist come about and where did the name come from?
We haven’t been around for too long, only about one year. We formed from a failed cover band and decided we wanted to start writing our own music so it just kind of started from there.
We had a massive list of names that we all thought of and through the process of eliminating the lame and taken names, we landed on Alienist. We thought it was fitting because of the psychological analysis definition, and we tend to do that with our lyrics, about the world and society anyway.
You’ve all been in bands before then?
Yeah, we’ve all played music here and there for a long time. A couple of us have more experience in touring and bands than what I do, but we are all experienced in different ways. We got started and released our first single Social Faker and then started playing gigs in October 2019,
And then you score supporting Northlane and Gravemind!
That’s right. I think we had only played 3, maybe 4 shows and then Social Faker was in a competition run by Unearthed that I think got added automatically and yeah we got a call from triple j and they asked us if we wanted to play with Northlane and Gravemind on the Wollongong leg, so that was pretty insane.
You’ve recently released a new single. Tell me about Severance.
While we were gigging we just kept writing and adding songs to the set list. Severance was a later one that we wrote for the setlist before the Northlane gig. After Northlane, we decided to take it to the studio and record it. We’ve been going to the same producer Clay Segelov, at The Brain Recording Studios, in Sydney.
The song itself is about something that we all feel, separating yourself from the world, there’s a lot of ideologies and things like that that the world likes to portray and support that a lot of us just don’t agree with. It’s even more relevant now because we all know that unfortunately the world isn’t in a great place at the moment. Sometimes you just need to take a step back , you know, cut yourself off from the world, look at yourself, and take that time to not get involved in all the drama, the horrible things that are going on at the time.
Who does most of the writing for you guys?
Mostly me, I have a whole set up at home and usually I’ll write a lot most nights on my own. There’s probably dozens and dozens of songs worth of material there but you know we sort of scrape through that and make sure we pick the best parts. We also like to get together and have a couple of the boys come over and I’ll play guitar, but we’ll bounce off of each other with ideas. Jake does his drums parts, he’s an incredible drummer, and then the lyrics I’ll do with my screamer and that’s pretty much what we do. We practice every single week, make sure that we jam out the songs so they’re perfectly tight. We just love playing together. Even if we didn’t play in the band together, in terms of gigs, I think we would still get together every week just ‘cause we love each other so much
So you guys have known each other for years?
I met Anthony and Chris only a couple of years ago but Lachlan, Jake and I have been friends for a very long time, since school. Since then though, all the experiences we have shared, it doesn’t matter how long we have known each other I suppose. I can’t imagine being in a band where you’re not great friends. The band is definitely a family, were brothers.
In a post-covid world if Alienist could tour with any other Australian acts who would be in your line-up?
Oh, that’s hard, there are so many Australian bands that we look up to.
Polaris – in terms of writing and influence they are up there for us in that regard. Northlane, Gravemind, Alpha Wolf, Make Them Suffer would definitely be up there, Dealer would be amazing. They are definitely the ones that stand out.
Covid doesn’t seem to have stopped a lot of bands from releasing new music.
Yeah, as much as covid sucks it’s been really good for bands in terms of their online presence and listening numbers, and hopefully it’s given everyone a chance to write a lot more music and spend time perfecting the craft and the sound. It’s really good to see how much everybody cares about the music in the industry.
Everyone is bringing it in the scene at the moment. In Hearts Wake are killing it with their new stuff, and DVSR are starting to release their stuff, and obviously Justice For The Damned with their new album. They’ve adopted a much heavier hardcore type sound it’s pretty insane. All the new releases are just insane actually, there’s no flops at the moment.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what Windwaker release, I know they’ve been working really hard. They have a very unique sound, and even though they have softer bits as soon as they hit with the hard-heavy guitar riffs, the stuff they write … it’s just incredible
I’ve also noticed that a lot of overseas radio shows and the like have picked up Australian releases and are spinning them.
Yeah we got picked up by a few people in the UK and the US. It’s really nice to see that they are looking at the smaller bands in the metalcore scene and just picking them up regardless of country.
What does post-covid look like for you guys?
Post-covid is hopefully incredibly busy. During covid we recorded a song in collaboration with a rapper in isolation. We did it remotely with our producer over zoom calls. That is hopefully going to come out in next month. We’ve been working tirelessly on our EP that we are going to record in the next couple of months. Obviously waiting patiently for venues to re-open and hopefully jump on a tour or jump on a lot of shows. Hopefully, we will have an EP out by the end of the year, and a music video and a single, and we’ll just keep pushing this train and hopefully get somewhere with it.
I’m so keen for post-covid shows, seeing as there won’t be any overseas acts for a while I’m hoping for some pretty sick line-ups to tour together.
I’m so excited for it all to start up again too. Hopefully by Sept/Oct we will be back in the swing of things.
Finally, what are your top 3 Aussie acts at the moment?
Number one would have to be Polaris. I get more drawn to the melodic-djenty sound that’s going on at the moment so for me personally it would also be Thornhill, Alpha Wolf or Make Them Suffer.
ALIENIST ARE:
Vocals - Lachlan Forsberg
Guitar - Damon Renes
Guitar - Anthony Vella
Bass - Chris Olliffe
Drums - Jake Ceely
INTERVIEW: ASHENMOON’S GARRY BEERS - NEW MUSIC, THE CURRENT WORLD CRISIS, & LIFE AFTER INXS
I had a wonderful chat with Garry Beers, bassist of world-renowned Australian rock band INXS and now, Ashenmoon! We covered the new releases and the writing process, the effects of the current COVID situation, environmentalism and dog rescue, his high school dance featuring AC/DC, life during and after INXS, and a bunch more…
I had a wonderful chat with Garry Beers, bassist of world-renowned Australian rock band INXS and now, Ashenmoon!
Personally, I grew up listening to INXS and handfuls of other classics, some of which are also thrown in throughout the interview, and this might just be the biggest interview I’ve done. Garry was a wonder to talk to and I can’t wait to see what else Ashenmoon has in store for us.
We covered the new releases and the writing process, the effects of the current COVID situation, environmentalism and dog rescue, his high school dance featuring AC/DC, life during and after INXS, and a bunch more.
It was a phone interview so I’ve culled sections down to what makes most sense, but my appreciation for this experience is astronomical. Thankyou to Garry, Toby, and Jimmy, and everyone else involved for bringing this new project to life, and for Garry’s time chatting to me from wherever he may be at the moment!
Enjoy!
-Jahmiele
JAHMIELE:
So Ashenmoon started as a ‘passion project’ between you and Jimmy and Toby, and ‘passion project’ is a kind of a favourite term of mine. Was there any deliberate intention going into that to make it a fully published act or was it sort of just ‘let's have fun and see where this goes’?
GARRY:
We were already in a corporate covers band called Stadium so it was already fun. We just really wanted to see how we’d go with original material, so we just sort of played together and hung out more. We listen to each other's bits of music and songs and, and um, and then beginning of last year was just in my little home studio which is where we started everything. Yeah. Just spent the whole year just putting together the songs, honing them and rewriting them and starting all over again and talking about just, just taking our time. There's no one watching the clock. It's just made the record that we really wanted to make, all 3 of us.
J: Yeah. Awesome. I think, I guess that's probably the best way to go about it. No pressure,
G: Exactly! There’s no record companies breathing down our neck, the no deadlines, and yeah obviously no real touring schedule to keep in line with. I think we'd all been looking for someone to write once in a while. I know I had.
J: Okay. Amazing. And the debut for Ashenoon came out as the double single. Was there any kind of background between each of those tracks? Like I know a lot of songs aren't necessarily written with a particular dramatic meaning behind them, but was there anything like that with these ones?
G: Yeah. It just all this happens to be pretty indicative of what we wanted to say about, y’know looking after the world, looking after each other and look what happened. I mean, it just seemed to be a pretty bit of a no-brainer to get that one out now. And Mosquito, you know, Toby's Australian, he’s from Melbourne, and he just had the big fuzz bassline and my little singing, and that all came together and sounded a bit like a mosquito, someone actually commented saying it sounded like Cartman from South Park! He just grabbed the acoustic and started writing the song and it became Mosquito. We wanted to write a song about, a metaphor for mosquitos.
And we keep using the word ‘organic’ but it really was that way. I produced it and recorded it, and Toby at that time was living just up the road, and Jimmy was always here with a bottle of red wine anyway. We just sat in that little room, day and night and had fun, recording guitars here and there, laying down keyboard. A friend of mine owns a studio up the road, we got an English fella called Jason Gamble in to play drums on the majority of the album, so you know it just really grew like good music should grow. I mean, there's no deadline no pressure, the songs just came to life by themselves
J: Yeah. That's amazing. And I take it that you previously knew Toby before all of this. How has it working together on something like this? Do you prefer working with someone or on your own when it comes to song-writing and putting things together?
G: No, I'm definitely a working with someone kind of guy. I mean, I do write a lot of music but as far as you know, vocals and melodies and lyrics, I'd much rather leave it up to a real singer, a real composer. I met Toby 3 years ago at a party so the friendship is still pretty new, but became pretty much best mates. I met Jimmy at a party when I first moved here 14 or 15 years ago, so I’ve known him forever but we never got around to playing in a band together, so I asked him to join Stadium my corporate band. And then he joined and Toby joined. We wanted to see how far we could take it, and rename it because we wanted it to be different again, so we became Ashenmoon and here we are!
J: All right! And knowing so many names, like you would have worked with a lot of people over the years, and coming into the new ‘modern era’ of technology with the different ways of promotion we have now and all that kind of thing- what is it that you've seen change over the last, what is it, 30-40 years, something like that?
G: Yeah, it's been a while. Um, you know, it's funny you look back and you miss the age of CDs, and CDs replaced vinyl. I’ll always complain about downloads, seeing how the qualities isn’t great, and you don’t get the visual. Like I remember vinyl records as a kid, sitting there and pouring over every word and every image on the album cover while listening to the music, and I feel like it’s a forgotten art in many ways so, you’re hearing the first few singles but when you hear the whole album later in the year it’s a journey just like the good old, you know, Zeppelin records, Queen records, every song had its place. You know, we worked out which song goes to the next song and their running order and then it’s got side 1 and side 2 just like the old-fashioned records. When it’s out and you hear it on vinyl you’ll get the real idea of what it’s all about.
J: I'm sure you've probably been asked this already, but is there any kind of meaning behind the band name, Ashenmoon, where did that come from?
G: I think it's just an interesting visual image, really lending itself to artwork, but it's also got a really big sorta quality to it, and then also we wrote Dustbowl about how we know we abuse the planet, we abuse animals, we abuse each other, and what we’ll be left with is pretty much just a barren planet, so I guess it's a bit of a downer way of what describing it, but I think ultimately it's just, it just sounded cool. And then we did all this stuff ourselves. We found an artist when I went to our Facebook page, and Toby did a lot of the artwork, and then I did the graphics for the actual name, I used to do graphic design at school. So, it’s been a real, at home kind of project. And a friend of Jimmy’s, that he played in a band with at school back in Massachusetts, mixed the album so he's been a really strong part of the project as well. So, it's been a really good team and a really good time.
J: So, you've mentioned a couple times now the whole environmental effect that we're having and things like that. Is that something that you're personally passionate about?
G: Yeah, I am. I mean I'm more into my life and particularly more into dog rescue and finding homes for dogs. A real big issue is humans just don't get it. I mean, they just don't get it that the planets gonna give us a big kick in the ass that’s what it’s doing right now. You don’t eat bats, you just don't abuse animals. Mother Nature is just gonna, y’know, take you out. I mean, that's, what's going on now. It's taken an interesting turn. I mean, you see the planet’s actually recovering a bit because people aren't driving, industries are shut, the planet’s kind of having a bit of a breather right now. So, maybe there's a good side yet.
J: Yeah. There's a lot of things they've already seen, you know, positively changed since we've been absent.
G: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No one knows what the future's going to hold, I don't think you can ever get back to normal. We just have to see what, what we have to adjust to in the rest of their lives. I mean, it's interesting I have 8-9 year old twins and like there obviously not in school, we're failing miserably at the home-schooling thing. But it's just, it's just interesting time for that. I mean, they’ll look back at their second-third grade as the weirdest time in history, so I'm just really intrigued to see what's going to happen as the world tries to get back to what we’d considered as normal, you really can’t go back to what was normal anymore.
J: Yeah. I think there's a thing going around at the moment that was, uh, comparing what our, our prior our previous normal was and that we shouldn't go back to that because that's gotten us where we are.
G: Yeah. I think, that’s totally it. Totally. Ultimately, they’ve been talking about it for years that there’s gonna be a super-virus. Here it is and you have no idea what it is, what it’s going to do and where it’s gonna go and I mean, it seems like it’s a lot better in Australia out here, and that's just phenomenal.
I’ve been saying I’m just happy to have music out at this time because I've always thought music is a good healer. Music is always there for people when they’re happy or sad. So I'm just hoping Ashenmoon can help with that and maybe take people's minds off what's going on a bit.
J: And you’ve been quoted as saying that ‘not since your days with INXS, have you felt more connected to music until this’, this record and this band, I guess. What is it about this particular project that you feel so much more connected than your previous supergroups and things like that?
G: Well INXS was a six piece, um, you know, Andrew and Michael were the predominant songwriters ofcourse , that's just the way it is when we got two of the best songwriters in the world in your band.
Absent Friends with Wendy Mathews and Sean. Um, was just, that was just a fun band, you know, party band, that was a fun project too. And then the other time I tried to get a project I was called Mudhead, but they never released the album. It got a 5 star review but just didn’t release it, it became too hard.
I haven't really found the right people to write with and that I believe in. And that gives me the confidence to put all my time and effort into something that I know is going to be worth it, and that's what happened here. Toby has become one of my best friends. He's a good Aussie guy. Jimmy, I've known him for 15 years. He's one of my best friends. He's from Boston, he's a character. He's always got his bottle of red wine in his back pocket, and he’s just there to play. It's just kind of the same ideals that I've always had. I just want to play, I've always wanted to, so it's great to find like-minded people that still love music. A lot of people lose the passion for it. I couldn't imagine not being passionate about it and not playing, so, it’s great that I’ve got a new outlet and I’m loving it.
J: Fantastic. I guess that's a little bit more difficult to come by these days, is the genuine passion for it.
G: Yeah. And think I'm very lucky. When I was growing up deciding which Zepplin album to buy, you know, Zepplin, Deep Purple, and Queen were all releasing records and The Beatles were still releasing records. So I was really lucky to grow up in that time and be completely surrounded by amazing and also Australian bands. I mean, AC/DC played at my school dance so there's really, there's no experience like that. I just think having had that experience, I can't not be passionate about music and I think Jimmy's the same.
Jimmy did this beautiful thing, he started writing a big piece of paper with all these names and songs and I was like ‘What’re you doing?’ and he said ‘I'm just writing down which guitar player is gonna play on this record’ and it did a list of all his favourite guitar players, which considers that they all influenced him and taught him how to play, you know all the Jimmy Page’s and Jimmy Hendrix’s and he wanted to give them credit, so he sat there and wrote down all the names. I thought ‘that’s really cool!’ because you gotta remember where you came from and that's what we're all about too. We're just trying to put out a record that the people that inspired us would like to hear. And I know that if another band put this record out, I‘d love it just as much, but just because it's mine and I’m writer, producer, you know, I'm very connected with it and very proud of it.
J: Well, all of the acts that you've been a part of - I've had a quick listen to Absent Friends and things like that - they all definitely seemed to have a particular sort of cohesive similar sound to them, and so does Ashenmoon, I think. So, who would you say are the primary inspirations and influences that you've had that have added up to these creations?
G: I guess it changes. I mean, I'm really kind of boring in the fact that it's very rare that I hear something new that is, that inspires me or doesn't make me just go back to wherever we originally came from. I mean, it's kind of sad, but I mean the last artist that really, really changed my world was Jeff Buckley, and that was a long time ago now. So, I always go back to the Zepplins and the Queens and all the bands that you still would be hearing in 50 years’ time. And I don't know if you’ll be hearing many of artists on the radio now in 50 years time, but you'll always be hearing the Beatles and queen and hopefully Ashenmoon. I mean, we just want to make a record that was like, that was a good old fashioned record that just takes you on a trip. So I think we've done that.
J: And you mentioned, I think right at the start, something about, in terms of putting together your records and not currently having to keep to like a touring schedule or something like that. Does that mean that we are to expect some sort of tour from Ashenmoon or anything like that?
G: Oh yeah. We'd love to play it. I mean, we’ve actually we've actually taken this time. We've all been tested (for Covid-19) we all trust each other, you know. So we did a video of Dustbowl on Toby’s rooftop last week. And yesterday we set all of the gear up in my garage, we're going to start doing live broadcasts onto our Facebook pages and stuff. We just spent the day doing that. We're setting up our PA and sound we’re gonna start working that out and start trying to get ourselves out live to people as best we can. As soon as this clears up, if it gets back to any sort of normalcy as far as heading out to play we’ll be there, cause yeah, we got together to play together, we’re not answering ads in the paper or getting drunk at the bar, we just love playing together and we are a really good band live. I mean, I think we're actually probably better live than on the record to be honest.
J: Well, I think that's a good thing.
G: It is. Yeah. I mean, nothing more disappointing than seeing a band that can’t play. I ended up with one of the best rock singers in the world and I'm in a band with one of the best rock guitarists in the work so I'm pretty happy.
J: Well, to be perfectly candid you are, you are all clearly to a certain extent, you know, famous and very well-known and incredibly talented musicians and individuals. So, what is it like having that background/reputation behind you and knowing that there's going to be people waiting for your next thing and knowing that it's got to be, you know, to a certain standard?
G: I always second guess. We really pride ourselves on our performance. INXS was the same, we sort of critiqued every show, that made us better, and Ashenmoon is no different. I mean we love playing and we love playing well and we love playing properly and you know, we’re not one of those bands are gonna stagger out with a bottle of Jack Daniels and not want to give people their value for money, and we obviously also make them come back. And it's not just a side project, we’ve just signed this two-album dissolution deal with Golden Robot Records, we’re just going to keep going. We can't wait to get some more recording done. So even though we just got our first record out we just, I just want to get out there and play. I can't wait to bring it to Australia.
J: Well, that's, that's fantastic. That's the best thing to have, I guess that's exactly what you want.
G: Yeah. I'm pretty happy right now. I mean, as far as an album, I mean I still sort of sit there with a glass of wine still going ‘wow, this is pretty good’. And I’m not being egotistical, I just got the right team because I had the right circumstances and we just pulled it together. We made what we think is our statement, and in the process, we became a band. We had a first proper band meeting today. It’s like being back in school again. I was setting up the garage I was hanging, like cellophane paper behind the band so it looked cool, and it all fell down when I opened the garage door, but yeah, we’re just having a good time.
J: Ah good ol’ days!
G: I mean, yeah, these are the days. These are the days.
J: Well, it's good that you can know that you're creating something that you're proud of.
G: Yeah. And I get caught up with all my critics and my wife, my kids, the whole. It's just funny, because like my kids, they’re growing up. This is ‘Dad’s band’, Ashenmoon, and every now and then they hear and sing INXS and they’re like ‘oh that’s right, Dad’s other band!’ They haven’t really discovered INXS yet, I haven’t really had the time to show it to them.
In fact I'm just discovering all these YouTube sites that have all our videos and all this stuff from live performances I've ever seen before. So, you know, it's just interesting. Actually Toby's the one that does all our social media stuff so he’s the one that’s been sending me the links. In fact, he sent me a link to this, I didn’t even know it existed but Andrew and Michael did and interview on a rooftop in London I think it was. They play a bit of The Stairs, acoustically, and we just latched onto that because I've always wanted have Toby sing The Stairs, that I always thought was one of Michael's best sets of work. So, we did an acoustic version, as per the way Andrew was playing it on the rooftop. So we've just finished that, that’s just been finished now, so that'll be coming out cause we've been getting you could say bored, so we’re doing acoustic versions of all our songs just to give you, but as it turns out we’ll have a heap of original material to put out as well, so, we just can’t help ourselves.
J: And what was life actually like, during and after the INXS era?
G: During was obviously massive. It was my life. I mean, we’d make a record with all our time and we live and breathe that and then we go on tour for sometimes 12 - 18 months, just keep touring the world over and over again, that’s how we lived. And then we have a bit of a break and then do it again. I didn’t have much of a home life. I still managed to have a dog, but I didn’t see much of her. And we did that from high school, so, you know, it was a pretty massive part of my life and I was and always will be very proud of INXS. When that stopped, obviously it was a horrible way for it to stop with Michael, but that was out of my control. I had no, I had no say in it. So me personally, I just sort of went into that ‘she’ll be right mate’ mode.
And Michael’s still around, I still dream about him all the time. He turns up like nothing happened and we start playing again. So, I know I have a guardian angel as well, I think maybe it’s Michael, maybe my dad, but he's still around. That sorta spirit isn’t gonna leave. I've just been kind of concentrating on my, on my personal life since all that happened. Moved to America, fell in love, got kids, you know, so I'm just trying to do that, but then as luck would have it, I meet the Australian singer that I’ve always wanted to meet, at a party in Los Angeles, it’s very L.A. y’know, the whole story.
And we tiptoed into it, we didn’t rush straight into making a record, we got to know each other better and - I'm sitting, watching my dog chew up my kids toys…
Yeah, it's cool. Life. You just take it as it comes around and adapt. It was a horrible way for INXS to end, but also I enjoyed the time of JD Fortune. I mean, that was a pretty good incarnation of the band. We made a great record called Switch, went platinum in America, sold a million records. So, I mean, it wasn't too shabby. Then that stopped so y’know. So, and I remember touring Australia with JD was great. Yeah.
Life’s a journey and I’m just happy to be on it. Above ground, still playing.
J: Well, that's awesome. That's amazing. That's, that's really nice to hear that you've gone on regardless of whatever setbacks and you're doing the best you can, sort of thing.
G: Yeah. You know, my legacy is always gonna be just making music, whether I do it in my garage or I do it on a laptop. I'm just happy to have a band that I can get out and play with.
J: Yup. Okay. Well, I only have one more question... What we try to ask every single person that we interview is; what are your top current top three Australian artists at the moment - they can be old. They can be new, but just Australian artists that you're really in love with right now.
G: No, I'm really out of, out of the loop. As far as Australian bands down there, I spent the last year just concentrating on my stuff. So, I’m probably the wrong person to ask, but I mean,
J: It can be old school stuff!
G: If I'm homesick, I just put on Chisel. Yeah. I play Circus Animals to death. I play Letter To Allen endlessly to all who’ll listen. I was actually was actually in my studio, just the other day with a tech, and I put on Ariel, a band I grew up with when I was a kid and he just thought it was the most amazing thing he’d ever heard. I just always go backwards. I mean, as I said it's hard for me, I'm a bit of a music historian now, I’m a bit anal that way. And I think when I hear something, I go ‘Oh, that's a rip-off of so-and-so’, which I shouldn't say that, I’m sure people would say that about Ashenmoon ‘well Ashenmoon’s a bit of a rip-off isn’t it?’. I just tend to listen to what I listened to and just get on with my day. But yeah, it’s hard to figure out when you’ve got half an hour to listen to some music, it's just hard to not put on old Genesis or…
J: For sure, go with what you know.
G: It’s like pulling on an old pair of jeans.
J: You pick what's comfortable.
G: Yeah. Australia's got some, Billy Thorpe, Richard Clapton and you know, obviously I said Chisel, and Oil and all that stuff, all the bands that influenced us, taught us how to play, you know, some good stuff.
J: Yeah. Okay. Well I think I've already gone over time technically but thank you so much.
G: Oh, you're welcome. It's really nice to talk to you.
J: Yeah, you too. It's great. It's a bit of an idol moment for me, so thank you so much.
G: Can’t wait to bring the band to Australia and be down there and play.
J: I'll definitely be there. Okay. Well thank you. Um, have a nice day!
G: You too, stay safe, see you down the track!
Once again, a huge thanks to John from Golden Robot Records for the opportunity, and to Garry for the fantastic chat. We’ll be waiting for what’s coming next - ‘See you down the track’!
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