1. Growing Up
We were all raised in various far-flung northern NSW coastal towns. Personally, my mother loved Sabbath and Zeppelin, while her boyfriend at the time favoured the Christian radio station that was broadcast from a caravan. That relationship never had a chance.
2. Inspirations
Although we’re a surf band, our inspiration is about as un-coastal as you could get. Obviously Dick Dale and the Atlantics get any surf band off the ground, but we’re all fans of heavy music, psych rock and Spaghetti Western film scores. The reverb laden soundtracks that drip over schlocky ‘60s horror and spy movies provide an excellent starting point for making things dark and creepy, while still staying fun. That’s the best thing about surf rock – it’s dark and brooding, but you can still dance to it.
3. Your Band
Lachlan, Nick and Pete all know each other from the days when they were three of the seven people playing music in their town, and I met them in the city and we traded the sand for gross rehearsal room carpet. We all play in other bands – to us this band is our personal outlet, something we love doing just for the hell of it. Nick Franklin (Atom Bomb’s drummer) has recorded our last two records, plus he records other stuff you’ve probably heard somewhere in the last six months (Unity Floors, Making, Ted Danson with Wolves, Loose Pills, No Art, Eush…he’s a busy guy).
4. The Music You Make
There are a lot of good bands within the genre in Australia at the moment, but like us very rarely seem to play. The Narwhals, The Velocettes and Los Huevos all play pretty arse kicking instrumental surf. Overseas, bands like the Ghastly Ones, Phantom Surfers, Bomboras and Man or Astroman all have a pretty solid following. For us, it’s integral to differentiate ourselves from “surf bands” who sing indie pop with heaps of reverb on the vocals, or a bunch of dads in Hawaiian shirts playing ‘Wipe Out’ at their work Christmas party.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
Sydney music is doing fine, there are plenty of good bands, decent places to play and punters seem hungry for good shows, the main struggle is that the people who decide whether live music lives or dies in this city have no connection with it or understand just how integral it is to the vibrancy of the city. Noise complaints and zoning issues don’t seem to stop people putting on gigs in bars, warehouses, backyards or venues though, so I guess we’re all doing something right.
Atom Bombs play Brighton Up Bar‘s First Birthday Party on Saturday July 6 with support from Bad Valley, God K, Hailer, Gang of Youths, Good Heavens and Shady Lane.
