Tumbleweed frontman Richie Lewis is in a good mood about the band’s national tour to celebrate the re-release of classic album Galactaphonic (the 20th Anniversary SuperGalactaphonic Edition, to be precise). “We’ll have to dust off our old wah-wah pedals again,” Lewis says.
“It’ll be a challenge recreating the sound of the record live, but it’s been 20 years in the making so we can’t wait.”
The highly anticipated reissue of the iconic 1995 album features Galactaphonic’s13 original songs, nine B-sides and EP tracks, seven previously unreleased live recordings from triple j sessions, five cassette demos hand-picked by the band, and alternate versions of classic tracks ‘Hang Around’, ‘Gyroscope’ and ‘Round The Bend’ – alongside two never-before-released favourites of the band’s, ‘Salamander Sam’ and ‘Paddy The Pram Man’.
“It was amazing to rediscover Galactaphonic again, because honestly, since we recorded it all those years ago, we hadn’t listened to it much – so listening to it with fresh ears was fantastic,” says Lewis. “One thing I was surprised by was how much distortion was used on the vocals, but I love how short, sweet, vibrant, fast and punchy that album is.”
Not only does this release have Tumbleweed fans around the world reminiscing about the golden era of grunge, it’s allowed the New South Welshmen a welcome trip down memory lane, which, according to Lewis, ended in the rehearsal studio. “We’ve had to relearn a lot of the songs and spend time together rehearsing them. Of course, songs like ‘Hang Around’ and ‘Nothin’ To Do With The Weather’ have always been part of our set, but others like ‘This’ll Be The End Of Me’, ‘Medicine’, ‘Feed The River’ and ‘Jupiter’ we had to get together and learn again.”
Lewis says the process of unearthing old live recordings, demos, B-sides and rarities was a unique form of therapy in the wake of the unexpected passing of foundation bassist Jason ‘Jay’ Curley last August.
“While it was cool going through all the old tapes that Steve [O’Brien, drums] had collected over the years, it was something we had to ease into, because after Jay died we weren’t really sure what we wanted to do next, as far as the band goes. But it was something we’d talked about since the reissue of The Waterfront Years [a compilation album released in 2010], so we spoke to Universal Records about the possibility of putting something together and they were all for it – so from there the idea grew wings and started to fly.
“It was definitely a nice way to dip our toes back into the water, so now we’re really looking forward to getting out on the road again – and I think the fact that we aren’t simply doing a ‘best of’ Tumbleweed tour, like we’ve done before, we’re doing something that’s really direct, and it’ll be purely Galactaphonic from beginning to end.”
Although the announcement of Tumbleweed’s return to the stage has been met with overwhelming positivity, Lewis remains frank regarding the prospect of heading out on tour without Curley. “We’re all still quite reluctant about the whole idea of replacing Jay – it’s not something we want to think about right now,” he says. “But as far asfilling in on bass duties, Luke [Armstrong] is really the perfect candidate. He’s a solid bass player, he learns quickly, he knows the songs, and he’s part of the family.
“Luke grew up like myself, practising in the Curleys’ band room in Tarrawanna. He’s been in bands with Mick Curley, who is Lenny’s [backing vocals, guitar] and Jay’s little brother. Jay taught him a couple of tricks when he was a young whippersnapper as well [laughs],and Jay would have wanted us to plug ahead – so that’s what we’re doing.”
In the days following Curley’s death, with the resolve that something good should come from the tragedy, Tumbleweed released the single ‘Drop In The Ocean’ in his memory and chose to package their tribute with a clip to raise awareness of Sea Shepherd Australia.
“One thing that has been on my mind a lot since Jay died is that life is short,” says Lewis. “You’re on this planet for a finite amount of time and you’ve got the choice of how you’re going to spend your time, so together we made a conscious decision that if we’re going to do something, give it a reason and use whatever platform we’ve built to do it.
“Sea Shepherd do great work in our oceans, protecting and conserving it – it’s for the future of the planet, the future of humanity, you know? I support everything they do. You’ve gotta do what you can to try and make the world a better place.”
Galactaphonic (20th Anniversary SuperGalactaphonic Edition) is out now through Universal, andTumbleweed are live at Manning Bar on Friday September 11.
