1.Growing Up
Scott (my brother, who is also in IB) and I do come from music. Our mum was always really supportive of us being creative and encouraged us to play a lot. We shared a drum kit and smashed it every day after school and she kindly tolerated it, but it’s our dad who is the musician. He is a rare bird – the professional one. He can play around ten different woodwind instruments and is/was a hired gun. Needless to say he finds our music pretty painful to listen to. Our sister Sophie is also a pretty amazing composer.
2.Inspirations
If I had to whittle it down to one, like a lot of musicians I’d say Tom Waits. He can deal out artifice as well as sincerity. He can be a total traditionalist or jump head first into the avant-garde. The first album I heard was Bone Machine. I love the way each sound has a full-blooded life of its own, as if it’s living in a separate dwelling with walls, smells, sounds, et cetera.
3.Your Band
Reuben Wills plays bass and sings backing vocals, and is a natural. Scott Hutchings plays second guitar and auxiliary drums/percussion, and provided all the images for our two albums and shot and directed our film clip. The drummer on both albums was Jared Harrison who is amazing but unfortunately he’s become too busy to tour. Instead we have the very talented Hugh Deacon along – he’s the virtuosic baby.
4.The Music You Make
Our first album River Mirrors had a very strong percussive/psychedelic influence, so I’d cite bands like Can and fusion-era Miles. Our new album Before Before is more concise; there’s a pretty strong raw soul and noise rock influence. We definitely like to let loose but there’s always that experimental, improvisational element too. We recorded both albums with our good friend Chris Colquhoun. He’s a self-taught engineer and understands our musical perspective exactly.
5.Music, Right Here,Right Now
Loads of amazing music is being made constantly. There’s a long-term music scene here that is incredibly rich and I’d love to see it more visible. One of the best shows I saw last year was Louis Tillett at the Factory Floor with Jeffrey Wegener on drums and Ken Gormly on bass – three long-term Sydney musicians collaborating in a pretty magical way. I don’t have a particular haunt; wherever good music is being made, from warehouses to clubs– it’s the music that draws me more than the venue.
Infinity Broke‘sBefore Before is out now through Come To The Dark Side Luke/MGM and available through Bandcamp. They playThe Factory Floor withYes I’m Leaving and The Maladies onSaturday May 30.
