This weekend, Sydney indie rockers Peabody take over Erskineville’s The Roller Den to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Aside from a few lineup changes, it’s been 20 years with no interruptions and no major controversies. This milestone far surpasses the goals that vocalist/guitarist Bruno Brayovic and songwriter/bassist Ben Chamie had at the band’s inception.
“I remember saying to Ben when we were still in high school, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be doing this when I’m 30,’” Brayovic says. “30 was just so old when we were 18.”
During Peabody’s 20 years, Brayovic and Chamie have never been hell bent on attaining superstardom. Instead, the focus has been making music they could confidently stand behind. As a result, the band was almost ten years old when its debut LP Professional Againster came out.
“I guess we weren’t in a hurry in those days and we were happy playing gigs, and we recorded a couple of EPs,” Brayovic says. “Sometimes people take a little while to find their feet creatively and that’s just what happened with us.”
A turning point came in 2002 when Peabody was introduced to Jamie Hutchings of Bluebottle Kiss, who went on to produce the group’s first three albums.
“That was the first time we really had some external influence from someone who knew what they were doing. He scaffolded us a little bit, if you will, and then we were much more confident by the time The New Violence came about.”
Indeed, 2005’s The New Violence still conveys teeth-baring indie rock flair today. It’s no surprise Brayovic feels particular affection for this period.
“We’d released two albums that were pretty well received and had got a lot of airplay,” he recalls. “Every second week we were out of Sydney, we were going all over Australia. It was just fun – the three of us in a van for at least a couple of years. We were playing festivals, we were getting good supports, all that sort of thing.”
Peabody’s 20th anniversary show is set to provide a comprehensive career retrospective. Former drummer Graeme Trewin is even coming back to perform tracks from the first two LPs. Since Trewin’s departure in 2007 there have been two more Peabody albums, both featuring drummer Jared Harrison and guitarist Tristan Courtney-Prior. The band’s catalogue isn’t overwhelmingly voluminous, but some tunes escape easy recollection.
“Weirdly, for ‘Got You On My Radar’, one of the reasons we haven’t played that for so long is I simply forgot how to play it,” Brayovic admits. “We’d lost the piece of paper with the tuning on it and I just couldn’t remember the chord shapes. Then I was cleaning up my computer and all of a sudden I came across a tab that I had made for a guitar player magazine in 2005. So there it was in front of me – how to play the song again.”
Brayovic and Chamie have actually held down day jobs throughout Peabody’s 20-year run. Not cracking into the big time might be disappointing from a financial point of view, but it means that Peabody still offer their core members an invigorating redemption from the conventional world.
“We’re not going to let things like everyday life get in the way of us doing this, because then you start to wonder, ‘Well, why were we doing it in the first place?’ It wasn’t so we could make a living. It was because it’s the best feeling in the world to rock out with your friends. And it still is. I can’t wait until I strap on a guitar and play music with three of my best friends.”
Catch Peabody at The Roller Den on Friday June 13, tickets available online.
