Apache launch their new single, Vultures, this Friday, August 22, at Mojo’s with help from FOAM, Pat Chow, Hideous Sun Demon, Bi-Polarbear and a DJ set from Ricky Maymi (The Brian Jonestown Massacre). BOB GORDON reports.
It may well be their song of the moment, but Perth outfit Apache’s new single, Vultures, had inauspicious beginnings.
“It initially started off as a bit of a shitty/odd B-side for a different single that we were going to release which no one in the band seemed to take too seriously,” says vocalist, Timothy Gordon, “but as soon as we got into the studio with Andy Lawson it all started evolving at a rapid rate and everyone started getting really into it.
“With a heap of tweaking from the instrumental side of things from the rest of the guys and changing the lyrics from a song that was basically about being really dumb and doing dumb things to lyrics that actually meant something, we were done.”
While the song evokes a change from where Apache once resided musically, it seems they’re still in the midst of change.
“It’s a bit of an odd one, to be honest,” Gordon ponders. “It’s a lot more gross and dirty than our last release, Creatures, except it’s not all that similar to the songs that we are recording for the next release.
“I think this song shows a band experimenting with sounds and writing something that isn’t necessarily what they set out to write, but we really fell in love with and just couldn’t let it go onto the dreaded pile of lost songs and broken brains.”
Apache are returning to Debaster Studio to again work with Lawson on what is currently planned as an EP.
“I think we will be doing an EP,” Gordon says, “except we might surprise ourselves and end up with an album or surprise ourselves even more and come out with a CD case full of tears and nothing else. But regardless we will be bringing out whatever we end up recording at the start of 2015.”
Do you enjoy working with Andy Lawson?
“I think the appropriate answer for that is… I may have fallen in love with him,” Gordon states. “He really just gets it and that’s just on a relating with the band level and knowing exactly what to say or do to get the best performance out of us. Then you just leave him in his little room for a while and when you go back in, everything will sound exactly how you asked him to make it sound, but better…so short answer is yes, we do enjoy working with Andy Lawson.”
Apache are a pretty commanding live band, with a nice mix of intensity and showbusiness. In fronting the band, Gordon feels…
“Intense happiness. Being on stage with Apache is one of the best feelings I have ever experienced in my life, and I’m really thankful that as soon as we play that first note, my body still explodes into a state of pure bliss every gig and then I look around the stage and see four of my best friends in the world playing music that we wrote together. Then I see the crowd who paid actual money to come watch five guys who would still being playing and acting the exact same way even if there was no one there. It doesn’t really get much better than that, man.
“I also have to remember to go to the toilet, accidents have occurred.”
