He’s known as a multi-instrumentalist in a good many Perth bands, but Todd Pickett has emerged with his own entity, Flooded Palace, and will launch a debut EP on Saturday, March 14, at Fremantle Arts Centre with support from Fall Electric (duo), Timothy Nelson, Davey Craddock and DJ Big Ear Chad. BOB GORDON chats with the cunning conversationalist.
With all the bands you’ve played in over the years, when did you actually formally get around to I would’ve made this damn record 10 years ago if I wasn’t completely irresistible to really good songwriters. Been fooling the suckers for years, Bob. I’m actually a terrible musician, and a fuck of a person. But I finally shook off the oppressive shackles of my songwriting masters and started recording the thing about two years ago. Probably spent about four days on it. I was only let off my leash for four days in two years. I feel like some kind of fucked up sex slave, except no where near as horrible and real.
How long have these songs been simmering, or are they bespoke for this outing?
Mostly they’ve been simmering for way too long, Bob. One of the songs is like, three houses ago. But Flooded Palace as a band have completely taken them apart and put them back together while on drugs. So they sound very, very different.
What are you talking about in your songs?
Bitches, Bob. Ain’t that what all songs are about? One of the songs on the EP is about being an astronaut and what might go through said astronaut’s head while looking out of the little round window. So I guess my songs are exclusively about women and astronauts.
Prior to composition, do you want songs to angle a certain way, or evoke a certain mood, or are they open to the winds?
Songs just fall out of my brains, Bob. I have no control over this. And if I’m not in the immediate vicinity of something to record an oncoming moment of inspiration – pen or phone – the song/idea is lost forever. So in theory, I potentially may have written the greatest song of all time, and no one will ever know. We’re all just stuck with the shit I either remember or managed to illegibly scribble on the back of a Big Mac box while driving.
How has playing in so many bands affected you as a musician?
Usually makes me realise how much I suck, Bob. I mean, when you’re playing with hipsters like Luke Dux, Ben Witt, Lucky Oceans, Dom Mariani, Dan Carroll, Kim Salmon, Jozef Grech, Dave Brewer etc, no matter how bad and horrible they are as people, it makes you take a good hard look at yourself. And after looking at myself a whole lot, Bob, I’ve realised that I’m just not as good looking as these people.
Now that the EP is out, what’s the story from here for Flooded Palace guy?
I’m quite partial to playing live music, Bob. It’s the one time that I feel like I’m not a complete failure – even when I’m failing at playing live music. So I’ll probably just continue playing a ridiculous amount of shows with a ridiculous amount of people in hope that one of them gets really famous and buys me the gold-plated helicopter I’ve always wanted. I’m not destroying my brains and drastically shortening my lifespan for nothing, Bob. Just a hills kid trying to live the Australian dream.
