Rag N’ Bone launch their EP, A Woman Under The Influence, at The Bakery this Friday, March 6, with support from Doctopus, Aborted Tortoise, Shit Narnia, Pissedcolas and Childsaint. We catch up with self described “guitarist and bastard,” Axel Carrington.
This EP has been a long time coming. What led to the long development period?
A mixture between pragmatic concerns, like finances and scheduling and perhaps a general malaise, something which I am constantly party to. We tend to really chisel our songs into form, so by the time the public hear them live or recorded, they’ve been put maybe four or five different guises. Also, the vinyl shortage really stubbed our toe, nearly broke it clean off.
How have the songs on A Woman Under The Influence charged from their live versions?
We really nailed them out to a click track before recording them, so their forms have stayed essentially unaltered, bar the fluffed chord or broken strings. It’s like they’re tattooed on our ass at this point.
What was the writing process like?
Writing for me is always laboured after the initial flurry of ideas, constantly editing and researching and manipulating. By the time it’s reached the band, we again put it through the same process, which is long, but ultimately rewarding, like exercise.
Where did you record and who with?
We recorded at Poon’s Head Studio in East Freo, basically a federation style labyrinth on the corner of Canning Highway with master wizard Rob Grant and a small dog who loved pats under the chin.
What are your promo/touring plans for this release?
They’re still in flux, but we have a few follow up gigs in Perth, including Scalphunter’s single launch and Hyperfest. Jam’s got a Pat Chow tour, but then we’re gonna try hit up all the major cities and hopefully bone a few of a locals, pun perhaps intended.
Is there a strong John Cassavetes connection, or is the title just one of those things?
I unashamedly love the work of John Cassavetes and one of the most inspiring things for me about his films is that there are no pulled punches, in any aspect: he made films about people, about communication, as naked and as passionately as possible. It’s something I strive for in lyrics and I think we achieve in our sound, so to title the EP after a film of his was pretty much a no-brainer.
You guys seem to wilfully defy easy genre classification but are there any specific artists you could point to as strong influences?
The aforementioned Cassavetes, Werner Herzog, Francis Bacon, Rowland S. Howard, Kate Bush, David Foster Wallace, Savages and Irish Folk music – Planxty’s self-titled record is the greatest record ever made, and I speak for the whole band on this (citation needed).
