The Southern River Band Launch their debut album Live At The Pleasuredome, Saturday, November 19 at Jack Rabbit Slim’s with Old Blood and Marmalade. The band have been busy of late burning down venues with their blazing live performances. We caught up with frontman and all round top bloke, Cal to chat about the album ahead of The Southern River Band Album Party.
First off, congrats on the album completion and forthcoming launch party. The album is called Live From The Pleasuredome. Can you tell us about the recording process? Please, tell us about this Pleasuredome?
It’s been a long hard road dodging many, many roo’s and as much as we’ve enjoyed the journey, we’re really looking forward to arriving at the destination.
It was recorded live at Rada Studios with Dan Carroll on the desk. Basically, we went in and did all the bed tracks live with amps tucked away in any sound isolating crevices that they’d fit in, spread out in formation across the studio, established four points of eye contact, white knuckled the wheel and floored it!
Dan and myself then spent countless hours tweaking any knob that could be turned before handing it over to Will Bowden for mastering and once all of the chefs (but not too many to spoil the broth) had chucked in their respective ingredients, Live At The Pleasuredome was served. Is the Pleasuredome a place? Is it a state of mind? Is it and ideology? maybe. All i know is I spent all Sunday morning in there. I could tell ya what it is but as the saying goes if i told ya, i’d have to…
You guys are a true rock n’ roll band in every sense of that phrase. It’s great to see young bands, like yourselves, emerging with a no BS attitude and letting the music and live performance speak for itself. Do you think passion and playing ability will always win over contemporary musical ‘trends’ and gimmicky bands?
Thank you for the continually kind words, your money will be in your account soon, haha. Nah, I think sooner or later if it’s fake, people will see through the bullshit, you know? When it’s legit, it’s legit. Whatever it may be and most people, no matter what they like/ don’t like, can tell when something is true blue.
My way of looking at is, we all draw inspiration from different avenues, be it music, art, sport, whatever, and that’s how it works, because in 2016 there’s always gonna be someone that’s done something similar to you and probably before you did it and comparisons are inevitable. The main ingredient has to be whatever’s bouncing around in your own brain, not someone else’s. That’s where at the end of day, we can look anyone dead in the eye and go “This is The Southern River Band, love it or hate it (not likely), this is what it is, and this is what it will always will be”. We’re not doing this to be pop-stars or nothing, I’m not gonna wake up one day and go “Ya know what boys, bugger it, we’re not gonna crack Hollywood today, I’m out, does anyone know if Ray White are hiring?”. At the end of the day, we’re doing it because we fucking love playing our music and fucking love seeing people fucking loving it.
Your first single off the new album, Pandora, is a cracker. What is the inspiration behind the song?
This song actually came to me in a vision whilst I was taking one of my many globe-trotting ‘spiritual journeys’ through Machu Picchu about a year and a half ago. Luckily, my guide and mentor, Barry, who actually lives in the Peruvian forest, surviving solely on the flora and fauna provided by Mother Earth, had an 8 track recorder in is pocket and we cut the track in about forty five minutes, those Incan Aqueducts sure give off a good drum sound.
Haha, nah. Well, the whole ‘Pandora’s Box’ thing is kinda the not-so-subtle underlying theme of the song. You know, once you open it, you can’t close it, or is it what comes out can’t go back in? What goes up must come down? Something like that anyway. Maybe it’s real, real deep and mysterious, so mysterious that even i don’t know what it’s about? Wrong again. All I can really say, is that since taking the songs advice the Pleasuredome’s productivity output has increased tenfold.
Have you hit the East Coast before? Do you have any plans to take the album on a national tour?
At the time of print, there’s been no east coast activity for SRB yet. It’s hard man. First off, it’s really far away from Thornlie. Everything costs money and this sorta thing costs a lot of money. Money, which is very hard to make playing music. But, obviously as soon as that aforementioned money is at the ready, we are gonna be taking this thing east coast, south coast, north coast, pork roast.
Basically, if its got a stage and a person or two, chances are, someday, The Southern River Band will play there. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but definitely maybe (that’s not an Oasis reference, please take note that that was not an Oasis reference).
See ya at the party to end all parties this Saturday, November 19 with Marmalade Mama, Old Blood and The Southern River Band LIVE at Jack Rabbit Slims!
Check out the Facebook event here. Tickets available from ticketbooth.com.au.
