Elusive Perth trio, The Nordeens, will perform U2’s War album for the Newport Hotel’s Record Club this Thursday, August 7. There are more plans afoot though, as BOB GORDON reports.
The Nordeens were a fixture in the Perth music scene some 10 years ago. They were a band with an already fine pedigree; Team Jedi and Showbag! had both dissolved prior to the formation of this band that saw singer/guitarist Glenn Musto team with bassist, Matt Geary and drummer Ant Milne, to form this impressive trio.
They burned brightly, albeit too briefly but the sands of time have seen to it that a full album, some 11 years in the making, is soon to be released.
“I’ve had fairly mixed emotions to be honest,” says Matt Geary about the LP’s fruition. “It has been an annual pilgrimage for me to go to Melbourne and work on songs and recording for the last three or four years, so that part of the process has come to an end. But I think this represents an end in itself, just getting the thing finished.
“We will always be buddies and will continue to make music together, in whatever form that may be, but it feels like we’re putting something to bed.”
So why did the band stop playing in the first place?
“Geography,” Geary states simply. “Musto and Ant moved to Melbourne, so the band never really broke up. We just stopped playing live and continued to write and record when we could all be in the same place.”
There are, of course, many good memories from The Nordeens’ days of yore, though the band’s proudest achievement could well be the one it’s about to make.
“I think getting this record finished will be a pretty proud moment,” Geary says. “We could have easily shelved the whole thing but instead worked on new material and got it together.
We got back together in 2007 to play a show at the Hydey – the old version – which is a lasting memory. Travelling to Sydney to kick off the recording of this album was a hoot. Hanging out with good friends and making music – doesn’t get much better than that.
The Nordeens are performing U2’s War album for the Newport Hotel Record Club this Thursday. While not an obvious choice for the band, it’s certainly an interesting one.
“It is an unlikely choice for this band to do,” Geary states, “but it just so happened that it was a record that Ant had been listening to and really digging at the time the show was booked. I’ve been familiar with all of U2’s records for a while now – several friends are rabid fans – and I think we liked the fact that it was an odd choice.
“War was their last record before they went into the stratosphere and it still has the feel of ‘four guys playing in a room’. We’re certainly not a political band, but it seems pretty topical right now too.”
There’s more to come for The Nordeens, once their album is out. After all, they never really broke up.
“You bet. This Thursday we are gonna do a Nordeens ‘Best Of’ set after the U2 record, but the album shows will have all of the new material. There’ll be a WA run of shows, and possibly a Melbourne show. It’ll depend on how energetic we’re all feeling.”
