Perth drone fans will be among the first in the world to hear the new album from legendary Seattle trailblazers Earth, Primitive And Deadly, in the flesh this Wednesday, June 18, at the Rosemount Hotel, supported by Rachael Dease with her new band and Craig McElhinney/Chris Cobilis. JESSICA WILLOUGHBY talks with founder, Dylan Carlson, about the influence our town has had on their latest.
Perth and Dylan Carlson, Earth founder, have a connection.
One of the tracks of their upcoming eighth full length, Primitive And Deadly, was written when the Seattle drone pioneers-first toured our State last year – with one former Fremantle resident serving as their muse.
“The fourth song on the new album, which is instrumental, is called Even Hell Has Its Heroes,” Carlson tells X-Press. “I actually wrote that one in Perth when we were on tour last time. I wouldn’t be in a band doing this nowadays is it wasn’t for AC/DC. We went and visited Bon Scott’s statue in Fremantle when we were there last (laughs). He’s one of my favourite singers.”
Returning to WA next week as part of their latest run of Australian tour dates, local fans will be able to hear this track live before the actual album is released. “We’ll be playing all of the new record for you – with some older tracks thrown in,” Carlson explains. “We recorded the album back in December and finished mixing earlier this year. We were hoping to have the CD out in time for the tour, but it didn’t turn out that way. So you’ll basically be getting a full preview of the new album – except for the collaborations, obviously (laughs).”
The collaborations the iconic guitarist is referring to are with powerful American singer/songwriter Mark Lanegan and Rose Windows vocalist Rabia Shaheen Qazi. “I’ve known Mark for a long time and we had talked about working together on something for many years,” Carlson says. “Eventually, our schedules aligned. We recorded all the tracks first and then went into the studio with Rabia. But we had to leave the day Mark did his, unfortunately.
“I think Mark’s a great singer. One of the songs, he wrote the lyrics for and I did the other one. I like his lyrics so much – that’s where I got the album title.
“We have sort of an animal theme going on this record. We jump from more apocalyptic sounds to murder ballads. Some of the songs I originally was going to use towards my solo releases. But Adrienne (Davies, drums) said it was too good and we have to keep it for ourselves. She got worried I was spreading myself thin or something (laughs).
“I also found myself listening to a lot more older stuff that I used to listen to when I started Earth, I guess. UFO, Scorpions – maybe that had a little bit to do with the heavier sound with have on this record. That’s always been there but, for some reason, it was more at the forefront.”
This LP is not the only musical focus Carlson has been working on recently. The last 12 months has seen him venture further into his solo work, touring Europe extensively with free percussionist Rogier Smal – even releasing a 7” titled Holly’s Jeans. “I just wanted to let Earth do what it’s going to do,” he says. “The solo thing has a certain theme to it; you could say. I didn’t want to really duplicate that theme again on an Earth record.”
His solo work also took him on the journey to completing his first avant-garde project, Coleman Grey. Crowd-funding the project last year, fans helped the Earth frontman exceed his goal of $30,000. Although the album was pegged for release back in 2013, Carlson reports this date has shifted to mid-2014.
“I just finished the music for it; the film is being cut,” he says. “I’m collecting the artwork and finishing the text – putting it into production, finally. There’s unfortunately been some delays. With perfect hindsight, I should have probably done a normal solo record (laughs).”
