What’s the story behind the band name? It started with a childhood obsession with Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I loved that they never made Monty Python a character. He was this mercurial being whose “Flying Circus” could encompass anything imaginable. Then as a teenager, I heard the line “and the first time I saw my cousin Tony’s brand-new Firebird” in the film American Beauty. The monologue speaks to the texture of memories, and the moments that really stay with us as life unspools. Though the band didn’t emerge for another several years, I knew then and there as a 14-year-old that I’d just heard the band name.

Sum up your new album, Rosewater Crocodile, in a sentence. A sonic journey down a mystic river through a fragrant jungle of love and longing.

How has your sound evolved over the past decade? It’s blossomed from folk origins into a kaleidoscopic world of cinematic pop. I like to think the folk essence is still always discernible within the songs, but we treat the recording experience as ‘world building’ rather than linear songwriting.

 

 

 

 

 

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This album was created in a chapel. How’d that work? We made an album, Smiles of Earth, during Covid at a studio in the inner-city. This mad-scientist producer Josh Barber kept dropping in to tell us how much he loved the sounds he could hear emanating from our room. He also mentioned this country chapel he was converting into a studio. We went out to Dja Dja Wurrung country one day to scope it out and fell immediately in love. It was clear a record needed to be made there.

We hear you’re a David Lynch fan. What’s your favourite of his works? Mulholland Drive is a masterpiece. It’s astounding to me how absurd its reach is, yet how much sense it makes as a mystery. It took me a few views to understand that. Then there’s Twin Peaks. For something so dark, surreal and often absurd, it’s amazing to me how inviting and warm its mood is. I could say the same thing about Eraserhead and The Elephant Man. But his writings and lectures on creativity and meditation have been a guiding light, particularly his book Room to Dream.

Which Cousin Tony song would you recommend to a first-time listener? “When This is Over”, maybe. I remember finishing it and thinking, “Whatever it is I’m going for, that’s about as close to it as I’ll ever get.”

What did you listen to while writing this album? Phil Collins’ original soundtrack for Tarzan. Pete (guitar) also described the album as “Tango In The Night (Fleetwood Mac) without the cocaine.” There are even some Michael McDonald kind of yacht-rocky influences floating around there. Carole King’s Tapestry was an influence on some of the earlier songwriting ideas.

Any tips for overcoming a creative block? I don’t think genuine creativity can or should be rushed. You can, however, always work on the craft – practice your instrument, learn a new style, listen to a genre you’d never listen to (check out obZen by Meshuggah), watch a foreign film. But don’t write for the sake of writing. Sometimes you aren’t meant to be exhaling. I love Blaze Foley’s lyric, “I’ll start talking again when I know what to say.”

There are loads of instruments on this record. How did you go about figuring out the right mix of layers and textures? Deep listening. It’s usually quite clear to me what should be a trumpet and what should be a synth and what should be a voice. Having said that, Josh Barber’s chapel is a bit of a wonderland. I walked in and saw the marimba, the vibraphone, the steel pan and the violoncello and immediately started hearing things in a new way. We also used the environment as much as possible – the corrugated iron roof sheet became a snare drum and Josh converted an unused water-tank into a reverb chamber. “Send it to the tank” became a favoured studio expression.

You’ll be on tour when this issue comes out. Which show are you most looking forward to? It must be said that Sydney/Warrane crowds have always been on par with our home-turf shows in Melbourne/Naarm. So much love and energy. But our Brisbane/Magandjin show also falls on the eve of the Ekka (Brisbane Show) public holiday, which I imagine will encourage a fairly raucous time.

This interview comes straight from the pages of issue 127. To get your mitts on a copy, swing past the frankie shop, subscribe or visit one of our lovely stockists.