The Grates - Question and Answer

The first time I spoke to The Grates, they hadn’t released a CD officially. They hadn’t played overseas. And they hadn’t sold out an East Coast tour. So it’s a bit of a shock, just six months down the track to realise they’ve done all of those things – a few times over. So when I spoke to John Patterson, official Grates tough guy, we couldn’t help but talk about world domination, sore feet, colouring books and playing their first ever full-scale festival

You’ve just spent a few weeks overseas, in a bit of a whirlwind tour, what did you look forward to doing most when you got home?

I think we look forward to spending a couple of days by ourselves with nothing to do. BUT I think we start to have tour withdrawals, ‘cos the first day we have to ourselves, we start texting heaps.

You played swag of shows in a few different countries, which was your favourite show?

We did this show that the Brian Jonestown Massacre ended up hijacking! This was in London at the Buffalo Bar. Anton is such a prick! He was pushing his bassist about and giving shit to the audience. Heaps of people walked out. Patience totally fell in love with him. She even went to the shop after he ordered her to buy him a Lucozade.

Are there any aspects of the international music scene you’d like to see Australia adopt?

Nope. I think Australia’s music scene is great. The beauty of being in a band in Australia, is that if you want, you can basically form a band one week and play a show the next weekend. There's no way in hell you could do that in the UK or US. Everyone is hell rehearsed and tight and have it all worked before they even play a show. Here you can work yourself out in front of an audience!

Playing support for Be Your Own Pet must have been fairly exciting, were they your favourite band to play support for?

They were definitely the favourite band we played support for on the last tour. They're a kick-ass live band and hell nice. I think it was the 1st time we've ever been the oldest band on the stage!

You say you saw The Futureheads while in New York, couldn’t you wait until Splendour In The Grass?

I saw the Futureheads at SXSW [South by Southwest] too! They're an amazing live band. Perhaps the tightest band I've ever seen, and they're harmonies are just spot on. I don't think I knew they were playing splendour when we saw them in NY.

Looking back on your trip, is there one moment that you could pin down as pretty much signifying what the whole trip was like? Or just moments in particular that stand out?

This one time our tour manager got real drunk (the night of the “Be Your Own Pet” show) and Patience stretched out one of those 6 pack holders (you know those plastic ones that kill seals and water life?), well she stretched one part of it over his neck. He didn't notice it and wore it like a necklace all night. Then at like 5am, he woke up thinking someone was choking him ‘cos it started going back to it original shape! And he had no recollection of how the 6pack holder got there. That might not sum up the tour, but I've been aching to tell someone.

Is it true you’re taking over the world? Should we expect to lose you guys to Europe or the United States soon?

Nah, but we love touring and travelling so bad.

You’re playing some shows on home soil now, what can we expect? Will there be any new songs sneaking into the set? Or old songs, like Spoke In The Eye, perhaps?

I think there will be a couple of new songs and a couple of old songs. We've gotta sift through all our old songs next week and work out what we still like. And I've gotta learn how to play the new songs properly.

At the end of July you’re heading off to play your first big festival. Are you going to try and start a riot, or something similar?

Patience is having all these crazy ideas for festivals, she's trying to convince me that band money should pay for her to get new dresses, and I'm starting to buy in. I don't think the audience will want to riot when we're the 1st band on Sunday, but maybe we can set a fun mood for the day?

Speaking of live shows, a lot is made of Patience’s onstage antics. Has she ever injured somebody while jumping? Or injured herself?

She's starting to get sore feet from jumping. I think she's going to have to start wearing new balances with innersoles instead of the sparkly ones. Or these sweet shoes I saw in this magazine that have a brain and cables, and they adjust to your foot and the terrain as you walk! They cost $499 and are gold and silver and look like they're made for robots.

The Go! Team is your first really big support slot, did you accept it so you could pester them to remix Sukkafish?

We wanted to do this tour so bad! Thunder lightning strike is one of my favourite albums from last year and I've been dying to see them live. Now I get to see them 4 times!

Are you feeling anxious amid the claims that the shows with The Go! Team are going to be the best shows Australia sees this year?

That just makes me excited that I get to see the show 4 times!

2005, so far, has been the year of The Grates. Has the media attention you’ve received changed the band at all? Have you felt pressure to change at all?

We haven't changed at all. We always put heaps of pressure on ourselves, but it's got nothing to do with media attention, it's more like a mental health issue.

Now that people all over the world are listening to your songs, has it changed the way you look at song writing?

No, but the way we write songs have changed. It takes us longer to write a song now, and I think that's because we're looking for new things to do.

What’s on for the rest of the year? I’d like to request quite a few more shows and an album.

Well we'll be recording our album and doing some more shows after that. Then hopefully our album will be out early next year! Then we'll be doing heaps of touring.

Is the album going to be all new songs, or are you going to throw in some old favourites?

I think the album is going to be a combination of new songs and old songs. To us it feels like it's going to be our 1st and (hypothetical) 2nd album combined.

What else can we expect from The Grates this year?

Stationary sets and colouring in books.

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