The New Pornographers face Challengers
In a couple of months, Australian music lovers will be treated to a string of shows by the New Pornographers as they hit our shores with their newest music from their fourth CD Challengers. "We are going to use lots of pyrotechnics, guitar shredding and plenty of vocal gymnastics” John Collins, bassist (amongst many other things) said.
Announced to play the (now cancelled) Great Escape festival line up, Collins got to thinking about past festivals “ I remember we were playing a little while ago at this festival in Illinois where Parliament (P-Funk Orchestra) were playing. George Clinton played for about two hours and then 10, 000 people left as soon as they could and we ended up playing to a crowd of about 300 people.” He continues with a laugh “So if that was our headlining gig it would have been quite depressing, but it wasn’t and everyone was just happy before we went on. So the pressure was off and we just had fun.”
Those kind of stories create a great love for playing at festivals “especially when playing in the afternoon, you just pull up, no pressure, there is a million other bands taking the heat, you can just come a long, play your show. If people are into it then it is a bonus, but if people are tired or whatever it doesn’t matter because the gig doesn’t fail”
The New Pornographers have a love for playing their own shows too and in ten year they have had their share of memorable gigs with “A lot of really cool things happen and a lot of ridiculously bad stuff. Like the two day long extravaganza involving several vehicles breaking down and barely making it to one gig and then racing of to the next one and basically being stressed for two days straight.”
“It was really cool in 2001 where we played at a show with Ray Davies, we chosen a Kinks song and he asked of he could play with us. Then afterward he said ‘you know the kinks never played that song live because it totally bombed on the radio’ then it dawned on me, we had just debuted a Kinks single 30 years later, that was pretty awesome” Collins seems still in awe as he reflects on the moment.
Ten years is a long time in the music industry these days, humbly Collins said, “We are just a bunch of late bloomers, a surprised that we are finally getting a little bit popular, because we were all 30 when this band started to take off, and we had been playing in bands for the previous 10 years as well”.
Budding musicians looking for inspiration take note that John Collins has put in the hard yards playing in bands from the ripe age of 12 years old “If I could talk to the 12 year old me, I would say ‘don’t shit your pants, I’m going to tell you something really amazing – You are GOING to play with Ray Davies when you are 34 and it will be incredible. You are going to travel the world as a rock musician. Try to stay cool and wait during the next 20 years because it will be really fun”
Coming together from years of playing in different bands and different styles of music could be a barrier for some, however for the New Pornographers they discovered a rare chemistry that works like magic. “Most of us in the band are unusually into the same music, the same rock bands. We are all really into rock history and we are aware of all the little trends that have happened over the decades” Collins goes on to ponder about what continually fuels their creativity “We all have a super geeky ‘fan feeling’ that keeps us interested in what we are doing, like going into a record store and seeing our tiny part of the rock section. It gives us a purpose and then you can just keep working at it”
When it comes to making albums they still come together naturally and continue to grow and develop their talented and unique sound “Our first record was covering a couple of Bens songs from his ‘destroyer cassette tapes. And now we all bring songs to the table and we start bashing them around together”
Reflecting on more than a decade in the music industry led to imagining time travelling, Collins decides that if he could choose any time to be alive he would love to see his home town a few hundred years ago “Because I like to go out into the woods, I do spend a lot of time imagining it with no white people around and I think about what the aboriginal people would be doing with this land. Yeah that would be a pretty neat thing to see…” Although he admits he does enjoy being around in this time too.
Back to present day; The New Pornographers are really looking forward to their return to Australia “We had a really great time when we were there last time. I would like to extend my invitation to those people who came out and joined us last time and of course their friends too”
The New Pornographers play the following Australian tour dates:
Oct 7- The Zoo- Brisbane
Oct 8- Rosemount Hotel- Perth
Oct 10- The Gov- Adelaide
Oct 11- The Corner- Melbourne
Oct 12- The Annandale Hotel- Sydney
