yesyesyesyesyes
The Boat People
Think of those fantastic pop bands that feature heavenly harmonies, bands like The Posies, Grant Lee Buffalo or REM, now think of Brisbane band The Boat People. Few bands ever produce the goods like this and considering that this is their first full-length effort it’s even more remarkable. I got in touch with the band to get some comments on the 12 jewels that make up yesyesyesyesyes.
Clean
“Asks the questions, "How important is it to move away from those things in your life that cause you distress and take you away from yourself?" An edgy tune with a driving rhythm that opens up in the chorus where the song answers it's own question. "More than oxygen". Reminiscent of Cold Play if they took more risks, Clean was polished up on a family holiday at the beautiful Stradbroke Island, a strange contrast to the song's unsettling
lyrics.”
Unsettle My Heart
“Margaret Attwood said "All I want from music is heart-breaking romance". I would also add that heart-breaking romance is better than no romance at all. Sometimes it is not the variety but the intensity of feeling that is most important. While the song mentions a stovetop kettle, this has now been replaced with an electric one. I still use the stovetop one for camping.”
Irony
“It has come to my attention that most people I know get more cynical and jaded as they get older. However, the opposite seems to be occurring with me, which while at first it may seem admirable, is in practice making my life very difficult. If you can write a break-up song for a feeling that has deserted you then this is indeed one.”
She's A Good Soul
“A song that recognises the good things in a person, even if your relationship with them has gone a little strange. This little ditty got a lot of attention in the practice room before it was successfully pieced together out of many different potential sections. Drummer Tony Garrett's final suggestions thankfully saved it from the "too hard basket"! She's A Good Soul's bouncy, summer-feel-good verse collapse into a shambolic chorus before the angular, guitar-theatrics of the coda brings the song to a chaotic, Wilco-esque end.”
Sink into the Sea
“I wrote this song over about two years. I’d almost finished it when world events caused me to shelve it until a time when people wouldn’t take it so literally. It is about the great human tradition of hoping that the people destroying everything will destroy themselves first. Of course, we are all destroyers in some way and unfortunately our hopes will be realised. The reference to "finger-toes" at the end means people. Monkeys are "finger-fingers", people are "finger-toes". Who says so? I do!”
If We Hadn’t Got Together…
“This is the closest I get to writing love songs. I’ve been with this girl for five years now and a lot of the people we both knew before then have disappeared from our lives. Sometimes it scares me to think how easily we could have lost track of each other if we’d never hooked up. The first verse is a true story. I highly recommend you try the technique described therein when you are out on the road and missing your woman.”
Possum Magic
“Possum Magic is often introduced at gigs as being about "New Farm, red wine, lust and possums". And that pretty much sums up this strange mix of rockabilly, indie-pop and jazzy-theatrics. Possum Magic was of course the name of a popular Australian children's book, enjoyed by several members of The Boat People in their youth. The song sees the band make an un-self-conscious and deliberate attempt to represent a slice their own lives as twenty-somethings living in Brizvegas.”
Central Station
“I had been spending a lot of time on Brisbane’s wonderful public transport system (particularly the train – ah! the glorious Ferny Grove line) and there were some images that repeatedly burned themselves into my subconscious and had to find a way out again. Musically it was a similar kind of deal – I wasn’t trying for any particular vibe but all the things that had been stewing inside me just kind of bubbled out into the song – in the words of the immortal David Byrne: “same as it ever was.”
Building Bridges, Digging Caves
“A rare example of a song being recording by The Boat People while never having been played live. The tune is based around a loop of Tony's drums and quickly builds to a high-energy but atmospheric ending that fades into a strange percussion/guitar jam recorded by James and Robin in the kitchen of the studio. The song provides examples of difficult and trying situations seen in the lives of friends of the author while searching for those permanent things that give us strength through all our ups and downs. "Never going to give these things away."
The Picturesque
“The term picturesque seems to mean "beautiful enough to be a picture of itself". This makes no sense. It seems to suggest that only a human being’s intervention can transform a ‘random’ and therefore ugly natural landscape into something considered beautiful. But what is the prototype for universal beauty, if not the natural world? This tune is a poked out tongue to all the McClouds Daughters fans. Australians pretend we are proud of the bush but we are actually just proud of beating it to a bloody pulp.”
Me and the Sun
“You know how you walk into Ikea or wherever and all the colours of things are "ochre" and "charcoal" and "lagoon"? Well they still look really bad in the same way that banana flavour tastes nothing like a banana. Nature can get away with a lot more than an interior decorator. Would you get away with all those sappy sunset colours if they were a painting above your bed? I think not.”
Thanks guys.
Rob Hudson
www.theboaties.com

also www.mp3.com.au/theboatpeople
and www.myspace.com/theboatpeople


For your chance to win one of five copies of The Boat People’s new single Clean, send your name and address to us at boatiescomp@modmove.com. We will announce the winners in the next few weeks.