Are You Involved?
Gyroscope
Starting a band in a city like Perth and making it on a national and international level is a difficult proposition so when a band from the left coast makes it, you know they’re in it for the music and not the fame or glory. Are You Involved? show a band hard at work on progression. I got in touch with the band’s drummer Rob to get some comments on their latest work.
How long has the band been together?
“We’ve actually been together eight years now, we started off in high school in 97.”
Were you all high school friends?
“No we all went to different high schools except for Brad and Zoran who went to the same school, but we lived in the same neighbourhood and had lots of mutual friends.”
When you first got together were you just a jam band?
“It was just one of those things, we had all just started to play our instruments and it’s not unlike it is today, just friends getting together to play, we played our first show as a band in March of 97.”
Did you find the isolation of Perth having an effect on your music and musical upbringing?
“Looking back on it now, yes it had an influence, mainly from an industry standpoint. Back then there were no A&R people, no spotlight on Perth. There were only one or maybe two bands that got any national airplay on Triple J at all. No one really bothered to came out to Perth so as a band you had time to develop.”
Growing up, how did you keep in touch with what was happening in the music world?
“We were all 16 or 17 when we started the band so most of us have gone through the Nirvana phase, we’re all children of the grunge. Also when Jebediah was coming out of Perth, they were a big influence for us in the early days because they were playing all ages gigs and we went to a lot of their gigs.”
How did you eventually get signed?
“We eventfully put out an EP for an independent label called Redline Records which was owned and run by Jebediah’s management and Jebediah themselves, that was in 2002. It was that EP that got a fair bit of recognition and national tours with Jebediah helped, also the hard work and talking up of Heath, the owner of Redline Records. That sparked up interest from a few major labels.”
Are you involved? is your second album, what did you learn from doing the first album that you incorporated in the making of the second?
“Just being in the studio longer when you record an album as opposed to an EP is a learning experience. When it comes to recording, in my situation recording drums, you lean how to be confident playing the drums so you can get takes that replicate the energy you have playing live.”
What was working with Mark Trombino like?
“It was amazing, just an awesome bloke. We heard a lot of conflicting stories about Mark, some said he was a real hardass and difficult to get along with and all the rest of it but from word go we got off on the right foot with him. At the end of the day we were just four dudes from Perth Western Australia living in LA for nine weeks that alone was enough to get us going and put us in a really great frame of mind and gave us a great attitude. We were all in really good spirits and I think that rubbed off on Mark. It also helped that he was really into the band. He had done a lot of work in the past few years that he really wasn’t passionate about and that sucked some of the life out of him and he liked our stuff so that really helped.”
I’ve got to give you props because the drum sound on the album is one of its strongest points, did it take long to get a sound in the studio?
“Yeah how good is it? The drum sound is insane, that was one of the things about working with Mark that I was really excited about because he is known for his drum sound. We did have five days to get the drum sound right, which was really handy and we got stuff from Drummers Paradise in LA and they have supplied acts like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, they have the most insane gear. I was using a snare drum that was used on Nirvana’s Nevermind and the same drum kit that was used on Audioslave’s first album. All the gear was actual A1 gear but then Mark just has a knack and all his own techniques and studio gear to get a great sound.”
The songs on the new album have very wide dynamics, was this done as an intentional thing or was it developed organically?
“It was part of the process, dynamics have always been something we in the band have utilized and really enjoyed working with. Even on the first album it’s there but just not as obvious because generally the guitars are raging at 100 miles an hour and it’s all very loud where with this album the only preconceived conceptions we had were to spend time on the structures and actual song writing itself and really leave enough space for the vocals because basically we wrote all the songs and then Dan put vocals on it. By leaving time and space for the vocals that would have naturally put extra dynamics in there.”
Who is Jess in the song Sexxy?
“Jess is Dan’s girlfriend. They’ve been going out for a few years now. I love the song Sexxy; lyrically it’s one of my favourites. Basically it was right at the end of touring the last album, doing a bunch of shows with Blink 182 supporting them on a national tour and Dan got one hell of a sickness and we ended up cancelling the last few shows with Blink 182 and Dan ended up going into the hospital and that event is reflected in the song.”
The song sequencing gives the album a great flow, how much effort was put unto this?
“It was unbelievable, you’re the first person to ask about it and it’s a great point. It was just one of those things man, it was so hard. We were pretty much happy with every song on the album, everyone loved the songs and had their own personal favourites and you put in all this effort with what works at the front and back and getting that flow and we actually finalized the track listing three different times. The sequence that made it to the album was number four. We discussed it amongst ourselves, with A&R and Mark (who had some great ideas on that). I’m really glad we put in the effort.”
What does the song title 22 of 3 refer to?
“The title refers to the 23rd of March this year when we were flying back from Texas where we played some shows at South By Southwest and the way it works with the time change we actually missed that day, it’s gone forever.”
Thanks Rob. The album is in stores now.
Rob Hudson
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