We’ve been working with, and admiring (he’s a dreamboat, after all), the charming, erudite Damon Smith for some time. Damon has written and recorded an impressive number of songs since we met him back in 2008, quite possibly more than he knows what to do with. This has been such a creatively focussed and prolific two years for the songwriter that he has gone without a release for quite some time, since the aforementioned years’ This Thing in My Chest single received extensive radio play and a sell-out first run pressing.
Damon has finally emerged from the studio with his debut full-length record in tow, but whilst that receives the finishing touches, we’re delighted to release this series of vignettes, The Free Pre LP EP. This collection of songs was written in the same period as the LP, and makes for the perfect companion to the forthcoming record.
Also, as the title suggests, it’s free! Grab it now from his Bandcamp page.
Damon Smith – Sweet Violin
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We’ve had many interesting conversations on all manner of things with The Revels over the years we’ve known each other, and as such, it at first seemed a bit unnatural to do a proper email ‘interview’ type thing, but we cobbled it together.
Next time we’ll just prop the tape recorder up on a seat at the bar (or hanging faithfully onto each and every word from somewhere around the pool table) and see how we go. I’m almost certain that body of words will be more esoteric, and punctuated by jokes about Leongatha (them) and B-grade sci-fi (us), but that’ll be then. Here’s to the now and their new EP ‘World On Time’.
So Ben, what have you guys been listening to lately?
BJM. Tom, Tomo and myself went and saw them the other night with some of the lads from The Thod. Unbelievable show. Amazing band. Anton is a freak of nature. ‘Nuff said.
Seems to me that their, or rather his genuine songwriting moxie has dulled somewhat across the last few records. What are your thoughts on their latest offering?
That’s a tough one because it’s actually a question I ask myself quite a bit. I reckon their early stuff is just so damn good, some of the best music that I’ve heard. I listen to their new album and initially it didn’t affect me in anywhere near the same way that Take It From The Man or Give It Back did when I first heard them. In saying that, it has grown on me with more listens and now I’m really digging it. I’m not claiming that its up to the calibre of their first albums, but there’s a subtlety in their new stuff that starts to reveal itself after a few listens that makes it really interesting to hear again and again rather than the in your face sounds of their earlier 60’s inspired rock tunes. I always wonder when I’m listening to it and 2008’s My Bloody Underground if I would have given the tunes enough of a chance to actually enjoy them if I was not already into Jonestown’s older stuff. They probably would have ended up in the “not for me” pile.
You guys have been playing together for ages, as amply demonstrated in your live shows – who drives the creative process in the band, or is it fairly democratic?
I would have to say democracy all the way with The Revels. I write the basic chord structure and lyrics for each track and then bring it to the band where anything that doesn’t cut the mustard is filtered out very quickly. If one person isn’t happy with how a song is going we’ll always try to work on it until they’re pleased. That’s what is so brilliant about playing with these guys – we’ve all been mates for so long that we know each other really well. You can tell pretty quickly when someone isn’t happy with something. Same goes with when I’m actually writing the song. I’ll have a pretty strong image of the instrumentation in my head before I even take the tune to the band – which could be very frustrating if you can’t get across the kind of performance you imagine. But for me it’s a breeze because in my head I already know “well this is the kind of beat Jesse would do, this is the baseline Tomo would play, Tom would riff here” etc. We know each other musically very well.
Was this also true of Another Sinking Stone? Seems that track is a bit removed from the rest of the EP?
Yeah it was indeed. It was actually one of the first songs written for the EP. Even though the song’s pretty different to the rest of the EP it still came about with the same process. Probably the reason it does have a different feel is due more to what we were listening to at the time. I’d been listening to a hell of a lot Black Rebel Motorcycle Club so I think that seeped in a fair bit. At the time Tom had also been teaching himself to play slide guitar so he was pretty keen to get that into the track. Tomo and I were also keen to get more harmonies into our songs so that became a bit of a feature of Another Sinking Stone. It’s the only tune on the EP with double tracked vocals too which gives it a different feel I think.
For those that haven’t heard it, or just want their very own copy, feel free to download Another Sinking Stone with a right-click here. Or if streaming’s your thing, there.
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February 2nd sees the first Love & Theft release of 2010, in The Bowers hotly anticipated debut full-length ‘Her Night’ We’ve added a few morsels from the press release below (sans the bragadocious hyperbole):
Formed in late 2006, by Phil Gionfriddo, (Spencer P. Jones’ Escape Committee, Dynamo), Liam Linley (Houlette) and Rocket Science’s Paul Maybury and Kit Warhurst, The Bowers quickly rose to prominence with the release of their first 7”, ‘Ivy Climbing’ on Torn & Frayed Records (Dirty Three, Kill Devil Hills). ‘Ivy Climbing’ garnered great support from radio and press, including a marathon 4 week stint on Rage for the clip, and a programming by friends The Drones.
Two more 7”s followed, the 3 minute pop masterpiece ‘Angel Of Sorrow’ and the Holy Soul split ‘Give It’ (on Torn & Frayed and In-Fidelity Records respectively). In 2009 Paul Maybury parted with the band to concentrate on his studio and was ably replaced by Mission Control’s Spencer Dyson, as we fast-forward to 2010 and the release of the debut full-length ‘Her Night’.
There’ll be plenty more written about this release over the coming weeks and months, but for the moment, please do check out the film clip for the new single ‘Town’, directed by Rob McCafferty whose other credits include the Meredith Music Festival ‘Weekend In The Country’ documentary.
Damon Smith is a singer, songwriter and the obvious choice for frontman of Damon Smith & the Quality Lightweights, a 5 piece outfit based in Melbourne’s north.
He approached Love & Theft many a moon ago with a demo and a previously unseen documentary on Sunbury. Needless to say, we were sold in the time it took to muster up the lyrics to ‘Hey, Western Union Man’.
We asked him to spill the beans on a song he demoed recently entitled ‘1000 Days’:
‘1000 Days’ is beautifully stark and simple in its construct, can you describe the creative process behind this song?
Creatively speaking, the song needed little excitement instrument wise as the vocal melody seems to take control. It’s an acoustic guitar with some slight ‘tinkering’ performed on another guitar plus the vocals… keeping the music simple can help illuminate the lyrics I reckon.
You play every instrument on this yourself. That’s typical of your demoing and recording process?
Yep, that’s easily typical of at least 90% of my recordings so far. I suppose by having a ‘professional’ command of guitars, piano, bass and drums it makes it convenient to get the bulk of the sound down and then add any little hooky, quirky melodies with other instruments that I have hanging around the studio.
It’s not unusual though to want a musical flourish that I simply can’t perform on an instrument such as a violin. This is where I record a rough version of the melody myself and then get a pro dude to come in and tuck it into bed.
‘Tuck into bed’ – great analogy. Carrying that further, how did you lay this one down? I can picture a glass of warm milk and a lullaby.
The song originally started with an roomy organ followed by close mic brushes on the snare then double bass was added to complete the sound. It sounded great, rich and honest but somehow too busy for the simple vocal melody and lyrics. It was a perfect example of an artist wanting to layer and then layer some more but then revising the arrangement as the power of the song was in the storytelling.
The narrative in this song seems pretty obvious at first, but you frequently write allegorically about desire and love. Can we take these lyrics at face value, or is the song about something else entirely?
No, it’s just another love song about a girl sung by a boy. Radio listeners know a love song when it comes on, the words are always the same, love, baby, I need you and don’t leave me. You can place these words all over the show in what ever order but people will still get it! If a song I’m writing seems to be heading down a romantically wet path, then I’d rather explain or describe why I need ‘her’.
For the record, Love & Theft has been badgering Damon & The Lightweights to finish this song, but it seems there’s plenty more afoot. Please feel free to comment on this track – hopefully popular opinion’ll win out.
Damon Smith is a singer, songwriter and the obvious choice for frontman of Damon Smith & the Quality Lightweights, a 5 piece outfit based in Melbourne’s north.