Love & Theft

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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