|
|
 |
| The Crayon Fields
 The Crayon Fields are something of an underground sensation in Melbourne - the swirling retro-pop of their debut album 'Animal Bells' was featured as the album of the week on 3RRR FM and in both of the city's street press. They've gone from playing all-ages gigs in church halls to being touted as one of the next big things in Australian pop in just four years - not that you'd know it from talking to singer and guitarist Geoff O'Connor, who remains endearingly unaware of all the hype.
"I have no idea who buys our CDs," he says.
After starting out as a three-piece in their last year of high school in 2002, the band released a string of CD-Rs at their shows before putting out 'The Good Life' EP in 2004. Early last year, the band recruited a fourth member and put out a second EP, but all that time isn't enough to allow O'Connor to forget the all-ages gigs of their formative years.
"They were horrific," he laughs. "We were playing these all-ages shows, since we were 17 and couldn't bluff our way into pubs because we looked about 14. We played with these heavy metal bands and didn't go down too well. We thought we were pretty flash at the time..."
Of the band's musical evolution since then, O'Connor says, "I suppose that reflects the change of the line-up, I'd say most of it's vocals, since now we've got four people singing instead of one. We all try to sing together and do harmonies to fill out the sound, rather than using loud obnoxious guitars. I'd say we're listening to pretty much the same stuff as we were then. We're very cheap; we rarely buy CDs. Our record collections are pretty limited. It kind of reflects [Melbourne classic rock AM radio station] Magic 693's play-list circa 1994."
'Animal Bells' was partially recorded at Sub Studios, located on campus at Melbourne's La Trobe University.
"There's a big hall there and we liked the sound of our instruments in the hall," explains O'Connor of the decision to record at the uni. "There's a natural reverb, instead of using effects later. It meant that we wouldn't be just fussing over the effect. It saved us a lot of stress, plus it's very peaceful at La Trobe. It's also very cheap."
The band was the talk of Melbourne's music scene earlier this year, but for the wrong reasons when, only one day into the recording of 'Animal Bells', the group had their equipment stolen. The band quickly headed out to local money converters and pawn shops in an effort to get it all back - which they eventually did.
"It took all of five days. It was pretty stressful, but I think we were still in shock, so by the time we got it back we didn't get to really exhaust the grieving process. One of the keyboards was fairly hard to replace and Brett [Hudson]'s bass too. Most of it was sentimental value. The startling thing was how little they got for the gear at [name suppressed]."
After retrieving everything, the band decided to finish the recording in the safety of O'Connor's house.
"It probably punctuated the recording process really well by having our gear stolen. We thought, 'we probably should leave the recording there'," he says. "Some of the songs were just recorded on a four-track, with just a couple of condenser mics and some really crappy old mics as well, just to get something a bit distinctive. Well, at times. At other times, just shoddy," he laughs. "We did all of the vocals and a lot of the glockenspiel and guitar at home as well."
The upcoming tour presents something of a challenge for the group, though.
I ask whether the band is able to play their album live in a way they're happy with. "Well, we'll see," answers O'Connor. "That's been one of the things about this whole recording process - we've developed the songs in terms of texture and layering to the point where replicating them live is not problematic, but we certainly won't be able to do it perfectly. We're having fun trying though - lots of delay effects. And lots of bells. We just surround ourselves with them and hit them every now and then."
Alistair Wallis
 |
The Crayon Fields play at the Exeter Hotel (Rundle St.) on Sat 16 September. 'Animal Bells' is out now through Trifekta. |
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
