STACK Nov #133

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how guinea pigs originated in
Syria? She’s on this massive trip to
help out Syria by taking in loads of
guinea pigs. She’s off her rocker.
I try to say, it doesn’t work like
that, mum.” That filial relationship
has been through its rough bits,
and although Ryder-Jones admits
they still “jar” one another, he
has learned much from her. “My
mum’s taught me a lot about
preserving yourself against the
rest of the world; she gives love to
a lot of things,” he says. “That’s
her world, and music is my version
of that. I create this little world,
and I’m at the centre of it.” But
he doesn’t mean his music is his
love – are you loony? “I’m not
giving my love to people, f-cking
hell, mum does that. I’m doing it
so people will give their love to
me. She’s the ultimate caregiver,
but she keeps nothing for herself.
Whereas me, I’m holding up a
neon sign going, ‘Sad Boy With
Long Hair Seeks Attention.’ At
least I’m honest, y’know?”
Famed Nashville recording studio Blackbird
is just two blocks from Dallas Green’s
new abode; he and his wife moved from big
smoke Toronto last year and found themselves
happily close to the musicians who have
brought Green’s new album as City and Colour,
If I Should Go Before You, alive. He didn’t
necessarily make this record with these other
musicians in mind, but says the “ideas started
flowing” once he’d decided they were his merry
men. “It was really just this combination of trust
that was built as players,” he explains to STACK,
“and maybe a little bit of confidence that I had
finally grown in myself, that I could feel good
enough about my ideas to present them to
other people in their rawest form, as opposed
to constructing these little basement demos
of my own. The guys, they’re really wonderful
– they take really good care of
the song.” It’s an interesting
point: session musicians
are there to bolster your
material without overtaking
it, but it’s best when
they also give a damn.
“It’s hard to find
people who would
play for the songs
and not just play
for themselves,”
says Green.
“In these
guys, I found this really great balance.” Those
guys – Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs), Doug
MacGregor (Constantines), Dante Schwebel
(Dan Auerbach), and Matt Kelly – became
Green’s touring band, and the fivesome are now
sharpening the songs on the road.
Woman, the very first on the record, is a fine
introduction into the things they’re exploring:
it’s a wide, Neil Young-esque soundscape
with crunched guitar and a spectral vocal
refrain which describes love as “a sea without
a shore.” Building over the course of nine
minutes, you end up in an utterly slow-motion
thrash, like some sort of ecstatic wave against
rocks. “I do love water imagery in songs
because for me, water is so temperamental, it’s
ever-changing,” he says of its lyrics and feel.
“When you’re singing and writing, you want
something that strikes somebody into thinking,
and I want to paint a picture.”
visit NEWS MUSIC
"Everything happens in
the bath,” says Bill
Ryder-Jones. “The more
I can do in the bath – to
be honest with you, I’ve
done interviews in the
bath. I had a bit of a lie-in
today, otherwise you’d be
hearing the splish-splash of
happiness.” He doesn’t smile
in any of his photos, but the
former The Coral guitarist is
full of sudden, dry humour.
He is in the bath on the
cover of his fifth solo album
West Kirby County Primary,
a remarkably intimate and
bewitching collection of
acoustic-based tracks, which
he recorded in his mother’s
house – the house he
grew up in. "A few years
ago I found that house
very oppressive, but it’s
cool now,” he says. “I’ll
tell you something about
my mother’s house. My
studio is the only room
that isn’t chock-full of
animals. So in the first
bedroom she’s got three
chinchillas. She’s got two
rabbits up in my brother’s
bedroom. There’s about
a million guinea pigs,
plus there are cats,
mice, they’re f-ckin’
everywhere. Honestly,
she’s barking. Y’know
CITY AND COLOUR: DALLAS GREEN
Q1/ The EP’s doing great on the charts,
you’re getting stellar press coverage, and
it looks like you’re having a ball on tour.
How are you holding up in this whirlwind?
Thanks so much! To be honest, we put so
much into the release week that we actually
made ourselves pretty sick. Playing all day every
day for that week, then flying out to Europe and
hitting the ground running did not sit well with
our bodies. That said, we’re finally on the mend
now; our schedule is pretty unforgiving, so
we’ve just been smashing the waters and teas
and vitamins! Getting a number 10 debut on the
ARIA charts was something we never dreamed
we’d accomplish, so we’re stoked that we
pushed ourselves that hard to get there.
Q2/ How have you got along with The Cat
Empire, whom you've been supporting?
The Cat Empire are musical freaks! Harry has
given us the name of a guy in Byron Bay who
does workshops in special drum timing; it's all
about mathematics and separating your hands
from the beat, which is super difficult, but if we
got the hang of it, would be amazing. They’re
very smart boys!
Q3/ What do you think’s the primary
lesson you’ve learned about performance
during these shows?
What we’ve learned from busking is that
any audience can be turned if you really give it
your all, and this is reinforced when you have
a stage to play on. I think what we’re going to
take back is perhaps a new confidence on stage
to try things we haven’t previously tried; we’re
always having different ideas of what to do and
how to do it.
Q4/ Do you feel totally prepped for your
Australian headline dates?
We’re stoked that we sold out our
Melbourne show already! We can’t wait to put
some new songs to work for that one and really
give it our all.
If I Should Go
Before You
by City And Colour is
out now through Dine
Alone/Cooking Vinyl.
Green is also playing
Byron Bay's 2016
Bluesfest; check
for details.
Into The Dirt
by Pierce Brothers is
out now via Warner.
090 NOVEMBER 2015
BILL RYDER-JONES
continued
West Kirby
County Primary by
Bill Ryder-Jones is
out November 6 via
Domino.
PAT PIERCE
PIERCE BROTHERS
The boys are touring Oz this
month; check piercebrothers.
for details.