‘The Early Years’ release is made up from tracks from your first 3 albums, Psychedelic Mango (2008), Corridors of Blissterday (2009), and Frond (2010), how did you choose which songs from the albums to include in this ‘early years’ compilation?
We tried to include a couple from each album, but it wasn’t too hard because there’s some absolute garbage on there so it sort of chose itself. There are a few fun ones from Frond but it was easy to choose which to let go. We just listened and whichever one made us cringe first got shot out the window into the land darkness of memory.
You have shared the stage with some big acts and played on some massive stages yourself, which gig has been your favourite to play?
That is a very very hard question. I had a blast playing at Meadow Festival near Bambra last month. Such an excellent feeling in the air, that could well have been psilocybin mushrooms. There were some rippers last year actually… Nashville and Austin were unbelievable. It was so hot and sweaty and crowded, and such a big big special feeling for me that many people from the other side of the world, in renowned music cities, came out, spent their mighty mighty American dollars on US and also shit tonnes of beer. There have been heaps though. Paris and Manchester.
How has the journey been for you all as a group of friends who started creating music together, to then tour and experience national and international success together?
It’s been wonderful obviously! I mean sometimes you get sick of each other, but we’re generally pretty tolerant I’d say. Everyone gets worn down by the third week of tour and you kind of switch off and can’t be fucked with anyone else, but that’s to be expected. To me it feels like what I imagine a very old and enduring marriage feels like, not that I’d know… but it’s very comfortable, and that comfort is speckled with moments of great excitement and maybe annoyance. Sometimes I get a bit reflective and soppy like we’re sitting on a porch together drinking a cup of tea looking at all our grandkids (albums?) and it’s all sepia and dead nice.
Any touring highlights?
Yeah constantly. Too many to name. Ok, very recent one (easier for my goldfish brain) was when we were waiting to play a festival in Wollongong and we had to kill lots and lots of time so we all went to the beach and the water was very beautiful and we body surfed and threw shakkas and it was terribly gnar.
Did revisiting and working on the early and foundational music of POND bring up any feelings of nostalgia or memories?
Yeah it was really nostalgic!
Are there any key stories from recording any of the albums?
Well… Me and Shiny Joe were sat by a canal in Amsterdam watching ducks and were transfixed by the psychedelic turbule (an original and excellent word) of water left behind them when they dove. Ducks became Pond’s mascot that day…. Ummm the weird wobbly noise on sweet Loretta is Felicity Groom playing the saw… Gum had pseudo quit the band to go on tour with Tame (this is one tour before I’d join Tame) then got back from said tour while me and Joe and heaps of our mates were in a studio so Gum came down and just jumped on the organ as if nothing had happened. It was a soft rejoin. We were quietly very very relieved… I tried to “master” Psychedelic Mango vision after we had eaten some sugar cubes of LSD, but before the full effects started to take hold. This was hard for several reasons, but most importantly because I had a totally distorted concept of what mastering actually is. So I was sat in front of all the wave forms in garage bands, furiously trying to make them look about the same size and sound about as loud as each other on the portable speakers I’d plugged into my laptop, all before my vision started to go too funny and everyone started behaving strangely and we called it a job well done and went to roll on the grass and stare at trees. There are heaps more but that’ll have to do for now.
What’s one word you would describe your ‘early years’ with POND?
Fungal
What are some Australian artists that have inspired you over your career?
Shitloads c***. Sleepy Jackson, The Oils, Lobby Lloyd, Billy Thorpe, The Divinyls, Warrumpi Band, Go Betweens, The Triffids, Severed Heads, Primitive Calculators, The Vines. Heaps more too.
Do you remember the first record you ever bought?
I don’t!
Perth has some great Record Stores. Do you have a particular favourite? Gotta be Mills in Freo.
How will you be spending Record Store Day this year? I’ll probably try and assemble my new turntable I got for my birthday!
