Christmas 2008
December 22nd, 2008 by AndrewSometimes all we need are close friends to bounce impulsive, ludicrous ideas off- in the same way we subconsciously place ourselves in detrimental situations to experience the high of a bounceback. Some weeks this works, although there are occasions when surfaces to bounce-back off are scarce, leaving us naked in a very messy apartment…
For me, the silly season provides time to perform some emotional de-grouting.: whether this is through doing more work or taking more time to relax, it is a process that I look forward to and enjoy every year! My close friends will be able to tell you that I generally don’t work in a linear fashion: never ask me for directions; and do not under any circumstance, rely on me to memorise any kind of list. So, after this disclaimer, on we go…
Musically, this has been a huge year for The Dawn Collective. I have never been behind the release of a full length album before, nor worked with such well respected professionals. I am seeing more of Australia with the band than I had ever seen leading up to its birth and we are enjoying travelling with our music. We are nice kids and we take to the road well together. I don’t want to be kicked in the face next time I head to Melbourne, but I really preferred our time in Queensland this year. The weather and scenery were beautiful and we were lucky to be under the watchful eyes of old friends who now reside there. One of my favourite nights of the Queensland leg of the album tour was in Coolum on the night of my birthday. There was wine, Magnums (i.e. ice cream- side arms were checked at the door), swimming, sing-a-longs, a great game of kill the dill with the pill and the evening finished off with a ‘Best of Beck’ dance party in the guest house. Even though we had to get up quite early the next day to travel to Byron for another show, we had been blessed by the gods of fun and bad dancing - there was no way to stop.
Aside from the fun and games of the tour, it feels like ‘band admin’ has taken up a lot of our time this year. Band admin is the work that rock stars never tell you about when you are young. They never tell you that after a huge night rockin’ and mackin’ wid tha ladies that they have to get up early the next day to lodge their APRA return or send invoices to the venues they’ve just played. How about telling you that after drinking half a bottle of Jack and laying down a few guitar tracks in a studio full of cocaine, they then have to fix the HTML layout of their Myspace page, head to Office Works for a new printer cartridge and then come home to work out the monthly expenses on MYOB. Rock ‘n’ roll lies, lies! LIES!! Unfortunately, band admin has been the reality of many self managed indie bands throughout the years. I am hoping that after divulging this information we still have some mystique-although this may be a new way to break the ice with any indie musician. Have you ever wanted to talk to a muso after a show but felt you had nothing to say? Why not start with ‘So, been to Office Works lately?’ You may be surprised to see the ease that washes over the musicians face. Go on, give it a whirl!
I wanted to explain a little bit about the origins of our Christmas release ‘O, full of scorpions…’ but sometimes trying to explain your own song is like trying to describe a platypus to a foreigner: ‘you know, it’s like a duck kind of otter thing that is kind of … you know… It’s… It’s just a platypus, man!’ I think I have problems with over explaining things sometimes. I blame music class at school for this, and the many hours ripping apart some of the most brilliant songs in history to find abstract meanings for the sake of abstract meanings. I am not saying that some of the most brilliant writers had no purpose in their explanations of life and all concerned, or that their expressions are as ill thought out as belly flopping into a baby pool of jelly, but honestly, the greatest expressions in our world come as easily as talking to a close friend. Sure it may be a long and emotional conversation but it should be effortless communication with the medium: out it flows without restraint or too much thinking. So in short, I prefer not to over explain the songs. I would love you all to feel what you will when hearing our Christmas dirge and I encourage you to let us know what you think.
One thing I wouldn’t mind explaining though is the general tone of the Christmas song and the return to the previous comment of emotional de-grouting: my thoughts each year simply need to be summed up and cleaned out. I never want to get rid of everything; I just love the idea of having room for new experiences. The spring cleaning of hindering thoughts is a pleasant one, which is why the songs that are written around the Christmas season seem to be a little less snowy and a little more on the sootier side. Think of it as the old, boxy, mustard yellow Volvo station wagon spluttering and backfiring before we take off for our semi smooth journey into next year!
Merry Christmas everyone and safe travels!
Tags: Christmas