Smokin' Gun single launch - Brighton Up Bar 18|4|13.

Lily So and the Bellows.

Bart and Jacob.

Bris-bloody-coe mate.

Camden.

Photos by Charles from The Sydney Standard

Some photos from FBi Social, 13 September.

...by the lovely Dexter Cornelius.

A message from the CEO.

Since the last time I wrote a proper post, we’ve played five gigs – our first five gigs. Each of them represents a co-ordinate on an ever-steepening learning curve for me, and there has been plenty of data to process over the past few months. The bulk of the data has related to the management side of things. I’ve received a lot of advice, and testament to the tailspin our industry is in, all of it has been wildly contradictory. It’s reinforced the truism for me that no one knows what the hell you’re supposed to do or who the hell you’re supposed to do it to.

Far from being cause for despair this is actually really liberating. It says to me that pandering and compromise have been completely stripped of their usefulness– to whom do you pander? Towards what ideal or audience should you compromise yourself? Fuck it, this is license to be yourself, because if success remains elusive as it's likely to do anyway, integrity maintained is surely the best second prize.

For all its frustrations, I think this is why I’ve actually enjoyed managing the band up to this point, no matter how limited my capacity. As band members one of the only things you have control over is yourselves - you can’t control how people choose to see or portray or reproduce you but you can make sure that the source material is honest. It’s a lot easier to keep this on track when you are the nexus through which the info comes and goes.

Also, I don’t know if it’s getting older or having been crunched through the machine once before but my irrational sense of entitlement (which was raging in my youth) has pretty much been ground to dust and lost to the breeze. Every week I hear just as many new bands that inspire and awestrike me as disgust me, so who the hell are we to claim any special right? I’m not saying I’m above shouting “YOU’VE GOT TO BE FUCKING JOKING!” at the radio every now and then, but having an atrophied entitlement gland makes it a lot easier to manage the frustration and resentment of working your arse off while your wallet empties.

As you can see from the first line I actually intended for this post to be about the gigs but it went some(probably more boring)where else. Apologies, I’ll write about the gigs next.

Briscoecorp AGM 2012

Hitsville AUS

The Ray Mann Three circa 2008 L to R: Me, Ray, Byron

Once upon a time i was a member of the Ray Mann Three. It was the brainchild of Ray Wassef, one-time Kid Confucius lead guitarist and soul singer. Ray imposed a sort of vintage suit'n'tie dress code for tRM3 gigs, and we extended this aesthetic beyond the stage and into the studio.

This was a really smart idea, it didn't feel like artifice, on the contrary it helped to legitimise the project without needing to consciously contrive anything- it put us in character, made us feel like we were doing something special and i really think it translated onto the tape.

It connected us to another time and plugged us into that old school Hitsville USA ethic of going into the studio to work, but in the best possible sense of that word. Like: this is my job, this is my office, i am the motherfucking shit!

Ray on a tank, on tour with Kid C

Ray was a very influential figure in my musical life. He is a brilliant guitarist and a really stunning visual artist. More than that though, he has a real eye for the big picture. Everything we did in that band was integrated, nothing was done without some consideration of a greater intention, an ultimate goal.

During his time in Kid C he was an assiduous networker, gathering advice from anyone who would offer it. Once he felt like he had enough of an evidence base, he left Kid Confucius and put his full creative weight behind tRM3. Gigs that seemed like a waste of time would be booked to fill a gap in the resume, and that in turn would impress the right person who would then stick their neck out for the band in some other well-anticipated context. Posters that Ray designed for the band's very first gigs hang now, many years later, in perfect congruity with those from last week's gigs.

I aspire to this sort of shrewdness, but i don't think i have the discipline to pull it off. All you have to do is take a short click-stroll through this blog to see how sidetracked i can get. My creative energy shoots outwards in a diffuse spray- a lack of focus and foresight that leads to catastrophic stuff-ups and personal meltdowns. I'm about due for the next one actually...

ANYHOO, in the spirit of Motown and the Ray Mann Three, Dave and I suited up for the rhythm section sessions for the briscoe album.

And while the stress of knocking out a whole album's worth of drum and bass tracks in a day isn't conducive to the kind of romance i was trying to invoke, it at least made for some nice pictures.

there's some music coming i swear...

...but til then i offer these photos as reassurance that we are at least getting together and standing around with our instruments from time to time. 

~