At the start of summer we gushed about Los Espinas‘ excellent “Shadowboxing” track. We caught up with frontman Chris Duffy and bassist Phil Curd for a quick Q&A and it went a little something like this:
COUGAR MICROBES: What time did you wake up today? Was it out of choice or necessity?
PHIL: 6.05am… necessity, because I had to get back to Sydney to play a show.
CHRIS:- About 9am by choice…. And necessity I guess because I was hungry and I was supposed to pick Phil up from the airport… but I didn’t… by choice.
CM: Describe your sound to the uninitiated?
C: That’s a really hard question to answer, but I guess all in all we are Indie garage rock. I think. Maybe. There have been some reviews that have come through that describe our sound as having a bit of a shoegaze element to it, but also someone came up to me after a show the other week and said it reminded him a bit of Nirvana, so I think there’s a few styles or influences in there. But yeah… Indie garage rock.
CM: What have been the highlights of your year (musically) so far?
C: Within the band, having new people from around the world discover and enjoy our music. Outside of the band, the new Radiohead album – or possibly the Bjork digital exhibition, which involved her singing her last album to you in virtual reality and digital spaces. A cool way to experience music.
P: Within the band, getting to record and play shows with friends again.
CM: How do you kill time on the road when on the road? hobbies/games?
C: When I started out playing this as a solo artist in Latin America my time was usually spent working out how to get to the next country and trying to contact bars to play in them. Since being back in Sydney we’ve mostly played around Sydney so I’d say we kill time usually waiting for Cheggs our drummer to arrive.
P: Inside jokes.
CM: What have been your favourite venues to play? Any Venues you hated?
C: The first venue we played as a band called ‘The Newsagency’. It’s a small venue in Sydney usually host to more acoustic or reserved performances… but I love its contribution to the local music and arts community, it’s just a rad little venue. I can’t really think of any that I’ve hated.
P: – I’ve played (outside of Los Espinas) Blackwire Records, and it’s my favourite because it really feels like home. Worst venue I’d say would be a bar in Sydney called Valve Bar when it was in a suburb called Tempe. Bad sound, bad vibe, bit of a bad location to have a gig.
CM: Are you able to write on the road or do you do this in your off time?
C: I find it hard to designate a time to just write, because if you don’t have an idea or you’re not really feeling inspired then it can be frustrating or sound crap, so I guess I’m always writing.
P: Never really stop writing intentionally, don’t really designate time, it just happens when it happens.
CM: Is there a song you are simply sick of playing live?
C: I guess, if there’s a song we don’t like we can just drop it or talk about making better – but there has been a few instances where we’ve been playing something at a gig and in the middle of the song I’ve thought… “This is a pretty crap song”. But I guess because we are a relatively new band we aren’t so much sick of our songs just yet.
P: Nah.
CM: What is the songwriting process like for you?
C: Usually with me coming up with an idea or even writing a complete song and then showing the other guys and they add their parts, colours, tempos, ideas, changes, criticisms. I usually write words and lyrics about situations with myself or others that make me feel a particular way. There’s a song that we don’t really play anymore that I wrote about 43 students in Mexico that were killed and their bodies were missing. I was in Mexico at the time when it happened and it was a sad and confronting experience just to be in the country at the time.
P: Sometimes frustrating, sometimes really exciting.
CM: Do your songs go through many revisions and demos before recordings?
C: – Yeah, I’d say so. Some of the songs I wrote on acoustic guitar in Mexico or Chile, and they have evolved with the other guys adding their parts and ideas, and usually my lyrics are particularly nonsensical or lame at first just because I’m trying to find a melody and phrases that fit – then I look at making the lyrics a bit more meaningful to me. One of the songs that is on our EP ‘Seaweed’ I wrote the lyrics in a continuous flow on a bus in Peru in about 30 minutes and the lyrics haven’t changed.
P: Most of the time yes.
CM: What came first, the lyrics or the melody?
C: Usually, the melody followed by a lyrical idea or theme.
CM: What is your favourite track of yours?
C: ‘In The Street’ just because the last half is really fun to play live.
P: – I’d say a song of ours called ‘Ya Voodoo Woman’. It started off as a Dirty Blues inspired shuffle and has now evolved into something completely different.
CM: If you could record any cover in the world what would it be?
C: At the moment I’d say ‘Mr Milk’ by an Australian band called You Am I.
P: ‘Where is my mind’ by Pixies. It’s a song that’s never left me and I keep coming back to it.
CM: What are your views on auto tune?
P: Don’t do it.
C: -Don’t do it, and refer to Dave Grohl’s SXSW key note address from a few years ago as to why.
CM: Any other artists/bands from your local scene we really should know about?
C: – Sans Parents. Good dudes, good musicians, and good songwriters that tread the line between indie rock and alternative pop. Polish Club are pretty rad too.
P: Fat Yahoozah. Jazz band from Sydney.
CM: What is the most flattering thing you’ve read about yourselves?
C: I’m still coming to grips that people other than my mum actually likes what we do.
CM: What was the first record/tape/cd you ever bought?
P: Frenzal Rhomb ‘Meet the Parents’ was the first album I bought, but I think the first album I owned was Michael Jackson ‘HIStory’.
C: I think my first album was Michael Jackson too! Probably explains the falsetto in our songs…But I think my first album I bought was Nirvana ‘In Utero’.
CM: What was the last song that got stuck in your head?
C: ‘Limp’ by Fiona Apple
P: ‘Tiny Dancer’ by Elton John.
CM: What was the last show you paid and queued up for?
C: Paul Dempsey at the Factory Theatre in Sydney. One of my favourite Australian songwriters.
P: Olafur Arnalds at the Sydney Opera House.
CM: If you had to bring on artist back from the dead in exchange for sending a living artist down ,which artist would it be and why?
P: Jimi Hendrix in exchange for Justin Beiber.
C: I’d bring back a guy called Syzmon who’s debut album was released posthumously last year by his family and record label. I’m in love with that record, and it’s bittersweet to listen to. I’d send down Donald Trump…. He’s kind of an artist, right?
‘The Tide‘ EP is out now and available to stream on spotify
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