Interview by Ali Williams
Being a Perth band with East Coast ambitions requires several things: good songs, patience, a tolerant bank account and an acceptance that Australia is ludicrously large when you are paying to move musicians and their gear around it. GLOAM know this very well. Founding member Rowan Hardy sat down with HEAVY’S Ali Williams to chat about the bands beginnings and their progress leading into their BIGSOUND debut.
The Perth outfit are heading to Brisbane to share their sound with the East Coast, an opportunity that Rowan admits the band has barely had the opportunity to explore. They made the journey across the country last year, but BIGSOUND brings something considerably more useful than another isolated interstate show. For several days, an enormous chunk of the Australian music industry will be crammed into Fortitude Valley, and GLOAM plan on making full use of the situation.
There is excitement, certainly, but Hardy isn’t approaching the week with a clipboard full of career objectives and a rehearsed networking face. He is just as keen to see other bands, naming Indigo Blaze, blue diner. and Win Big among those already on his radar. For a band geographically removed from much of the national touring circuit, simply being in the same postcode as artists they respect has value.
GLOAM have two official showcases on Tuesday, September 1, opening their BIGSOUND account at Crowbar at 7:15pm before heading to Tomcat Bar for a 10:30pm set. Two very different rooms, two opportunities to introduce themselves, and several hours in between to wander around the Valley discovering exactly how many bands can reasonably be watched before the human body starts filing complaints. The trip itself is also a reminder of something audiences don’t always see when a band suddenly materialises on a stage several thousand kilometres from home: getting there costs a bloody fortune.
Before flying east, GLOAM played a fundraiser at Perth’s Milk Bar after a local promoter offered to help with the expense of getting the band to Brisbane. Rowan speaks about that support with genuine appreciation, because being in GLOAM has changed the way he views the economics behind touring bands. Before starting the band, he admits he never fully appreciated what East Coast artists were spending simply to come and play Perth. Now he does. A ticket sale stops being an abstract number remarkably quickly once you’re the poor bastard buying the flights.
Rowan goes so far as to call the people buying those tickets the “kings of the scene”, because without audiences willing to keep turning up, there isn’t much of a scene left to argue about. That understanding also connects GLOAM to regional Australia in a more personal way. Rowan grew up in Albany, several hours south of Perth, and a couple of the band’s members have roots there. GLOAM intend to take the band back for a show at a DIY warehouse space run by graphic designers, complete with its own skate park. There are professional venues with substantial budgets that don’t have a skate park, so Albany can take that particular win.
For Rowan, smaller communities often respond differently when live music reaches them.“The love just feels like a bit of a different level,” he says. It is an observation made without diminishing city audiences. It comes from understanding what distance can remove from a music community and how much effort is required to put it back.
GLOAM’s attention, however, isn’t only fixed on where they can play. They have recently released a four-track 7-inch through Last Ride Records, and Rowan says the band are particularly proud of what they produced this time around. The recording process changed significantly from previous sessions. Rather than leaving large sections open for studio experimentation with producer Sam, the band handled more of the pre-production themselves and arrived considerably better prepared.
Yes, apparently bands can arrive at studios prepared. I was suspicious too. More importantly, GLOAM found a way to retain the chemistry of everybody playing together while still giving the recording process the separation it required. Their live in-ear monitoring rig allowed them to isolate elements in the studio while remaining in the room performing together. For drummer George, that proved particularly valuable; Rowan says he gets better takes when the session retains the feeling of the band actually playing rather than putting every individual performance under a microscope.
It is a technical adjustment with a very human reason behind it. GLOAM aren’t interested in manufacturing a sterile version of themselves simply because the red recording light has come on. Rowan believes some of the chemistry between band members disappears when everybody is separated, and the band enjoyed making this record considerably more because they found a process that preserved it. That same instinct carries into GLOAM’s relationship with social media.
Rowan tracks the numbers enough to understand where the band is finding listeners, but he has little interest in disappearing into the analytics abyss. He doesn’t want whatever happens to be performing well online for somebody else dictating what GLOAM create.“If you pay lots of attention to the numbers, you might make yourself sick,” he says,
There is no grand rejection of technology attached to that position. He readily acknowledges that Spotify, YouTube and their respective algorithms have helped people discover GLOAM. The band will use the machinery; they simply won’t hand it songwriting credits. The priority remains making music they are happy to put their name on. That becomes particularly relevant once BIGSOUND is over. Rowan says writing new material sits at the top of GLOAM’s agenda, with the band planning to get back into a room after Brisbane and work out where they want to head next.
There is also the hope that BIGSOUND might help GLOAM establish stronger East Coast connections with promoters, agents and people capable of making interstate shows slightly less of a logistical wrestling match. He is realistic about what the week may or may not produce. Connections would be welcome. More shows would be excellent. Somebody helping the band get back across the country without requiring the financial planning of a minor infrastructure project would presumably also go down nicely. But none of it is being treated as a condition for continuing.“Even if it doesn’t, we’ll just keep doing our thing,” Rowan says. And there sits the important bit.
BIGSOUND can put GLOAM in rooms they haven’t played, in front of people they haven’t met and alongside artists they haven’t previously had the chance to see. It can create introductions and opportunities that are considerably harder to find when your home base is sitting on the opposite side of a continent. However GLOAM aren’t travelling to Brisbane expecting four days to decide their future. They’re bringing a record they believe in, a live set ready to introduce properly to the East Coast and enough curiosity to see where the week takes them. Whatever comes after that, they already intend to be back in the room writing.
Which is probably the healthiest possible plan once everyone gets home, empties the suitcase and recovers from BIGSOUND. For more information about BIGSOUND and tickets head to wwwbigsound.org.au
