BLUE KING - Warp Magazine

16 Music
THE NEW ABSENCE OF
SNOWmAN
Snowman bring forth their final chapter with
their new and last release, their third album
Absence. Front man, Joe McKee, explains that
he “feels as though we are parting on a high
note” and reveals what we can expect from the
band at the end of an era.
In 2008, the young folk of Snowman decided
to pack up and move from Perth to London.
For some, it may sound all too familiar
for Australian bands to move abroad to
further their horizons per se, or to simply
get to European audiences cheaper without
hefty airline fees. Soon after their critically
acclaimed second album (The Horse, The Rat
and The Swan) was released in 2008, McKee
started working on songs for this latest album.
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“I was working on some of the ideas as much
as three years ago, when we left Australia.
We were ready when we had 8 songs that we
liked. We aren’t a band who write 45 tunes and
whittle them down for the record,”
McKee explains.
Ultimately the album ensured “a very reflective
period… I think that being displaced or
dislocated from your familiarities and comforts
puts a lot of things in perspective… trying to
communicate with a memory and a past that
no longer exists. So it’s less about the place
itself, but more about the fading memories that
we try to clutch onto. All of this was wrapped
up in a metaphor: two lovers, one passes away,
and the other tries to communicate with
his ghost.” reveals the front man.
Whilst travelling Europe, McKee found that
collecting particular post-cards represented
the feeling he wanted to personally capture on
the album. “These post-cards had a common
thread: they all had an absence of something,
whether it be the focal point, or a persons face
or whatever. I wanted to try and capture that
unnameable emotion that that made me feel.
It was romantic, but also empty. There was a
feeling of loss, but a feeling of letting go also.”
Working with Aaron Cupples (The Drones,
Civil Civic, Paul Kelly, Dan Kelly) to record
the album naturally came about, as he lived
around the corner from the band. McKee
said of Cupples, “He’s recorded some of our
favourite Australian records…it just made
sense.” Not only that, but more importantly
the band “liked the fact that Aaron could be
diverse and do very different records. We knew
he would understand our musical language.”
Obviously it’s critical for the band and producer
to work together harmoniously considering
that Snowman have “always tried to remain
musically honest.” Over the years, their
artistic development has grown immensely
considering they are a very young band, each of
them still in their 20s.
Snowman were a close band; even so that with
their second album they were living, playing
and recording together, as with this release.
It would allow them to constantly write and
record and create whenever necessary.
“Talking about the songs over the dinner table
and in all of those in between moments helps
keep everybody on the same page.
It means we were going through very similar
experiences and we wanted to communicate
those experiences or emotions in a vivid
kind of way.”
“We wanted to create something that was
healing and little bit more cathartic than the
last record… the sound therefore needed to
be warmer and denser,” McKee says of their
intentions. “I began by removing the dry signal
from my guitar, so that my chords became only
clouds of reverb. Things like this allowed us to
write in a different way. It became quieter and
more considered or delicate.”
They experimented with the songs over an
extensive period of time from demos to the
finished record, with it beginning almost two
years ago. McKee doesn’t think that it affected
the songs too much in the structure or sound,
as they eventually finished with the aesthetic
they were working towards.
Absence has provided great closure for the
band. “We’ve completed the triangle… it is my
favourite Snowman album,” McKee affirms.
As for the band separating, it was something
that was felt in each member and it slowly
became clear over time. “During the recording
of this album, we became increasingly aware
that it would be out last.”
“The album is our parting gift,” McKee
declares, as each member sets out to
establish a new era in the lives, Citawarman
designing urban infrastructure, Di Blasio &
Hermanniusson moving to Iceland to start a
family and McKee himself in possession of
“several projects on the go”, including a solo
record, a duo record and some film scores to
write. “You haven’t seen the last of me yet,”
he promises.
kAThERINE LOgAN
SNOWMAN’S ALBUM ABSENCE is out now
on Dot Dash / Remote Control Records in
Australia.
To listen to Joe McKee’s demo work, it is up on
his MySpace page.
pEGz
For the last decade, Pegz has been at the
forefront of Australian hip-hop. The Capricorn
Cats role as CEO of one of the nation’s most
influential and prolific record labels has raised
him to a level of importance to the scene that
is held by only a select few, and his consistency
and longevity have allowed him to maintain
a significant profile, even during his recent
self-imposed hiatus. He’s seen artists come
and go, some receding to almost mythical
status, while others have gone on to become
pop superstars. The landscape has changed
from a sparsely populated wilderness to a
thriving metropolis, and from Pegz’s viewpoint,
he’s witnessed it all. However, despite the
relentless onslaught of overseeing an ever
growing empire, it is Pegz’s own music that
has solidified his position as an Australian
hip-hop legend, and with the release of his fifth
album (appropriately titled Drama), he looks
to leave the past behind him and continue his
development and journey, from St. Kilda to
parts unknown.
As one of the countries most respected
lyricists, Pegz draws inspiration from the here
& the now. Having never been afraid to speak
his mind through song, his lyrics are rife with
brief mentions of everything from politics, to
faddish pop acts They [the references] have
all been there from the start, even way back,”
the use of current affairs as both literal and
metaphorical tools to illiterate points is nothing
new to Pegz. I’m not a particularly political
person,” but when asked about references
made to recent events in Papua New Guinea,
That’s something I feel quite stronglyabout,
I definitely feel for the people going through
what they’re going through.” An obvious
understanding of political goings-on belies a
solid grounding in lyrical techniques.
It’s just a matter of using references as a way
to show skill.
Skills abound on Drama,” skills developed
through an obvious dedication to the
foundations of the hip-hop movement, as
explained on the M-Phazes produced Crime
in the City.” It’s a movement that could
have easily been bastardised by commercial
success. Whenever anybody gets to the level
of booking agents and publicists, it becomes
more of a business, but at a grass roots level
it still is a movement, definitely.” As someone
who receives hundreds of demo CDs from
ambitious young MCs all around the country,
Pegz is confident that Australian hip-hop
is heading in a positive direction and not
in danger of becoming overly saturated by
commercialisation. When you’re coming up,
you get criticised for not being this or that
which must be trying for those not yet old
enough to develop thick skin, but Pegz believes
You can do whatever you want, hip-hop is a big
beautiful open canvas.
Superficial success has never been what
pushes Pegz, Go To Your Head,” produced by
Jase, sees his feet firmly planted on ground.
Lines such as That’s dope, punctuate the love
and hate, I got no regrets like Masta Ace and
Even the world’s most lyrically invincible,
become a dusty pile of records in a diggers
room shows Pegz is taking a levelheaded look
back on all the Drama, and has no delusions of
grandeur. “This album is for the heads, for the
Pegz fans.
So if giving something back to those that have
been loyal to him is a driving factor, and after
enjoying success with previous solo releases,
what prompted the sudden self-imposed
withdrawal from recording? It was an honest
decision at the time. I was burdened with so
much . . . I had a few personal things going
on, things that I sort of dealt with on Deities
of Def,” another M-Phazes boom-bap banger.
Just as sudden as his retirement was the
surprise announcement of a new album, with
the leaking of both Deities of Def, and the
Simplex produced Bombs Away. So, what
prompted the return? I still had something to
Music 17
say, and helping Pegz say it, was a shortlist
of Obese Records finest producers. Fanfavourites
M-Phazes & Chasm were joined
by mainstays Plutonic Lab, Simplex and Jase
I source as many beats as I can,” and with a
stable containing some of the most in-demand
producers in Australia, why wouldn’t you? Then
it’s just a matter of working out what works
well together, to go on a creative journey.
The upcoming Bombs Away national tour sees
Pegz’s journey return him to the spotlight
of the stage, I’ve been busy with the Block
Parties, but I haven’t really done a Pegz tour;
as far as one hour of jumping up and down
on stage, since around mid-2008.” Hyped by
MC Eloquor, and conducted by DJ 2Buck, fans
should expect a well-planned andinteractive
experience - I’ve crafted the set like an album.”
Hobart in particular should expect something
special from the Lyrical Pugilist, I’m hoping I
still have some fans, I’ve played there half a
dozen times, I love it down there.” So could
Tasmania be seeing more of the Son of St.
Kilda from now on? It seems like my kind of
pace after the last ten years of drama, I could
retire there. As much as Hobart would love it,
let’s hope Pegz’s second retirement isn’t as
premature as his first.
ShANE CRIxUS
ThE PEgz BOMBS AWAY TOUR hits
The Republic Bar on Saturday May 21st.
warpmagazine.com.au