BLUE KING - Warp Magazine

8 Music
BRITISH INDIA
AS BRITISH INDIA BEGIN TO STRUT THEIR STUFF IN VENUES
ACROSS THE COUNTRY, WARP MAGAZINE TRACKS DOWN
THEIR FRONTMAN DECLAN MELIA FOR A WORD OR TWO.
Australia has many bright young bands
shining out of the mists at the moment. One
group who are rapidly pushing their way
into the limelight, however, is British India.
They’ve released three albums in the last
four years - Guillotine (2007), Thieves (2008)
and Avalanche (2010) – and have toured
strongly and receiving critical acclaim across
the board. Meanwhile, they’re also working
on recording their next album, only increasing
their already hectic schedule. Warp were happy
to step into the eye of the cyclone to have a
quick chat with lead singer Declan Melia about
all things British. Well, kind of.
In the days separating their shows in Adelaide
and Brisbane, the band have returned to
their hometown of Melbourne to record new
material. In fact, Melia has jumped on the line
direct from the studio. We’re really busy,” he
confirms via phone, during a brief intermission
in their endeavours. “I’m not for a second
complaining, because I’ve got limitless energy
when it comes to this, but we’re not sitting
on the couch… we get off the road and its
straight back into the studio. We’re hoping to
warpmagazine.com.au
be releasing a new album before the end of the
year, so there’s a lot of writing to be done.”
Their studio time has a second purpose,
too: British India are not only recording new
songs, but reprising older material as a taster
for the American market, where they will be
heading in a few weeks. According to the front
man, there’s a particular science concerning
such a process. “We’re trying to balance
out the tracks,” Melia reveals. “If you listen
to Guillotine, Thieves and Avalanche there’s quite
a discrepancy between them. Guillotine has
that sort of roaring garage sound which we
think is part of it’s charm, but apparently
there’s not much managerial taste for that with
the record label people of the ‘States”.
Whatever the desires of the management,
Melia is keen to head abroad. It’s no wonder,
as he mentions that they have their sights set
on L.A. - a destination unfamiliar to the band.
To go walkabout was the logical next step.
“As far as Australia goes, we’ve pretty much
left no stone unturned,” he states. “We’ve
played just about everywhere it’s possible to
play; some places it’s impossible to play. But
we’re pretty well acquainted with this beautiful
old country.”
It’s also good to know that British India
aren’t picky, willing to hit the road and take it
wherever it may lead them.
“I’LL gO WhEREVER
ThERE’S A WILLINg
AUDIENCE… ThERE’S
ALWAYS SOME fUN TO BE
hAD ON TOUR,”
Melia muses.
This current tour is going quite well for the
lads. According to Melia, all of the shows have
been quite good. British India have in particular
been enjoyed the exploits of their supports
across the dates, bands Boy In The Box and
City Riots impressive in their own right. “The
package tour is definitely bolstering our spirits
a little bit,” the singer says. “Those two bands
are definitely bringing their A-games and that
causes us to step up a little bit, keeps us on
our toes.”
If nothing else, the bands have been a good
influence upon British India. “We cultivated
a bad habit of arriving quite late to shows on
the tour for Thieves,” he ruminated, “but we’ve
broken that now. We show up early and watch
the supports and have a few drinks.”
British India have come a long way since their
formation back in 2004, a time in which its
members were still involved in their studies.
“Well we’ve probably gotten a bit better, more
masterful of our instruments maybe,”
Melia ponders. “We probably dress slightly
worse or better, depending on who you’re
talking about... but I think the attitude is exactly
the same. It doesn’t really seem that much
has changed as far as the mentality goes, the
us-versus-them, salmon-swimming-upstream
feeling that we’ve always kind of cultivated.”
Melia gives insight into the aforementioned
attitude. “Being in a band tends to keep you
in a state of arrested development, at least
psychologically, because you’re focused on one
thing… nothing else sinks in. You don’t have
time to mature, or experience what a lot of
people would call the important things in life.”
Perhaps, then, British India have suffered
from the double-edged sword of fame and
recognition. “We’re accumulating some
fabulous memories and some fabulous
opportunities that people rarely get, but
I mean, everything’s fallen by the wayside for
this band – relationships, careers, family,”
Melia laments. “From day one this had been
top priority, and it has to be number one,
all the time… that’s what’s exhausting.”
However, in his philosophising, Melia drops one
important aside that dozens – if not hundreds
– of young women around Australia will be
interested to hear: he’s still on the lookout for
a girlfriend. “I’m at that age where I just love
women,” he confirms. “I’m always optimistic.
You never really know, with women… you can
never be dismissive of them, because the great
ones pop up in the strangest places.”
BRETT NEULINg
BRITISh INDIA appear at the Republic Bar on
Friday June 3 and Saturday June 4
THE GIN CLUB HIT THE
TOURING TRAIL
I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE TIME WITH SINGER / SONG-
WRITER BEN SALTER TO TALK ABOUT THE GIN CLUB
UPCOMING TOUR, WHAT MAKES THE BAND SO UNIQUE AND
THE 2011 BRISBANE FLOODS.
The Gin Club is set to hit the touring trail again.
The 11-piece country folk rock band will be
touring the country kicking off in Adelaide on
10th June 2011.
The Gin Club came to existence in 2005, the
band was started by Salter, who gathered
together a group of musicians who, though
delving into their own solo projects started to
collaborate and write music together to create
this unique and diverse sounding band.
‘I started The Gin Club with The Wu Tang Clan
in mind. I like the idea that though the rappers
in The Wu Tang Clan were working on their
own side projects, they came together as a
collective to make the band.’
The band now has 7 full time members that
live all around the world from Stockholm
to Melbourne. This global spanning band
has a unique way of functioning, due to
location difficulties rehearsal is pretty
much unfeasible transforming their show
in professional jamming sessions with any
available band members, creating a dynamic
and unpredictable element to their live
performances. Ben states’ I gave up trying to
organise rehearsal because it just became
too impossible.’
When writing albums The Gin Club takes two
weeks to rehearse and record with everyone
bringing their music to the table. Ben states
that The Gin Club has a loose sound, which
acts as a template, making it easier for the
7 different songwriters to create an album
that sounds cohesive. Their band works
well together due to the lack of ego and the
firm friendship base created amongst the
members. Because all of the songwriters are
in their own different bands each member
brings a little personal touch to each album.
Salter’s main band is The Giants of Science,
a band created in his youth which is decibel
extending grunge rock which Ben admits has
a way of sneaking into his folk music, adding
PeGz Ft. eloquor & 2buck * suppOrTed by dialectrix Ft. Joe new & 2buck
simPlex Vic/Qld Only * dutch nsw Only * binGethinkers syd/Melb Only * choose mics Qld/nsw Only
mase & mattic sa Only * hunter & mortar perTH Only * hunter bunbury Only * crixus Tas Only
06.05.11 AdelAide, SA @ FowlerS
13.05.11 PhilliP iSlAnd, ViC @ weSternPort hotel
14.05.11 BAllArAt, ViC @ the KAroVA lounge
19.05.11 trArAlgon, ViC @ KAy St
20.05.11 MelBourne, ViC @ the hiFi
21.05.11 hoBArt, tAS @ rePuBliC BAr
25.05.11 CAnBerrA, ACt @ Anu BAr
26.05.11 wollongong, nSw @ the hArP
27.05.11 newCAStle, nSw @ the CAMBridge hotel
28.05.11 Sydney, nSw @ the AnnAndAle hotel
02.06.11 gold CoASt, Qld @ CoolAngAttA hotel
03.06.11 BriSBAne, Qld @ the SteP inn
04.06.11 Byron BAy, Qld @ greAt northern hotel
10.06.11 BunBury, wA @ PrinCe oF wAleS
11.06.11 Perth, wA @ CiViC hotel {inglewood}
PleASe note All ShowS Are 18 PluS eVentS
For tour & ticket inFo: obeserecords.com * moshtix.com.au * oztix.com.au
Music 9
a slight hint of heavy set guitars into The Gin
Club’s country folk style.
The Gin Club will be touring with the songs
from their album Death Wish which was
released 2010. I asked Ben what was the song
that moved him the most on their latest album.
He divulged that the song Milli Vanilli stood out
from him. This song was written by Bridget
Lewis and penned before the Brisbane floods
but seemed to eerily pre-tell the story of the
astounding environmental event that occurred
in early 2011.
The Gin Club who originally hail from Brisbane
banded together to do support gigs to raise
money for their flooded home town with some
of the bands member homes being affected by
the floods.
EVA LUBULWA
ThE gIN CLUB will appearing at The Brisbane
Hotel on Saturday June 11
TickeTs On sale nOw
drAMA the new AlBuM out 08.04.11
warpmagazine.com.au