Pob And Boyd - Interview

  by Olga Sladeckova

published: 18 / 11 / 2003

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Article

The Australian group Bluebottle Kiss came over to tour Britain for the first time in October. Bluebottle Kiss was first formed by Jamie Hutchings (vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussions) Ben Fletcher (vocals, guitars) and Richard Coneliano (drums) back in 1993. A year later the band recorded their first cassette demo ‘Sonic Elevator Music For The Masses’. The 5 songs featured on this tape proved attractive to many people straight away and even earned the band support slots with acts such as Beck.. More recording followed and the band released an EP ‘Double Yellow Tarred’ and their debut album ‘Higher Up The Fire Trails’ in 1995. The group's second album ‘Fear of Girls’ also saw the daylight later on that year. ‘Fear Of Girls’ was produced by Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney). Endino also later produced 2 other songs on the band’s EP ‘Gangsterland’ (2001). Every single release brought the band more and more fans and gave them stronger recognition in Australia. There was a bigger time gap between their 2nd and 3rd albums but finally ‘Patient’ was released in 1999. From this point onwards Bluebottle Kiss really got into the way of promoting themselves. In 2000 they set off on their first US tour. The current line-up , as well as Jamie and Ben Fletcher, also features Simon Ruhrer (drums) and Ben Grounds (bass). The band put out their 4th album ‘Revenge Is Slow’ in Australia last year. A single ‘Ounce Of Cruelty’ came out on Sugarshack in Britain last year, and ‘Revenge Is Slow' is Bluebottle Kiss’s first album to be released in Europe. No wonder the band came over to promote their record and music in person. On this first trip to the UK , however, only Jamie and Ben Fletcher have come over. “Our manager was trying to get in contact with venues over here but we were running out of the time and money.”explains Jamie after an acoustic gig by the duo at London’s 12 Bar. “I think it would be better if the whole band came over the next time. I think it’s just an experiment this time. It does sound good when it’s just the 2 of us. Ben and I are the only original members. We have played together for 10 years so. We play very naturally together. But it’s quite different from the band. The band is quite driving and the drums are quite big part of the group. But we just wanted to get away from Australia and to play some different countries.” As I talk to Jamie the band have already played 2 gigs in London. The first one on a Sunday night in Brixton in London was quite successful. “It was okay” remarks Jamie modestly. “There were quite a few people there. While we are here we have a show on almost every night. We want to make the most of the time we have.” ‘Revenge Is Slow’ came out in Britain on Laughing Outlaw records (Nikki Sudden, Hazelwoods) in March this year. The album a has relatively mellow and soft sound. The lyrics, which are sung by Jamie, are often very story-orientated. There are also some rockier songs. ‘Father’s Hands’ is one of those more gentle songs on the album. “The song is partly about my mother” reveals Jamie who is also the band’s song writer. “It’s about when the band travelled through America. We travelled there for quite a few months. My wife came along and it was quite hard on her because we were sleeping in a van…it wasn’t very nice and we were fighting a lot. (laughs) It’s really about genetics and what you inherit and the things that you can’t change.” One of the questions I couldn’t avoid asking was why the new album is named ‘Revenge Is Slow’. “I came up with the title when we were touring in the US 3 years ago” Jamie recalls. “We were touring for quite a long time and I was trying to find a job. So I went into this bar and this guy kind of threw me out of there and was really rude to me. A bit later on I was thinking about all those things that I would had liked to said to him and I thought ‘Revenge Is Slow’” he says, concluding with laughter. Since November Australian fans have been able to buy the brand new Bluebottle Kiss album ‘Come Across’. “It’s pretty different from ‘Revenge Is Slow’” Jamie admits . “Actually each of our albums is quite different compared to others.” ‘Come Across’ features 11 songs and includes an extra disc. In general the music is darker, but in an attractive and seductive way. The piano (played by Sophie Hutchings – Jamie’s sister) has an important part to play on 'Revenge is Slow' and again features heavily on ‘Come Across’. The lyrics are also very significant again. “There are a lot of stories” admits Jamie. A lot of it is about all what is happening in the world. There is a lot of tension and fire and paranoia because people are very scared by the political situation. There are a lot of stories about characters put in situations that they wouldn’t have been in otherwise and how they react. They are not very personal lyrics or thoughts. They are more fictitious kind of stories and epic in tone . Lyrics are definitely a big part of the record rather then just being something to go with the music.” As well as Bluebottle Kiss Jamie also has a solo career and has even released an album, ‘The Golden Coach ’ under his own name on Non Zero records in 2002. “It’s more acoustic based” Jamie says. “It’s very low profile. I just recorded it over a long time like 2 years and my family play on it as well. My sister plays on piano and my brother on drums. We have done a few shows together which is quite nice as well.” At the moment Bluebottle Kiss are concentrating on promoting 'Come Across' in Australia and hope to come back to Britain again soon . “We would like to also get ‘Come Across’ out here and in America but it depends if people like it and someone will be interested in putting it out” Jamie concludes . It’s still early days to say if the record will be popular in Britain. Bluebottle Kiss music has already proved to be successful and appealing in Australia so these developments are definitely positive. What the future really holds for the band they will have to find themselves.

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