Form
Guide, April 1996
- The Earthmen,
- by Louisa
|
"I
don't think we were ever rock!" singer Scott Stevens says with a very short laugh.
"I hope there will still be the same energy live that there always was, but I think
that the songs are a lot different. They're a lot more focussed on that quintessential pop
thing. I think we used to hide a lot of the melody under a lot of noise. But it's not
straight because I think we've got a lot of other things going on that we didn't have
before...and hopefully I sing in tune these days!" It would seem that this undertone of "change" runs rife
throughout the Earthmen's existence: labels, members and music. Their emergence back onto
the Australian music scene after a seemingly quiet but busy administerial season means
that their following now remains an unknown quantilty. Which is why the title of their new
single Scene Stealer is quite tongue-in-cheek. From the beginning, the Earthmen
always showed the buzz of potential. With vinyl split single Stacey's Cupboard and Roll,
and then the follow up EP, the Earthmen's relationship with Summershine Records was at
it's heights with the release of the mini-album Teen Sensations, leading to a deal
with American label Atlantic on their offshoot label Seed.
"It was really exciting to have stuff
out (in America). I think any Australian band is lucky to have something out overseas. I
don't know what it did for us personally other than it allowed us to go overseas and tour,
which I think was a really good experience"
This tour, which encompassed San Francisco,
Boston, New York and the United Kingdom not only saw the band share the bill with some
"really good bands," like Velocity Girl, but also earnt them some new fans.
"It's exactly the same as playing a show here, except that no one's pretty much heard
of us", Stevens explains. "Mind you, one of the most flattering things is
someone coming to a show specifically to see you.."
In between then and now, The Earthmen also
released the 1994 EP The Fall and Rise of my Favorite Sixties Girl, and that's
where it all went silent. Which is why I suppose The Earthmen are so excited about the new
album Love Walked In and of sporting a new deal with Warner Music.
"We pretty much recorded everything
... with Wayne Connolly last year. We recorded an entire album and a lot of those songs
aren't going to appear. We've re-recorded everything" Stevens says of the album that
will never see the laser light, but it can be guessed that Love Walked In would be
slightly similar, considering the point the band are at.
In terms of gigs, rest assured there will
be an upsurge and Stevens admist that the Popsicle gig (of last year) that he had a hand
in organising , formed "the sum total of all our shows for 1995". But the band
are having some structural changes first. "We're going back to a five piece because
we've been a four piece since we came back from the US. Now Matt Sigley (Blindside), who
played in the Earthmen years ago, is back to play bass and we're going to get a second
guitarist. Derek (Underground Lovers) played drums on all the new recordings but his
commitments to the Underground Lovers is pretty severe.
So I suppose they're still window
shopping... |
