It’s amazing how music these days has suddenly become a family affair. There is a multitude of brother/sister, brother/brother, sister/sister, uncle/cousin type bands out there, it got me thinking, the power of the music created when there’s a family bond in the group dynamic. As an only child, I’ll never get this. But it’s something that seems to work real well for Post Paint. So well, they added more family members to the line up. Ailsa and Bligh shared that family love with me discussing recent events, the kindness of strangers and how recording is like home renovations.
Music Feeds: What’s been happening since Music Feeds last spoke to you in September?
Bligh: Thunder and brimstone, natural disasters totally terrifying everyone, several re-inventions of the iPhone. But in the microcosm of Post Paint, well we bought a van and navigated it up the North Coast stopping (mostly unannounced) at pubs, restaurants and house shows to play for dinner and a bed. We kind of freaked ourselves out by how nice everyone was, and how many shows we got by bartering,
Ailsa: After a lot of venues in Brisbane closed down and we only had two bookings for an eight day tour. We were on the verge of calling the whole thing off. But, as we found out, you really can depend upon the kindness of strangers. All you have to do is ask.
MF: When we last spoke you were about to head into the studio. How did the recording process go?
A: Embarrassingly, the recording process is still going. After finally working out a single, we’re up to eight tracks now.
B: I guess there is a big parallel between recording and home renovations. Both tend to go drastically over budget and massively over schedule and throughout the process relationships break down and in the end you’re left with a massive bill and a stack of divorce papers. Luckily the sound engineers who’ve worked with us on this have not been dodgy builders.
MF: How was the transition from a two piece to a five piece?
B: Pretty smooth really. Our first songs, originally all written for acoustic guitar and violin needed massive rewrites, but the stuff we’re writing now is so much more collaborative. The writing process changed naturally.
MF: Did the extra members being family make it easier to adjust?
A: Sure, you can be more honest, more temperamental if you like, and there will always be someone there to bring you back down again. We’ve all become a lot closer because of it.
MF: Are they any of the petty family squabbles that seem to come from bands with siblings/relatives?
A: I don’t feel that way when we’re actually playing. It’s more like work than anything else, we try to leave our personalities at the door. I just started playing music with Bligh and everyone else kind of said yeah this is cool, can we play too.
B: It helps that we don’t have anyone pushing us into this. We’re not like the Partridge Family or the Jackson Five or something where we have these uber controlling parents forcing us to market ourselves so that we build up all these deep seated issues that make us want to jump in a bath of bleach. No, we choose to resolve all our arguments with interbreeding.
MF: Whats next for Post Paint?
B: The release of this EP. One day soon!
MF: What can readers expect from your set at MUM on the 18th?
B: Hopefully good things. We’ve written some darker and more dynamic songs since our last show there in December. But music is like an unbroken horse, there are a myriad of different things in a live situation that can totally spook it out and make it bite you on the ass.
A: You gotta whip that horse into shape. Whip it real good. I enjoy your metaphors, Bligh. Chris Rowlands from Studio Ripple, who is currently mixing our single, is going to be running sound on the night so it should be good for us. He’s not going to have the usual freak-out when we walk in with a bassoon, trumpet and a violin, at least.
MF: What would be the first song you’d put onto a mix tape?
A: Post-Paint Boy by Steven Malkmus. Credit where credit’s due.
Post Paint will play MUM@ World Bar this Friday 18th March with Lacey and Royal Chant.
Mum @ Worldbar Every Friday Kingscross
