Now (January 1999): The Underground Lovers are set to release an album and single called Cold Feeling. GBVG have just released an EP I Want More featuring Mitsuame. The album is mentioned in the interview below and along with other topics including the music business and GBVG, makes it still remarkably current.


The last time Chester spoke to you (May 1996) you mentioned that the move away from a major label was partly so you could get albums out quicker. Surely releasing two albums simultaneously is proof of that?

We're rapt. Unfortunately they came out the same week.

So that wasn't planned?

No, we couldn't control that. It turned out okay though. We've been talking about albums with other bands. We spent $5000 recording Ways to Burn and GBVG cost about $300 bucks. It just shows what you can achieve at home with a bit of nous. With home recording it's all there. We've been talking about the next Underground Lovers album and for the next one we want to do it similar to Ways T'Burn, but the one after we want to spend some big bucks - we are itching to do something really huge.

Have you done that previously?

Well Dream it Down, is the closest. We had session strings and trumpets and it was a lot more involved process. But we'd like to take that further the album after the next one.

What sort of time frame are you looking at?

We want to record Cold Feeling, the next album in October (That was October '97. It didn't get released until January 1999 - Ed) and the next one after that.

That's quite amazing because most bands after they release an album aren't really thinking about the next one, they're just thinking about touring and promoting that album.

Yeah, well we've set it up so we don't have to tour that much. We've seen a lot of bands sort of die in the arse from too much touring. We really believe that a lot of creativity comes from outside the band...having a life outside the band. We've just got a lot ideas and like to pursue them.

The GBVG thing, you've said, was spawned because you had some songs which didn't fit in Underground Lovers. Is this something you're going to pursue? Are you going to play live?

We're going to do some more GBVG EPs and put out an another album, we've got a concept for the whole thing. We've played a few shows, as an acoustic thing with loops and stuff, but we're thinking of doing some shows with the Sonic Animation guys.

Richard: So you're not Sonic Animation?

No, they're these other guys in Melbourne who we've worked on a few songs with. There's also another guy Simon Grounds, who's a legend on the Melbourne music scene. He's worked wth heaps of bands. We've always worked with him, right from the start of Underground Lovers.

Richard: Did he help you with the remixes on Dream it Down?

No, he helped more with the pre-production and post-production and more of the weird sort of stuff.

The new album is more techno and electronic based than the last one, was that because you were doing the GBVG project at the same time?

Yeah, It sort of crossed over. We were doing all the dance and electronic stuff at the same time, but we always sort of had that element in the Underground Lovers, so it was a natural progression. But it was the way to go after Rushall Station which was a real step back in way, as we really just wanted to record songs rather than just tinker around in the studio.

Where do you get a lot of the inspiration for GBVG. Do you go out to Raves or Dance clubs or is it more the records you listen to?

Mainly things that we hear. We listen to a lot of old dance music, bands like Suicide and stuff like that. They're real influences for us, with their repetition and things which keep doing the same thing over and over again and build. We love that kind of stuff. And raves do that too, just constant building; we love that idea behind music.

Richard: What about the Velvet Underground, like Lou Reed with Some kind of Loving, how it goes all the same, then has one little change?

Yeah, that simplistic way to approach music, just to repeat things.

Just have a simple riff that you keep playing

But it's really hard to do. You go into a music shop and there's these guys who are going, (sound of guitar lick) we could never do that - those sort of hot licks - but you tell them to play a simple riff 50 times and they can't do it. It's a feel thing as well. It doesn't happen much in Aus music, and we sort of work against what's sort of popular in Australian Music, which is just pub rock basically. It's been going on for thirty years and it will still keep going but it's something we're just not interested in, and never have been...

...And those bands don't really experiment - they just stick to classic rock structures...

...And it's really disappointing. It just get's hyped to the max and it's huge, but it's pretty moronic.

Richard: Does that make it hard for you?

Not really. We've got a really strong following which builds every time. It's been very slow but people come to listen and that's the main thing. That's all we want. We don't want to get sucked in to the business stuff, as that kills people.

What do you think of the electronica thing at the moment with bands like Prodigy and Chemical Brothers making it big?

I think it's great. I enjoy the Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy I can't get past the hair (laughs) I can't get past the cartoon stuff. It's great music though.

With the samples and stuff live, how do you trigger them off?

I trigger them on the keyboard and have a modulator based on the MS-20, old Korg synth so I can play around with the sounds on stage, which sound great. It's a real find, a frost wave box which really modulates sounds and picks up bass and mids. It's really simple but very effective.

Richard: Is it easy to use?

The Korg itself is very hard to play, and the sound's really raw and it's got hundreds of little knobs that you have to tweak. It's really inituitive, you play a note then you modulate within the song hundreds of times just to get it moving.

One thing I thought was ironic considering the move away from a major to your own record company, is that Ways To Burn is being distributed through BMG.

Yeah, we do too. We license from Mainstream as we don't have the money or manpower to promote things, so we license to outside parties who have there own distribution deals. We thought they (Rubber) were with Shock but we were rung up by David Vodicka one morning "ahh, your going to be distributed by BMG", It was like, fuck! What happens now? He goes "they're cool", you know. We don't deal with them at all. But it is a bit ironic.

Considering the whole Polydor thing?

That was a different thing, we'd signed to them. But they were really good, they let us out just like that.

Richard: Why did you leave?

We recorded Dream it Down and we had outside hassles. The main guy at Polydor was our manager at the time and it was a conflict of interest. We didn't like that as we didn't know if he was working for us or the record company. They were pushing us in a direction we didn't want to go. They wanted us to go overseas again, they wanted us to record with a name producer and do all that sort of stuff, which we just weren't interested in. It works for record companies as it's a marketing thing, but we want to produce our own music, we don't necessarily want to collabroate with someone we don't know. Except if was Brian Eno (all laugh). But the buck stops there.

You've done the UK and US touring thing before, any plans to try that again?

Our records get out there, through import but we've got fan bases in America, England and Germany - just very small - but they get the records and it sort of just grows. It's not hyped. We still get a lot of college radio play in the states. The people who know about it, know about it and they tell their friends and it's a slow process but it's not forced down anyone's throat, or ears. I'm on the Internet a bit e-mailing people and we get really good feedback, and that's the way it should be. Sean Hughes is a huge fan and he's got his own radio show in London and he plays an Underground Lovers song every morning. So people hear it. We like it that way.

Richard: Not like - You must like this because it's advertised?

You can just pick bands which have millions of bucks invested in them. People want to get their money back and then their cut, so they have to get the coverage. But when it comes just to listening to something and discovering it for yourself it's a stronger response, and that's what our fan base is like. We have obsessive people, (laughs) like last night in Sydney these guys tried to kiss us, you know bizzare, and it happened overseas as well. We had a guy following us from San Francisco, offering us money and came to Melbourne and hung out with us. It sometimes gets a bit tedious, but that's what it does to people.

Better than no one paying attention, eh? So you have no plans to go play overseas?

Not at this stage. We're thinking about it. We've got friends in LA who could setup gigs for us and we could just go over and take a carton of CDs and sell them at the gigs and we'd do okay. But we've got commitments outside of the band as well. I'm writing all the time and have things on the boil there. And making records is the most important thing, but we figure we'll get there eventually.

How's your writing going? Is your book still available?

Yeah, it's doing really well. I've actually sold the idea for a TV series. The original idea was about the music business but it's been toned down a bit and made more platable.

Truth is much worse than fiction?

We've had to fictionalise it a bit. We've done one episode and six breakdowns and the next stage is to cast it then try to sell it.

You won't be appearing in it yourself?

No, the the thing about the series is that it's about the music biz but there's no music in it, and the only bands I really want on it are cover bands or really huge bands.

You've been through a lot with the music business, do you have much bitterness about it?

No, not really bitterness, because we're free to do what we want. It's more frustration, and frustration at the mentality of it. Because music's such an important and personal thing for a lot of people, it's for your soul and the music biz has just ripped the guts out of it. The whole industry surrounding music is about money.

What are thoughts about bands on the internet and distribution of music?

I think it's great. It'll probably eventually not happen because the multinational's will sort of crack onto it, but the power of it is phenomenal.

What's happening with your home page?

It's going to be more of Mainstream one and will have everything including a mail order catalogue, books etc. That's being worked on now by the guys who did the artwork for Ways T'Burn.

You were saying how music touches the soul before, are you are spiritual person at all?

I think I am, especially musically, it's just a really good escape, I'm not sure if it's spiritual or emotional but you really lose yourself in it. But yeah, it's based on feel I think.