1, 2, 3, 4, yeah => interview
 

    This interview took place on the 27th of June 97 with the drummer  Clint Hyndman. Idk=I Don't Know. (he says that quite a lot so I thought I'd shorten it)

Congratulations on your new record, it's really good.
Thanks, thank you.
Ok the album is due out early July, what's the exact release date?
July 14.
It clocks in at 57:39, so it's another long one. Was that a conscious effort?
No, we had no idea it was going top be that long. We went over to record and had  like 15 songs and they were all going to be album tracks. We didn't realise our songs were  so long until we started recording them. We had to kill tracks off the album. It was only  going to be about 45 minutes.
The title is "Elsewhere for 8 Minutes", where did that come from?
I gave Paul a Stephen Hawkings book for his 21st birthday and there was something in there about how a song takes 8 minutes to hit us.
You recorded it in New Zealand right? Tell us about that and why you chose to record it over there?
We wanted to get away from the whole Australian Music Industry, friends and  people dropping in. Go somewhere to clear our heads and focus on making a good album.  It worked really well because we wrote 3 songs when we were over there. The studio was  fantastic. Idk, basically just to get away from all the bullshit that's in Australia and goes on  in the industry and so on.
The single out at the moment is Captain, any reason for choosing that song?
Idk, I didn't think it was a good single, but everyone else was sort of keen on it. It  was sort of one that like clocked in at about 4 minutes, and we play it a lot in our live set  so a lot of people know it who have seen us. It's a bit different to our other singles and it  has a catchy bit to it, idk.
When I first heard it I thought it was really different, but now it all sort of fits in.
Yeah, it's pretty hard to escape from our own sound. I think it's an okay single  now. I have no idea why we chose it really.
200 of those singles were released on AuGoGo, with the extra track Chapel St etc.
Yeah.
Is there any left of them?
Yeah, I think every state got like maybe 10 copies or something. What's the store  over there? 78's? We didn't publicise it in a big way. We did it especially for AuGoGo-  They've always been really good to us. Like when we first ever started, they sold our  demo tape. Sold 500 copies of our demo tape. They always sort of got behind us and they  get behind us now. It was just something we wanted to do for them. Sort of special in a  way.
You seem to be getting a bit of airplay on JJJ at the moment, how do you feel about  it?
IDK, I feel really good about it. It's been really weird, it's probably been out about  6 weeks and it's only just sort of hit high rotation or whatever. Paul's sort of anti it but...
They do do a lot for Australian music though.
I think you get to be anti of them because they can really kill a band. They don't  expose a lot of music, idk. I think it's really good. I've totally changed my opinion of JJJ   after realising that. We've put out 4 cd's and never had any radio play from it really.
I heard Dean Martin a couple of times I think.
Yeah, there were a few but you sort of need rotation so people know who you are.  Idk, I think it's really good. It's saved our arse I reckon. I thought the album was gonna  flop until that happened. Now we've got this we're a little bit more confident about it.
Are you gonna release any more singles of it?
 Yeah, we've got a song called Prick. We're trying to get the company to release  that as the next single at the moment (laughter). Hopefully we will get that done.
Any favourite songs of the new album?
 Yeah, I like Pinstripe's probably my favourite and probably Soundczech.  Pinstripe's really good because I think it's the one song on the album that can travel  everywhere. You can sort of go everywhere with it, you know? Whereas Soundczech is  just really good because that's like one song we did over in NZ and it all just like  happened in like a half hour. A lot of the songs I'm really sick of because they're really old  to as well. I'm sick of a lot of them.
Is it Paul playing piano again on Paintbrushes and Strategy?
Ahh, yeah, he didn't play on Strategy but he played on Paintbrushes.
Oh, I thought I heard piano on Strategy as well?
Yeah, there was piano on it but he didn't play that though.
How long has he been playing that?
He's one of those guys that just sort of picks up stuff and can play it. It's like, he  probably played you know 10 years ago and can remember it. He's just one of those guys  that can pick it up and play anyhting. Well that song was written on piano. He wrote that  on piano that song. Roll Credit was written on piano. He writes a lot of songs on piano  but he's not like a taught pianist. Just a natural thing. He's a prick really (laughter).
Any freebies or extras given out with the new cd at all?
Yeah, well if you buy the vinyl, you get Intermission as a bonus, on vinyl.
Well that answers my next question.
Yeah well, idk, we want to. Captain we did a launch in Melbourne and gave away  100 7"s of the single. Shit. And like we were gonna go to Perth and do it at 78's but for  some reason we couldn't get over there to play the show. But I think we're Go over there  and do an instore and give away vinyl and all that as well. I don't know what other  bonuses there could be with the album. Maybe we'll repackage it at Christmas with two   extra tracks. Nah that's a prick of an act (laughing).
A lot of bands seem to do it though.
 I know but like we don't know they're doing it. It could happen, idk. But it's good  that Intermission's coming out on vinyl because I was pissed off when that wasn't on  vinyl.
Yeah I was gonna ask why that wasn't released on vinyl.
It was a pretty shitty release, you know. I still want everything on vinyl. It's pretty  important, you know.
Your new bass player is Toby Ralph, how's that going?
Ahh really good. It's like he's always been in the band. It's kinda weird. It's going  real well. He's running around at the moment organising all our ads. He's taken a real big  part in the band. He's even songwriting and he sings backups. Idk, everyone's a lot more  happier in the band with a happy face around.
Was there any particular reason for Julian leaving?
Ahh yeah, he bought a farm, he got married. Shit! Yeah all this shit happened and  he didn't really like touring that much either. But also I think he wanted to make different  music. Which was cool. He came to one of our shows the other night and that was like the  first time we'd seen him for 3 months. Kinda weird.
He recorded the album didn't he? Julian?
Nah , nah, nah he came over and played on it but he didn't to do the recording.
Any changes in sound with the new bass player?
Yeah, he's a pretty hard strummer of the thing but it's really weird. He's a really  hard player but all of a sudden we've totally changed our sound and there's more quite  sort of songs.
Yeah I sort of noticed there were a few more of them, but it's still good though.
Yeah, we're just trying to get away from "rocking" (laughing). And get a bit more  intensity going by playing intense songs but not having to pound. Or, you know, just  create an intensity with not volume as such but with the songs.
I noticed with the b-side Floatation off Captain, that was really sort of mellow but
still had a sort of intensity to it.
Yeah, I think that could have been a really big...but...I think it did. I think it could  have been even bigger if we had of spent a lot more time on it. That was only recorded in,  you know, 20 minutes or whatever. Shit. We wrote it as a full band. We tried to put  drums and bass over it but it just didn't work. It was a beautiful piece of music, we  thought we'd just sort of leave it like that. We could've made it into this epic sort of thing  but we didn't have the time for it in the end. But I think it comes out great. We're getting  a remix done for that at the moment I think.
Any more remixes on the way?
Yeah, we did a remix of The Last Minute, which is on the album, a hip hop remix  of that. We got a guy to do that in, Ginger Brown, or whatever  his name was, from the  states when we were mixing in New York. Because it was a like a hip hop studio.
Ahh really?
It was like where Fear of a Black Planet and all full on Public Enemy records were  recorded. It's like the home of rap.
Any choice for that?
No, it was the producers choice. He just wanted to go there. Yeah so we got a hip  hop remix done of that and, which is really good, and we've got Prick as well. A guy  from, not sure if you've heard a band called Boys Against Girls? Yep. Yeah, a guy from  that did a remix of Prick. It's not a techno one at all. It's like a really rock remix but he's  changed the structure of it. And because we're thinking of putting Prick out as the single,
    we wanna put that as like a double A-side single.
Ahh yeah?
It's a pretty amazing song. It's like shat all over our version (laughter). Nah it's  really good. I think we're gonna do, keep the remix thing happening. We did a remix of  that Chapel St song, we thought we'd have a bash at doing one, and you know, it was fun.  But I don't know whether we'd release it. It was just to experiment. Just to stuff around.
You covered Truly on the Intermission ep, why weren't you too pleased with it?
It's like...have you ever heard the original of it?
I haven't, but I still thought it sounded alright.
The originals just amazing. The band itself is an amazing band. That was the first  time we'd ever played it together and we just sort of recorded it and did it. The originals a  bit quicker and idk. If you ever get to hear the original, the whole albums just fantastic.  We're thinking of trying to bring them out or something.
The artwork on the cd for Dean Martin has the lyrics printed on it, whose idea was
    that?
Pauls. For once he decided to publish the lyrics. But like on the new album there's  no lyrics published or anything. There's little snippets of lyrics. He doesn't like doing it  but I think if you go to our website all the lyrics are on there anyway. That's if people  want to take the time to get them, they can do it like that.
Have you recorded any compilation tracks, or anything on any obscure small labels
    or anything like that?
No, we're going to. Paul's thinking of doing a solo record at the moment. Because he  does solo shows and he's talking about doing on of them at the moment. We're also  thinking of doing a split 7" with Midget.
You were going to do a split 7"...
Yeah, we were, but it just fell through because they did one with Ricaine. But we  have a track recorded that we want to do.
It's  been said that you have a NOFX fixation in relation to your drumming. How do
    you feel about that?
Not in relation...Yeah...They're one of my favourite bands. Idk, I love all that sort  of music but idk. I love listening to it but idk if it comes out in the way I play. Like I can't  play that quick. I love all those bands and I'd love to play like that, but I just can't play  that quick. I'd be good if I could play that quick.
Did you see them when they came over?
Oh yeah. We played with them in Adelaide at Indyfest. It was fucking amazing.
Who do you usually play with in Melbourne?
In Melbourne? We play with a lot of new bands. We've sort of got this thing  where we try and only play with new bands. We sort of play with...Ricaine  maybe...whoever. Whenever we do a CD Launch we try to chuck on bands that are totally  different to what we are doing. Like our last CD Launch, we had the Luxsmiths? That  were playing. And we had Dogboy, this fucking rap band from Sydney (laughter). It was  really weird. It worked well though.
You're touring the country with Jebediah again?
Umm, unfortunately were only touring...we're playing 5 shows in Sydney with  them.
Oh, so you're not coming to Perth then?
Nah, they said we we're going to be playing at their CD Launch in Perth. Which  we're pretty happy about (you're not the only one there). That won't be for a while. We  just caught up with them last night. We're doing like 4 or 5 shows in Sydney, all ages  shows, with them this week so...
You seem to get quite a few gigs with them.
Yeah, you know.
So you mates with them then?
Yeah well, ever since Unipaloser we became really good friends. It's cool. They're  a great band, We love playing with them. We're doing the tour with Fur at the moment.
Was that Fur AND Jebediah?
Yeah, we're doing the whole tour with Fur but Jebediah are just playing these  Sydney shows and then they go on tour with Powderfinger.
The reference to Something For Kate/ No Such Thing at the end of each CD, is that from the song By Numbers?
Well originally we had to name a publishing company and Paul just called our  publishing company "No Such Thing". And then it turned out, idk, he wrote a song with  those three words in it. So it came out like that. But it's because we have to sign  publishing. It's the name of our publishing company thing.
Do you all live together?
No. Paul sort of lives wherever. On floors. But none of us can afford to anywhere  so...I live with my girlfriends parents. I live about 1 hour out of Melbourne. With my mum  usually.
Shit, that must be...
It's fun you know. Get away from idiots and all that. I've got my family back  there. Idk, we try to keep away from each other because we sort of tour non-stop anyway  so It'd be bad to live together.
Do you play in any other bands at all?
Umm sort of. Me, Toby, and our mixer have started up this band called Buff. A  melodic hardcore outfit. We rehearsed the other day and we're going to try and get some  gigs. We've got Bodyjar's manager and so on. (Laughing) In a  way we're sort of serious  about it but we've gotta get time to do it. Like because I've always to try and play a  melodic thing, and Toby's into it. So we've got our mixer to play guitar and sing. I got  really drunk the other night and wrote 3 songs (laughing). And the big hit single will be  Sporting Wood. I haven't got time really. That's what I want to do if we get time. I want  to go out and muck around with that. Toby and I are going to do our drum and bass  project called Lack of Paul which should be really good (laughter).
How does Paul feel about the title?
He thinks it's a laugh. We're serious (laughter).
Who's trying to sleep in the photo in the insert of the Captain single? Where Paul's? whipping someone with a towel, in bed?
Oh, that's Julian trying to whip me. Some weird shit was going on there wasn't it? (laughing). That was when we were in a hotel in NZ.
So was there like a Royal Rumble or anything after that?
Yeah, me and Julian used to play fight all the time. That's what I miss about him  (laughter). He was good for that. But I'm the little guy so I get the shit kicked out of me.
Does Paul write all the lyrics?
Yeah, he writes everything, all the lyrics. Otherwise he won't sing it.
Who do you consider as your influences?
I think Counting Crows are a big influence. I really like them. In terms of like Paul and his songwriting I think he's really influenced by Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe.  A lot of stuff, but it idk, comes idk. We're influenced by a lot of people.
Your longest recorded song was One quarter of one hour, which funnily enough  went for 15 minutes. Is there any song that beats that that you haven't recorded?  Or are you attempting to beat it?
Nah, we're not trying to. We will, we're going to do an instrumental album and  we'll try and beat it with that. We sort of tried to kill that really. It's a killer of a song. The  only song I don't like that we've ever done.
It sort of reminds me of some of the sort of stuff that Magic Dirt or Sonic Youth   would do.
(Laughing) Yeah, that's the thing you know. We will try and beat that again. Trust  me.
What do you get up to in your spare time if your not playing?
I work at a Christmas tree farm. I hate a Nursery apprenticeship there. I just work there when I've got time off. Or go see a band. I watch lots of tele. Lot's of Party of Five.  Our songs on Heartbreak High this week.
Really, which one?
Captain, I'm the only one who's happy about it in the band.
(Groaning) My family loves that show.
Yeah, it's the best show. Wednesday and Thursday it's on. So tune in. Yeah I   watch a lot of tele.
Is there any song that you open your set with?
There's a song called All the things that are good about scientology (laughter).  That's lately the one that's been opening the sets. Or Anarchitect I suppose. We always  the set with The Last Minute.
Anything else you'd like to say.
Nah, it's been a good interview (you think so?). I can't think of anything. You've  done a good interview though. That's about it.
 

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