 It’s a tough gig being poked prodded with philosophical questions at 9 a.m. in the morning. In this regard, the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets’ Jack McEwan handles better than most. The man could be forgiven for being a little groggy, after all his group have just finished placing final touches on new LP High Visceral B-Sides, constructed a new DIY recording space and are just about to leave the isolation of Western Australia for a national tour. But as the sleep-inflected tone washes away from his voice it’s evident that McEwan’s mind that’s still attuned to his group’s chaotic wavelength. Tackling prodding questions about the idiosyncrasies of the Perth music scene and Australian psychedelia in a half-awoken daze, his mind sharpens as conversation turns to the early history of the band, junkyard recording techniques and his vision for a more concise conceptual bent on future records. Here’s exactly what he had to say. RR: In an article written for Griffith Review Nick Allbrook described the Perth as being, “A mad mosaic of groups and artists only held together by a gallant separation from conventional Perth society…an anomaly hidden in garages and living rooms – deep beneath a conservative fishbowl of productivity.” How would characterise your own experience? Jack McEwan: I’ve read that article, it was really good! I think maybe what he’s talking about is how there are lots of different scenes. It’s sort of like when you’re at school and there’s different years. The kids above you are cool for their certain thing and the kids below you are even cooler. Then in the middle, you’re like, “What are we doing!? Why aren’t we as cool?” I think in Perth you’re just trying to be different and do your own thing. To be unique and that might come across in your music as well. People are scared of getting labelled as something and they avoid that by being completely out there and unique. It makes the music itself just a little more diverse. You’re writing your own strange chapter rather than trying to copy someone else. RR: What does the term ‘psychedelic’ mean to you? Is it style, a feeling, an emotion? JM: I suppose to us it was like: the strange. Obviously, there was the whole drug aspect, that’s where the term psychedelic originally came from. But you can just throw it into any little pot. It just means that we can write music that isn’t conventional. I think that’s the best thing about ‘psychedelic’, it’s almost describing that feeling you have when you don’t understand what something is. Ages ago I think you could say it was modern music or contemporary or it was jazz. But now it seems that psych just means that we’re the ones pushing the boundaries. Having that, psychedelic is just…just weird! It doesn’t need to make sense. It’s just, I don’t know. It’s just cool. You can obviously have bad psychedelia, but it’s still different! It’s still changing your thoughts and perceptions on things. Pop that with a crumpet! RR. The way I see it- and feel free to disagree – is that Australia has undergone three distinct periods of psychedelia. The first wave was in the 1960s where acts like Masters Apprentices, the Bee Gees and briefly The Easybeats turned on to the sounds and imagery coming out of the US and UK. Then there was a wave of neo-psychedelia in the ‘80s which gave birth to the acts associated with Citadel Records in Sydney as well as inspiring groups like The Church. Most recently, maybe from about 2007 onward, we’ve had the Tame Impala family of bands, the rise of King Gizzard and label Flightless as well as a number of other likeminded groups cropping up around the place. It’s all happening at the same time, but I don’t think anybody is necessarily inspired by anyone else… How would you situate your own group within this greater lineage of bands? JM: I think when we started writing- you picked it, it was that 2007-2008 period – Innerspeaker came out in 2010 – for us, that was the height of our music listening. We were only 24 or 25 and for us, we were listening to Mars Volta, Karnivool, Pond, King Gizzard as well as Tame Impala. Those were our favourite bands. We were obviously going to be influenced by what was happening at the time. We’re definitely not a frontier band or the leading, cutting edge. But we’d like to be different to these other bands. I feel like it’s more riff inspired now. Maybe the ‘60s it was a bit more crisp and clean, it was more about the ideas. They were really trialling all those pedals and sounds, but you’ve still got that now with the synth sort of thing like on Lonerism as well as dropping into half-time and just having key changes everywhere! What King Gizzard did really cool was that they redeveloped the riff. They made something that would normally sound a bit strange by bringing in Middle Eastern instruments, tunings and modes. That was a bit like, “What the hell?” That’s your first impression of anything that’s King Gizzard, you kind of laugh first but then realise, ‘Oh my god this is amazing!’ RR: You’ve released a series of albums High Visceral 1, High Visceral 2 and now High Visceral (B-Sides) which you’re currently touring. Can you tell me a little about the latest record? JM: Well the reason we did High Visceral 1 was because we knew we’d do a High Visceral 2. We had a bunch of songs that we just thought were really different. There were orchestral bits, kind of jazzy tracks, obviously, psych rock and material that was pushing more towards metal. With these two albums, we wanted to showcase a bit of variety, to put in as much different music as we could in 45 minutes. On reflection, it was kinda cool, but it might strain a listener who likes some of those genres but not others. We’ve really pigeonholed our listeners as being people who like a bit of everything! But for the next album, I think we’d like to pinpoint on just one idea. Just so it can be full flavour. That is rather than trying to put Italian food with Indian food and on top of that, there’s a full English breakfast! RR: That’s not good for your stomach. JM: Nah! Exactly! What’s coming out of the High Visceral albums is probably not good for your head! But with B-Sides a lot of the songs we’ve just reworked in the last two months. We only finished it two days before we released it. Our public relations team and our bookers were asking us, “So, when’s it going to be ready!?” RR: It was a tight deadline then? JM: Yeah. We’re the kind of people who never like sitting on anything. We sat on it for too long! Albums need to go out before you think about them. Nothing’s ever good enough, I think we try and perfect things up until the last note or the last breath. Even a click on the drums. We’re doing it all from home. RR: The group self-produces their records and also release them via your own label What Reality? Records. Is this independence a big part of what the band is about or is it more a matter of expedience? JM: I think at the start it was just a matter of budget. When I was young and started playing guitar I wanted to record what I sounded like, so I bought a 4-track recorder which could only do so many tracks at a time. That forced me to cut things down and be more minimalistic with the writing. When I finally got some software and microphones I was like “What!? I can write more than eight tracks for this song?” That was mind-blowing for me. Slowly over the years in Perth, finding Danny our drummer who records and writes his own songs as well as Luke our guitar player we sort of just started showing each other the songs we made. We’d all just been doing it ourselves which I really think is a credit to Kevin Parker for inspiring us to have that sort of do-it-yourself mode of thought. Stu McKenzie from King Gizzard as well. It seems that if you really love doing something you’re going to find a way of making it. We’re not going to be like, “Oh I love music, but I need ten grand to go into a studio and start making it.” It’s more like, “I’m going to download whatever I can find and go for it!” Our whole first album as recorded with Behringer Microphones. RR: Don’t go dissing the Bery mics! JM: No! I’ve sung on a Sing Star microphone which I still use! It’s just so distorted it’s amazing. I think we’re a bit of a junkyard band when it comes to hardware. RR: What’s coming next? What can fans expect in 2018? JM: I think the B-sides album will really be putting the High Visceral series to rest and then we can get on with the third album. We’ve just finished building a recording studio up in the Swan Valley, so we’re moving up in the world! With the third album, we’re just working on new ideas. We’ve got some more upbeat riffs… It’s going to be happier! I think everyone in the band wants to hear happy music. It’s not going to make me cry, but that could just be how my emotions work at nine o’clock in the morning! It’s either happy or sad, probably form this interview you’re thinking “This guy’s brain is on two different wavelengths!” But we should be heading off to Europe next year too, we’ve just signed with a booking agency in the UK. RR: That’s a big step! There’s seems to be quite a strong reception to Aussie psych outfits in Europe right now. JM: So everyone has told us. [Laughs] But we don’t really know! We’re just tucked way away out here in Perth! Interviewer - Riley Fitzgerald Thursday December 28th - Northcote Social Club - Melbourne **SOLD OUT** w/ Hideous Sun Demon + Baked Beans + Body Parts https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychedelic-porn-crumpets-tickets-39426602028 Friday December 29th - The Lansdowne Hotel - Sydney w/ Hideous Sun Demon + Kimono Drag Queens + Maple Moths https://tickets.oztix.com.au/?Event=80875 Saturday December 30th - The Foundry - Brisbane w/ Elegant Shiva + Stone Witches + Danger Penny http://thefoundry.oztix.com.au/?eventId=80846 Sunday December 31st - The Northern - Byron Bay http://www.thenorthern.com.au/ **On sale now** **NEW DATES ADDED** Saturday January 27th - OzFest Block Party - Gold Coast Thursday February 8th - February 10th - Party In The Paddock - Launceston Saturday February 24th - Hyperfest - Perth *All Ages* Saturday March 3rd - City Limits Festival - Perth Saturday March 31st - Boogie Festival - Tallarook
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