o you’ve got songs but live you improvise a lot?
N: We have songs but they vary every set. They change according to the gigs—whether they’re gonna be more psychedelic or rocky.
J: Our old songs are a bit more fluid but the new songs we’re writing are not as changeable.
N: But cause they’re new they could always change.
You guys play a lot.
N: Yeah we do. We get asked to play more but it’s hard cause you don’t want to play too much. There’s also lots of bad shows you get asked to play. I like to play them all but you can’t because people get too sick of you and you get bored yourself.
Why did you decide to start playing so quickly after starting the band?
N: So many bands spend so much time getting their songs together and releasing an EP before they even play one show.
J: So stupid. Who cares about a set. Just get up there. I guess it’s like the whole Little Band thing that was happening in Carlton in the 70s. DIY stuff.
What about influences? Do you have similar tastes in music?
J: I’m a pretty big music nerd. I don’t know about Nisa but with what I’m doing there are certain things that are important—Terry Riley and dub. We both like dub.
N: Yeah, my parents are intense reggae fans. Like, my brother’s called Marley. So I grew up listening to a lot of like reggae and dub.
J: Nisa really likes glam as well.
N: Beat Happening were a big influence on my drumming but I don’t really think about it so much. It’s like... whatever came out.
J: Nisa’s drums and my saxophone: they’re both instruments we’ve learnt ourselves. I’ve always loved the saxophone and I found one secondhand for 230 bucks and was like “whoah here we go”. So in terms of how we approach those instruments it’s just how we’ve learnt to play them. Because we aren’t trained we can’t really emulate anything else cause we only do what we do with what we can do. I do find it depressing though when bands buy saxophones and just squeak on it.
N: You used to just squeak on it.
J: That’s not true. I disagree with that. The first time I picked up a saxophone I wrote a riff on it and I’ve still got a song based on that riff.
N: It’s taken you a while to get the whole breathing thing down though.
Do you smoke?
J: No, I don’t smoke or drink coffee, for the record.
N: I do but from smoking my voice is getting so husky.
J: Sounds real sexy.
N: It’s getting really husky and I lose my voice a lot, which is bad when we’re playing shows. But I also like it at the same time cause my singing voice has changed.
So Nisa’s into glam rock?
N: Well, I’ve always been into music but it started really badly. I think it went like East 17, Korn, Hole, now… I don’t know. Glam as Jarrod would say.
J: The reason I say glam is: I was talking to Nisa about Brian Eno. I think Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy is his most interesting album while Nisa really likes Here Come The Warm Jets. I always forget that Brian Eno was in Roxy Music and was totally androgynous; feather boas and stuff. Here Come The Warm Jets is totally glam rock and I never think of Eno like that—I never approach him from that side.
So where does glam fit into Fabulous Diamonds?
J: It’s more Nisa’s vibe.
N: My glam rock vibe.
J: Nisa was a drag king for a bit.
N: For, like, three months of my life.
What did you look like?
N: I just had a moustache. I performed to glam songs. Bowie.
J: Apparently all these lesbians started hating her.
N: That’s a lie.
There seems to be lots of lies with you guys.
J: I’m into lies. I like the repercussions from lies.
YULE TIDE
DOUBLE TROUBLE | 1 | 2 |
