featured artist

Martin Kennedy: guitar/samples
Mark Wendt: bass
Ben Sims: drums

What:
Brian Eno and the Boards of Canada meet Ennio Morricone on the way to a Pink Floyd concert.

Where:
Melbourne, Australia

Featured song:
"The Quiet Ambient"
from Echo Other (2006, Minty Fresh)
Listen: [ preview via iTunes ]

This song started off as my favourite, then became my most hated song ever, then my favourite again. Let me explain: this was to be THE SONG — the song that summed up the entire All India Radio journey, the mega-super- All India Radio song to end all All India Radio songs. I had written it not long after the previous album was nominated for an Australia ARIA award, and I thought it summed up everything that was good about that album. I also thought it would be the easiest song to record and mix, simply because I was so damn excited by it.

However, this was a (not so) rare example of the original vision being totally out of sync with reality. It soon became the hardest, most problematic frackin' song I've ever had the displeasure to write. For no real reason, either — maybe my expectations were too high, but mainly I just didn't like the way it was turning out. Because of past recording experiences, I have trained myself not to obsess too much, but this track was driving me crazy!

With a cattle prod and whip in hand, I sat behind the producer as he remixed, rearranged, and rejiggered the track long into the night at my request. And when he'd finished with it, I secretly took it away and tinkered with it some more, right up until the morning of final mastering. Details were everything — but in retrospect, who was going to noticed that the violin was a millionth of a degree out of tune, or that a guitar so far in the background that you could barely hear it squeaked for a millisecond?

I realised I was obsessing again. I spent hours, days, weeks on this song until I realised I had mixed, produced, tweaked, mastered, jiggered, and overcooked the living daylights out of it. So I simply went back and listened to an earlier mix, thought it was brilliant, and went with that. Now it's my favourite. Go figure that out...

What have you learned about the music business?

A lot has changed since I started out, when my earlier band was swept up in the worldwide major label signing spree following the release of Nirvana's Nevermind. For me, what followed was a frenzy of songwriting and recording madness, trying to sqeeze the band into a corporate mold — but it ultimately ended in disappointment and a massive unrecouped advance.

Since then I have learnt, clichéd as it sounds, that you have to follow your own path. Write and record for yourself, and be your own judge. By all means try to get your music out there, but if you are rejected, just keep trying. I have my rejection letters framed on the wall to remind me that the only way is up. Never expect it to be handed to you on a platter. Labels appreciate proactive bands, and one way or another you will eventually be noticed. But even if you aren't, you'll still have a nice collection of record label letters on your wall.

What kinds of non-music skills do musicians need?

Persistence, energy, the ability to compromise, willingness to spend your own money, and a seriously good sense of humour.

What's the best thing about being in a band?

Making music, naturally. All this business stuff is important for staying in the game, but your art is the reason you do all those things in the first place. The pure creative joy of musical expression is really what all this is about. Having a CD in your hands that you're proud of and watching an audience enjoy your music from the stage are feelings that are impossible to describe to people who haven't been there.

The alternate-universe answer: It's a wonderful outlet for mutual creativity and artistic expression with like-minded individuals, leading to a nirvana-like sense of complete personal fulfillment, secure in the knowledge that we'll never ever have to work for a living.

The real-world answer: Well, actually it's almost like the first answer, but without the "We'll never ever have to work for a living" bit. Oh, and maybe without the "complete personal fulfillment" bit either…that's much better achieved with beer.

– Martin Kennedy, guitar/samples, All India Radio

All India Radio, Echo Other (2006, Minty Fresh)

   

Posted March 2007

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