Jonathan Boulet, Sydney

Current band rollcall?
Jono Boulet - Guitars/vocals
Ravi Gupta - Guitar/vocals
Rebecca Shave - Keys/vocals/percussion
Dave Rogers - Bass/vocals
Tim Watkins - Drums
You - handclaps/vocals

Jonathan Boulet has been (musically) around since …
Always been writing music, put first album together a couple years back just after high school was done. It was just a collection of songs I recorded over the years.

Let's play Six Degrees of Jonathan Boulet. What are some interesting musical links you could come up with?
The guitarist from my other band (Parades), his hairdresser is the the ex-girlfriend of one of the guys from the band Cult of Luna.

First song ever written?
I used to do a bunch of electronic stuff, and I've got hundreds of four-bar loops that I made with my keyboard during high school. But the first one I ever released to the public would be a song called Storm's A-Comin'. That was the first track I recorded properly, the first time I got some good microphones and an audio interface.

Music making for you began when …
When we started our first band with the guys from Parades, we were in a punk/hardcore band. All we ever wanted was to be known as the wildest, craziest band around. So the aim at every show was just go as nuts as our bodies would allow.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music?
Cupboards, doors, coconuts, cars driving by. I sampled a British cousin saying 'wicked' once just 'cos I really liked his accent.

Strangest gig you've ever played?
No strange gigs yet. Mainly because I haven't played any as yet. But I'm sure I'll have some kind of answer once I'm done with Tame Impala …

Do you pin up images when recording to help inspire your songs? (Or put up other things in the studio for the same effect?)
Not really. Sometimes it's fun having lava lamps and such. We've had this crazy star projection thing before, though. You turn all the lights off so it's totally dark, then when you turn this thing on, it projects thousands of stars onto the roof and walls. It's really crazy 'cos they're moving really slowly … but it doesn't help because you're too busy being blown away that you can't get anything done.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
Punk/hardcore music. I can't really cite specific songs or parts where the influence show through, but I know it's there. There's alot of great ideas and vibes in that style of music and it's always good to be open to anything.

Most unconventional topic you've covered in your lyrics?
That's a hard one because, for most of my lyrics, I'm not even sure what they are addressing.

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer …
Nil.

Most useful lyrics you've heard in a song?
"In the wake of our existence, in our parades and in our dances; touch, see and behold the wisdom of the party program. Essential in our lifetime and irresistible in our touch, the great spirits proclaim that capitalism is indeed organised crime and we're all the victims. This next one is called Refused Party Program."

Do you think the country/city/town you live in affects your music in any way?
Yeah, for sure. The environment you're in, in general. I'm getting really sick of this garage and I think it affects the way I write music. Like I can't get inspired to write fresh sounds when I'm in a place that I know so well. So when it comes to writing the next record, I'm definitely going to do it in another room.

You would love to record with ...
A massive crowd. Like, hundreds of people recording the vocals at the same time. That would be epic.

Favourite person you have performed with/recorded with …
Seekae, Megastick Fanfare, Ghoul, Bearhug and Sherlock's Daughter. All super-promising bands on the up and up.

Outside of your solo music, you spend your time …
Skating, writing music, Parades, Snake Face, trying to be artistic.

Next for you is ...
This Tame Impala tour, followed by some intimate Sydney shows, and the official release of the record.

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called ... (feel free to come up with the craziest-sounding-yet-most-accurate name)
"This music is OK."



A CD burn wrapped in an old journal called Modern Medical Counsellor was my introduction to Jonathan Boulet. Then 19 years old, he’d dropped off a demo at FBI’s Music Open Day late last year. It was sealed together with masky tape and had a computer-printed set list. After All was the first song I totally fell for and I loved it even more when I later discovered the shuffly percussion came from him jumbling cabinet drawers open and shut. Continue Calling, with its Animal Collective-esque pop-racuousness, was the single we played on FBI.

Earlier this year, his music got picked up by a New York label, Evident; made the run of coolsy music blogs, and Community Service Announcement became wonderfully unavoidable. A great great song that was part of the new self-titled album, repackaged with additional songs from that first demo. I asked him to come onto Local Fidelity for a chat and song and he brought an army of people, a kick drum and great stories to tell. (The coconuts referred to in one of the answers above are actually from a coconut bikini that his grandad wore at a Hawaiian-themed party. Perfect.) I’ve never seen so many people packed in the FBI studio, and they all hollered along beautifully to Continue Calling, it was a test-tube version of the live performance that he wanted to do on a real stage. And now, after shunning venues for so long – exiling himself so he could experiment with how to recreate his inviting music live (and I mean literally ‘inviting’, because he wants your voice to meld in the noise coming through the amps), Jonathan Boulet is finally doing a run of shows and what a start: supports with The Middle East and Dragging Pianos, Tame Impala and El Perro Del Mar. I cannot tell you how excited I am.


Head to his MySpace for all the essentials. You'll want to keep track.

A Casual End Mile, Sydney

Current band rollcall?
At the moment it's all just me (Madelaine Lucas), live and recorded.

A Casual End Mile has been around since ...
February this year in a public sense, when I started played my first show. But I’ve been using the name for my collection of home recordings I’ve collected on and off for a year or so.

Let's play Six Degrees of A Casual End Mile. What are some interesting musical links you could come up with?
My dad, Steve Lucas, was/is the front man of the Australian band X. A lot of people have asked me how you’re supposed to rebel as teenager when your father is a punk rock musician. I guess I did it by making acoustic folk music.

In terms of the local music scene, I recently I played an FBi fundraiser show with Daisy M. Tulley (Bridezilla). Her music is inspiring and beautiful and makes me want to cry sometimes ... Even when she throws in the occasional ‘motherfucker’.

I've also played shows with And Then To Bed, and medieval music maestro Jack Colwell, who has also done a wonderful job setting me up with shows this year.

First song ever written?
I wish I could remember, but I was always making up little songs when I was younger. I’m sure it was awful! I think the first I put under the name of A Casual End Mile was called Too Little, Too Late. It was a three-chord country song that went for about two minutes.

Music making for you began when ...
I traded ballet for trumpet lessons when I was eight.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music?
Unintentionally, the noise of my little brothers creating chaos in the hallway outside my bedroom got trapped in a love song.

Strangest gig you've ever played?
I think every gig is strange in its own way. The first show I played this year was on a farm, on Valentine’s Day, and it rained the entire weekend. During my set, all this smoke appeared and I thought I was going to be electrocuted ... but it turned out that it was just a secret smoke machine, self-activating.

The gig I played at the Bridge Hotel in April was also strange, because it was my first in Sydney playing a lot of new stuff, and I was introduced by a comedian with a very bizarre sense of humour, which became quite awkward considering the intimate atmosphere of the evening.

Do you pin up images when recording to help inspire your songs?
Not really. My inspiration comes mostly from subconscious pickings of things that I have felt, or seen or read or heard about. If anything, I’m more likely to be inspired by beautiful combinations of words in books or poems, rather than pictures.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
I think I am influenced by pretty standard stuff – loving, breathing, heartache, death, boredom, the weather. I suppose I am inspired by a lot of different genres of music though, and listen to folk music less than bands like Pavement or Animal Collective at the moment.

Most unconventional topic you've covered in your lyrics?
Anthropomorphism.

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer ...
“Let me be your woman”!

Most useful lyrics you've heard in a song?
Maybe the lyrics in More Adventurous by Rilo Kiley, in terms of poignant advice. I also like the sentiment, "Someday, we’ll be dignified and old", from the Modern Lovers – there’s something comforting there. I guess any lyrics are useful if they can relate, or mean something to another person.

Do you think the town you live in affects your music in any way?
Definitely. Cities have souls, and things like the weather, buildings and people are definitely things that influence me. I love Sydney, with its beautiful cityscape, and the scene of creative people which expands all the time, but I would like to live somewhere else for awhile and see what I would come up with in a completely different environment.

You would love to record with ...
An entire symphony orchestra! Even though it would be incredibly difficult, I think it could be amazing.

Favourite person you have recorded with ...
I just did some home recordings with the lovely Ms. Pia May (Bridezilla). It’s been nice to record in someone else’s bedroom for a change, and it’s amazing how much just one other person can bring to a song, and make it come alive. Plus, our music dates always involve a lot of tea and caramel crowns.

Outside of A Casual End Mile, you spend your time ...
With my friends, running around the town, staying up too late, working in a kid's bookstore, drinking tea, talking ... And sometimes going to uni.

Next for you is ...
Recording another new project which I’m really excited about, and hopefully more A Casual End Mile gigs soon to keep me out of trouble!

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called ...
bedroom–folk.

Sometimes you hear a singer for the first time and your heart forgets itself entirely. Unskipped beats pile up, waiting for you to remember to unpause, but music has a funny way of playing cardiac traffic cop - it takes a while for everything to return to normal.

It's rare to single out a moment like that, but when I first pulled A Casual End Mile's demo from the weekly mountain of CDs, it was like that completely. Madelaine Lucas' voice is the kind that rewires your memory. Like Hope Sandoval, her words are quiet and spellbinding, able to make the most unadorned songs sound dreamy. A Casual End Mile is one to keep listening to, pay attention here.

Williams Break, Sydney

Current band rollcall?
Richard Seeney, Henry Wolfson & Tim Stroh.

Williams Break has been around since ...
We first formed in 2006, just after we finished school.

First song ever written?
Stantation of Astonishmentation.

Music making for you began when ...
Henry bought a laptop with Reason and Cubase.

I know it's cliched to ask, but how did you get your very unusual band name?
We came up with it one day when brainstorming and we stuck with it because it's very open to interpretation. So far, the most popular responses from people have been a place, a person or a "type of break" e.g. supper, brunch, that sort of thing. To us, it has a few of its own meanings but we prefer to leave it up to others to judge for themselves.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music?
We've listened to it all too many times to be able to tell anymore.

How do you come up with song titles when the music is mostly electronic instrumentals?
They’re usually made up from what words come to mind when we hear it, for example, Last Words Of A Dying Robot, because we thought that’s what it sounded like. But then again, a few of them are just completely random.

Strangest gig you've ever played?
As Williams Break, that’s yet to happen.

Do you pin up images when recording to help inspire your songs?
Not really, we do have posters up in the studio but most of our inspiration comes from the sounds and images of everyday life.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
The Catholic Church.

Most unconventional topic you've covered in your lyrics?
None of our lyrics are really what you would call "conventional".

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer ...
"Computer Marines": work that one out.

Most useful lyrics you've heard in a song?
"Pardon me while I burst into flames."

Do you think the country/city/town you live in affects your music in any way?
Definitely, music is the soundtrack to our lives, it evokes the feelings, smells, tastes and sounds around us.

You would love to record with ...
Any of the great symphony orchestras, Air, Trent Reznor, Josh Homme - this list could go on forever ...

Favourite person you have performed/recorded with ...
Ebony Naiun and Adelie Battam were both amazing artists.

Outside of Williams Break, you spend your time ...
We all have our little side projects that we work on, but most of our time is spent working so we can fund these projects. After that, there isn’t much time for anything more than just kicking back and relaxing.

Next for you is ...
Complete and total domination of the world.

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called ...
Ecclectronica.

It's hugely galvanising when you play a song on the radio and someone listening instantly needs to know what you're spinning. This happened with Would You Please by Williams Break, a song which pulses and stutters so precisely and beautifully, with notes and beats being batted back and forth at micro-distances, until the song relaxes and breezes to a game-over close.

It appears on the Local Fidelity FBI-fundraising compilation, on-sale online ($12) here and also the upcoming Williams Break album, out "around September-ish". If it's anything like past material - it should be endlessly listenable. Keep clicking for Williams Break news here.

Brave Radar, Sydney/Montreal/Halifax

Current band rollcall?
Conor Prendergast, Tessa Smith, Gabriel Ng.

Brave Radar has been around since...
Conor: Let's say '06.

Let's play Six Degrees of Brave Radar. What are some interesting musical links you could come up with?
Conor: The drummer from the Easybeats, we used to use his cymbals apparently in my high school band.

First song ever written?
Conor: When I was 11 or 12, I wrote the first song I can remember, heavily inspired by Nirvana's Something in the way.
Tessa: The first one I can remember is a song called Winter that I wrote to the tune of a traditional Canadian canoeing song. It was for my first band, Julia and the Executors, at age 8. The first song I wrote with instruments was Something, the first track on Brave Radar's first album together, Distracting Strangers.

Music making for you began when...
Tessa: My dad taught me blues standards on the piano.
Conor: The first instrument I loved was the drums, I made a drumkit out of cardboard boxes in my living room.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music?
Conor: Me and my old roommate had a room full of blown up red helium balloons, we popped them in a frenzy and recorded it. It's at the end of a song Teton Ocean. Sounds like popcorn.

Strangest gig you've ever played?
Conor: Probably at South by Southwest at a clothing store. It was just really awkward - "who are these people? why are we here again?"

Do you pin up images when recording to help inspire your songs? (Or put up other things in the studio for the same effect?)
Conor: Heaps of slogans: you can win; be the future; always strive; beat your destiny.
Tessa: For our new EP Ultramarine, we pinned up life-sized portraits of our parents with speech bubbles saying things like, "Is this really what you're doing with your life?" and "Didn't I love you enough?". You have to push yourself to create art.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
Conor: Probably work. Work is good for lyrics and names and things.
Tessa: I listen to a lot of pop from every era, but modern pop is maybe an unexpected influence. Some of the taboo cheesy stuff is definitely in my blood.

Most unconventional topic you've covered in your lyrics?
Tessa: I tend to write from the experience of feelings. That's totally fresh, right? haha... Conor wrote a few songs from the point of view of different animals.
Conor: Probably not the most unconventional but i'm happy with the lyrics to They mean no harm. It's about bluebottles.

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer...
Conor: That's hard, I dont think any of them would work... Tessa?
Tessa: Yours are too abstract! Um, maybe the lyrics to Lava and Magma, though they're not really advice. They're about making the decision to be with somebody, trusting that the hidden part of them is there. I like that.

Most useful lyrics you've heard in a song?
Conor: Hmm. I've got a bad memory for lyrics... Brenden Orange has great lyrics... Tessa?
Tessa: I'm sort of averse to the idea of musicians as mass therapists... I would hate to think of singing as some kind of therapy session for the world. That's really depressing. It's worse in certain genres ...

Good lyrics snap me back to feeling things strongly, without saying like, "it's time to feel again, gurl". And that's useful, though it's very personal. Yeah, Brenden Orange and the guys that he listens to, Mount Eerie... I like Julie Doiron for sure.

Do you think the country/city/town you live in affects your music in any way?
Conor: Not really, I thought it might be the case. I think I'm more affected by music I'm listening to or movies or art.
Tessa: Only in the sense that I met Conor here in Montreal... We're imports anyway, like most people around us. On the East Coast, where I'm from originally, music is a given – everybody plays something. So choosing to "be a musician" is a serious endeavour; you take up this character and are perceived a certain way. Maybe that's true everywhere, or maybe it's just my weird paranoia. But I feel like living in Montreal – where rent is cheap and multitaskers abound – we're allowed to have a few different projects without any conflicts.

You would love to record with...
Tessa: A recording engineer. It might be good for us.
Conor: Maybe a five piece session rock band, me and Tessa could write the songs and sing but not play anything.
Tessa: Oh man, that'd be great. Like a Brill building kinda thing.

Favourite person you have performed with/recorded with...
Conor: We did a small tour with Dirty Beaches, Alex is one of the good ones.

Outside of Brave Radar, you spend your time...
Conor: Working in a kitchen, drawing...
Tessa: We run a label called Fixture Records. I also have a part-time job and I'm trying to finish my degree.

Next for you is...
Conor: A new album is right around the corner, then we're hoping to tour the states, and come to Australia in the new year.
Tessa: We've started writing stuff for a double EP that's one disc only drums, and one disc just bass. That's really fun.

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called...
Conor: Car-hole popular jangle.

Five things you currently love

Musically?
Conor: The Ohsees, Ariel Pink and Scott Walker. They're all so good I've been stuck on them all recently. They're winning.

In Print?
Conor: Comics by Yuichi Yokoyama.
Tessa: I love Duke Magazine, Worn Fashion Journal, The Believer, and lots of blogs.

Locally?
Conor: A great record store and comic shop are both just around the corner. When I have any money, which is rare, there are no better places to spend it.

Visually?
Conor: Posters by local artists Seripop, Leila Majeri and Tyler Rauman are always great and inspiring.

Cinematically?
Conor: Keen for Sukiyaki Western Django and Appaloosa and the Good, Bad and Weird one. Westerns!

Brave Radar write songs that swivel between sundazed pop and eclectic, shambolic charm. Tracks like Something and However have an instant brightening effect, like a million screen pixels lighting up around you. They've just released a new EP, Ultramarine, and you can catch up on their news on their MySpace.

Sui Zhen, Sydney

Current band rollcall?
Becky Freeman - lead vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion.
(Also doing time writing an album with Jamie Lloyd for a project called Little Hat.)

Sui Zhen has been around since....
2003, when I performed my first solo show at Bar Broadway.

Let's play Six Degrees of Sui Zhen....
Darren Hanlon emailed me last year and I played a couple of shows with him, including one in his backyard where a jingles producer was eagerly watching. Not sure if it has helped with 'Sui Zhen' but it has helped my income a lot!

My ex-band member and brother Dan was in a rock band that was produced in LA by Limp Bizkit's DJ Lethal....
Getting to support bands like The Brunettes, CocoRosie, Kimya Dawson has definitely opened the ears of new fans and has helped get my CD out into the world.

I have worked with some of the guys on the electronic music label, Future Classic and have sung on a tracks for Jamie Lloyd, Trickski and Zwicker.

And last but not least, ... I have sung for the devil, I mean, an Unmentionable-Brand-That-Will-Likely-Sue-If-Referred-To-Slightly-Negatively.

First song ever written?
I distinctly remember hiding in my brother's room when my sister and all her 15 year old friends were downstairs. We got out the four track and old Yamaha keyboard and recorded a song about how scared we were of these noisy girls who did not have any alcohol but were naturally hyper and high and hysterical and scaring us into isolation... We made several songs on this subject matter - much to my sister's disgust and offence when the tape was discovered.

The first serious and complete song I wrote and performed was called It's Okay and I recently deleted a bedroom recording of it from the net, I fear it is still out there. It was about, surprise surprise, my first love and consequential first break up. Yay.

Music making for you began when....
Early music making began for me in my teens. Mostly at night, usually quite late, often after a day of solitude.

In my later teens, I would meet up with Jamie and we would make some nice electronic down-tempo stuff. Which has now developed into Little Hat! He was a big influence early on for new and interesting music, often electronic or with some experimental element.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music?
On my EP we used the sound of X's hands rubbing together, the sounds were soft but crunchy because X had incredibly dry and peeling skin due to dermatitis so it was a great rhythmic sound. That was on Big and Small.

Also on Big and Small there's the sound of me turning the pages to this Russian War time trilogy I was reading at the time and wanted it to be a part of the recording.

We also used gongs, bells, thumb pianos, marimba, vibraphone and all that kind of stuff which was pretty.

I did strike a match for the beginning of Full of You and we looped a section of the crackling flame sound which continues mixed low throughout the entire track.

And there is this massive crescendo at the beginning of Heat which is the sound of piano strings being played in a run, with a screw, reversed.

There's nothing else incredibly experimental because the songs didn't call for it. But I do try to make every sound I use in my music unusual, otherwise it just sounds like everything else!

I think my new project, Little Hat takes on Jamie's philosophy (which is shared by pioneer electronic producer Matthew Herbert), of using lots of found sounds - which I like because they are original and often have a lot of character.

Strangest gig you've ever played?
I have played two fairly odd shows in the 12 months.

One was recently at the Sydney Opera House, for Pierre Huyghe's art installation, Forest of Lines. I had to walk through the forest singing the same song on repeat for a couple of hours at a time, on two different days.

I did a late session and was often approached by drunk people or people offering compliments and I felt so rude because I had to ignore them as to not ruin the artist's intended aesthetic. Also I think the fake fog and my lack of glasses was making my vision skewed. Singing the same song for so long and so loud felt almost psychotic, like I was demanding attention whilst simultaneously being completely ignorant. Overall, it was a interesting experiment which I quite enjoyed.

The other strange gig was when I performed for the Adelaide Fringe Festival Poster Launch.

They had created this fake art gallery scenario in this massive warehouse, I was perched on a huge cube platform on a bicycle seat that rotated. I was covered in a three-metre-high and two-metre-wide recreation of the paper dress I wore on my EP cover. On top of this, I sung two songs with my guitar whilst revolving. There was ambient lighting and I had one of those Madonna headset mics. It was quite angelic and euphoric.

When it was over, I was wheeled on this cube to the corner of the room. Another performance was to begin to take the attention off me so I could discreetly undress and make a exit. Instead people kept watching and the stagehand accidentally ripped the paper dress in two, revealing an awkward me, scampering for cover in nude undergarments. People thought it was part of the performance.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
I often transcribe dialogue from reality TV shows or commercials and, out of context, it can take on a whole new meaning.

Most unconventional topic you've covered in your lyrics....
Mister Sakamoto, my guinea pig, and her deep inner struggle with gender identity and how she ran away to become a legend.

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer....
My lyrics don't really any wise advice, best I could think of was: "we are all made to procreate so, get, get, get used to it..."

Most useful lyrics you've heard in a song?
I can't remember a specific lyric, but Melbourne band The Brutals have some pretty entertainly stories to tell and I remembering nodding my head many times during their recent Sydney shows!

Do you think the country/city/town you live in affects your music in any way?
Definitely. I haven't been writing so much for the Sui Zhen album lately, but the songs I have written whilst living in my little old shop in Redfern have been directly inspired by the space.

Little Hat also reflects living in inner city amongst the pretty and not-so-pretty parts of life, which we all experience but might not often sing about.

You would love to record with....
Arthur Russell, if he were still around. Matthew Herbert, and some old blues musicians, an orchestra, animals in Africa, for a Bollywood film....

Favourite person you have performed with/recorded with....
I love performing with my brother, we started out playing shows together and it would turn into a stand up comic act.

My band is awesome to perform with.

And currently Jamie and I have been producing Little Hat together which is lots of fun, I hardly leave the house!

Outside of Sui Zhen, you spend your time....
Working to support this terrible music habit of mine and working on Little Hat with Jamie and select guests.

I also draw pictures and knit, and make felt people and objects.

Next for you is....
Completing Little Hat debut album and taking on the world!

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called...
For Sui Zhen, I think folk-tronic was the best description - or 'nu-folk' simple and true!

Five things you currently love

Musically?
Micachu aka Mica Levi. She is from London is ridiculously young, completely experimental and her debut album was produced by Matthew Herbert. It is the wonkiest pop I have heard for a long time.

In Print?
This worm book of my brother's from childhood, it has all sorts of pictures of cartoon worms with various predicaments eg. a worm suffering delusions of being a pencil. I love it and it has inspired a comic I am currently working on.

Locally?
The top of Prince Alfred Park, opposite George Street in Redfern (where I currently reside). I take Mister there for sun, grass and potential excitement. George Street is also a current favourite, I live in the weirdest block, which scares and intrigues me equally. It's part Eastern Block, part ghetto...

Visually?
I am very much excited by contemporary visual art at the moment, but Chinatown's Morning Glory has been visually exciting me most lately! The keyrings and bizarre characters they have for cheap-cheap-cheap never ceases to astound me!

Cinematically?
This entire week I have been horror/thriller obsessed! I love film and studied it at Uni, so for a long time was scarred with a constant habit of over analysing. Misery and Rosemary's Baby are two stand-outs from this week. I also loved The Dark Knight.

Sui Zhen writes songs that have the unrushed energy of slow-rising smoke. Each acoustic strum and lyric sparks all the emotional temperature of a high fever. It's a dangerous combination when she's wearing a paper origami dress, like on her self-titled EP! Keep close to the crackle of Sui Zhen news by looking up her website here.

The Small Hours, Sydney

Current band rollcall? (Members and instruments/other bands they're in?)
Mark Smithers - vocals and guitar.
Harrison Lillis - bass and vocals.
Peter Watts - keyboards and wails.
Craig Lyons - drums (and blog-question-answerer).
Craig and Mark occasionally play drums and bass respectively in Sydney's infamous Quarteracre.

The Small Hours have been around since....
Roughly the end of 2005. But our current lineup was finalised at the beginning of last year.

Let's play Six Degrees of The Small Hours...
Our first ever gig was at our school disco supporting Dappled Cities, and we've played a number of shows with them since. Jake Stone from Bluejuice has always listened to our crappy demos and provided tons of help to us. The guys from John Columbus. Pete Kelly from Decoder Ring. Al Grigg from Red Riders was the first guy to give one of our demos to FBI 94.5FM, so he deserves a big pat on the back for that. And Stephen Malkmus, because he exists.

And as far as a weird musical link, when I was in New York, one night I found myself jamming with Shannon Noll. It was in my friend's East Village apartment, and he played a cover of Silverchair's Shade and then I played bongos and tambourine for a new song he was working on. I played him some of our demos, he said they were nice even though I'm guessing he didn't really know what to think.

First song ever written?
A track called Expecting What's Coming Next From You which floated around the Internet as Track 1 Demo for a while. We still listen to it occasionally, for a laugh. But we haven't played it in years.

Music making for you began when....
We got bored of playing other people's songs. Sometime between the ages of 14 and 15, I'd say. The moment Mark learnt how to play a bar chord was also pretty pivotal. Also when we bought our synthesizer. We realised you could make awesome sounds that didn't come from a guitar.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music?
In a version of our high school song that we recorded for a triple j competition in year 11, some mobile phone interference got in the middle of the song. We couldn't be bothered re-recording it, so we credited Mark with Mobile Phone Solo and sent it off.

Strangest gig you've ever played?
It's a toss up between supporting Dappled Cities at our school disco, and our first gig in sydney, which was when we were 17 and it was in the Hibernian House in Surry Hills. For a bunch of kids playing their first show in Sydney, that was something of an initiation.

Do you pin up images when recording to help inspire your songs?
In our living room in Petersham where we rehearse, we have a giant Life Aquatic poster, and channel Bill Murray's energy into everything we make.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
The poetic genius and all-round nice guy that is Will Smith.

Most unconventional topic you've covered in your lyrics...
Inefficient night-fillers at Wattle Grove Coles supermarket.

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer...
I probably wouldn't offer much. We're not a band to preach anything really. But if I was pressed to choose one line, it'd be "It's OK, I wasn't expecting you anyway," from Overlays & Underlays.

Most useful lyrics you've heard in a song?
Probably the entirety of Suzanne by Leonard Cohen. But in particular, "And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind, and you know she will trust you, cause you've touched her perfect body, with your mind".

Do you think the country/city/town you live in affects your music in any way?
Definitely - growing up in the suburbs, where not much happens, and having not much to do, and working shitty jobs when we were kids to save enough money to buy new guitar strings or an effects pedal. None of us are particularly well off and don't come from backgrounds with exorbitant amounts of money, and a lot of things we had to improvise, gear-wise. I think that comes through pretty strongly in our music. Also the current music situation in Sydney affects how we approach our music. We're not positioning ourselves as directly opposed to anything, but more saying "Hey, you don't have to wear fluoro and put trashy photos on Facebook to have a good time", if you know what I mean.

You would love to record with....
Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine or Stephen Malkmus, or if we had enough money, Brian Eno. But we don't have that much money.

Favourite person you have performed with/recorded with...
Recording our last batch of songs at Albert Studios with Wayne Connolly was pretty awesome. He's an amazing producer, and he got exactly the sound we wanted.

Outside of The Small Hours, the band members spend their time...
Harrison's life consists of working in a cafe in Bowral, driving there from the city at 6am and never sleeping.
Mark is a sound guy and can regularly be found at the Hopetoun Hotel or a similar haunt. He's also really good at sleeping.
Peter makes websites and is a master of Super Smash Bros.
And I study history, scan groceries in a supermarket and am currently trying to finish Grand Theft Auto 4. We can also often be seen drinking on our balcony and playing guitars in the house that three of us live in.

Next for you is....
Harrison's going overseas for six months, so we're writing and demoing, then when we gets back the plan is to record our debut album.

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called...
Guitar-synth indie dream-pop shoegazer bubblegum rock. Or alternatively, they can file it under "S," for The Small Hours.

Five things you currently love

Musically?
A band from New York called The Subjects, and their album With the Ease, Grace, Precision and Cleverness of Human Beings. Really awesome, rough-around-the edges indie rock. I'm trying to get them to tour here.

In Print?
Right now I'm ploughing through a lot of Bukowski. And Douglas Coupland. I think I'm gonna quit my job and become a postman.

Locally?
Palace Pantry, Petersham. Purveyors of fine coffee, Thai, sausage rolls, overpriced groceries, bread, milk, and fresh cat food. Because it's the closest place for us to get food, and it means we don't have to walk to Coles.

Visually?
The new guitar rack I made for our Guitar Hero guitars in our living room. I made it by banging some nails into the wall. Then I realised that the plaster walls probably weren't designed for holding Guitar Hero guitars, but I persisted. Four days and they seem to be holding up nicely. I'm still clinging to hope.

Cinematically?
I've been watching a lot of Woody Allen films, especially his early ones where there's a lot of slapstick and bad one-liners. It's pretty funny, even though they're really bad historical send-ups, Woody Allen is still wearing his glasses, and still has his Brooklyn Jew accent. Like he's eternal or something.

When I first heard The Small Hours, their jangly strums and melodic twists left this instant brain-lodging effect on me, triggering one of those "who ARE this band?" moments. Like that line in the first song FBi ever played of theirs - "these teeth are so lovely, I'll remember you" - there's something sweetly original and hard-to-shake about their music. Like Jordy Lane, they're another Sydney act I am always keyed up about. Keep by their website to hear what they're doing.

Jordy Lane, Sydney

Current band rollcall?
Me, and Kaity Fox on keys and vocals. But I'm looking for a drummer and a second guitarist currently...so contact me!

Jordy Lane has been around (musically) since...
2002 - that's when I started working on my own music. I started playing in a little indie-rock band called D'arcy before that though and did a few other bits and pieces.

First song ever written?
Under my name, it was probably some wanky untitled ambient electronica track that I've since lost.

Music making for you began...
When my mum made me learn the piano when I was about six years old.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music?
A field recording of Japanese students and horny bogans on a train coming back from Wollongong. If you listen closely to a track called Have Some Patience - Life Is Long you can hear a bogan yell out "I am a lesbian trapped in a man's body" to a girl on the station.

Strangest gig you've ever played?
Probably Rock N Roll Circus - crazy warehouse party that I didn't really belong on the bill to. But it was still fun watching 600 people try to cram into a 200 capacity room.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
The computer voice on iMacs.

Most unconventional topic you've covered in your lyrics?
How useless my songs are.

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer...
"Don't lose faith, just look at what you have, a beautiful brain, so use it all you can."

Most useful lyrics you've heard in a song?
"Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die, but instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know you realise that life goes fast it's hard to make the good things last, you realize the sun doesn't go down, it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round."

Do you think the country/city/town you live in affects your music in any way?
Of course.

You would love to record with...
Nigel Godrich/Steve Albini - although I'd probably been incredibly intimidated by both of them.

Favourite person you have performed with/recorded with...
Sarah Kelly.

Outside of making music, you spend your time....
Recording other bands, watching Arrested Development, drinking at the Courthouse, reading.

Next for you is....
Recording one more song and then releasing an album by the end of the year.

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called....
Noise pop. Well, it's not quite that yet, but maybe someday.

Five things you currently love

Musically?
Animal Collective.

In Print?
The Death Of Forever by Darryl Reanney- mind-blowing scientific-based book about why it's irrational to fear death.

Locally?
Campos coffee - expensive but hits the spot.

Visually?
Van Gogh - I got to see Starry Night in person a few months ago. Beautiful.

Cinematically?
Team America - "It's not about sex, it's about trust."

Stunning indie pop with an electronic heartbeat is what you can expect from Jordy Lane. Each song is sprinkled with thoughtful words and wistful voltages and sparks. I'm very excited that his debut album, Here We Go Down, The Black Hole will be out soon. Head to his website to keep up-to-date with everything he is doing.

Firekites, Newcastle/Sydney

Current band rollcall? (Members and instruments/other bands that they are in?)
Tim McPhee (vox, acoustic guitar, keys, bass/The Instant), Jason Tampake (violin, bass/Charge Group/Josh Pyke), Rod Smith (acoustic guitar, vox, keys, bass, blog interview-answerer), Jane Tyrrell (special guest vox/The Herd and the Urthboy show) and Ben Howe (drums, percussion).

Firekites have been around since...
We began life as a two piece acoustic outfit in March 2005 but gradually grew into the current format.

Let's play Six Degrees of Firekites. Who have you collaborated with?
Andy Howe, Richard Pike and Matt Blackman among others.

First song ever written?
Finding Home.

Music making for you began when...
I found my sister’s acoustic guitar in the hall cupboard in 1989.

Most unusual sound/instrument you’ve used in your music?
Recording remnants of a broken wine glass for the track History. There have been many broken wine glasses! Ha!

Strangest gig you’ve ever played?
We once played a pub in two-piece acoustic mode and got heckled by bar flies with calls like,"You boys must have big hearts!" Classic.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
Brownies with rosemary.
Seeds and scotch finger biscuits.

Most unconventional topic you’ve covered in your lyrics...
Sleeping in your best clothes and courtroom juries judging old clothes.

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer...
If you’ve got something to say, then stroll out in the park.

Most useful lyrics you’ve heard in a song?
Should I take that risk or just smile?

Do you think where you live in affects your music in any way?
Yep, as does all your experiences in that place.

You would love to record with...
Nigel Godrich or Jim O’Rourke.

Favourite person you have performed with/recorded with...
Simon Connolly doing sound for our Northcote Social Club album launch. Great times!

Outside of Firekites, the band members are involved in...
Busy times...
Janey with Herd haps...
Tim with abacus duties...
Roddy holding down the law...
Benny chefing and chopping wood on the Kites' kit...
Jason with chargies, building an empire in World of Warcraft and otherwise slaying gents on the poker table.

Next for you is...
Some great supports, film clip, the Great Escape festival and a headline tour.

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called...
Folk’n’roll.

Five things you currently love

Musically?
Keyboards through guitar pedals, because the possibilities are endless.

In Print?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, because of Frost at Midnight.

Locally?
Feast cafe in Bull street (Cooks hill), because of the relaxed vibe and smiles.

Visually?
Art deco, because it's quirky but classic.

Cinematically?
I haven't seen a movie in a very long time...

Firekites write beautiful, sleepy-eyed songs softly brushed with electro-folk touches. If I was going to apply one of those over-the-top musical equations to describe it, I'd say it's like Psapp meeting Sea and Cake in an empty school playground at sundown. You can find out more about their music and shows on their MySpace.

Cleptoclectics, Sydney

Current band rollcall?
So far, Cleptoclectics has been a solo project, just me (Tom Smith), some synths, various keyboards, a microphone, two computers, an MPC1000, a saxophone, some home-cooked software, and lots of records.

Cleptoclectics has been around since....
I've been around for about 24 years, but I thought of the name four or five years ago, and it never went away. Even though I still find telling people embarrassing... "Cleptowhat?"

Let's play Six Degrees of Cleptoclectics - are there any note-worthy musicians you've worked with?
I'm fairly solitary as far as musicians go. There was talk of me doing a remix for The Paper Scissors at one point, which seems unlikely.

First song ever written?
I used to churn out beat tapes as a kid, on cassettes I stole from hi fi shops. But it's hard to say at what point the sketches I've been been tinkering with for years turned into songs, I'm still not sure they have.

Music making for you began when...
First song I can remember is Buffalo Soldier, I was wearing a nappy at the time. I grew up thinking music wasn't something people actually 'did'. At the school I went to, you were showered with praise for getting an accounting scholarship, not for making tunes. But I think when I was about 17 or 18 I realised there are paths open to people who want to make music in their own way, even if they're fairly protracted.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music?
My grandmother recently handed down her koto to me, which I've been playing lots lately, it's that twangy plucked string instrument you hear in Kabuki, and generally associate with Nippon stereotypes. I once made a tune out of black swan calls, if you put them through an amp they distort nicely.

Strangest gig you've ever played?
I played a party once which had a peacock theme and you weren't allowed to wear shoes, everyone was on drugs, not that strange I suppose, but it's one of the most memorable for some reason. The first legitimate 'gig' I ever played, I followed a 12 piece improv band who had stage props and stupid theatrics, I then climbed on stage by myself and bunted away at my sampler, to the bemusement of the 10 punters in attendance, also not that strange really. I've been turfed out of a couple of illegal type gigs before I even got to setup, which is just annoying.

Do you pin up images when recording to help inspire your songs? (Or put up other things in the studio for the same effect?)
I've got a poster of Antonioni's Blow Up, some King Kong posters, a collection of West African and Sepic ceremonial masks, a Bridget Riley print, a replica Sun Ra hat which - when you put it on - gives the effect of a solar system orbiting your head, I wear it whilst channeling the cosmos. I have a thing for kitsch sleeve designs too.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music?
Sometimes people struggle to believe that I actually like some of the crappy exotica records I buy.

When you're working with electronic music, is it easier or harder to get across a message or mood when you can't use lyrics?
Obviously if I wanted to write a polemical song about an issue, it would be hard to do without words, so it's lucky I'm not really interested in saying things consciously with my music. I find music with too much intention tiresome. As far as mood goes, maybe lyrics can obscure as much as create it, they can lock an experience down by making it 'about' something, obliterating the possibility of people formulating their own response. I'm interested in phenomenology, and by extension, people's unique responses to sound, which can become less important in lyric music because it's spelled out for people.

It's a good question, kind of leads to other questions though; like what is musical communication? Music is sort of impotent in lots of ways, that's probably what leads some people to approach music like an intellectual game, rather than a vehicle for emotions. I'm not quite at that stage, but I'm not really into 'message' music either.

Do you think the country/city/town you live in affects your music in any way?
In all sorts of ways. The relationship between music and geography is really interesting I think. I find Sydney isolates people a little, I've found it easier so far to get gigs in other cities. I've played almost as much in Melbourne, without really trying, even though I hardly knew anyone down there when I started. So my music isn't made with much consideration for my immediate context, which is I think something that a lot of music from Sydney has in common, a kind of spatial dislocation, which paradoxically comes from the city perhaps.

You would love to record with...
Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Favourite person you have performed with/recorded with...
The most challenging performance I've ever done was at TINA last year: a bunch of friends, calling themselves DKDC, loosely connected to this site - www.whenpressed.net - asked me to score their performance live. It was a kind of absurdist theatre performance and I was pretty far out of my comfort zone, which made me feel embarrassed, but then thrilled and satisfied. Flying Lotus and Touch Typist were the two best support slots I've done.

Outside of Cleptoclectics, you spend your time....
Working in a gallery/artist agency, teaching at the College of Fine Arts, taking up space.

Next for you is...
Limited edition 3" release coming out through this label sometime in the not too distant future, just working on music generally.


If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called...

Tonally Considered Rhythm Scapes
Variable Drone Beats
Swinging Interval Meditations
Syncopated Granulation Edits
Brick Wall of Sound Constructions

Five things you currently love

Musically? Alice Coltrane - it's next level amazing shit.
In Print? George E Lewis' various writings, Roland Barthes' A Lovers' Discourse
Locally? Pigeonground - right near my house, perfect thing to do on a lazy Sunday. Consolador de Dos Caras - crazy music, loud, awesome.
Satellite cafe - do yourself a favour and get a veggie breakfast.
Visually? Edward R Tufte's Envisioning Information - sort of information design 101.
Cinematically? Blade Runner - doom, gloom, synths and sax.

Cleptoclectics' electronic tinkering is as wistful, spaced-out and strangely beautiful as a constellation. His latest album is Poignancy Beats. When Jonathon Valenzuela and I used to do semi-neighbouring timeslots on FBI, we would fight over who would get to play Cleptoclectics. You can slink over to his MySpace to hear some tunes and check out Cleptoclectics' verbal stylings on his blog.

Catcall, Sydney

Current band rollcall? (Members and instruments/roles?)
I'm Catherine Kelleher, the vocalist and songwriter. I collaborate mainly with Crumbs, who is Melbourne-based producer Max Kohane. I've also recently collaborated with Sydney producer Mailer Daemon.
Live, I perform my set with Sleater Brockman and have recently acquired a male back up dancer, "Jack Ass".

Catcall has been around since... January 2007.

Let's play Six Degrees of Catcall - who are some note-worthy musicians you've worked with?
Kiosk (for three years, I played in this punk band).
The Crayon Fields/Sly Hats (my EP was recorded by Geoff O'Connor).
Agents of Abbhorence (my producer plays in this grind band).
Sleater Brockman/Ro Sham Bo (DJs and friends).
Mailer Daemon and Peach (we recently collaborated).

First song ever written? Bodies was the first song I put on my MySpace. It was a downbeat, slow jam with a sparse organ and bassline. I wrote the beat myself, and the vocal was quite soft and breathy.

Music-making for you began when... I first had piano lessons at the age of five. But really it started when I met Jack and Angie and started playing in Kiosk when I was 17, at the end of 2003. We kept pretty busy until mid 2006 when we toured the USA. And then from early 2007, I was drawn towards making pop.

Most unusual sound/instrument you've used in your music? Probably my harmonica.

Strangest gig you've ever played? More bad ones than strange ones, haha. Me and Sleater got heckled at an Annandale show once. By Mogans (Modular-bogans).

Do you pin up images when recording to help inspire your songs? (Or put up other things in the studio for the same effect?) Not really!!! I mainly just listen to the same kinda tracks that are inspiring me at the moment. Right now, it's Neneh Cherry and The Go-Go's.

Unlikeliest thing to influence your music? Party pix photographers.

Most unconventional topic you've covered in your lyrics... Baking!

If you had to offer any of your lyrics as love advice (or life advice), you would offer... Not the best person to give love advice, hahaha!!

Most useful lyrics you've heard in a song? "I don't want the world, I only want what I deserve" - The Gossip.

Do you think where you live in affects your music in any way? Yes. Sydney has made me who I am. I think Catcall is definitely a product of the scene which surrounds DJs and performers like Ro Sham Bo and Hoops.

You would love to record with.... Bangladeshi, Switch, Sinden

Favourite person you have performed with/recorded with... THE GOSSIP.

If record stores had to come up with a new genre name to file your music under, it would be called... Hip pop.

Outside of Catcall, you also... work in film, most recently in independent film distribution. Film is my other great passion, especially arthouse, independent cinema.

Next for you is... Writing my album with Crumbs and collaborating with several other amazing Australian producers. Then touring the country and then the USA with Sleater Brockman.

Five things you currently love

Musically? Kid Cudi, hip hop perfection.
In Print? Lexicon Devil. The bio of Darby Crash and The Germs, my favourite punk band. Really intense life story.
Locally? Cafe Zoe, my actual local!
Visually? Photographs by Sophie Calle, the French artist.
Cinematically? City Of God/The Constant Gardener by Fernando Meirelles. Intense stories told in an incredible way.

Catcall's beat-spiked, ultra-feisty, and slick-yet-DIY-spirited hip hop is sharply and sassily-showcased on her recent EP Anniversary. You can find out more about it, plus details about her gigs and blog by clicking on her home page.