10 October 2010

DEFRYME came straight outta Frankston in 1989 and released their debut self financed EP, Stylo Curiae in 1992.  Triple J picked up on the song Therapy which gave them high rotation on the Melbourne and Sydney airwaves and in turn got them noticed by a record company executive.    After some impressive originals (Purekiller, God Inside a Man, Sanity and the memorable LL Cool J cover of Mama Said Knock You Out) and a string of national and international live appearances, they called it a day in the mid-90’s.   But fifteen years later, they’re making a comeback with a new album – titled XV, a new single and possible tour.  Robyn Morrison chats to original bass player, Michael Richardson on why DEFRYME called it quits and why they decided to do it all again.

“It just comes back to the unfinished business,” says Richardson, “it just ended very quickly and abruptly.  We still kept bumping into each other.  It just felt right and it was time to do something together.  We had a bit of a play of the old stuff just for a laugh and it actually sounded really good.  It sounded exactly like it did when we played together and that was kind of good because none of us had really done any playing since then.”  Richardson goes on to explain that they threw some ideas around together for some new songs and it went from there, “the stuff that we’ve been recording over the last year, I just wish we had some of that stuff recorded back then.  It’s pretty good.  We’re pretty happy with it.”

Going back to that abrupt ending, Richardson explains why it was over so quickly, “we had just gotten back from three tours in a row and we were sick of looking at each other.  There was a lot going on.  No one was really leading us as far as management goes.  We lost half of our management.  We were running around not knowing what we were doing,” he explains, “we were driving everywhere, living out of suitcases and it happened so fast that we just weren’t ready for it.  We should have just taken a time out.”  Since that time out the band members have all been doing different things musically.  Richardson said he started up his own music shop business called The Acoustic Centre in South Melbourne and played with a band called The Mercy Killers .

In 2010, DEFRYME has a different line-up from their 90’s collaboration, “the last time we played there were five of us including Grant (Miller) on drums, so we’ve got a different drummer now.   We’ve done the new recording with a couple of drummers.  Geoff from Pony Music will be the live drummer.  He’s also been doing a lot of the engineering with Quinn (Gardener-Kane, vocalist).  Crazy Rob Dexter will be on guitar.  He’s always been in the original line-up too.”  Original keyboard player Glen Millen, who Richardson grew up with, has played on a couple of songs but according to Richardson, it’s a timing thing.  As far as a permanent keyboard player, the band is still looking around, “we might not even use one,” says Richardson in relation to filling that spot in the band, “Quinn’s playing guitar now, which is great and he’s filled that gap.  At the moment, it’s pretty much two guitars, bass and drums and there will be some sort of sampling in the music.”

DEFRYME refers to the last eighteen months as craziness which has involved a lot of rehearsals, “Quinn had a lot of the songs in demo form which we had to get the bugs out and play them out,” says Richardson, “DEFRYME’s always been a live act so we needed that sort of live feel to them to take them into the studio.  Just trying to line-up rehearsals with guys who have commitments; businesses, families, kids, it’s so much harder.  Back in the old days, we’d just block out rehearsal rooms for four or five days in a row and it was no issue.” 

Richardson and Gardener-Kane get together a couple of times a week to concentrate on song writing and Gardener-Kane has also been concentrating on recording, “he’s pretty fussy,” says Richardson, “he’s got a handle on tone and what he wants now.  Back in the day we would have set that at the mercy of whomever because we didn’t know how to get the sounds we had in our head.  Now, of course, he knows exactly what he.  We’re pretty much on the same wavelength.” 

Richardson says the new DEFRYME is still a bit unknown in the live sense.  But as far as the recorded material, “I’ve been watching the songs evolve,” he says, “it’s definitely going to be a stronger album than what we put out in 1994 (referring to Purekiller).  We had a long time to work on certain songs back then but the album was rushed.  We’ve taken a lot more time with the current album and the songs are definitely stronger.   If the songs weren’t there, then this just wouldn’t have worked.”

Although there’s no permanent keyboard player and Gardener-Kane is playing guitar, Richardson assures that there’s still the familiar DEFRYME sound, “it’s still got that sound but it’s not quite as rappy, funky.  I think where it is, we would have ended up here anyway.  I’m pretty sure that in the early to mid-2000’s this current album would have been there.  Quinn’s got a different opinion and thinks that the sound is different and maybe some of the people who were into what we were doing back then might not get it but I think they will like it.”  Richardson says it hasn’t been easy coming back into the music community after such a long break, “it depends on how far you want to take it but as far as the actual recording, it’ll be fine.” And in DEFRYME world, he believes that time will be the biggest challenge for them this time around.

Sup? will be the first single release from the CD XV.  Richardson explains that they got back together in 1998 just for a bit of a play as they hadn’t seen each other in a while, “that was one of the songs that Quinn already had written.   He played some of his demos but I just picked up on Sup?  When we got back together for this album, I brought that song up again and since we re-worked it, it has a more current sound.  To me and to him, it’s probably the most DEFRYME friendly song out of all of the songs.  It’s got that real Therapy vibe to it.  As far as the lyrical meaning behind it...you’ll never get that out of Quinn.  He doesn’t even want to print lyrics on sheets.  For Quinn, if someone can get something out of the lyrics that he’s put down, he’s pretty happy with it.”

As far as releasing any further singles off the album, Richardson says that’s Gardener-Kane’s gig, “he’s put a lot of time into this.  He wasn’t even working full time for about six months so that he could dedicate some time to do this.  There’s at least another two or three tracks on the album that we could use as singles but we’re just going to see how this one goes first.”  

Richardson confirms that the title of the new CD XV was so for obvious reasons, “we had a debate about that because it’s about sixteen years now (since they were last together).  It took a bit longer than we thought.  It was something Quinn wanted to do; fifteen tracks after fifteen years.  Quinn’s also involved in graphic design and visually, he’s always wanted to do something with roman numerals.” 

Richardson explains that Gardener-Kane is now responsible for the visual art for the band which is something that he had no control over back in the 1990’s, “one of the big problems back in 1994 was the lack of control over everything.  Even down to the Purekiller album cover, we had a lot of ideas and the photographer was standing there (at the photo shoot) when we realised we needed a baby for the cover.    Sam Righi (from Premier Harbour Agency), his baby was available and we took the kid down for some shots.  To have time and complete control into what you’re doing now is great.”

Richardson says the fan response has been great, “most people just want to come to some gigs.  A lot of these people haven’t seen each other for around fifteen years.  We’ve got to get this right first before we start playing live.”  And as far as the industry response, Richardson says that they haven’t really called on any favours yet, “we’re not chasing that down at the moment.  It would be great to get some airplay.”

While you’re waiting for DEFRYME to release XV and to play live, you can download their new single Sup?  for one cent at this link: http://store.defryme.com/product/sup-128kbpsmp3

Defryme

http://www.defryme.com