Having played around Adelaide for several years predominantly as a solo act, Aviator Lane’s atmospheric pop hue has begun to expand it horizons both musically and with the recent development into a three piece. On the verge of releasing their third album, we at ADD-DELAY were able to have a bit of Q&A session with their singer/ songwriter Michael.
Where do your draw you inspirations for writing music?
I tend to generally have no set source or muse for songs. Most of my lyrics tend to be an amalgamation of things I have ripped off from books written by people much smarter than I. I would like to also point out that despite my wimpy baritone, not every single song I write is about girls.
What is the writing process; do you primarily write for the studio or for live first?
Recently, since we now have a rather handsome young drummer, we have started writing songs as a band for the first time so I guess you could say that the live sound is foremost at the moment. However, most of the songs on the album we’re currently finishing mainly evolved from my writing them at home, strangely enough, and then bringing them to the band at rehearsal. Not a particularly strange way for a megalomaniac to operate. I don’t really tend to write for the studio or for live shows. However, having said that, the instrumental tracks are often just for the albums since they can be a touch difficult to recreate live. Lacking 17 guitarists and as many keyboard players, as we do.
What gear, in particularly guitars, amps and effects do you use live?
I have only really begun using pedals this year. I tended to be again them in the past for some reason unbeknownst to me. But, since discovering the joys of stadium rock, I now have delay, tremolo, distortion and the loop pedal. Most of which get used on the recordings, besides the loop pedal.
What are the most useful pieces of equipment that you’ve ever bought? Your loop pedal?
I would like to say yes, but the loop pedal for me is as much a blessing and a curse. Useful, yes, but I don’t particularly like the one I have. So yes, I should get organised and change it but it has one ‘trick’ which is really handy for one song so as it stands I’ll stick with it. Besides that, Ableton and the Juno 6 I bought have been tremendous. Especially Ableton. Good for making amateurs sound pro. Especially when you try as hard as I do to rip off Timbaland.
Recently I saw you do an excellent cover of Rhiannon’s Umbrella, a surprising choice but your version contained a touching sincerity totally lacking in the original version. How do you think people should approach doing covers?
Well, let me begin by forcing down the blush. Not sure what Jay-Z would think of it, mind you… By not doing them like the original, I would say. I guess that sounds blatantly obvious but unless you’re getting paid to play them, you should make something resembling an effort to make it as unrecognisable as possible. That way, you get a new song without having to actually write one. Genius, really.
If you would have to choose an artist out of the, say last 20 years to cover, who would you pick? And why?
Prince. All the way. Most genius of men ever. Although I must make the disclaimer that neither Alicia nor Tom can stand him. So I stand alone on that one. With only about 100 million other people.
Talking about artists, you have a new drummer, Tom from Horse & Cart. Why did you decide to go from an electronic drum machine to the real thing?
Because we’re not Autechre. As much as I would like to pretend we could be. That, and the fact that the electronic drums were getting really boring and stale because they weren’t live. Which sucked for us and audiences who come to more than one show. Which, fair enough, aren’t many but for the sake of trying to have any degree of interest or variety in the shows I think it was a very necessary decision. And a live drummer has always been what we wanted, we just hadn’t found one prior to Tom who could put up with me for long enough.
What do you think you have lost and gained from doing so? Has this changed the way songs are written/structured?
Everything is better. Hands down. We write as a band now and I think that the songs and the entire band dynamic has benefited hugely. I still write all of the vocals and lyrics at home, and other songs too obviously, but for the most part a lot of our writing is done at rehearsal and I am gradually becoming less of a fascist. The band will deny that but it is, in fact, true.
You recently played the Laneway Festival. How was that experience?
It was great. The whole thing was just tremendous. I would like to have a more defined memory of Feist though. I heard she was great, and I’m sure she was, but I need not detail the reasons as to why my memory is a bit sharp. A witty rejoinder would be useful here so fill in the blanks, please.
Is there a particular aspect of Aviator Lane that you enjoy most? (i.e. writing, recording, playing live, break, etc.)
Hmm. ‘Enjoy‘ might be stretching things a bit when it comes to recording. I like getting things finished but I hate the agonising process. Live shows have become a lot more fun lately since Tom has been with us. I am quite looking forward to being done with these songs and starting work on the new ones. I have learned a lot about my/our ideal recording process since making this record and I look forward to spending a hell of a lot less time on the second verse rhythm guitar parts.
In the not too distant past you did a tour of Europe. What instigated this?
Alicia and I just thought we should try it. We just emailed a heck of a lot of people and thankfully it came off. We received some nice press from people over there for the last EP so I guess it was mainly a good excuse for a holiday.
How was the experience? How well was the music received? Difficulties? Misadventures? Stage invasions?
It was mostly really, really good. Only 2 out of the 10 shows were crap and that was probably a pretty good ratio. Playing over there is completely different to playing in Australia. We mostly played small clubs and community run spaces and they pretty much do anything for bands. They drive you around, feed you, pay you, house you and generally make you feel wanted. Not to say that people in Australia don’t do that, there are tons of great venues and great people here, I just think that the extent to which people in Europe look after bands is slightly more, well, extreme. In a completely good way, obviously. And again, in no way am I nixing Australia, it’s just different. We played quite a lot of shows in smaller towns and it was pretty clear that people really appreciated bands who made the effort to get there. Well, maybe they were starved of entertainment too but hey, I’m going with the positive outlook on this one.
What do you think of local music at the moment?
I haven’t been to many shows recently, shamefully. The Horse & Cart launch was great. But I would say that. I’m quite looking forward to the new Clue to Kalo record.
Have you ever gone out and bought a local artists work from the CD store?
Plenty of times. I want Nigel to know that I have almost his entire back catalogue. Thanks to the compilation he made of all of them. Which I bought.
Finally, what is the story behind the bands name?
Eastern suburbs petit bourgeoisie. Is that a bad admission to make? I have always meant to change it but I still haven’t thought of a better one.
