The sentiment is an oddly fitting summation of the Cloud style. This is music for people who, for all of their earnest effort and hard work, invariably find the world presenting itself in some kind of opposition, like some subtle, callous trial designed to impart a constant sense of unease and discomfort. In a previous piece on the album Plays with Fire, we described Taormina’s music as “essentially about maintaining humanity in the face of contemporary society,” with songs about sadistic jobs and unromantic love performed with a sincere and sometimes near-spiritual style, aiming to breath meaning and joy into even the most dour of circumstances. “Walk with me into the void,” Taormina sings on the previously unreleased ‘Good Things’, “keep my faith in good things […] ”

Billed as “almost literally the only document of the band’s live performance,” Live at Kulak’s Woodshed sees Taormina joined by David Yorr and Jonathan Davies to play a mixture of tracks from Plays With Fire and Comfort Songs, all recorded by a dedicated camera crew (complete with jibs and sliders) at the Valley Village venue. The result is an audio/visual live album that only furthers the empathetic, intimate nature of Cloud’s songs, and will stand as a fitting remembrance of the band.

The opening credits of the film feature ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me’ by Sydney band Even As We Speak, one of the indie pop bands that rose to prominence with Sarah Records. Taormina recently met with the band to discuss their career and recent revival, and we’re lucky enough to host the conversation in full below:

Cloud meets Even As We Speak

by Tyler Taormina

The first time I heard “Anybody Anyway,” from the compilation A Three Minute Song is One Minute Too Long, I listened to it forty times in a row. Two days later I realized I hadn’t listened to anything else but Even As We Speak’s masterful pop tune— Mary Wyer’s ecstatic voice and Matthew Love’s sardonic lyrics had me stunned… That was a long time ago, and it’s with much confusion and excitement to sit down with a band I’ve long admired for an interview. Even As We Speak have been a tremendous inspiration for my band Cloud and have the opening credits song in my directorial debut feature film, Ham on Rye with their impossibly catchy ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me’. We sat down recently to chat about the band’s history with the legendary Sarah Records label and recent revival.

Tyler Taormina: What was going on at the onset of the band, who were your influences?

Mary Wyer: Kate Bush was my influence [laughs] but Matt has a wider influence.

Matthew Love: We’re pretty eclectic in taste but back then in the 1980’s it was really Flying Nun bands, they had bands like The Clean and Tall Dwarfs and The Bats all of these fantastic bands that were doing a kind of DIY Indie thing and no one else in Sydney was doing that at the time. So we sort of got interested  in the lo-fi pop as opposed to the more punk stuff that was going around at the time, heavier stuff. That sort of made us stand out a bit, but we just happened to be doing that in Australia when the c86 and DIY stuff started taking off a bit more in the UK.

MW: We were just so far away. Matt and I decided England was the place to be—well, the band  decided at the time that we were all going— and at the last minute they pulled out. So at the last minute Matt and I went on our own in 1988, this is before any letters from Sarah Records or anything. We were recording ‘Goes So Slow’, ‘Nothing Ever Happened’.

ML: And ‘A Stranger Calls’.

MW: Yeah and we recorded then in a strange little flat. Then when we came home and put them out on Phantom Records that’s when John Peel picked up on ‘Goes So Slow’. Then Matt and Julian joined the band.

TT: How do you look back at the scene at that time in London?

MW: [laughs]

ML: Yeah… we were kind of outsiders when we got there. When we initially signed up with Sarah and they said we were going to do a tour, we did a short tour in 1990 or 1991 or something. We went over there and the first gig was at a venue called the Camden Falcon in London and we turned up there and everyone was wearing these anoraks and had these pudding bowl haircuts. They were all part of this subculture thing going and [laughs] we didn’t know what to make of it. We thought it was pretty funny.

MW: We were a very motley crew I must say. We were pretty scraggy and we didn’t have many clothes. We never had an image of any sort.

ML: We weren’t fashion conscious like the English were and with the DIY stuff that we’ve been doing, following with the Flying Nun bands as well, it was all very dressed down. Pop shop clothes and no one had any money. We were all dressed pretty badly usually.

MW: There were six of us living in a three bedroom flat. It was squashed, we had no money and we probably ate twice a day, slept on filthy floors wherever we went. It was a drudge! It was really hard and we were missing people at home, I was missing my son. It wasn’t all joy but I’m glad we did it, I would do it again. We were driving around in a little blue bus with these two wooden benches that ran along the sides and a big cavernous space with all the equipment and no seatbelts.

ML: And we all hated each other!

MW: We just used to glare at each other. Matt and I didn’t talk for that entire year actually.

[we all laugh]

MW: But we’re pretty good now! [laughs]. It was all character building.

TT: Is there any record or song from that time that you felt that the electricity was firing the most, that you were possessed by some creative spirit?!

ML: Yeah, the whole Feral Pop Frenzy recording that was pretty amazing. There was a lot of energy around the band at that time. We were getting played on the BBC from a UK label which none of the other Sydney bands had. We were kind of able to rake in a lot of free resources, that’s when Julian joined the band.  There was a lot of energy, I was having a bit of a manic episode at the time, it was all kind was a bit frenzied. You can see it in the record.

MW: I often describe when Matthew brings in a new song that’s like Christmas. It’s like a Christmas present. “Oh my god, here’s a new song. What do I get to sing?” It’s wonderful. I love all of the songs and I feel really privileged that I get to sing them.

TT: Beautiful.

MW: I love ‘Suddenly’ and ‘Wherever I Go’. Those two songs… they make me a bit sad, but I really like them.  Oh and we should mention seeing as ‘Blue Eyes Deceiving Me’ is featured in your film that we’re desperate to see, Ty! That was an interesting time. That was recorded in England on some farmhouse in the middle of nowhere with some guy who wore far too much aftershave. That particular song is very dear as well. It’s funny because we had an interview recently where we say it’s about my blue eyes deceiving Matt but Matt had another take on it as well.

ML: It’s kind of a bit layered. [laughs] It’s really a relationship song about that feeling in relationships when you feel like you’ve been deceived but it’s really about self deception. That’s what I felt at the time. I don’t know if I still feel like that but that’s how it felt at the time.

TT: It’s actually very eerie how much it relates to the film. “Do you know what it’s like to be one of the chosen few, or are your eyes deceiving you?” is a lyrics that speaks to the very essence of Ham on Rye.  Also, I wanted to ask, is it with a heavy heart to do so much looking back at this time?

ML: Yeah it is. The current album we’ve been doing at the moment is really sort of focused on what it is to be middle aged. I didn’t want to write about boy-girl falling in love stuff at 54 years of age, but things that were real to us as older musicians. Part of that exploration has brought up a whole lot of nostalgia and regret and all of those sort of feelings that accompany this time of life. Not that there aren’t positives. There’s heaps of positives. But tragedy is an important part of life and there’s a little bit of tragedy around the band. So I think it’s important to all fade into the art at the moment. It makes it all a bit personal.

MW: And perhaps a bit more healing.

TT: What prompted the reunion?

MW: I was living in Abu Dhabi at the time when we decided to put the Peel Sessions out. Matt and I had a significant birthday party and we decided to have a joint birthday party and play. We did a couple of gigs and then Maz from New York asked us to come to New York to play the NYC Popfest. It was kind of like “Oh wow, this is so much fun!” We’re all in a better financial position and a better place with each other. It was so much fun hanging out with this group of people known for so long and have been creating with for so long. They’re a family. We went on a family holiday and it was heaps of fun! Matt had some songs, Indietracks were interested. We did the UK tour. Matt still writes amazing songs. Also, I don’t think Julian often gets enough credit for his amazing production.  Then there’s Anita and Rob who are so important to the band and don’t get mentioned enough!

ML: There’s a lot of magic in this band. It seems a pity not to be making music together when there’s s much chemistry there. Relationships are what bands are really about.  I think that makes a big deal, it gives the band its energy.

TT: I wanted to ask you about the new record, when can we expect it?

MW: It needs to be out by July, so that’s our aim. Emotional Response is putting it out.

ML: We’re finishing it up at the moment. It needs to be done by July as we’re organizing a tour in Europe in September if all things come together. So we wanted it done mid year. There’s plenty of work to do! We’re gonna be busy.

TT: What was the tour last year like?

MW: I just loved it so much. We were playing with three other bands we really got along with. There was one night where we all had to sleep in a dormitory, it was outrageous! It was like being kids again. One bathroom for sixteen beds. Every single person on that tour was a lot of fun. And we met so many people, now that you’ve got the internet, meeting all these people you’ve been talking to on Twitter. Then you meet them in real life and you get to know their real name and what they look like.

TT: Was it really sentimental?

ML: We’re not really too big on nostalgia. We prefer to be working on new stuff. I didn’t get the impression that it was purely a nostalgia thing, I think it was more of a good night out, they wanted to see one of their favorite bands.

TT: What about music of today? What are you listening to these days?

MW: Uh, Cloud…

[we all laugh]

Live at Kulak’s Woodshed is out now on Audio Antihero and you can get it from Bandcamp. Even As We Speak can also be found on Bandcamp, and have a new record coming this year via Emotional Response Records.

Photo by Carson Lund

The post One of the Chosen Few: Tyler Taormina meets Even As We Speak appeared first on Various Small Flames.