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[Played 'Living Off The Radio' by Bandicoot and 'Listen To The Morning
Sunshine' from Madder Lake, then welcome Mick]
MH: I’ll bet you’re proud of this reissue, aren’t you?
MF: “It looks terrific and sounds fantastic. I’m just blown away by
it, as is everybody else that’s involved with it. Couldn’t have wished
for more.”
MH I’ve chatted to people like Mike Rudd who of course Aztec have
reissued the Spectrum albums, and he doesn’t particularly like listening
back to the whole album. He actually hasn’t listened to the Milesago CD
because he just doesn’t really want to. Is it the same with you, or are
you perfectly happy to critique it after this many years?
MF “I’ve listened to bits and pieces of it, you know, but I’m much the
same as Mike. I hear about people in movies not liking to see
themselves and I suppose to a certain extent it’s the same with
listening as well. I mean, once it’s done it’s done. The thing I did
listen to was samples of the finished remastered version before the
album was released and what got me was that in remastering it, it’s
given it new life. There are things that disappeared with the original
vinyl pressing and really, it’s to do with advanced technology. In days
gone by, there were production limitations and these days with
digitisation, they’re able to really as I said pump life into it, so
what you hear has got a fullness that I don’t believe was there with the
original release.
"It’s all good, I’m absolutely 120% with what Aztec have done. It’s a
fantastic production from the sound side to the packaging and the bonus
there is the 24 page booklet that comes with it, which really explains
where we came from and what we were doing through that period.”
MH Did you give them much advice in terms of remixing or did you just
leave them to it?
MF “No, actually last week I was in Melbourne and spent some time with
Gil Matthews who remastered the original two-track masters, and his
philosophy is not to alter any of the original recording inasmuch as
remixing anything, but just to enhance through digitisation the finished
master tracks. Which he’s done and it’s come up a treat.”
MH I don’t know if this is an impossible question since you’re so
close to it, but what do you think defines the Madder Lake sound, either
for you or the feedback that you get from punters?
MF “Well, as I think you’re aware and a number of your listeners would
be aware, the band has been in existence now for nearly 40 years so
we’ve got our own unique sound. I mean, Kerry our bass player in terms
of his art rock, it is music that creates mental pictures. I think that
really broadly covers it because that’s the way we view it. We met at
art school and most of us have still got an association with the visual
arts as well, so I think that really makes it. Obviously people can see
that there are influences there, which were there at the start but I
think as the years and the decades have passed, it’s been a continuum
where we’ve developed our own style. It’s very hard in a few words to
put into brackets.”
MH As I suspected. Obviously, there is the rock and pop, but when you
talk about music that paints pictures - the phrase that just came to
mind yesterday was “accessible prog” if you know what I mean!
MF “Yeah yeah, I think that’s a good way of looking at it too, because
it is. There are big instrumental passages and if you just sit back and
relax - I mean, it happens now when we play, nothing’s ever the same.
We’ll be playing and a certain part will start to take off and we go
“yep, let’s go with that”. And with what I do, with the vocalising,
that’s treated as an instrument as well so it all links and intertwines
together to come out with its own flavour and style. It makes us happy
and I think obviously it makes a lot of the punters happy as well.”
MH You did mention the whole 40 years thing - did you ever really
officially split per se?
MF “No no no, there’s been a core number of people that have been
involved with it over the years. The current incarnation, there are
four of the original five. The original piano player John McKinnon,
he’s got other things that he’s busy with at the time but we’ve got a
new member Andy Burns who’s an amazing keyboard player and he’s added
another dimension to the sound which has only enhanced things overall.”
MH Can he get that early synth kind of sound though?
MF “Oh yeah, Andy is a musical whiz. He’s actually, during the day
he’s a tertiary music lecturer so he certainly knows his stuff.”
MH What with the reissue of Stillpoint, and I’d assume Butterfly Farm
must be on the list of reissues sometime too...
MF “Next year, Aztec are planning, or apparently it’s already in the
works of doing a reissue of the second album and treating it the same, I
think, with putting rarities on it as well. It will be a similar
approach with a booklet and what have you. Those two albums treated
like that will be bookends that will encapsulate that whole period of
the band’s existence.”
MH So what about then, this mythical project you worked on with David
Measham on Brave New World - that’s the sort of thing Aztec would put
out, I’m sure.
MF “Well there were recordings done of that, the preliminary
recordings. David Measham passed away a few years ago but at the moment
we’re looking at that. Hopefully we’ll be doing something with that.
At the moment we’re working on - it’s about two-thirds complete - a live
album. It’s a compilation of material that’s been recorded over the
past twelve months but that one will be of classic material which we’re
hoping to release early in the new year.
"We’ve been collating 24-track recordings of live performances this year
Aztec release Butterfly Farm next year and also the one that I’m sure a
lot of fans will be waiting for is a third original madder Lake album
which is going to be coming out next year.”
MH I’ve got cued up here Song For Little Ernest, unless you’ve got a
better idea...
MF “(laughs) As long as you sing along with it.”
MH Um, silently yes...
MF “OK...”
MH How is little Ernest these days anyway?
MF ”Well I don’t know, I haven’t seen him for a number of years!”
[Play the song. Talk goes to the Bandicoot track played earlier.]
MF “Ah, I remember Bandicoot! I was in that band with Shane Bourne.”
MH There must be some stories there, I imagine.
MF “There was. We used to come to Adelaide many times and used to play
up at the Arkaba . They were fun days but the thing was, we had a
single called Living Off The Radio and Adelaide was the one place in
Australia where it actually took off. Also after the band, Shane took
off too, ‘cause he’s what - City Homicide and all the other stuff he’s
doing now. I’ll have to catch up with him and get him to have a sing song.”
MH And see if you can get Gary Young back on drums too.
MF “That’s right, Gary from Daddy Cool. That was, I think if memory
serves me well about 1977 I think, that album. I may be wrong but I
think it was around that time.”
MH I think there were only a few hundred copies made.
MF “It’s only a very few. I’ve seen some of them changing hands for
ridiculous amounts of money. That’s what gets me, the rarity market of
some of the material from that period; I know with the Butterfly Farm
CD, I saw it changed hands for over $200 a couple of months ago and I
thought “that’s getting into the realms of silly-silly, you know.” But
still, I’m a collector myself so I understand what the collecting bug’s
about and if you really want something, the dollar equation really
doesn’t enter into it.”
MH That is the collector mentality, isn’t it?
MF “That is, that is it. There’s actually some fantastic places in
Adelaide that I love going to, especially some of the book shops and
antique stores which I intend doing next time we come over to play.”
MH When might that be, then?
MF ”Well at this stage there are no firm dates but I’m just assuming it
will be in the new year. As to when, obviously the sooner the better,
I’d like to think. [Talk of the new CDs...] There’s a lot going on but
it’s all exciting and it’s all good fun.”
MH Which you’d hope would be the bottom line, really.
MF “Well if it isn’t fun, don’t do it. It’s simple. That’s the
philosophy of life for me, if you’re not enjoying it, search elsewhere
you know? But this whole story of the band is pretty amazing actually,
I mean we met at art school in the late 60s, we’ve been through a
lifetime together, we’ve outlasted marriages and all sorts of things and
yet we’re all still friends and really enjoy what we’re doing. I think
that the key factor is when we’re rehearsing or recording, we sometimes
look at each other and it’s just, we’re blown away by what we’re able to
do. There have been a few rehearsals this year where we’ve walked away
just shaking our heads because the musicality is to such a level that we
surprise ourselves - but I suppose after doing it for so long, it would
be to be expected that the craft improves with time.”
MH I don’t know if there’s any such equation, but what keeps you
friends to that degree for so long?
MF “We obviously over the years have had our moments but now, the age
that we’re at, we’re beyond that. Life’s too short, so the golden rule
is just enjoy the time we’ve got and just make the most of it.”
MH It occurs to me too that if people want to see what Madder Lake are
like nowadays, there is a clip or 2 on YouTube from Asylum TV.
MF ”Yeah, the Asylum TV performance is the indicator. That was done I
think late February of this year and folks, if you get the chance just
tune into that. Also there’s a band website www.madderlake.com.au and
that’ll take you directly to the video library. On the website, there’s
footage from the ABC GTK shows from the early 70s, there’s some blurbs
in there that we’ve written plus photographs - there’s plenty to look
at. Also we’re currently trying to set the site up so that fans will be
able to buy T-shirts and CDs and what have you directly.”
MH Also on the Asylum TV, there’s an interview with a few members of
the band by a chap who looks like he probably wouldn’t have been born
when the band was first around but he was still very interested...
MF “He certainly was, Jeremy, but what I like is the way he said
“Ladies and gentlemen - MADDER LAKE!” I thought “Well, that’s OK!”
MH So the younger generation hasn’t forgotten you, in other words.
MF “Well apparently not, which is a good thing. From what I can
ascertain, there are young people out there that are wanting to see the
music that they’ve heard about and this is an opportunity to do it. A
few weeks ago, we had a test run of what we’re doing in a recording
studio in Melbourne and obviously there was quite a bit of grey hair in
the audience but by the same token there were a lot of young people
there as well, and the young people came up after the show and they were
very, very complimentary. They were blown away with what they saw and
heard. So what can I say? Come along if you get the chance.”
[Talk goes to 12 lb Toothbrush...]
MF ”I was about to sing it for you...” [does the na-na bit...]
MH Excellent. Words to live by!
MF “(laughs) The golden rule of life”
MH On that Asylum TV interview, I forget if it was Kerry - someone was
asked about the title and he said it’s got nothing to do with the lyrics
because you just wanted to hear the DJs say something as ridiculous as
“12lb Toothbrush”.
MR “That was part of it, yes. And people read into the lyrics - and as
I think I was saying earlier with the music creating mental pictures,
the lyrics are treated much the same too. There are a few songs where
there is a story to the lyrics but in lots of cases, they were just
abstracts and they still are abstracts. It’s a different approach,
that’s for sure. “
MH There’s a few versions to choose from on the Stillpoint CD. I
thought I might play the longest version which is the Sunbury ’73 one.
MF “That’s a good one.”
MH Any memories of Sunbury ’73?
MF “I can remember just looking up the hillside there and just a sea of
people. It was very exciting stuff. I can remember the other acts that
were on, and all the stuff I remember being backstage. I remember we
were the first band to play at the first Sunbury. I remember we played
the night before and we drove out to the site and got there before dawn
and we were awake all night. I remember the sun coming up and seeing
the sea of people camped on the hillside and I think we went out and
played about 10.30 in the morning. It was filmed but when they made the
movie of Sunbury, our performance ended up on the editing floor.
“I can remember playing at Sunbury when Queen was there and Deep Purple,
I can remember backstage spending time with Paul Hogan - there’s lots
and lots of stuff, you know. It’s still put away on the shelf inside my
mind.”
MH Perhaps we should look forward to the autobiography.
MF “Well, there’s a thought....”
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