Local sounds
Words: John Van Klaveren
THERE’S nothing like a real blaze to put a fire in the belly, as up and coming Geelong band The Evening Cast has discovered.
A house fire that claimed expensive recoding and studio equipment and musical instruments – but thankfully no lives – set the band back on the eve of a national tour.
“It been a huge personal journey as well as recovering all the equipment,” co-founder Joel Cooper admitted.
“But we are getting on track with a new fire in belly to get back on the road.”
As he mused over the chaotic start to the year for the band, Joel said event had forced the group to evolve.
“The experience has meant a whole lot of things. We’ve been put into extreme situations and have been forced to grow and develop.
“Those things naturally feed into our creativity and song writing and performance. Our live performance and set list is richer and more unique than it’s ever been.
“That’s the life of an artist, going through all the trials and tribulations. But writing and expressing it in song has also been a huge part of the healing process.”
The national tour was organised to capitalise on the band’s seven track EP Lake on independent label Catch Release Records.
But the fire put paid to that. Instead the band found itself the subject of a benefit concert organised by friends and benefactors to help them get back on their feet.
Clare Bowditch has been a strong supporter, Joel said. “We’ve had incredible support in the process, which is really great to discover.”
So much so the band is now re-planning its national tour, with anchor dates in Melbourne on June 9 and Sydney on June 27, with other capitals and regional venues sandwiched in between.
A new video has also been shot to be released as part of the tour, Joel revealed.
“The fire experience shifts your perspective on life and you start to see things in a different way, a way you’ve never seen before.
“As a songwriter I’m interested to hear stories and lyrics that hold that kind of emotion and I think audiences respond to that.
“So it’s not all negative. There’s a lot of inspiration and it helps us grasp the moment and live in the now.”
The Evening Cast started as an hour of jamming between brothers in their dad’s home studio.
“It was a defining moment,” Joel recalls. “We sat down in the studio and said ‘let’s have a good look at this’ and we found it together.
“We grew up in a musical family, dad toured in a band, so we always had music around us and we’ve been constantly inspired by music our whole lives.
“That hour we spent going over songs led us to decide to pursue it. It was important because not many people decide to pursue something they are really passionate about.”
Joel and Paul were joined by Joel’s wife Rachel, playing as a folk trio around Geelong and Melbourne at clubs and festivals.
But the trio soon found that it needed to develop its sound so they put a call out on social media for a drummer.
Unusually, they were met with a wall of silence.
“We didn’t hear anything for weeks. But then we heard from Rod Grinter, old friend of Rachel’s and it turned out to be a match made in heaven,” Joel smiled.
“We knew we wanted to replicate the studio sound in a live setting so next it was finding a bass player.
“We set a high benchmark because we knew they had to be multi-instrumental. We ran into Ash Trickey doing sound at a gig we were at and got to talking. I couldn’t believe how quickly and easily it came together.”
As well as preparing for its national tour, the band is writing material for its debut album later this year.
The fire tragedy will provide a significant backdrop to the material, adding tone and colour to the music and lyrics.
“We wouldn’t have been able to establish it all again without the willingness to progress and a total commitment by all five of us.
“We all chipped in to set up the new studio and in the process discovered there is something unique and refreshing about starting again.”
Instead of the band’s equipment and instruments growing organically, “you are given the opportunity to make different choices,” Joel said.
“This time we’ve handpicked everything as we’ve been investing ourselves back into it. We learned a lot about possessions and what’s important in life.
“I can confidently say – and it amazes me – that what I have to offer as a songwriter and musician is so much more natural, raw and authentic than before.”
While Joel and Paul are the creative lynchpins of the group, all members have input into the final version of a song.
“We are constantly working on new pieces because we feel it is important to include fresh music into our sets,” Joel explained.
The band has planned a song writing weekend in July to wind down from the tour, by booking a house “in the middle of nowhere” and committing to song writing for three days and nights.
“We love throwing ideas around and being creative. We’ll often bring the skeleton of a song to the group and from there it becomes a team process.
“I’ll usually have a loose song structure with a melody and idea of what I’m thinking, a general idea of where it needs to go.
“But everyone can provide input into how it should sound from their various perspectives. It’s a way to make sure we all have ownership of a song.
“When you work with musicians you trust, it’s easier to let go. We search for unique sounds and we all need to let go to let that happen.
“One of most enjoyable things about being part of the group is making the music together.”
Joel said the band was also looking forward to renewing a working relationship with Clare Bowditch producer Marty Brown.
“He is an incredible producer. We’ll do all the tracking ourselves in our Otways studio but the engineering and mastering will be done with same team that worked on Lake.”
The Evening Cast kicks off its national tour at the Workers Club in Melbourne on Sunday June 9.
