Q ’n’ A: Bob Evans

This Friday (March 15), Kevin Mitchell releases his fourth Bob Evans record, and the first since wrapping up his suburban trilogy. Naturally we had a few questions about it all.

This record is the first since your suburban trilogy. Are there any marked differences in content, or is it similarly themed? 
The subject matter of this album pretty much revolves around the last three years of my life. After Goodnight Bull Creek! I felt like I had gone as far in that direction as I could go. I love those albums but I didn’t think I’d be able to write a better version of them. So with Familiar Stranger  I’m starting a fresh.

What informed the songwriting on this album? Do you find the use of a nom de plume means that people assume the songs aren’t personal? 
No, in fact the exact opposite. People generally know what to expect from a Bob Evans album by now which is part of the reason why I felt I needed to change direction a little. I will always use Bob Evans as a vehicle to indulge in personal writing. Well, I shouldn’t say always because I have no idea what the next album will be about yet, so rather, Bob Evans will always be a vehicle for me to write about whatever the hell I want to write about. This album, as I was saying, is pretty much built around the last three years of my life, losing someone, uprooting from Perth after 30 years and moving to Melbourne, becoming a father for the first time. You could say that stuff makes you grow up but you’re always growing up I think regardless of what’s going on so it’s too easy a thing to suggest. For me, this stuff just made me more introspective and philosophical and those are the words that make sense to me to describe the writing.

Was the plan to always write a themed trilogy, or is it a concept that evolved? 
It evolved. I realised while I was doing promo for Suburban Songbookthat I was going to do one more album and call it a trilogy. It just occurred to me and also seemed like a good thing to say at the time!

How do you differentiate a Bob Evans song from a Jedediah song. There’s obviously a lot of crossover, like Friend could have slipped on a latter Jebs album. Is it simply a matter of which project you are working on at the time, or do you stockpile for each project? 
I can’t imagine Friend on a Jebediah album but maybe I’m too close to it. It usually becomes apparent to me within about five minutes where a song is destined to go but every now and then it’s harder to tell, especially lately as the stylistic difference between the two is becoming shorter. So I guess you could say I stockpile for each project. I’ve got a bunch of songs that haven’t fit either Jebs or Bob that I need to try and find a home for one of these days.

I know you’re in Bob Evans mode, but are there plans for another Jebs album anytime in the future?
Not really. We’ve just started talking about getting together to write again in the middle of the year. We’ll see how that goes. I certainly don’t want us to rush it or push it just because the last album did quite well. I’d rather not make another album and sign off on a great note like Kosciuszko than force the next one and put out something shitty.

If you had to compile a non-singles Bob Evans six track introductory EP for people unaware of your ’deep catalogue’ tracks, which songs would you include?
Wintersong
All The Time
Flame
Me & My Friend
Sister’s Wedding Day
My Big Mouth

How about from the Jebs catalogue? Which tracks did you feel were amongst your finest but got overlooked? 
Oh I would never suggest that any Jebediah material had been hard done by. On the contrary, we’ve done very well. Our least successful album is also my least favourite and that isn’t often the case with how bands regard their own material. I think October from our third album is a good pop song and More Alone from Braxton Hicks I still think is pretty good.