Josh Pyke discusses his new stoner-rock side project
While it isn’t the first time Josh Pyke has dabbled with a new musical venture – Australia is still patiently awaiting a new release from the Basement Birds – it’s his first foray into what he himself has called a ’psychedelic stoner-rock side project’.
This is a man who gave his last #7 ARIA Chart album the title: The Beginning And The End of Everything, a title and collection which reinforced his place in contemporary music as the man who challenged labels and created songs which actually resist them. TMN spoke to Pyke about how ghosts inspired the new music, why it’s taken the pressure off and why he and his longtime friend David Cotsios might have to enter a breakdancing fight to keep their name.
Tell us about your psychedelic stoner-rock side project, how did it come about?
Well, it’s with my old friend David Cotsios, who is the warped mind behind the bands, The Woods Themselves, Otis Power, and is also in the band Machine Machine. We went to Uni together many years ago, and also lived together for a while, and back then we formed a band called Slumberjack. This was when we were about 20. It lasted for about six months, but it was a pivotal meeting of minds, that have musically re-met again 15 years later. We live around the block from each other, and I have a studio in my backyard, so we jam and record most Friday nights that I’m not on tour.
Does it have a name and band lineup yet?
It’s just the two of us. We’ve got a good work flow going where we just experiment on whatever is lying around until something sounds promising, and then we turn it into a song. Dave’s coming from a pretty left of centre place, so it’s been refreshing for me to get back to some of the sounds I love, but that don’t really gel with my solo stuff.
We were called Slumberjack, but then saw a band that’s doing well on triple j is also called that. We will either have to change our name or violently force them to change theirs. Yes, I’m talking about a public breakdancing throw-down to see who retains the name.
It isn’t your first side project, but it’s the genre you’re delving into that has us intrigued, who and what inspired it?
I’ve always been into this broader style of music. It may not be reflected in my solo stuff, but artists/bands like SparkleHorse, Trail of Dead, DeerHunter/Atlas Sounds, Animal Collective, and more recently Tame Impala just have that dreamy element to them that’s slightly lo-fi, and more experimental. I don’t think we necessarily sound like those bands, but the lo-fi experimentation is there. The main inspiration has been long discussions about other dimensions, paranormal stuff, how intense history is and how lives get manifested after they end, and ghosts. All the songs are pretty much about things you would read about in the Fortean Times. We’re both fairly obsessed with that kinda thing, which is a big part of why we’ve been friends for so long.
Do you think you may have hit a creative high point and this new side project is an acknowledgement of that?
I think having a studio at my disposal has afforded me the time and space to experiment in a way that i haven’t previously had access too. Having an outlet to work on the production side of things in a genre that people don’t associate with me is really liberating.
I think I value collaboration way more than I used to… Dave has so many production ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of, and he’s always been a great writer, so I feel like there’s a good balance where we meet somewhere in the middle creatively. It’d definitely recharged my creative batteries, which I feel is crossing over into my solo stuff too.
What do you feel you can achieve with the new project that you couldn’t as ’Josh Pyke the musician’?
It’s just about doing something different. No pressure, no real plan or goal for it except to finish something. It’s just fun. I feel fortunate to have always had the attitude that if it’s not fun anymore, you just move on to something that is, and luckily I’ve always had fun with my solo stuff too, but this is just a chance to do something with zero expectations, except to enjoy it.
Plus, even though we’ve been mates for almost 20 years, I don’t think Dave has ever listened to my solo stuff or been to one of my shows, so that kinda helps me not slide into pre-existing creative directions.
What’s the most exciting thing about creating music under a new moniker?
I think for me it’s the experimentation. It’s knowing that I can do something totally different, and collaborate with a friend whose music I’m a fan of, but who is really coming from a different place, and know that there’s no pressure. Music making should be fun, and this project is definitely that.
Pyke says he is hoping to finish an album with Cotsios by the end of the year. Pyke is currently on the road for his Lone Wolf regional solo tour, head to www.joshpyke.com for details.
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