interview
Scene Magazine Coverage of “The Rafters” Launch
Scene magazine had a little feature on “The Rafters” launch. Cool.
Feature in Time Off Magazine
While we were down in Sydney Dave had a phone chat with Time Off Magazine about recording in the States with Kevin Augunas. Here’s what came of it. The full article is online here: http://www.timeoff.com.au/html/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3971:montpelier-&catid=11:features&Itemid=29
IN LESS THAN A YEAR, BRISBANE BAND MONTPELIER HAVE SCALED SOME INTERESTING HEIGHTS, SOME LESS LEGAL THAN OTHERS. SINGER DAVE BUTLER TELLS PAUL DONOUGHUE ABOUT THE RIDE.
A young band, less than six months old, ditches their tattered Bowen Hills rehearsal room for Hollywood. The four piece, Montpelier, with just a handful of shows behind them, set off to make a record with Kevin Augunas, the man behind the Cold War Kids albums.
“It was kind of random how it came about,” says singer Dave Butler of the audacious plan. “We were looking to do something really cool and we just had a demo together and sent it over and Kevin was interested. We didn’t have the highest expectations of someone like him wanting to work with us. It was quite a surprise, and quite a welcome one, that a producer like him would be interested in working with a tiny little band from Brisbane.”
Such a lofty experience – including the fact that the resulting EP was then mastered by Bob Ludwig, whose resume is a call sheet of rock’n’roll royalty – might lead some detractors to questions which major record label had discovered this clever, extremely agreeable young pop quartet and was pumping them full of cash. The answer is none.
“We sort of had to scrounge around for cash and go into a bit of debt,” Butler says of the month the band spent in Augunas’ North Hollywood studio working on their first EP. “It was an opportunity we couldn’t really turn down, so we just thought we would make it happen.”
Just months on and Montpelier are already back in the studio. They spent this past weekend in a Sydney studio working with The Church drummer Tim Powles ahead of the hometown launch this weekend of ‘The Rafters’, the first single from the EP.
“We have to work day jobs,” Butler says. “We pretty much just save as much as we can and put it together. It’s not as though we have unlimited funds, by any stretch of the imagination.”
Their interest in Augunas, whose straightforward, clean production gave Cold War Kids their bite and immediacy and worked for fellow Brisbane band Yves Klein Blue on their recent debut, seemed warranted when band and producer came together in the studio.
“His approach is just about trying to capture a really good performance and every time he asked about a take he was like ‘Did it feel good, did it feel right?’ Even if something sounded good, if we didn’t think it felt good, he’d just get rid of it.”
They also had some adventures outside the studio, with Augunas admirably playing the role of tour guide.
“We’d been there for about ten days and we hadn’t seen the Hollywood sign yet. So we told him and he was like ‘We have to fix this’,” Butler says.
As the five ascended the Hollywood hills, Augunas reassured them it wasn’t illegal to climb the letters – he had done it before.
“He takes us hiking up the hills and then off the path [saying] ‘By the way, if a ranger finds us, you guys do all the talking because I sound like I’m from around here’.”
An hour of bush bashing later, and they reach the sign.
“We [got] up there, sat on the first L, took video of it, we set off an alarm and the ranger came down and started shouting at us,” Butler says. “No one in LA would believe we did it.”
The self-funded four-week recording experience was both intense and important for the band, who will now concentrate on releasing and touring the EP they recorded in LA and working on a full length.
“I was really excited by the prospect and then the closer we got to going I just started getting terrified by the whole experience. So it went from excitement to terror before we got there. I guess it was just [being] thrown into this crazy big town,” Butler says. “It was a great experience.”
Musicadium Feature Artist
Musicadium recently did this sweet interview with Andrew and were kind enough to have us as their feature artist. Thanks Musicadium!! To read the full thing go here: http://blog.musicadium.com/general/featured-artist-montpelier/1417/
What’s the name of your band? What’s the origin of that name? Who came up with it?
We’re called Montpelier, which is named after Montpelier Rd in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, and the old Wizzard studios that many Brisbane bands are fond of and know well! That’s where the four of us first hooked up and decided to play together, and also where The Quills was based in the old days. Greg and Dave came up with the name when we decided to change from the old name. We figured, we’re a new band now, it’s a change of direction musically, and Montpelier suited the new style, approach and had the energy of a fresh start! Montpelier is also the name of a few cities across the world, the most notable of which is the capital of Vermont in the USA, which is the only US state capital without a McDonald’s!
You have just been in the United States recording with the producer who has worked with Cold War Kids and fellow Brisbane Locals, Yves Klein Blue. What was the experience like – where were you and what was the funniest moment during recording?
The experience was like nothing we expected. Being totally immersed in four songs for almost three weeks can do weird things to four blokes. Further, hanging out with each other in close confines for that length of time can get pretty full on, but we got through it as good mates which is important to our musician cohesion and all that other touchy feely shit! John and I had to put up with Greg and Dave doing vocal warm ups all morning while we tried to get our beauty sleep. I swear they spent the whole trip trying to out do each other with who could to the stupidest me-my-mo-ma warm up routine.
Working was Kevin was great! He’s got an awesome studio full of the most amazing gear you can imagine. We tracked all the vocals using the very microphone Michael Jackson (RIP) used to record ‘Thriller’ and his desk is an old one from Abbey Rd. Not to mention the endless guitar amps, old synths, vintage drums etc. We also hadn’t worked with a pro producer previously, and that was a great learning experience in itself. Kevin’s approach is truly about capturing the energy and emotion in the room; our job was to deliver fucking hot performances as often as we could.
The funniest experience of the trip was when our producer, Kevin, decided to take us for a hike up to the HOLLYWOOD sign one morning before we got started in the studio. Little did we know it’s ludicrously illegal and surrounded by motion sensors and cameras and the like. Little did the authorities know, however, that our producer is sadistic and decided to take us on the most out of the way, bush bashing route known to man. Two hours later covered in cuts and grazes we made it up the, sat on one of the ‘Ls’ and were taking pictures when the alarm went off and a voice came over the speakers saying “Stop hiking now!”. We got down and took off back down the hill.
What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?
Ultimately we want to be a band that can tour the world and continue making the music we want to make. We also want to create a new sound for the 2010s, and be part of a revolution that looks back to some of the wonderful music and sounds created over the past few decades. Word on the street is that fortune could be a looooong way coming!
Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you ever play any covers? Do you have a set play list?
We’ve been giving the songs that are on this EP a fair workout lately, songs like The Rafters and Comets. We’ve never been a band who plays covers, but that doesn’t mean we never will. I think if it’s a great song people haven’t heard fror a while, and something that is quite different to what we do already it’d be good fun to cover. The main goal at the moment is to write and write to get a fat set together in the lead up to recording a debut album next year.
Greg Chiapello, your bass player, is one of our previous interns. He’s a total dude! Has his inclusion in the band changed the style/feel of the band?
Yeah, Greg’s a wild one. He must be of good breeding coming from Musicadium! His vocal presence and song writing is what has changed us most as a band, and is what inspired us to change the band name and entire feel of what we do. He’s a fucking great songwriter too, and that’s the most important thing about being in a great band, having good songwriters!
What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?
It depends, we’ll ramp it up before a show, but we’re mostly writing at the moment, trying to put something special together for when we launch this EP. We hope to be touring a heap for the rest of the year so it’s best to get the songs ready now!
What inspires you? What makes you wake up and think “Wow! That really matters!” What makes you want to write songs that make people sit down and think?
People and the truth. They’re what do it for me. There’s alot of nonsense in this world and often people lose sight of what matters. I’m not saying that we have all the answers about what matters, but it’s an interesting journey and that’s what we write about. That also sounds really vague and like I’m avoiding the question – but it’s a hard thing to explain.
We like to give people a moment where they might hear a tune or a lyric and say ‘hey yeah, I can relate to that’. It doesn’t have to be something that you actually experience yourself, but it is usually something that you have experience with. Hearing it put into words, or a song, or a movie, or a picture gives you perspective on that thing, and on life in general. For example, a song I’m writing at the moment is about a lady who mildly exaggerates every story she tells because she doesn’t feel the original story is good enough – it’s sad and funny at the same time. I used to feel like that, maybe others do too. Who knows, the song might turn out shit, but we’ll see.
How do you promote your music that you have for sale in the digital outlets?
We promote it like we promote everything band related, accross online media, social networks and we mention it at shows and in publicity. As an independent band with worldwide aspirations it is so important to be able to point a festival promoter or New York fan to a link to iTunes for quick and easy consumption!
We wish we had more interviews like this one. Musicadium are the best.
