Lessons In Interviewing
The State Express @ St Jerome’s
November 2005
By Kristy Wandmaker
Melbourne is full of great obscure venues. Jemi and Paul from The State Express would know most of them. They’re those sort of guys.
LESSON 1: KNOW THE VENUE.
I showed up an hour early for fear of not finding St. Jerome’s; they showed up politely on time. Our chat started with mention of another classic venue.
“When Jemi and I first had the idea we just spoke about it. Then he calls me two weeks later saying he and Pip (from TZU) had organised a residency at The Retreat (The Hope Street Revue) and we’d better get a band together.” And what an ensemble!
“Megan’s an amazing jazz guitarist. She’s phenomenal. Her voice is great too. And she’s sultry.”
“Gareth, our usual drummer, is overseas. Cat from Megan’s other band’s been helping us out. But Gareth is awesome. He’s one of those guys that goes away from rehearsal with something in his head and comes back with all these new fills and syncs. He never just leaves something. It’s great.”
But truly, The State Express is Jemi’s love child. He writes, has the concepts, and is the guy for all those fun bits like distribution, website, bookings, etc. So they have the sexy skills of Megan, the creative chaos of Jemi, and the structure provided by Gareth.
“What’s your contribution Paul?”
“Shit, I don’t really know now.”
LESSON 2: DON’T INSULT BAND MEMBERS.
Having reassured Paul of his vital role, I quickly moved onto my next question. “This description of a line through time and influences that’s part of your promotion, I don’t like it. I think it sells you short. Come up with a new one for me.”
LESSON 3: DON’T INSULT THE BAND.
“Open and engaging. Make sure you use those words Jemi”.
“We try and take people through different landscapes. There’s beachy afternoon sort of stuff, and stuff that’s more a dusk serenade.”
“There’s a positivity to it too.”
“Yeah. Even when you’re on stage singing it you kind of think ‘does that sound corny?’ But we're being honest and these things come earnestly. We're feeling we need a lot more positivity in the world right now. So hopefully that’s communicated.”
I dropped the golden comparison of: “It’s like Ben Lee in that optimistic way.”
LESSON 4: DON’T REPEATEDLY INSULT THE BAND.
Paul broke the pregnant pause that followed:
“There’s a real improv element as well. Once when Gareth and Megan weren’t available, Cat couldn't make it down at the last moment, so we got a couple of friends, Clint on drums and my good friend Simon Gorman to jam sax with us. It was organised only hours beforehand but worked magically. That's in a large part due to them both being amazing musicians and the vibe being right.”
“We’re big fans of freestyle rhymes and audience involvement too. Like when Bikie was drunk and singing along with our songs. It was funny but in the end was a special moment for me.”
As ‘Nanna nap’ time came around, I apologised for my hungover interviewing technique. “Don’t worry about it. I only got home at 6am.”
LESSON 5: DON’T DO INTERVIEWS ON A SUNDAY.
“I woke up in Camberwell.” Jemi adds. And that surmises The State Express perfectly. Spontaneous and willing to embrace the chaos, but great tunes with laughs and hugs along the way.
The State Express’ “Good Living” EP is available at gigs.
By: Kristy Wandmaker
From Soulshine.com
Back to top
|
![-[ The State Express ]-](images/tse_10.gif){kind=small}
