What’s the most dire-broke you’ve ever been in pursuit of rock’n’roll? Just how did you get through it?

I am regularly broke, it’s not a thing. For instance, I was broke a few days ago, then my APRA payment came through, and now I’m balling. Will be broke again in a fortnight, and the cycle continues... : Illy

I maxed out my credit card and had $20 left in my bank account right before Listen to Little Red came out. I used to make myself sleep 13 hours per day. Shorter day means less spending on food and other stuff. Sleeping doesn’t cost much (except rent). In your dreams you can spend as much as you want – and you could even pay your rent on time! : Taka Honda, Little Red

The most dire-broke I’ve been is when I used my rent money to press 300 vinyl copies of my debut EP in 2001 I got through it by avoiding my landlord for a month with ninja stealth techniques. : Pegz

Living in a share house with six people living off Calippos and toast. : Adalita

There are different levels of being broke, I guess. Right now we’re in the happy-broke stage. You just get used to budgeting, but it has taken us a while. The first couple of tours were interesting. Try not to crash rental cars if you don’t have high excess cover. : Kane Mazlin, Hungry Kids of Hungary

We played [Brisbane venue] the Zoo with Howling Bells on our first tour. We’d just gotten out of school the week before and had never played out of state, we’re still learning the ins and outs of touring. We couldn’t hire cars ‘cause we we’re too young, and had to catch taxis everywhere. We got out of the venue after Howling Bells had finished their set and couldn’t hail a taxi. It was 2am, and we had to WALK from the Zoo in the Fortitude Valley to the CBD with all our gear. : Tom Rawles, Papa Vs Pretty

We were at Melbourne Airport waiting for a flight with no coins left. Joe [Braithwaite] managed to not only talk his way into a free bag of lollies but then used those to barter up and up and up, until he ended up with a burger and other crap! Yep, begging for food is pretty dire-broke. : Paul Bartlett, Lowrider

I was 21 when I landed in New York City, in pursuit of the rock’n’roll dream, guitar case in hand and a bit of cash to get me started. The city sucked all my money dry in no time, and I started busking to make a living. In those days I decided the best way to save cash was to actually skip lunch and sometimes breakfast and dinner altogether. I was living in a Puerto Rican ghetto in Brooklyn, where kids would play inside burnt out cars. I picked up a bit of Spanish so I could get my washing done or ask for the odd prize $1 beef taco. They were dire times but I LOVED every moment of it! : Ohad Rein, Old Man River

We’ve both been pretty broke at various stages. Chris [Stracey] used to get up at six in the morning to go make coffee; I worked for a window cleaning company. But when we really needed money for records or keyboards we'd go rob old ladies down at the train station  [he's joking - conscientious Ed]. That's where the name comes from. : Jack Glass, Bag Raiders

Any tips on super-budget living?

We always book hotel rooms with one or two less beds than we need, planning on sleeping on the floor, the couch, sharing single beds... although there’s usually a couple of us who manage to stay out all night (not mentioning any names!) freeing up beds for the rest of us. : Will Magnus, the Holidays

Simple. Gaffer tape all your money to the hairiest parts of your body – that way parting with it actually does hurt. : Paul Bartlett, Lowrider

Just do what you gotta do. When we first went to Melbourne we’d all stay in a room at a hotel which was $12 a night per person, or $6 if you put on a show while you were there... but you had to bring your own blankets. We never did, so we’d go searching through the old cupboards to find these festy old blankets to throw over us... nice! Once we drove from Lismore to Sydney, did a gig, then drove back again straight after. I wouldn’t recommend it! : Joe Hansen, Grinspoon

In the beginning (and during first album release) I toured alone, no roadies or tour managers. I set up my own equipment on stage, hired cars, drove myself to festivals (usually getting lost), booked my own flights and accom (I still do this now). Extremely DIY, but it got stressful. I threw myself in the deep end, but learned a great deal. For solo artists a good rule is: know your scene, make and take every opportunity you can, and if you can break even on a show, you’re doing well. : Muscles

I’m pretty shit when it comes to saving money. Probably the best way to save money is to stop drinking, but where’s the fun in that? : Brad Campbell, Gyroscope

Don’t give up your day job. : Catcall

Two minute noodles and veggies! We’ve also been pretty lucky with accommodation in all the big cities, we have friends that look after us. Also rule number one: take all leftovers from your rider! And if you have to, avoid doing rounds at the pub ¾ it will sink you every time. All you can do is budget, be resourceful, and remember not to stress out too much. Unfortunately or fortunately, it is simply a part of the process. : Dave Hosking, Boy & Bear

Learn to cook! It’s way cheaper than eating out, and if you get good enough and make food for your friends they usually repay you in kind. : Ryan Lamb, Alpine

Drink cheap wine and avoid cheap friends. Then, when you’re older, drink cleanskins and find clean friends. : Glenn Richards

Mi goreng packet noodles! Cheap, tasty and you don’t have to be Gordon Ramsay to cook ‘em. Copy the picture on the front and whack a fried egg on the top. Gourmet! : Jack Glass, Bag Raiders

When it comes to a having a career making music, just how cashed up do you hope to be eventually - and what do you reckon’s realistic?

We all realise that very few bands make enough money to live in super comfort. It’s a massive misconception, that whole rock’n’roll lifestyle of mansions and fast cars, which aunts and uncles always joke about with you. We’d all be incredibly happy to be making enough money to just keep doing what we’re doing – making music and having fun. I’m sure sooner or later we’d get over the permanent insecurity of not knowing when your next pay day is coming, but that’s when you become a producer! : Will Magnus, the Holidays

Of course I would love to end up super filthy rich, hanging out with Shaq and Diddy in the tropics yelling at waiters... but realistically I would be happy with just living a normal life off music. Nice little house, no debt, maybe a Lambo. : M-Phazes

We are aiming to be at least as cashed up as the Sultan of Brunei. A little unlikely maybe, but you never know. Seriously though, if we get to keep doing this for a living and never have to get ‘proper jobs’ we will be very happy indeed. : Jack Glass, Bag Raiders

As a teen, I fantasised about embarrassing wealth and vulgar status symbols. Disappointingly, I still don’t have a pet shark or gold-plated Steinway. I love music still, though, and I’m content for now with home brand canned lentils. Anyway, they say money doesn’t make you happy, although I wouldn’t mind double-checking. : Andy Bull

What do you like about working with producer Tucker Martine? You’ve teamed up with him again for this one.

We’ve definitely connected over the last few records. He’s just somebody I really get along with. And somebody who’s really passionate about music, and not in a grumpy engineer way. He’s somebody who’s doing this because it’s his passion, and that is really clear. Knowing people like that is really important to me. You know that he is invested as anyone, maybe even more so, in the record. That’s been really clear from the very beginning, since we started working with him.

I don’t know what his ‘sound’ is. I feel like when I first him and listened to stuff that he’s worked on, that I could recognise a through line... but those things kinda get abstracted in your head as you start having a creative relationship with somebody. The way he can work with acoustic instruments in kind of unparalleled.

Which is easier: writing short, simple tunes for The King is Dead or a prog-rock concept record like The Hazards of Love?

They have their own challenges, they’re equally different. The Hazards of Love was chopped up to 30 pieces or something like that – we were working on all these little pieces individually, some of them no longer than 10 seconds, which we’d eventually fuse into a longer piece. For this record, these were individual songs, and we were looking for way to whittle them down. If there was ever an opportunity where a phrase, or a handful of measures were just not necessary, then we cut them. It was an attempt to try and create something that was much more concise, and could work in a simple way. Something that would fit comfortably on two sides of a single LP – that was the goal.

How was singing with Gillian Welch?

Not to take away from any image you might have of what the recording process was like, but I wasn’t even there. We were really working around her schedule, insisting on not taking away any time from her own recording, and she was in LA. I had to get back to Vermont for a family thing, so Tucker actually flew down to LA with the tracks and they worked on them there. I was in remote Vermont in the Green Mountains, trying to get a wi-fi signal to correspond with them. So it may sound 20^th century, but it was very 21^st century.

‘Finally See Our Way’

Dan McNamee: It’s about learning. I’d been reading about different philosophies, and one is that you get born many different times and each time it’s to learn different lessons you didn’t learn in the last life. You either learn them through your consciousness, or if you don’t, shit happens. What has the band taught me? Jeez, I haven’t thought about that.

‘Take a Look at Your Face’

Jim Finn: This song is sorta like, “What the hell are you doing?” As if some guy comes up to you at a festival and you go, “Buddy, take a look at your face!”

Dan Williams: There’s this grinding noise in it which was really fun to make, it made it obvious that it was definitely about this filthy and grindy, cranky sweaty man.

Dan Mc: That line’s actually from Indiana Jones, from The Last Crusade.

‘A.I. M. Fire’

Jim: We went over to Cuba and the US at the end of last year, and Dan came up with the riff.

Dan Mc: There are two songs I came up with in my head while we were on a plane; this one went through so much since then. I wrote down the notes and rhythms, but I can’t really read music. Well, I can, but I have to really think about it. I can’t do it quickly.

‘Higher’

Jim: We were jamming one day and I was thinking about when you’re a kid and you pretend to do karate moves, going: “Hi-ya!!!” So I said, “We should do a song that has that in there.” Dan had just got his vocoder, which was a new toy we were inspired to use it.

Dan W: Dan made these weird vowel sounds into it and it’d sounded cool.

Dan Mc: Actually that’s how we start a lot of our lyrics – with me singing gibberish.

‘Magic Fountain’

Dan W: This was a good experience for us in learning what not to do when writing a song. We spent so long on it; when we released it we were like, “Thank god that’s done.”

‘With Thoughts’

Dan Mc: This was actually in the running to be the closing number. It’s the other song I wrote in Cuba. I was inspired by the sunrise one morning. I always think about what would be cool for audio visual stuff when we play live, and after you play a really crazy song like ‘Magic Fountain’ you need something to cheer everybody up – so that’s what this is. Terrify, then soothe. Terrify, then soothe.

‘Meteor’

Jim: We did this song right at the end, when we were celebrating the record being done... and we’d started jamming.

Dan W: Exactly the way you hear it on the record is the way we played it, the very first time.

‘Rain Dance’

Dan W: I remember sending a message to Dan saying, “This will be our prog rock masterpiece.”

‘Bumblebee’

Dan W: This is like the end of the second act, when there’s lot of action going down. Like John McLean in Die Hard 3, when he’s under the ground in the aqueduct and the water shoots him up.

‘Autumn Night’

Dan Mc: ‘Autumn Night’ is just hanging in there at the moment; we’re wondering if it’s too different from the rest of the album?’

‘Heavy Night’

Jim: That was one where I had fun with my new pedal. I figured if the Bloody Beetroots can have a song that sounds like (makes a chainsaw revving sound) and have it be a huge hit, then I can write a bassline like this.

Dan W: It’s amazing how quickly that song got very strange.

‘Sledgehammer’

Jim: We were standing outside Dan’s house in Dural, getting ready to go have dinner, and Dan said, “We should have a song called ‘Sledgehammer’!” We wrote it vocally, there and then. We had some beers at the club, went back, and played it.

‘Before You Came to This Place’

Dan Mc: That’s a good one for people who are mopey. Look at the sky and moon, how long they’ve been around, and how long you’ve been around. No need to be down.

Amity Affliction
‘Anchors’
I wish there was a funny anecdote for ‘Anchors’, but it just isn't so. I wrote this song whilst struggling with the decision to either continue or end my anti-depressant medication; not too many humorous stories involved unfortunately. Lucky for me I made the right decision and moved back to the beach, and [near] to close friends. Life has been great since then, even though the opening line gave The Doctor the chance to use the same joke every time before playing it on triple j: “How many anchors do you have?” : Joel Birch, Amity Affliction 

Glenn Richards
‘Torpor and Spleen’
‘Torpor and Spleen’ hopes to simultaneously force an understanding of the writer’s temperament at the time of its writing, and his deep reckoning of the twin evils giving rise to anti-social behaviours in the youth of the West – chroming and Grand Theft Auto. : Glenn Richards 

Stonefield
‘Through the Clover’
After winning triple j’s Unearthed High competition, we were given the opportunity to record this song with triple j, resulting in a track that we couldn’t be happier with! It’s a simple song, but we feel that simplicity is what gives the track its driving force. ‘Through the Clover’ has come a long way from our rehearsal shed to national radio and has provided us with a few firsts. We filmed our first video clip for this song, and released our first EP with this being the title track. The lyrics are based on the saying, ‘Just because it is, doesn’t mean it should be.’ triple j has certainly given us the opportunity to make that a reality. : Amy Findlay, Stonefield 

Miike Snow
‘Billy Holiday’
‘Billy Holiday’ was a deliberate attempt at nonsense, in the service of a romance. The words more or less knock into each other and stumble along the verses, as I imagined and looked back on experiences of intoxication and nocturnal activity – filled with hope; fantasising that can be brought on by meeting someone beautiful, new and, perhaps, just out of reach. The way that intoxication and music break down barriers of ego and sometimes allows two people to see something in each other that they would have missed under the restrictions of social conventions. The way that night and drugs can break down things just enough to escape sometimes¼ I know, it’s a long shot. : Andrew Wyatt, Miike Snow

The Subs 
‘Mitsubitchi’
I played clarinet in a Klezmer band once. Klezmer is Jewish wedding music. Party music, in other words. I decided to use those scales for a club track - and it worked! ‘Mitsubishi’ was the name of some ecstasy pills that were around some time ago, but we didn't want a lawsuit with a multinational, ha ha. : Papillion (Jeroen De Pessemier), the Subs 

Muscles
‘Girl Crazy Go'
I wanted to make an aggressive and powerful new single with huge energy and complexity. Lyrically, it came from playing festivals in Australia, looking through the eyes of the crowd. The young girls in groups up the front smiling, all hot and sweating through their singlet tops and bras. Guys shouting along with me as I sang through my set. The tight relationship I have with my fans, commanding the giant stages alone. Thinking, “Who are my fans? What are they like?” Seeing girls carried out by security, seeing guys ripping their shirts off – ‘Girl Crazy Go’ represents a checklist, preparation and emotional guidance for a safe and positive full day of dancing and music. : Chris Copulos, aka Muscles

 My Chemical Romance
‘Na Na Na’
When we did ‘Na Na Na’, we started talking about 2019. It was the first laser bolt fired out of the ray gun. And it's the momentum that propelled us into recording another song, and another song, and another song. The notion of even just calling the song ‘Na Na Na’ is very much, to me, a part of the new. In fact, it's not even a chorus lyric hook. It's so base and human and dumb. I kind of miss that about rock’n’roll. I miss that Ramones-iness to it where it's, like, “We're gonna take a dumb phrase like ‘gabba’ and make that something important.” The song is very much in pure technicolour like the rest of the album, which is obviously tied in with the visuals and the band. The original title for that song was ‘Trans-Am’ – that was solely a working title, but it was because I was thinking about Trans-Ams. I bought the Trans-Am, and I knew that eventually I was gonna use it in something, and so I think about that during the song. : Gerard Way, My Chemical Romance 

Professor Green
‘Just Be Good to Green’
In 2008 I was sent the beat by a producer called Semothy Jones, and I just had to have it. I'd always liked the track in its various forms, and now I was able to get my hands on it and put my spin on it. In late summer 2009 a friend of mine, Crispin (who also happens to be a good friend of Lily Allen), played the demo version for her. Shortly after that Lily popped up on Facebook, saying how much she liked the track and how she would like to re-vocal the hook. It didn't take long for me to say yes. A week later we recorded her vocals, and a couple of weeks after that we performed it together at Bestival. The rest, as they say, is history. Since then I've toured the UK, Europe and Australia with Lily and performed the track with her countless times. An altogether 21st century hook-up has become a great friendship – she is very dear to me. : Professor Green 

Dan Kelly
‘Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam’
One day lapping away in the Fitzroy pool I somehow accidentally and horrifically composed a scenario where I would escape the coming apocalypse by following Jimi’s footsteps and heading underwater. Knowing my awful sense of direction, I figured I would need a tour guide, and before I could stop the thought, Bindi Irwin was in the song. I spent the next three months trying to write her out, but sometimes you just can’t run away from a particular lyric that has attached itself to the music, no matter how hard you try.
Fearing a tabloid backlash, I then set about trying to make the song not creepy in any way, a hard task considering she is underage and most of my songs have a somewhat risqué edge to them. Eventually I realised that if I got her mother, Terri, to chaperone her through the verses, that would take some of the edge off of it.
Now I needed some more companions to live out my days underwater, so feeling guilty about ripping off their two great songs somewhat, I invited Jimi and Ringo Starr into the picture. And naturally we had to jam. ‘Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam’ was born. : Dan Kelly 

Cut Copy
‘Where I’m Going’
‘Where I'm Going’ was written after we'd been recording for six months or so. It was the antidote to the four-to-the-floor house and disco-influenced stuff we'd worked on up until that point. It’s the first time I'd written a song with a swing beat. Our recording engineer commented it sounded like a bastard child of Gary Glitter and the Who, so I spent a good few days listening through both their back catalogues for the first time. Although on reflection, it's more like psychedelic-era Beach Boys – if Brian Wilson had discovered ecstasy instead of smoking weed. : Dan Whitford, Cut Copy 

Metric
‘Eclipse (All Yours)’
We got a call one day out of nowhere from Howard Shore, the legendary film score composer who wrote the music for The Lord of the Rings, and has worked over the years with the likes of Scorsese and Cronenberg. He called to ask us if we'd be interested in working on the score for the new Twilight movie with him, specifically the theme song for the end credit sequence, and naturally we said, “Yes!” The band has always been interested in film music, and this was our chance to work with, and hopefully learn from, the best. Howard is a very chilled individual, and we hit it off right away, from our first visit to his studio, where we watched the film and listened to parts of the score for guidance. Since it is a vampire movie, I'd expected we'd be asked to write something dark and sinister. To my surprise, the scene demanded a euphoric mood, which is an emotional realm I am less familiar with writing from! Luckily the song came to Jimmy [James Shaw] and I very quickly, with just an upright piano and an acoustic guitar. Despite a heavy touring schedule, we managed to make time for a couple days at our very own Giant Studios in Toronto to finish the song. The next thing we knew we were on the red carpet at the premiere in Los Angeles, amazed by the spectacle and honoured to have been hand picked by Howard Shore, whose work we respect so much. : Emily Haines, Metric 

Best Coast
‘Boyfriend’
We played a show in Chicago this past year and a guy had tweeted at me about how he was going to propose to his boyfriend the night of our show, and asked me to dedicate the song to them. I did dedicate the song for them, and looked for them in the crowd while we were playing it, but I didn't see them! At the end of our show I was around back with a friend, and the happy couple walked right past me and yelled, “He said yes!” They thanked me for the song and the dedication, and I think it was maybe the happiest I've ever felt about my music/for someone else. : Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast 

Janelle Monae
‘Tightrope’
The everyday working-class person was the inspiration for the lyrics. James Brown and Stevie Wonder of the Fingertips era were two of the musical and vocal inspirations. 'Tightrope' was written for those dealing with oppression, depression, and who just want to dance! Encouraging balance in all our lives is key! Don't get too high or too low over things when they come your way. Look at life like a tightrope – and tip on it while staying funky! : Janelle Monae 

Sleigh Bells
‘Rill Rill’
This is one of the first tracks Alexis [Krauss] and I recorded together. I couldn't resist using the Funkadelic sample – it suits her register perfectly. The lyric and melody came quickly, which is always a good sign. It sounds warm and sweet but the subject matter is harsh: lots of confusion, drugs, sex, the occult, youth. Also, it’s the first (and probably last) time I sample another record! The chorus is usually misinterpreted as “click click saddle up”, when in fact it's “click click settle up” - which is a gun being cocked in the face, and a debt to be paid. : Derek E. Miller, Sleigh Bells

In all the best documentaries about bands, like Dig (Brian Jonestown Massacre) and Some Kind of Monster (Metallica), the bands don’t come across very well. Was that something you were concerned about?

Geoff: Aw, definitely. We were a little bit concerned that the direction that the producers were thinking they might want to sell the documentary on would be a band having rock’n’roll tantrums and breakdowns on tour in Europe. We just wanted to make really clear that we’ve been together for a long time [15 years] and we’re obviously not in it for the money, so we’re not about to go on our third European tour and have an ugly breakup.

It was really weird on tour. Any kind of displeasure we had was directed out at the film crew more so than the band. The band closed ranks and became really intact. But, you know, we’re all the best of friends. It’s just that some of the guys in the band found it really difficult having a camera pointed at them 24-7 for a month. We had a gentleman’s agreement with the crew that there were certain things that wouldn’t be shown.

And that must be difficult, because the temptation must be to get away with as much as possible and put as much in there as possible. Was there anybody in the band in charge of reining it in and keeping tabs?

We all got together and individually drew up a bit of a charter where we said, okay, these are the personal boundaries that I don’t want crossed… and they stuck to that, which was great.

So what were your personal boundaries?

Because of my job there are certain things I can’t be seen to be doing. I work in a detox withdrawal unit in a major hospital, so I can’t be seen to be associated with substance use. Some other guys in the band don’t have a problem with that. Obviously we’ve been doing it for a long time, and we’ve all got day jobs which allow us to maintain our rock’n’roll lifestyle… but obviously we can’t be filmed with syringes in our arms and falling over in coffee shops in Amsterdam.

And I’m sure your rock’n’roll lifestyle gives you a better scope of understanding when it comes to your day job.

Yes. I didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to be a drug and alcohol worker! 

What have people’s reactions in Brisbane been like so far?

It had two screenings at the Brisbane International Film Festival and they were both sold out. It got really good feedback as well. It’s obviously really difficult to gauge how it’s going to come across to an audience, because if you’re a central character within it you’ll have a very subjective narrative in it. Because of some of the limitations that we were putting on what could be shown, we were worried that maybe there’s not enough sex, drugs and rock’n’roll in it. But actually there’s plenty – you’ve just got to read the subtext, you know what I’m saying? I think it would have been quite boring if it was just an hour of gnarly gigs and lots of people falling over, and groupie action. It’s not something I’d wanna watch. Big deal. 

You’ve said before that you used to be hated in Brisbane in the early days. Why was that, and what are the persistent perceptions that follow the band around?

When we started playing in Brisbane there were several different scenes vying for attention, and we were quite proactive in getting shows, so there was this feeling that we were getting all the good support gigs. But we were able to do that because we had the ability to pick up a telephone and make a call to get the show. That’s what led us to touring Melbourne in particular really consistently. It wasn’t till we started getting success in Melbourne that Brisbane people started thinking, oh, maybe these guys aren’t that bad.

I’m used to Melbourne crowds standing aloofly, so it’s bizarre going to a SixFtHick gig and seeing people with unadulterated joy on their faces. How aware are you of what’s going on when you’re playing? Is it all a blur afterwards?

It can be, totally. That sort of red mist takes over. Ben gets it particularly. He just goes into a trance and does the set. He had a great time but he doesn’t remember a whole lot from it. I try and remember it, but I’m usually in a bit of a state afterwards – that doesn’t facilitate memory!

You and Ben are so unpredictable live that being in the audience can be genuinely frightening. Have you ever hurt anyone?

Lots of times unintentionally, but something really bad happened at a gig at The Zoo in Brisbane. There was a lovely young girl standing right at the front. I lurched forward with the mic stand in my hand and it got caught, so I punched this girl straight in the face with the microphone. She disappeared and for the next 20 minutes I was stressing out, but then she came back at the front and was dancing like a complete freak. I say thank god people can still get injured and public liability hasn’t killed it. I have fond memories of rock’n’roll injuries, y’know? 

Are you the kind of guys that other guys always want to fight?

Yeah, yeah. It’s cathartic, you know? Sometimes a few bruises are a good thing. It at least gives you something to remember the next day – I must have had had a good night. I’m bleeding from a head wound. 

Who are the bands when you were younger that used to bring that out in you?

Stuff like Black Flag, Beasts of Bourbon who we got to play with lots of times. The Jesus Lizard? Oh yeah, we played with them on the reissue of Liar, the vinyl version, there’s the poster in the sleeve saying we paid for them. They’re a great band. David Yow is a nice man… believe it or not.

Have you got a Black Flag tattoo somewhere?

No, but I know lots of people who do. And Husker Du tattoos.

You get some interesting characters crawling out of the woodwork at your gigs… personally I’ve seen a lactating woman spraying milk all over you. Do you actually know these people?

Well that was [the promoter's] wife… so that’s okay! Certainly if someone’s going to spray milk on you, you’d try to get to know them after the show. It’s kind of weird – sometimes you do know those people, but other times they’re completely insane at the gig, they have a great time, then as soon as you finish playing, they’re gone. You’re going, “What? Wow. I’d kind of like to know what makes that person tick, but they’re out of there.” 

Do your families ever come to your shows?

We’ve got a sister in the middle and she’s been to a few gigs, but our parents have never seen us play. They’ve seen one film clip that we did with Matt Weston up on the family farm. They were around when we shot that, but they haven’t seen the doco stuff. Kind of dreading that a bit, actually. They keep saying, “When’s that documentary coming out? We really want to see it?” “So-oo-oon.” 

Talking of film clips, I’ve only seen one for ‘Oysters’. Are you planning on doing any for your next album?

Yeah we will – it’s just a money thing, you know? We don’t mind doing film clips but we don’t like spending a lot of cash on them because we’d much rather spend it on touring – and really, the cheap stuff that we’ve had done for us by friends, it’s done the business. People play it on YouTube and send it on in Europe and it does its thing. But it’s something one day I’d like to have a crack at – I reckon I could do that sort of thing. In my next life! 

You guys should be due for an Archibald Prize painting next – you’ve had the documentary, you’ve been turned into a sculpture…

I think I got entered in for the Archibald a few years ago but it didn’t get selected… but I think we’re up for it again – someone wants to do some kind of painting of Ben and I, which would be good – I’m up for that. I did five years in art school, so I can handle sitting around getting painted!

Are you working on a new album now?

Yeah, we just put a seven-inch out and we’re recording tunes in May for a new record. 

What’s on the record player as you get in writing mode?

It’s kind of weird – I’m right into my Stax box sets at the moment. I like a lot of ’60s soul. I’m into an eclectic mix of depressing music.

What about what you’re reading?

I’m currently reading The History of Madness by Foucault. Yeah, heavy. I’m at uni at the moment, doing my masters in addiction studies. I work in the outreach part, so I’m out in the community, and with the emergency department and in the inpatients unit, so I get to work with people… who are not having such a good day.

You're a band that tours heavily. What are the circular conversations one might overhear in the tour van?

[Drummer] Fred’s musical taste. He likes to enlighten us sometimes. The entire back catalogue of Judas Priest. And Fred is the hater in the band. He hates everything. Like there’s only two things he likes, and that’s Judas Priest and Devo. Everything else is shit. 

Do you tend to get tattooed on tour or are they local artists?

I’d have to find the right tattooist. I don’t like how tattooing has gone in the last 10 years. I fucking hate the tattooists who are fucking rock stars. All they do is draw shit. You can print that, too. The other thing I hate is burlesque. You can print that. Tattooed burlesque performers I really hate.

Any sacrifices you’ve had to make along the line, in the name of rock'n'roll?

I dunno, probably a marriage somewhere along the line there. But it's kinda good that happened that way I guess.

6FtHick: Notes From the Underground screens on Feb 16 at 9.30pm.

I read recently you played 600 shows in 12 months, but that can’t be right? Are you super-human?

(Laughs) No, that’s not even possible! I think the most we ever played is 271 in one year. It’s a lot but it’s not 600, that’d be crazy. We’ve just been to Australia just the one time, it was awesome. I was surprised at how cold it was in June, because of course it’s the opposite for us, and it was surprising to see how many kids came out last time – because that was before The '59 Sound record even came out, so I don’t know how anyone had figured out that we were even a band, but they did.

Well, it’s different now. American Slang has been a huge record here, like everywhere else.

Oh that’s great, it’s awesome.

Any expectations for the 2011 trip?

I’m excited because I know we’re on a festival and we’re going to be playing with other bands, which will be cool, we get to see some new things every day. And we’re doing some one-off shows too.

What are you most looking forward to about coming back?

The shows – it sounds like a dumb answer, but I love the way the kids are at shows down there. They’re so excited and it just goes off, I love it.

This record’s really blown up everywhere across the world, have you had moments where you’ve had to pinch yourself and ask. “What's happening?” Does it feel like a natural progression?

Not to me. I thought that this was supposed be our ‘maintaining’ record; I didn’t think it was going to be our ‘blowing up’ record. We’d gotten to a level where after that last record was done, I thought, “Wow, this is more than I could have ever hoped for.” So when we went to put out the next album, we thought, “Let’s just make sure we put out a record that’s as good so as we don’t lose it.” And it turned out that more people like this record than the last one – ridiculous amounts. And it was like (shocked), “What? I don’t get it, that’s insane.” It tripled the people who come to see us. I don’t understand this. It’s very odd!

Album No.3, huh? Feeling excited?

Yeah, definitely. It’s been a lot of work to get there and make this album, so yeah. Third albums are a funny thing. You’ve ironed out a lot, figured out how to do what you’ve got to do. I feel like this is a big step for us.

With Mine is Yours you stepped things up a notch, production-wise, working with Jacquire King. How different was the time spent in the studio this time around?

It was really different, because the previous records we’d both recorded in a matter of a week or two each, in terms of actual recording days. And with this one we spent a couple of months on it, and we were a lot more involved in the ability to make changes. For the other ones we put a lot of emphasis on recording them live in the room. I’d do a couple of vocal takes, and not put too much emphasis on getting it perfect. We had had fun and everything... but this one is very different.

You just toured here at the end of December, but what were your memories of Oz from before that trek?

We played, was it Splendour in the Grass? Is that the one that’s in Byron Bay? I just remember the feeling of flying for 15 hours, and then being directly on the beach straight away. I think we threw our stuff in the hotel and were directly on the beach within five minutes, it was pretty crazy. That was a fun experience for us, we were walking around and actually ran into a bunch of kids who were staying in this house, and they invited us in. We ended up hanging out with them, and they were there to see us as it turned out, so it was a really funny situation. But it was cool. People were just very, very friendly. They invited us in without caring who we really were. We love Australia!

So this record is a big step, musically speaking. Does it mean you’ve got all ambitious now?

Ambitious? Definitely, yeah. In many ways that’s what kinda changed for this album, in that upon finishing the second one I realised that all of the ambition and desires had to do with wanting to create something great. I felt a little bit like maybe I had repressed some of that in the past. Out of scepticism in thinking too hard about it. Maybe. But you know, fans can connect the dots; this album is not too distant from where we’ve been.

You can be away from Australia for years at a time. Have you developed a new definition of what ‘home’ is?

Home is the road. That’s where my heart lies, anyway. I’m happiest when I’m on the road, just because I’m constantly stimulated and engaged by new experiences, by new people and new surroundings, new smells, new ways. It’s always testing my limitations to give me a better understanding of myself. I find each day I become wiser for the experience. I find at home I’m sitting in my bedroom tapping away at my computer, desperately trying to generate ways of sustaining the next journey.

So you’re not really mentally here.

No, not really. I don’t really want to be here. I had a big argument with myself as to whether I was running away from a life here, from that stable, well-balanced life: family, two kids and a car and that sort of stuff. It doesn’t really make me happy. Somehow living on the road, being that sort of bohemian wanderer, gives me much more satisfaction. It seems that the less I have, the happier I become.

I guess most for people the idea of home is something that anchors you and gives you comfort. Where do you find that when you’re out?

Without sounding too much like a hippy, I probably get anchored by the elements. I’m anchored by an experience, a beautiful lake or a river or a mountain, a desert. I’m anchored by those experiences. I’m also anchored by people, even though it’s a bit of a juxtaposition — I really like having my solitude on the road, I also really like being around people and I really like sharing energies and journeys. That’s why it took so long to write that book. It was just nice to share that experience with somebody. It’s one thing sitting around telling stories. That’s what I do full time is just tell stories. It could almost be my business card: storyteller. 

Have you always been naturally inquisitive?   

Yes. I get great satisfaction out of other people’s journeys as well. I like finding what makes them tick and I like breaking down the boundaries very quickly and finding out what they really want and what they’re really interested in and passionate about. 

I’d imagine that freaks some people out.

Hell yeah! I don’t really have any boundaries as far as what I’m comfortable talking about or how far through the relationship I often steer conversations reasonably quickly in a place that intrigues me.

Do your parents travel a lot? Did they instil that interest in you?

My dad travels a bit. He’s the fastest man in the world for his age; a professional sprinter. He’s awesome. He’s straight-edge, never smoked, never drank, just works really hard. He was a big inspiration.

How do they feel when you disappear for a few years at a time? 

I think they have no choice but to understand. They see what I get out of it, I think. They struggle with… like right now, I’m reasonably poor. I’m very happy and rich in experiences, but not so well financially. I have a lot of kudos from people who feel inspired by the journeys. I’ve had people say, “I’ve read your website, sold my car, bought a bike and hit the road to chase the horizon.” Had people, after reading the book, decide they’re going to go to South America. It totally changed their perspective on travel.

The reason I do what I do is my parents separated when I was 14 and then I got a bit of drug habit, having no masculine [figure on a] pedestal in my life — drugs were my new friend. So I used to fall into LCD, weed… that’s what used to consume me for a long period of time.

Around the ages of 14-17 a lot of my friends became addicted to heroin, killed themselves, went to institutions, get depressed, schizophrenia… that’s when I swapped that experience for adventure. I’ve also had two bouts of depression that I’ve dealt with, which I talk about quite openly as an ambassador for the Inspire Foundation. I’ve had a lot of people tell me I’ve helped them with their depression and with their perspective; reasons as to why they live their life. Lots of cool stuff.

Who are your heroes or have your favourite philosophies on life?

Ralph Waldo Emerson — he’s quoted on my business card; Alain De Botton; Tim Cope — he’s the young Australian adventurer about the same age as me [31]; my family.

Do you have siblings?

Yes. One brother, one sister. My brother has travelled a hell of a lot; he’s travelled around Europe in a Kombi; South America, through India. I never went camping as a child. I never went to Scouts, even though I desperately wished I did. I literally carved a path that wasn’t familiar in my immediate circle at all. The major catalyst was when my mate died on the camping trip. That’s what spurred me to just do it. In brief, one of my best mates I’d been travelling with, he was suffering from drug-induced schizophrenia. We all went on a camping trip when we were 21 and he jumped off a cliff. At the time I was working in financial software development, but he first met me when I was finishing up with working at a circus. He was a man with an imagination more powerful than Einstein. A really nomadic dude that would wander the country with a chess board and pool cue in his board shorts, and maybe five bucks in his wallet. If he said he was going to do something, he always worked out a way of doing it. He was a very big inspiration for me to do what I do now.

How spiritual are you? Do you feel a though there’s something looking out for you on your trips?

I wouldn’t rely on a spirit to look out for me; I wouldn’t say: “I’m going to ride out into this desert and I know this spirit is going to look out for me.” I would say I am pretty spiritual, in that I believe in karma and I believe in fate in many ways. I believe in purpose; our lives having a purpose that we may or may not have control over. I don’t know what mine is exactly yet. I’m working on it. We learn from everything, whether good or bad. The more hardships I have, the wiser I become and the more I’m able to accommodate or deal with the next thing that’s around the corner. I meditate everyday. Do tai chi and ju-jitsu and a lot of stuff to keep my mind focused.

When you meet travellers in more far-flung places, do you find a lot of them have gone through some amazing life change, or had some kind of epiphany, and that’s why they’re there?

Yeah, for sure. Or it seems a lot of people are searching for a purpose. They’ve been through a major experience — a break-up, lost their job, lost a family member… that sort of thing.

Are you the kind of guy who feels like he’s got something to prove?

That’s another battle as well. I don’t feel like I’ve get anything to prove. I just do what makes me happy. I just do what puts a smile on my face. I’ve got lots of things I want to learn and want to experience, lots of things I want to understand. I have a pretty uncontrollable thirst for experience. I like doing new stuff all the time.

It’s more an inherit part of me that I can’t ignore. I’m trying to learn now; I’m trying to find a balance. I don’t want it to be an addiction. I want to be able to just as happy inside four walls as I am on the road, which is why I’m doing meditation. I’m trying to find balance and be a bit calmer in my approach and not feel the need to constantly escape. So I think it’s important to have that balance. Life on the road, even though I tell myself it’s not an escape, it probably is in some ways. An escape from this fucking boring life we live in the city. From the nine to five cycle. From the rat race. I’m not escaping myself. I’m pretty happy with myself.

Yomping off to explore could be seen as quite a selfish venture, couldn’t it?

It can be perceived as selfish, sure. Shit yeah. It’s all about you in some ways. I care deeply about other people’s feelings and what they want to do… I could always just sit here and do what other people tell me is the right thing to do, but that might not make me all that happy. It’s all balance: everything in moderation. When I eventually find the woman of my dreams, things might change. Love certainly can wield a pretty big hit. I’m trying to learn the art of detachment at the moment. I don’t want to feel like I need anything. I prefer just to be happy in any situation. When you come out of a long-term relationship as well, you’re so used to be nurtured. It almost becomes a necessity and without it you feel lost and unwanted and not needed by somebody and it’s nice to feel needed. It’s nice to have that human touch, but it’s also nice to not feel like you need any of that.

How do you find Australians are viewed overseas generally?
We’re perceived in a pretty positive light: in America they love us, and I’d say in all of South America they love us. They get really excited by kangaroos and koalas. We’re definitely cartoon characters. I spend half my time bouncing around like a kangaroo. “Where you from? Ah, kangaroo!” Jump around and they all think it’s hilarious.

: Jenny Valentish

I wasn’t really wanting to explain the songs. For me it’s telling stories around the song, pointing people to things in the songs I love. Sometimes it’s a specific story of what happened or how a song started, but a lot of the times I use the lyrics of the songs as a jumping off point to write about other things. I don’t think what I write about the song is a definitive explanation of the song. I wanted to open the songs up rather than narrow them down.

[In the main interview, Paul talks about places he’s visited to on tour that blew him away.] What about places you’d happily never see again?

Birmingham. We’ve had some tough tours in England; sitting on the motorway trying to get to Manchester and then playing to 50 people. I like England a lot, but we’ve had gruelling little tours there. America can be a bit like that… but nowhere’s been a nightmare.

You lived in LA for a few stints… how did you like the place?

I really liked LA. I was helped out by having my cousin Alex there — he was sort of based there — because it’s a hard city to get straight away. You can go to a city like New York or San Francisco, be a stranger there and know nobody, and you can just grasp the city in a way. You can walk it. LA you can’t. You’ve got to drive places and know where to go. But I really like LA; it’s a mix of cultures.

It wasn’t relocation for the sake of your career?

It was sort of to get set up with record companies over there. It’s really hard to do things from here sometimes. I thought, just get over there and stay there for a while and gig and get a record company. That’s what I did.

Young Australians traditionally get about a bit. What’s your experience been like of running into expats overseas?

People get more excited overseas, definitely. I guess they are more forward. Sometimes it’s sweet, sometimes it’s a bit too much.

Did you ever do the backpacker thing yourself?

No, I didn’t travel overseas till I was 32. I travelled around Australia a fair bit on my own but it was more going to places and getting a job for a while and then moving on.

You mentioned Don Walker’s memoir, Shots. Do you have any other favourite music biographies or autobiographies?

I thought Brother Ray, Ray Charles’ autobiography was great, and the Mark Seymour book [Thirteen Tonne Theory: Life Inside Hunters & Collectors] was really well done — I like the snapshot style; it didn’t attempt to be complete. One of the best books I’ve read lately is The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross [who writes for The New Yorker]. It’s a book about 20^th century music. It’s brilliant, ties in history and culture. It sort of starts right at the end of the 19^th Century, and writes about modern classic music, but lots of other things as well. It’s a very ambitious book, but he pulls it off.

Have you had a novel in the pipeline for a while?

No, not at all. My itch to write fiction is pretty well scratched writing songs… but who knows? I never thought I’d write a big thick memoir. I couldn’t conceive that, not even a few years ago. That took me by surprise and unfolded accidently. I really enjoy writing pros. In some ways it’s more satisfying; regularly satisfying. Songs are quite airy — I don’t get them very often — whereas writing a book was bricks and water. It’s a daily task; I could see the words piling up. I fell in love with word count. I could just see it piling up, like building a house. I found that really satisfying. Most of the time as a songwriter, you don’t feel that satisfied. You feel slightly useless most the time, because most of the time you don’t write songs.

I like how your songs — and you were saying this is what you like about writer Raymond Carver — have things going on around the edges. You write the bare minimum, but the listener can fill in the blanks.

Yeah, short stories and songs have got that similarity. You can convey information, get a lot of information across in a short space of time. It’s also about leaving the gaps.

Do you often hear stories of your songs being used at weddings and funerals and the like?

Yeah, it makes me feel good. That’s why I use music — music is a very utilitarian thing. It’s useful. I use music for housework; you use music for parties; you use music just for someone you love. You definitely use it weddings and funerals. All sorts of public occasions. I’m glad that my music gets used that way.

: Jenny Valentish

With BDO we’re limited to the physical constraints of the stage that they supply. We’re performing at indoor arenas [on this tour], which allows us to bring our indoor arena production. We have essentially three different touring productions at the moment: the stadium show, the indoor arena one that we used throughout Europe before we came to Australia for the Big Day Out, which we then took to North America; then there’s another North American leg, where we ship everything from the States to Australia.  

This involves 15 containers of equipment. I don’t know if you’ve seen the YouTube clips from Madison Square Garden and London’s O2 Arena… it’s those sorts of places.

The set-up looks amazing for the stadium outdoor show, with that crazy ceiling. It’s incredible.

We’re very pleased with the way that’s come out. We went for something completely different to the standard roof. It originated from a sketch that the band gave me and we took it through the engineering processes and managed to come up with something that was truly unique and three-dimensional.

You’ve worked with lots of big bands. When it comes to their live show, what unique elements do you think Muse bring to the table?

Take That, for example, have a very large, complex, theatrical stage show like Muse do. Their sets are very structured. But with Muse, it’s almost like they want to put on an opera or a theatre production, but because they are fundamentally a rock band the set will always be jumbled up. They won’t play the same set twice, so all the visuals and special effects relative to that show have to be precise enough to work every time yet flexible enough to be able to be dropped in and out, as the set goes. Other bands don’t do that.

The guys give us a set list for the show, and sometimes it’s 10 minutes before they go on stage (laughs), because they react emotionally to how they feel that day. They’re not like other bands who get tied down to one set list and that’s just the way it goes night after night. In that respect, we keep the fluidity and anarchy of a rock show but with the structure and visuals that you’d expect at any other major show.

It keeps you guys on your toes.

Exactly. We need to be geared up to be able to deal with it. I think it makes it so much more interesting, because if you’re playing the same set night after night it could get fairly jaded.

What’s the best thing for you personally about working with Muse?

It’s more than a specific gimmick or one special effect, because we actually keep that down to a minimum. It’s the presentation and the style of the show, in that it is 360°. How close the audience is — particularly if they’re around the outside and back — is how close they are to the band. The energy that creates… At shows in Brussels or London, I’ve sat and watched the show from behind, and just seeing the band on stage and the crowd out front as well is such a phenomenal sight that it gives it an extra dimension.