The amount of material that you have put out over the last few years has been overwhelming in terms of trying to do research. That's a lot of records!
Thanks, man. I came from a bedroom recording, DIY, lo-fi vibe. Before King Gizzard, that's what I was interested in. I was playing in bands as well, but what was really getting me was figuring out sounds, messing around with old broken gear, and listening to old records. When King Gizz started, it was as much a recording project as it was a live project. I love touring and playing shows. I love all of that, and getting something different out of that. But I also dig sitting in a room by myself with a laptop, a guitar, and a keyboard. I love being in a room with friends and making music with an 8-track in the corner. I love making recordings. That's why I've made so many. It's fun for me.
Were you the guy in the band who gravitated towards buying a 4-track and learning how to use it?
That was always me, recording bands or friends or whatever. Some friends would say, "We started a band!" I'd ask, "Can I come record you? I have this shitty little Tascam machine and I'll come around and set up a couple of mics. I just want to record music." I was motivated by that for some reason. That spirit is still there, but I've grown to love touring and the live element. Balancing that is the trick for me, and that's the hardest thing.
These records are so interesting. You've got Infest the Rats' Nest, a metal record that reminds me of late-'80s Metallica. Fishing for Fishies is like T.Rex and ZZ Top meets Steve Marriott. Gumboot Soup is songs that didn't fit on other records, but it hangs together as a nice collection. What's going on with all of this?
Some of those records are more considered than others. Some are jammy, but most are pretty thought out. A lot of artists work in an "album and tour" schedule, and we've never operated like that. The thing that we don't do is work intensely on a record, tour it, have some time off, and then repeat. We've always got at least three projects on the go at any one time. The way we've been able to make our records feel considered is because they're usually still two years in the making. There's a long crossover in between records. Right now, we have a few different projects on the go, and they all have a different feel. I can wake up in the morning and say, "I'm in the mood to work on this record today." Last night I had a shower, and I had an idea about one of the projects I'm working on at the moment. It's my way of coping with writer's block: To have quite a few projects on the go at once, and to feel my mind is full and active 24/7. But, in terms of the genre question, I definitely appreciate that people notice that, but it's definitely not the way I think of it. I wonder what the average person's Spotify play history looks like. It probably looks pretty varied. They can listen to thrash metal and disco in one day, and that's fine. I certainly do. But I don't necessarily love records that are all over the place. I love records that have a feel and a vibe. It's my way of trying to challenge myself and keep feeling artistically free, but still making records that have a mood and a feeling. They may end up feeling like genre pieces, but they're not intended to be. That's reflective of the music we listen to.
Many bands feel they have to make a similar record over and over again, because they've been boxed into a lane.
Right. I don't have side projects. A lot of friends of mine have a project where they make a certain kind of music, and they have a side project that satisfies some other part of their musical identity. I don't have that. I only do this. That's why it feels okay to shape-shift with it a little bit.
I was checking out the video of making ...Microtonal Banana, and I was shocked to see the small room that you made the record in.
That was our studio for five years, and we made six records in that room. We moved out of it a while back. I'm very nostalgic about that room. A super low ceiling, and it sounds shit. It's a bad-sounding room.
But the records sound cool and unique. What was the process of working with that room?
Maybe it wasn't something I thought about until a little bit later, but I certainly learned techniques to record in a bad-sounding room. Close-mic'ing everything and working out how to get atmosphere later. Trying to get the room sound out of the recording as much as possible. With drum recordings, my biggest trick that I had was a large diaphragm dynamic mono overhead main drum mic. I placed it really close and low over the right shoulder, pointing at the snare. That microphone is super blown out. Then [I'd use] a few other close mics if I needed them to boost some drums. I might want a snare under mic, or the one I call the "butt mic," under the butt, which complements that close overhead. Always a kick mic, as well. This is a mic'ing technique which takes away the room as much as possible. We were using baffles, getting good bass DI sounds rather than using cabinets, and almost always overdubbing vocals (even if there was some live in the room). In the last couple of years of being in that room, we built a small control room next door and we didn't love being in there. It was barely big enough for a desk and a little bit of gear. We punched in a hole [in the wall] for the cables. But I realized I didn't want to be in there; I wanted to be in the main room with everyone. I ended up setting up all my gear in the main room. I ended up using the control room as a listening room, and occasionally as a drum booth. Now, because we moved into a new, much larger space with a high ceiling, I feel I'm going to have to learn how to record again!
Did you acquire new equipment for the new space?
No, we're still on the same gear. I'm often buying and selling, but I'm not massively into nice equipment. I still use either cheap or standard gear for pretty much everything, because I break shit. I'm not that good at looking after it, so I feel too precious with expensive gear. We have a pretty basic setup, to be honest. I don't like using a lot of microphones. I believe in keeping it simple and focusing on the music. I think it's partially because I'm the engineer, the mixer, and the songwriter. I have to prioritize my workload, and the more time I spend on gear will make the job harder in the long run. I try to prioritize the songwriting as much as I can. It depends on the record, of course. I haven't mixed every record, but I do mix most of them. Some of the other guys in the band write songs, as well. It's always a juggling thing. But with this next space, we're still working off the same gear. We finally moved in and haven't recorded anything in there yet, so it's going to be interesting. I did buy this old Soundcraft 16-channel desk, maybe late-'70s or '80s. I'm pretty excited to fire that up. But, generally, it's pretty basic shit.
