With Marty Casey in Perth in 2023, playing a song by the Moodists.
We had a few extra days in Fremantle as we wanted to catch up with some old friends. This involved an excellent night at Alsy McDonald and Jill Birts house with Marty Casey and his partner Liz Pippet.
Marty, Alsy and Jill were all , of course, in the Triffids.
I first met them back in '82 or '83 when they first came to Melbourne. Before Treeless Plain and before Jill joined and before Graham joined and before they moved to Sydney and before they went to the UK.
It is amazing to think how all those acts from Perth like the Scientists and the Triffids actually DROVE ACROSS THE NULLABOR PLAIN many many times. Marty said he made the trip eleven times. Flying was expensive. They would joke about hitting a kangaroo in the same spot .
Anyway, I think we might have corresponded via letters before they arrived Melbourne. Dave McComb and Alsy came around to the tiny flat Clare Moore and I rented for THIRTY DOLLARS a week in Robe st St Kilda. They were staying in rooms above the Black Cat cafe in Brunswick st Fitzroy. We were St Kilda people and rarely crossed the river to do anything. They were a TOTAL UNIT. Everybody had a job and they were full of in-jokes and impenetrable, local references. They had a "manager" who was probably a friend who they called "Tact". They somehow had this EP out on Mushroom or White Records (its indie offshoot) records which seemed impossibly "industry" like to us. It was very polished and impressive in the songwriting and the playing. They did some gigs and I definitely remember seeing them - perhaps with us (The Moodists) - at the Mt Erica hotel in High st Prahran. So the EP had this title song which was the same as a very current Nicholas Roeg film. This was intimidating (to me) as well.
When you saw them, Alsy on drums sang quite a few songs. It was not all focussed on Dave, only as in he was the main singer. He played this beautiful Gretsch guitar and his voice was very human and high like Tom Verlaine. Anyway, I was very impressed by them and looked at them , of course, from within my own band situation. Like I said they were a great unit and everybody did something to make them work. I mean in things outside of performing as well. Household things, gear lugging and driving things. They also made friends easily. The Moodists were more passive and just kind of stood off to the side, waiting for things to happen. Very insular and wound up tight. They might have thought we were cool and we might have been. The lives of bands are pretty short really. In some ways I think the second version of the Moodists were at their peak in 1982 and just coasted after that. We recorded in the UK but we had set all the templates and wrote the moves and changes in Melbourne. (The later London version with David McClymont was a real new burst of ideas and energy). The Triffids were like another, later Perth act, Tame Impala, in that they could renew themselves and change very quickly. We caught them later in '83 in Sydney where they had moved and then in London after that. Their first London gig was at Dingwalls and they were playing that very Birthday Party sounding stuff that was the Field Of Glass EP. Then they went all rootsy for Treeless Plain and then they recorded quite big budget albums.
This is what they were like at first and I dont mean to throw any shade on anything they did after this. And neither on any members who weren't in them at this stage. They all remain very good friends and we went through many similar , intense experiences together. When we were very young and vulnerable. Absolute comrades.
It’s just my woolly opinion that all those acts - especially us - did most of their best work before being pulled all out of shape by working in the UK atmosphere.
Clare Moore with Alsy and Jill in Perth 2014.
Jill and Alsy were making some music together, both playing guitars, and Jill also recorded and released some solo work.
Marty plays with Big Boss Man and also recorded with the Nearly Brothers with Mick Harvey and Mark Snarski and also, of course, is still a vital member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
We loved playing the shows with Marty so we found some time at Poonheads Studio in Fremantle and went in on the Monday and recorded bass, drums and guitars for six songs of mine. Some pretty tight “new wave” groovers and some quite chordal, complex prog jazz pieces. I am rotten at explaining my chords and arrangements but Marty and Clare locked in and picked up the pieces fantastically well.
We will see what happens with the music. Marty is not a really high tech guy but I hope we can work on some of his music as well as some of Clares and release some kind of an album. The basic tracks sound super.
(There is already the start of a new Graney and Moore album as we had rushed into our favourite Melbourne studio, Soundpark, when it was in imminent danger of closing permanently last December. We have the foundations of ten songs from that session.)
We came back to Melbourne and then drove to Castlemaine in regional Victoria to play a (strangely)(emotional) show at the Northern Arts Hotel. This is a great boutique venue which holds literature and film nights as well as occasional music events. The film nights are hosted by noted cinema identity (in Melbourne at least) John Flaus (actor and lecturer) who presents and talks on an unknown and unnamed film every month.
We parked our van outside and loaded in our gear for a duo show.
There was an acoustic piano for Clare to jump on so it was a pretty busy night for her. We played songs from In A Mistly and (strangely)(emotional) to a seated audience over two sets. The audience was very quiet and attentive. It was a very close and intense firefight!
I asked for requests as usual and they came back with Everything Was Legendary With Robert and I’m Not Afraid To Be Heavy. Top shelf requestage!
It was also a really cute hotel with resident dog called Badgers.