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 GEARED takes another look at Brisbane’s songwriting talent, this time in the form of shapeshifter BEN SALTER, of GIN CLUB, WILSON PICKERS, YOUNG LIBERALS et al ad infinitum fame.
GEARED: Would you say you’re a quick songwriter? Can you nail out a song in 30 minutes or do you prefer to take your time?
BEN SALTER: Sometimes it’s quick, other times there are little bits and pieces that run around in my head for years until I nail them down. The thing I’ve kinda realised is that I don’t like to force doing it; I really only like to write a song when I’m feeling like it, not when I’m like ‘shit, we’ve got to write songs’. It’s not lazy, but I don’t do it unless I go ‘wow, I’ve got a really great idea and I want to get it out’.
G: What comes first? Is it a lyric, a melody, a guitar part…
BS: I’ve read interviews with lots of people – and I tend to agree – that when you go walking, that tends to be when lots of good ideas come, because you’ve got that rhythm of walking. But it just depends, I reckon it’s probably better to have the lyrics first, but then it just doesn’t really matter
G: Of course, the worst thing is when you’re walking without a pen or paper or anything to record with and you have to keep humming it until you can find something…
BS: Yeah, absolutely, there’s nothing worse than that! There’s also the one where you wake up at about three in the morning and you wake up with an awesome idea for a song. You think ‘oh, there’s no way I’ll ever forget that one’ and go back to sleep, but that’s the end of it. I use the recorder on my phone now, but I’m still pretty lazy. The funny thing with the Young Liberals is that it’s the complete opposite, we go and record stuff just for the sake of it. We come up with the song titles first and work back from there. It’s amazing how much good stuff comes out of just not taking it seriously.
G: Being involved with many other bands, all with different members and writing styles, do you write on your own or prefer collaborations?
BS: We did a lot of collaboration on the last Gin Club album, I find it easier to bounce ideas off of each other … you don’t need to be singularly motivated, someone picks up the ball if you get sick of it, then it goes back and forth like that.
G: Who are some of your songwriting influences, or bands whose songs you love to listen to?
BS: Obviously The Drones, I think Gareth Liddiard is an incredible songwriter. Oh geez, what else have I been listening to? Oh, lots of Scott Walker, I just got his latest one, which is this nightmarish soundscapes, with him warbling over it. It’s pretty bracing stuff. And I know it sounds pretentious, but I’ve been listening to lots of classical and metal…I tend to not really listen to the stuff we sound like, because I get competitive, or I think it’s really terrible or way better, so either way it’s a waste of time.
G: Do you try to keep up with what’s new and cool, or just go your own way?
BS: I read a lot of magazines – I’m kind of a compulsive magazine reader – so a lot of the time I’ll know what’s popular without having heard it, just through reading about it. But I don’t want to be one of those people that say ‘oh, they stopped making good music in 1970’, because it’s just bullshit. You’re just as bad as saying all old music is bad. There’s lots of great stuff around, just in Brisbane. Whenever I say that I can never think of bands, but you know, The John Steel Singers are fucking amazing, New Jack Rubys, White Mansions, Sixfthick are still awesome … I think in Brisbane we take for granted that most of our rock bands could kick the arse of most bands from anywhere else in Australia.
G: What advice do you have for young guns hoping to get into bands and songwriting?
BS: The only bit of advice is that if you like doing it, just keep doing it. It’s a hard one to say, because the music business is a business and it’s pretty soul destroying to create something and then have to market it, but that’s a pretty small price to pay to be in a band. It’s not ‘sullying your art’ or whatever, you’ve just gotta do it. Those are the people you end up admiring, those who are good at doing what they do, not imitations of other people. And also, as you said, the practicalities of songwriting, always have a piece of paper ready! You’ve gotta find those little things that strike you during the day and record them, because I guess that’s your stock and trade. You can’t go to work as a tradie without boots and tools and those kinds of things.
BEN SALTER and the rest of the GIN CLUB crew will host their awesome annual Xmas Party this Saturday Dec 13 at the Old Museum on Gregory Terrace and Bowen Bridge Road. Support bands are Texas Tea, Clinkerfield and The Aerial Maps. Consult www.theginclub.com.au for more.
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