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 A Jeff
Lovejoy-produced debut album under their belts, local semi-psychedelic
riffmongers SUNFLOWER have gone
quite a long way since their 2007 inception. DENIS SEMCHENKO speaks to drummer JULIAN SCHWEITZER.
Described
in a previous Rave live review as “a drummer who looks like The Animal”,
Sunflower’s powerhouse sticksman Julian Schweitzer comes across as a perfectly
polite, easygoing fellow on the phone, eagerly filling me in on the rock
four-piece’s history.
“Mikal
[Laguerre, guitar] and I used to be in a band called Parlourwise, which was
more of a funk band, before it eventually dissolved,” he recounts when I ask
him about how Sunflower came together. “We used to jam during rehearsal breaks,
playing heavier stuff that was different from the other guys; Dave [Flynn], the
lead singer, I used to know from the beginning of high school – we were in a
band together and always did stuff together, and then he came in and started
singing.”
For all
the organic chemistry that took place, Julian admits it took Sunflower some
time to join all dots.
“We’ve
been through lots of bass players, like every band, before we finally found Tom
[Abbott],” he says. “He’s great! I got his name through some friends; speaking
of Dave, I’ve been playing with him for a long time – since we were around
fourteen – and when we were jamming with Mik, he was the first person I kind of
… grabbed.”
Rock,
rock, rock & roll high school – in Julian’s case, getting into music and
live performance was a natural part of the education process. “I think you
really develop your roots and what you really like in high school,” he claims.
“The people you jam with at high school usually see you through what you’re
into as a musician, so you kind of always go back to those guys – it’s rare to
meet someone who’s got the same pace, and it always happens when you’re a bit
younger: you grow up together, hang out at each other’s houses, listen to music
… do that whole evolving thing.”
Aside from
being a solid unit in the classic rock & roll sense, Sunflower boast a
distinctive visual gimmick harking back to rock’s olden days – “jaw-droppingly
ferocious” Mikal’s left-handed doubleneck Gibson. “He’s a talented and
dedicated guitarist who lives and breathes the instrument, so it was only a
natural progression for him to pick up a doubleneck,” Julian enthuses. “His
idols are people who have used it, like Tom Morello or Jimmy Page … it’s such
an amazing instrument – the 12-string is one of my favourite sounds in general,
and combined with a normal guitar I guess it only makes sense,” he laughs. “I’m
surprised more people don’t use doublenecks; I guess I’ll have to get my
double-kick … or a triple-kick.” That’s verging on the monolithic. “I’m
kidding!”
Speaking
of things monolithic, Sunflower’s signature head-banger Ready features a riff
that could be easily described in the abovementioned way.
“Like in
any bands, the riffs come from the guitarist,” Julian attests. “Mik brings lots
of ideas and we also jam a fair bit, so some stuff comes out of that.”
Keen to
capture a classic, no-nonsense sound, the band brought in seasoned
producer/engineer Jeff Lovejoy to twiddle the knobs on soon-to-be-released
debut La Reveille.
“Jeff’s a
real character –someone like that who has done so much, you don’t have to
experiment a lot around him,” Julian claims. “There are pros and cons to that,
but the definite pros are the huge guitar sound and big sound in general.”
SUNFLOWER
launch their debut album at The Hi-Fi on Saturday Aug 1, joined by The Faze,
Chamberland and Tikaal. LA REVEILLE is due for independent release in August
2009. www.myspace.com/bandsunflower
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