GEARED chats to the Gold Coast-based, ARIA-winning record producer/multi-instrumentalist GOVINDA DOYLE about his unique ‘water tank’ studio and the currently happening Mali music/charity project.

GEARED: Can you tell me a little about what you do, Govinda?

GOVINDA DOYLE: I’ve been recording for about 20 years – more seriously in the last 15 years. I’m basically helping people in music get a good sound; that’s the producer’s role.

When I was young, I had a record deal with Mushroom Records back in the ‘90s. My best friend at school was friends with a really famous record producer – Kevin “Caveman” Shirley, who had a big break with Baby Animals and produced Silverchair’s Frogstomp. I hung out with him and wound up with a record deal. I first worked with Tony Cohen, who produced Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and later engineered with Paul McKercher – he’s done Little Birdy and Sunk Loto. From a very young age, I’ve had lots of contacts with the professionals in the industry and I’d be hanging out in studios, asking if I could watch what they do – I was pretty fascinated by the recording process. Later on, it led me to recording my own music with Ziggy [Govinda’s project with partner Jessie Gray].

G: I was also going to ask you about your famous water tank...

GD: [laughs] Sure!

G: …where you recorded Angus & Julia Stone’s Big Jet Plane.

GD: That was actually meant for an Angus Stone solo project Lady Of The Sunshine, where I played bass and drums, co-wrote songs and co-produced. Among the album tracks there was a song called Big Jet Plane, which ended up getting used by Angus and Julia. It’s kind of funny, because it ended up winning every single award – the ARIAs, APRA Song of the Year, number one in Triple J’s Hottest 100 ... It was in the charts for about a year – can’t do any better than that, really. It was still a surprise, because it wasn’t intended to be a hit record at all.

There’s a funny story to it. I was playing the drum track when we were still arranging Big Jet Plane, and Angus kept saying “try something different!” It’s a really simple song and I wouldn’t know what to do, but my dad’s a great drummer – so I went “hey dad, can you play on this track?” He’s over 60 years old and he’s played drums for over 40 years, so he came down and nailed the whole thing in half an hour while I played bass, and the track was done.

G: Is the water tank set up like a studio?

GD: The water tank is actually the live room, and there’s also the mixing area and a vocal booth. I use the live room for the drums and guitars, but no one uses the vocal booth – they actually like being in the water tank to record the vocals. It doesn’t sound like a regular water tank – it’s a concrete water tank, probably about 40 years old, and it’s had some special treatments done to the room. It’s got its own, really big sound; you can hear it on Big Jet Plane, but not a great deal – you can get a feel of what it sounds like from the groove.

G: I’ve heard you organised a trip to Mali to record music and help local kids.

GD: That’s right. It sounded like it was going to be a community project, and I said “sure!” The person I’ve been in touch with, his name is Yan Coadou and he’s French; we’ve been emailing each other and he sent his wife’s music to me. Her name is Fily Keita and she’s a famous African singer; half-French, half-Malian. It sounded like a crazy idea because he wanted me to come all the way from Australia to Africa to record her, but he really loved the Lady Of The Sunshine record we made with Angus Stone. That particular sound is really organic – it was all recorded in the water tank – and he wanted that sound for his wife.

My girlfriend and I found out that Mali is very poor – more poor than we could have imagined – and a lot of the children don’t even have toilets at school; they just go in the bush outside. We thought we could install some toilets in the school and put together some funds to do that in Bamako [Mali’s capital]. It’s a crazy concept [laughs], but...

G: It’s a fantastic cause.

GD: It’s really interesting, because we’ll be using these local musicians in Mali – in public areas as well. Also, the schoolkids over there probably don’t have enough textbooks either, so we’re using our connections in France to help out.

For more info on GOVINDA DOYLE and his work check out www.govindadoyle.com and www.myspace.com/ziggyband. Information about Govinda and Jessie Gray’s charity organisation Help Little Hands can be found at www.helplittlehands.org.

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