Collective Soul

Sitting around a marbled open fire, surrounded by framed gold records, slippered feet comfortably resting on a mink cushion, the successful band looks fondly back at their glowing career. Raising a glass of fine wine, band member 'a' says with a satisfied smile, 'Old bean, what do you say to a retrospective record?' Band member 'b' replies, whilst scoffing mascapone figs, 'A fine idea, I say, we have a corking back catalogue – but what to choose?' Band member 'a' replies in a contented drawl, 'Why not release them all again, throw in some B-sides. I always wanted to release that obscure cover we played in the old days. Our public will love it, dear chap.' And so, a 'best of' is born. At least that's how one might imagine it. Or perhaps the same scene, but record execs and smoked quail legs.

But, some bands – well you just wouldn't expect it: band who aren't about the gravy train, the well-greased palm, the lobster thermidor. Take The Audreys: successful, there's no denying it, but not exactly the smoked quail and fig types. In fact, they are both up for a PETA's 'Sexiest Vegetarian' award. So how come Tristan Goodall and Taasha Coates are doing just that? Collected, their website reads, is a re-release of their three massively successful albums, plus the rare track and B-side sweetener. Goodall explains that far from a long-planned marketing strategy, the idea's origin was an ARIA afterparty conversation.

“The idea came up when we were hanging out after ARIAs” he begins, “and we thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the fact that each of our albums has won a a 'Best Blues'n'Roots Album' award by putting them out as a collection. Also, we could throw in some old songs that have never seen the light of day on record before.”

It seemed like an even better idea when the band started trawling through the demos and rarities in their archive. “We had a lot of fun going through the old stuff to get the bonus material together,” Goodall remembers. “We had this huge, huge hub of stuff in Adelaide and had an absolute ball going back and listening to it all. There were quite a lot of  tracks hidden away, a bit of stuff to choose from,” he understates, laughing. “Taasha and I spent a day just listening to it all, and reliving those times and associations.”

They fished out a selection of tracks that never made the original cut, including some tracks that never made it past demo form – an error remedied now with 20/20 hindisight. “There are a few demo versions of tracks that ended up being heavily altered in the studio, and don't sound anything like the early version, so it's good to have them released in their simplest form. I'm happy with the albums as they are but there are a couple of songs which, listening back, surprised me. Why they didn't end up on the albums I don't know, but I'm sure it was all for the best.”

Releasing Collected is definitely not an indication of a fallow period for The Audreys. Far from sitting comfortably allowing the earlier material to represent them, the band have been in the studio writing a new album while touring the Collected material. Goodall delivers the happy news reassuringly. “Taash and I have been writing new material, which will come soon,” he says, understandably a little cagey about giving the new material too much airtime.

Having the opportunity to think about their albums as a unified whole, Goodall struggles to make any sweeping connections between them: Between Last Night And Us from 2006, When The Flood Comes (2008) and most recently Sometimes The Stars (2010). “I don't think in terms of grand themes,' Goodall explains. “I don't think there's anything that connects our songs in that way. But, maybe,” he continues uncertainly, “maybe you can find something in there, maybe others can find them. I like that about our music, [it] can have significant and different meanings to different people. I love going back and reappraising it myself, and seeing what I find in it now.”

To tour Collected, Goodall and Coates have concocted a stripped-back acoustic show that befits the idea of presenting demo and early versions of their songs. “I think it's really nice in light of the Collected compilation that we can take a lot of the songs from our albums and present them the way they were originally written. It has been nice to play songs just with guitar and voice, which is how they started when we took the songs into the studio originally. Very few tracks on our albums are this stripped-back, so we've given them a stripped-back quality, and actually a more celebratory quality, live.”

The simplicity isn't a hindrance to expression in this show, in doing justice to the songs that were recorded in a richer, fuller way. In fact, they're loving the freedom. “There's a wilder, looser edge to it all – the songs in their rawest form,” he says, obviously relishing this wild, loose business they're embracing. In a musical way only, of course, he quickly qualifies.

“On the albums, our tracks have intricate parts locking together, whereas in this show we can be a little looser with them. I mean that in a good way,” Goodall laughs. “There's a kind of open-endedness to our performances on this tour. More of a chance for – sponteineity, being more responsive. It's a lot of fun and quite exciting, I guess. A little bit more nerve-wracking as well.”

Embracing the spirit of spontaneity, The Audreys are giving their audiences the chance to make requests – something more difficult to pull off with a bigger band. “If people ask for a certain song we can indulge them,” he cautiously offers. “We're happy for them to yell out requests, and we'll play them if we can. Even songs by other people.“

Certainly The Audreys have no need to use cover songs as a 'set saver'; no emergency Hey Jude required to vivify a drooping setlist in their case. They genuinely enjoy playing cover versions, perhaps it's a chance to air some guilty pleasures. “We love playing covers. We have played them our whole career. Ever since The Audreys started touring, we've been playing covers. In the early days Taasha and I would play a different cover song every night and let the audience request them. There were certainly some odd ones, but we find it a lot of fun.”

The tour is presented in association with PETA to raise awareness of live animal exports. Whilst they're serious about raising awareness around the subject of cruelty in live animal exports, their PETA 'sexy veggie' status has made the Audreys – to use a salient pun – a bit of a local laughing stock in their hometown. “We think it's funny,” Goodall says. “But as a musician it's hard to be in a position to give money to things you believe in, so it's nice to find other ways to give. And it's an issue we're passionate about.”