The Album That Changed A Genre

There's a tinge of jetlag rounding the edges of Ian Kenny’s words when he calls from LA. Having closed the book on Karnivool’s latest tour through India and Europe and now en route home via the City Of Angels, the singer nonetheless has enough verve to voice his gratification, amazement, even pride at the latest milestone in the Perth band’s career.

This year marks a decade since the release of Themata, the debut LP that placed Karnivool at the forefront of Australia’s blossoming heavy rock scene. It’s a belt notch that isn’t lost on Kenny.

“It was a pleasure to see it go down the way it did,” he admits. “We were aware that we had recorded the best thing we’d done so far. With Themata, it felt like a bit more of a finger on the pulse of what was happening around us and where we sat within that, and we thought we had the songs and the record, but we didn’t know it was going to have the effect that it did.

“Karnivool was just figuring out what Karnivool could be at the time. We’d released an EP but we didn’t really know what we were doing as a band. Then when we recorded Themata we were like, ‘Ok, I think we have something here. Let’s go ahead with this, let’s release it, let’s make this our first record.’ It was cool you know, it was very good times for Karnivool.”

The coming of Themata in 2005 heralded new beginnings. Not only was the five-piece line-up finally locked down after some comings and goings, it dropped on the crest of a fresh wave of heavy rock bands – Cog, Butterfly Effect, Dead Letter Circus – barrelling through the jangly rock and indie that local bands were pumping out. Given the easier dissemination of music these days and how small the heavy rock movement was, especially in Perth, which had its own micro-climate of good music going on, would Themata be as successful today as it was then?

“I’m not sure that it would. I think it was very much to do with how it came about and the timing of it, and especially a record like that coming from a band from Perth. At the time Perth was a bit of a grunge scene, an indie scene at best. But this idea of alternate rock, or this prog idea – like, no one really saw that coming. There was just this hint of a young band called Karnivool that were kind of onto something.”

Before the album’s release and the five-piece taking to touring their arrhythmic, melodic sound farther afield, Kenny was a humble tradie by day and singer by night, and with youth on the boys’ side many a good time was had. Despite reflecting on those years with little regret, is there anything he would have done differently?

“That’s a good question,” Kenny laughs. “Not so much, I think I tried to do as much as I could with the time I had and for a long time Karnivool was priority number one but it just wasn’t supporting a stable lifestyle so everyone worked, everyone did what they did so they could further fuel the idea of this band.

“These days I have a profound respect for how it all works and what it means to me and what it means to people who care about it. I still love it. Back during the first record I was in love with it then and I still am.”

The band’s release rate of new material will continue at its usual glacial pace, Kenny admitting they’re writing for a new Karnivool record, “but there’s nothing really solid yet – don’t ask me when it’s coming out because I literally can’t tell you”. Meanwhile, fans can look forward to a sense of déjà vu as the Themata Decade tour ricochets around the country, Karnovool playing the album start to finish.

While the rest of Karnivool flew home for a well earned break, the ever-busy frontman was in LA to shoot a music video for a forthcoming Birds Of Tokyo track. It’s a sign of the times that sleep, more often than not, wins out over late nights.

“I kind of want to go out, but I’m pretty sure I’m just going to get some sleep,” Kenny laughs. “Maybe you can just tell everyone that I was in a taxi doing an interview with you in between going to like six different clubs in LA.”