We Are Legend: How Cold Chisel Became So Much Greater Than The Sum Of Their Parts

Cold Chisel have nothing to prove to anybody. They decades ago solidified their standing as one of Australia's premier rock'n'roll outfits of all time, so these days they're making music because they love it and that's what they do best. Not even the tragic passing of drummer Steve Prestwich back in 2011 could temper this desire, instead seeming to galvanise them even further. Their eighth record The Perfect Crime is a vital collection that sounds fundamentally like Cold Chisel, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

"It's a great record, I'm really pleased with it," vocalist Jimmy Barnes smiles. "It's just always great to get into the studio and sing with this band. They're great players and great songs - it's always a pleasure to do it."

"I'm very happy with the way it came together," pianist/keyboardist Don Walker concurs, "but there's always so much listening down by those of us in the band - detailed listening to the individual songs and then to the potential ways of arranging them into an album, and also which songs to choose - that by the time we get a finished album, I really don't know if it's any good or not. I have to get a couple of CDs to friends and say, 'How is this?'"

"By the time we were going into the studio with this record, we wanted to utilise and focus on what this band does best - which is these rhythm and blues numbers." — Jimmy Barnes

Well, these trusted band confidants should have some positive news to report back about The Perfect Crime, which as its essence contains everything that has for so long made Cold Chisel beloved to so many.

"We wanted to make a rock record - we wanted to make a record that was more 'up' than the last record we made [2012's No Plans]," Barnes recounts. "We wanted to solidify - since we made the last record we did that big, big ['Light The Nitro'] tour of Australia [in 2011-12], and by that stage we'd gone through a bit of mourning for the loss of Steve, we went through making that record with Charley [Drayton] before we'd really gotten over the loss of Steve, and we sort of cemented that relationship on the tour. So although we haven't replaced Steve - he's a hard guy to replace - we've found someone who plays something different and brings something else to the band, and Charley's fitted right in.

"So by the time we were going into the studio with this record, we wanted to utilise and focus on what this band does best - which is these rhythm and blues numbers. Steve was more of a rock drummer, and Charley's much more of a rhythm and blues drummer so he brings in these different grooves to things, so we've really got a lot of space to play with and it allowed us to play differently as a rhythm section. Don, Ian [Moss - guitar], Charley and Phil [Small - bass] really drive this whole album along, and the left hand of the piano really has a lot to do with it — we noticed that.

"We recorded this album in two sittings - the first sitting was at my place and we did nine songs, and then about eight months later we did 10 songs at 301. In that gap too we noticed that that sound was developing, so we went away and wrote more songs that would fit in with that sound. So we wanted it to be a rock record, and when we say rock'n'roll we wanted it to be more about Little Richard than the Foo Fighters. And that's not to knock the Foo Fighters, but we were chasing that older kind, the piano-driven, late-'50s rock'n'roll."

The Perfect Crime is a cohesive-sounding collection which doesn't sound like the product of two distinct recording sessions, but Barnesy explains that the break ended up a benefit rather than a hindrance.

"Everyone in this band was as equally important to the band as any other member, so if any of us left we'd be buggered, and when Steve died it was really like a big gaping hole, emotionally and musically." — Jimmy Barnes

"We were working with [producer] Kevin Shirley, and Kevin is one of the great producers in the world," he continues. "He really helped make this record as live and vital-sounding as it is. But to do that with him is a balance - he's very, very committed and is doing records all over the world, so we had him for a week or ten days earlier on so we grabbed him then because we wanted to see how the songs were shaping up. So we went in and we cut the songs that we had then, and then we stepped back and had a look: that's one of the benefits of having been around for so long - we're not under pressure from the record companies, we're not under pressure from ourselves as in, 'We've got to create a record quick and get out'. We just wanted to make a record and we'll do it when we're ready. So we had the luxury of saying, 'OK, Kevin, when are you available?' and that came out to be eight months later, and we waited and we wrote songs and we did other things until Kevin was ready then we slipped in and it all came good.

"It ended up being a really good thing [for the album], especially, as I said, with us being in that transition from really being one band to another - this band is such a unique band, and it's not like you can just replace someone. Everyone in this band was as equally important to the band as any other member, so if any of us left we'd be buggered, and when Steve died it was really like a big gaping hole, emotionally and musically. We were very, very lucky that the first drummer we tried was Charley. When his name came up we were all, like, 'What a great idea!' - Charley was a friend of the band, Charley was well aware of the musical history of the band and he didn't come in and try to change that - he was very sympathetic to the musical history of the band, but at the same time he was such a strong character that he wanted to bring his own thing to it. So it gave us that time following the first album and the tour and just felling through the start of this second album to really settle in and cement what we were going to do as a band, so by the time we actually got in to finish these sessions we were locked in and sounded like a different band."

And while the forced line-up change might have impacted the album's sound, it's the innate chemistry between the long-standing founders that really brings that Chisels edge.

"It's something that's developed over nearly 45 years - we formed in 1973, so that's 42 years," Barnes smiles. "It's a rapport that's developed over those years, and I was saying to Ian this morning that a lot of it is not in what we play, it's in what we don't play. Ian knows when to stay out, and part of that is that he's working out what Don's playing so he sits out and then he'll interject and add his little pieces and usually we'll find that that's enough - we don't layer up the guitars, we don't double that or double this, everything goes down and it's almost like a live recording. To do that you have to leave space for each other, and so a lot of the magic that's in this record is what we don't play."

"I think Cold Chisel albums are always better if everybody writes. I think without that - if it's just me contributing - then it's too much of one voice." — Don Walker 

There's a pleasing diversity to the sound of The Perfect Crime, varying the foundation of certain songs without straying far from that Chisels' sonic template, much of which can be attributed to the fact that the album contains a relatively even songwriting contribution.

"Yeah, Don's encouraged that from day one - from the first time that the band recorded - but unfortunately he was working with a load of lazy bastards up until [1980 third album] East," Barnesy chuckles. "When we went into the studio for East, something happened - we had the right producer, Mark Opitz, at that time, and one of the big keys to look at with this band is that we're a band and when a producer comes in to meet this band he has to become like a member of the band. His job is to facilitate the band feeling great and feeling comfortable in the studio, and there's been a few producers who have done that - Mark Opitz was one of the first to achieve that, and now Kevin Shirley's done the same thing."

Walker, for his part, agrees that he encouraged a more even songwriting spread for The Perfect Crime, but is not quite as certain whether he succeeded in that regard or not.

"Yeah, I really wanted a more varied songwriting effort, and it is slightly - not as much as I'd like," he offers honestly. "I think Cold Chisel albums are always better if everybody writes. I think without that - if it's just me contributing - then it's too much of one voice. Also I like the other guys' songs. [For my contributions] I just wanted to take it to the bluesy and rock'n'roll end of Cold Chisel, and go a bit lighter on the country. I just felt like focusing on the bluesy chords because that's where we were when we first got together."

Walker also reworked two numbers that he'd previously recorded in his solo canon (with his backing band The Suave Fucks) - The Perfect Crime and Four In The Morning - but explains that it wasn't totally his idea to give them another pass.

"It was really the enthusiasm of the band and the producer for these songs," he admits. "I really went along with it not knowing if it was a good idea or not, because of course I think of both those songs in a certain way - they're solo songs of mine - so while I was standing there for a minute thinking, 'Oi, wait a minute you guys! Wait!' they were done! Everybody really liked the results, so I figured I'd go with the flow. And whatever you bring to Cold Chisel, once they've recorded it, it sounds like a Cold Chisel song - that just seems to be part of the process."

The second side of The Perfect Crime is where much of the album's tonal diversity kicks in, but the frontman makes a pretty valid argument when he posits that Cold Chisel have really always favoured an element of diversity throughout their albums.

"There's some beautiful songs on there. With Bus Station, Don wanted to write a disco song and that's his attempt at one," Barnes chuckles. "But while it's a disco song there's still something lonely and desperate about it, it's not like a happy Saturday Night Fever number that you'd put on as you got dressed to hit the town, there's something sleazy and dark about it which I really like. We like to explore different grooves, this band has always played different grooves, especially with Don's songs - he's been influenced by Thelonious Monk and people like that so there's tinges of jazz in there.

"There are some things that I find fascinating that I wouldn't bring to Cold Chisel - I'm not going to bring to Cold Chisel an 18-minute ballad." — Don Walker

"As I said before, every member of the band is as important to the band as every other member, and we're all vastly different in what we do and what we listen to individually, so what we bring to the band is different - I bring in a rock influence and maybe a bit of a soul influence, Don brings in the jazz influence, Ian's got quite a funky feel and this eclectic kinda sound and Phil's really a bluesman - and it's the combination of those influences and throwing them in together that dictates what comes out in the band. And to do that you have to play a variety of feels - if you look back through the history of our records we'd always have a song like Houndog sitting next to Forever Now or next to When The War Is Over or something [on 1982 fourth album Circus Animals]. There's always that eclectic mix of songs in this band and that's one of the beauties of this band - quite often with a band you get bored playing, because it's like, 'We're a hard rock band, we're going to play an A and a 12-bar over and over and over again every song', but with this band you get a different experiment and a different thing to feel."

Walker, for his part, explains that he doesn't really have to get into a different mindset when writing for Cold Chisel - the band themselves add their unique flourish to his compositions just by playing together on them.

"I mean, there are some things that I find fascinating that I wouldn't bring to Cold Chisel - I'm not going to bring to Cold Chisel an 18-minute ballad, or some of the other things that I have the freedom to do with my own albums," he ponders. "But there's a lot of overlap - The Suave Fucks on a purely rock'n'roll level are like a rockabilly band or a country swing band, so you get songs like The Perfect Crime which was written for Cold Chisel but too late for the last time around, so we did it with my band and it really worked. My band is much more of a rootsy rockabilly band. John O'Donnell, who's one of Cold Chisel's managers, always loved that song and was after us to give it a try in the studio with Cold Chisel. The only thing with things like that is that I have to figure out a piano part."

What about his take on the disco excursion that is Bus Station?

"We should have been doing disco right from the beginning," Walker laughs. "I think by the '80s I loved disco - I didn't like it at the time, disco was the enemy in the '70s - but like most movements in music there's always some jewels in amongst all the crap, and some of my favourite songs are disco songs. So it was good to kick at one."

Both Barnes and Walker attest that they don't have qualms about their followers having to accompany them on these slight stylistic forays, given that Chisels fans have always embraced the band's diversity with open arms.

"The thing is we've always done it and they've always come with us," Barnes gushes. "We've done it to satisfy ourselves. I remember when we made the first album [1978's Cold Chisel] we were a floundering young band, so we pulled in a known producer [Richard Batchens] for the second one which was disastrous - we had great songs for the second one, Breakfast At Sweethearts (1979), but I thought the production was terrible and the recording experience was terrible. We went in and we found Mark Opitz and we recorded East, which was probably the first time we enjoyed ourselves in the studio, and then making the next record we didn't go, 'OK, the fans love this, let's go with them', we tried to do the opposite. We thought, 'We've learned how to write pop songs with formulas, let's throw that out the window and try something else'.

"Really, we've been trying to make and write songs that enhance our live performance, so our albums are almost like vehicles for the live performance." — Jimmy Barnes

"We've always done it, we've always challenged ourselves and, in doing that, that challenges the audience. And I think that's one of the things that's given the band longevity - we don't sit back and just sort of go, 'OK, this is a formula that works'. The band's constantly looking for new things to improve and to try and to leave out or to put in, and we've built our reputation on live performance but really we've been trying to make and write songs that enhance our live performance, so our albums are almost like vehicles for the live performance. And with the live performance obviously the audience is such an integral part of that, so I guess we do consider them in that way because part of the live performance is pleasing that audience and keeping that audience there."

"I can't speak for the other guys, but I don't give that too much thought," Walker offers. "I think the aim is just to with each song make it really good for what it is - that's assuming it's a good song at the start - and then I assume the rest will take care of itself."

Does the songwriting process come easy for Walker?

"It's fun. It's hard work in some areas, but it's fun," he muses. "And over the decades it's sometimes kept me stable, because playing with words and melodies in my head is very important - it's very important for people to have something that they can play with in their head as the general boredom of life goes by; waiting in queues, doing supermarket shopping, taking the cat to the vet. Those otherwise mundane situations are what the music going around in my head is for - although there are some places like the fruit and vegetable shop near my house, they have a playlist and I go over there to buy my groceries for their playlist which is Engelbert Humperdinck, Herman's Hermits, Tom Jones, The Everly Brothers and that sort of stuff. So you can loiter your way through the fruit and vegetables shop and get to hear all of this great music, and if you're lucky some ideas."

Does Walker spend more time on the lyrics or the music during this creative phase?

"Lyrics," he tells without hesitation. "Usually I can hear a song in my head completely as if there's a band playing, but I can't quite make out the words so I have to sit down and come up with the words. Sometimes it feels like you're uncovering the words, and sometimes it feels like you're writing them. The music is easy - most of the time. There's an extra track on this release called Romantic Lies, which is a jazz song, and I can hear that completely in my head as if a jazz band is playing it. Yet unlike with a rock'n'roll song or a blues song I don't know what they're playing, because my jazz chops aren't as good as, say, Ian's, so with something like that I have to sit down and meticulously figure out on a piano what the band in my head is doing. But mostly I don't have to do that. The whole thing is like solving a puzzle, or uncovering something magic."

And now that the magic has been uncovered (for now) and The Perfect Crime is nearly ready to go, the Chisels members are gagging to get back on the road for the impending 'One Night Stand 2015' tour which kicks off in November.

"What we do is rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and then we go up onstage and just forget it all." — Jimmy Barnes

"We haven't played any of them onstage yet, although we played them pretty much live in the studio [during the recording] so we know they work," Barnsey tells. "We're going to bash them all into shape soon in rehearsals - we won't be playing all of this new album, because with a catalogue like ours there's a lot of songs we have to do every night, but we will be rotating those songs from the album in and out of the set at different times. I think most of them will work really well live, I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to play Alone For You live, that's going to be awesome. And what a great way to start an album; "I wake up in the morning, feel like shit", what a classic opening line to a Cold Chisel record! And some of those songs from The Perfect Crime are going to be relentless live, they're going to be so full on.

"I'm really looking forward to the tour, very much so. It's always a big challenge touring Cold Chisel because we get up there and we're such a unique band that we spend most of our time in rehearsal not learning the songs but just getting to re-educate ourselves in how to listen to each other and where to find the gaps and how to play the music. And what we do is rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and then we go up onstage and just forget it all, and it just comes natural. It's a great band."

"I'm looking forward to it very much," Walker concurs, "and we're taking out three backing singers with us on this tour so we'll be able to do stuff like The Toast Of Paris with the full backing singer chorus behind it, and I'm looking forward to it immensely. I like that very much."

And the tour's most poignant stop will undoubtedly be at the Sydney Entertainment Centre (these days known as Qantas Credit Union Arena) just prior to its demolition, which will make Cold Chisel the last Aussie band to play at the venue which housed so many of their gigs over the years (Elton John is delivering the last rites the night after the Cold Chisel show).

"That place has got a big history in Sydney and we've done a lot of great gigs there over the years, and we've had emotional ups and downs there with [the final tour of their initial tenure in 1983] The Last Stand and all that sort of stuff, and we've all been to many gigs there to see both our favourite bands and some of the worst gigs we've ever seen," Barnes reminisces fondly.

"So it's a big part of Sydney's history and it will be nostalgic in a way seeing the end of it - I feel sad that we're losing the hall, hopefully something will be put in its place but you never know if it's going to be as good or have a vibe or not. We're going to go in there and blast the place apart, and if the last gig that we play in there they'll be lucky if the walls are still standing when Elton walks in.

"In saying that, Elton does have the record for how many shows played there, and I think Elton might have opened it so it's a good thing that's closing it because he's a big part of the history as well. Good luck to him, he's going to have to bolt the seats back down by the time we've finished!"