Are We Not Men?

It's exciting times ahead for the band with the release of their new album, Moving Out Of Eden happening smack in the middle of this launch tour. Strangely, though, Johnny Wishbone doesn't show his hand, admitting he's up and down with it all.

“I'm all over the shop like a mad lady's breakfast. But yeah, excited,” he says. “I think we just want to get this album out. I described it as tantric sex: long and drawn out but ultimately rewarding. Well, you hope ultimately rewarding. So we're just keen to get it out and for people to hear it. You're waiting with bated breath as to whether people will like it or not. Hopefully they like it so they keep booking us and we can keep playing. [But] at the end of the day we made the album we wanted to make and we're immensely proud of the effort as compared to our previous work. If people don't like it, [at least] we can say we didn't compromise to please anyone and have it not work.”

Admittedly, although they've got their stage names intact (c'mon, did you really think some parents would be awesome enough to call their baby boy Johnny Wishbone?) and that dripping swagger is still making their T-shirts moist, the band have grown a great deal from those scamps who released their debut long-player, Too Late To Pray, three-and-a-half years ago. “We were birthed out of that whole... I don't even know what to call it? That folk blues explosion that's seemed to have happened over the last couple of years which was brought into the mainstream with the fucking likes of Mumford & Sons, that somehow managed to make a banjo sound boring. I don't know how the fuck they managed to do that?”

That first album was a surprise for the group, considering they only formed to play a couple of shows. A brief foray into the niche world of theatrical rock'n'blues – that was all The Snowdroppers was supposed to be. But even though the quartet were all playing in other projects, they had so much fun together on stage they decided to pursue the band further. And playing live, Wishbone admits, is the only thing that's kept them together.

“We don't know any other way apart from playing live,” he concedes. “I'm dumbfounded by bands today... like someone was talking about a band and said, 'they've got a good live show'... What? As far as I'm concerned as a band, that's all you have!”

The Sydneysiders got involved with a label, a “classic first-time-signing-to-a-label band got fucked over”, Wishbone calls it. And with record sales providing very little coin, all that was left to do was hit the road. The trickle effect from that has seen the quartet grow as touring musicians, moving further away from the niche image and sound that established them back in the late noughties.

“We realised we were just a rock band that liked playing rock'n'roll music,” he states. “We weren't a blues band, we weren't a fucking rockabilly band. As much as that 'scene' gave us a head start it's really not something we identify with anymore.”

Having removed the “uniforms” they were wearing, something that Wishbone admits was actually taking away from the music, the band finally feel comfortable in their own skin. This, however, makes playing certain cuts from their back catalogue a little more tedious.

“Ohhh my god, you bet your sweet arse it does,” he concurs. “But then you kind of think, 'Fuck, The Rolling Stones are still doing it'. They probably don't enjoy playing Satisfaction for the thousandth time. But it's hard because it's something that we feel we've outgrown and it's hard when people do like those songs y'know what I mean, [although it is] fantastic because it means they've got some kind of longevity. But the songs we still play are the songs we still enjoy and are the songs that...” he trails off momentarily.

“Take Rosemary for example; that's a song that I think resembles the new stuff the most. It's just a good song, it's not a blues song, it's a rock song! We still enjoy playing those because they're good songs. But there have been a couple that have been quietly culled from the set, shall we say.”

So would they do things differently if given a second chance? You better believe that be true. The Snowdroppers went through a lot of shit, and learnt a hell of a lot about the industry and themselves in the process. “This whole album represents change,” says Wishbone, referring to Moving Out Of Eden the title, and the themes. “And it's on a macro level what's been happening with the band over the past three years – a hell of a lot of change. And that can be both positive and negative.”

The idea of the 'tortured artist' has long lent itself to the thought that conflict spawns creativity. With the above considered, one could potentially question whether The Snowdroppers were in fact drawn towards the drama for this record with the prospect of a more colourful and passionate song. Wishbone quickly dismisses the theory, saying that they'd honestly rather avoid all the negative commotion, although they are “embracing chaos a little bit more”, at least within their own ranks.

“Any band has that band of brothers vibe going on,” he tells, “and it does feel like that. [The Snowdroppers] is a family thing now, and families argue and get the shits with each other – all that fun stuff.”

One thing most families don't do, however, is head to the local inkporium to get bum tattoos. If this doesn't prove The Snowdroppers to be men of their own destiny, then what does, really? “Yeah, we all got our arses tattooed,” Wishbone confirms nonchalantly, talking about a little competition run on their Facebook page in the lead-up to Moving Out Of Eden's release. “I can't give away [which picture is on which arse]... actually, somebody has won already so I can say it; I'm the ABC [logo], in dedication to our new label. I'm nothing if not patriotic. The manager kept harping on about an EPK [electronic press kit], like a video and stuff, and we just went, 'let's get a bum tattoo!' I wish more thought went into it than that but it didn't – that's it.”

The Snowdroppers will be playing the following dates:

Friday 12 April  – The Zoo, Brisbane
Saturday 13 April – Woombye Pub, Woombye