The Global Grind

Scott & Charlene's Wedding is a musical project moulded on the ennui of the downtrodden struggler, mirroring the worldview of one Craig Dermody, a scrapper, fighting away scrounging out a meal, a beer and some spiritual fulfilment in any circumstance. And whilst 2013 has been a bumper year artistically, he's still very much at the whims of life's rollercoaster, a feeling he's used to.

“This year has been the best year that I've ever had with a band,” Dermody admits. “We put out Any Port In A Storm [his second album proper] and we toured Europe in summer; that went down really well. The show in London was really wild, something you don't expect. I was supposed to be touring the States too, but my dad got sick so I came back here. It's been a bit of a crashlanding, but it's alright. I've been doing lots of writing and working, hanging out with people like I haven't been away.”

Much has been said about Dermody's difficult first year in New York. Struggling to connect and make ends meet, he holed up and wrote about his daily experiences, an endeavour that's been a mainstay since the beginning. Dermody's modus operandi is one of experiential minutiae, a working-class bonhomie imbued with sincerity, stark honesty and a laconic sense of humour. This means that regardless of his geographical disposition, he'll always have something to write about and give life to – a site-specific lyricism that will nevertheless remain resolutely Dermody's own voice.

“You look at Any Port In A Storm and you could say it's all the same (as Para Vista Social Club),” Dermody concedes. “It's all about me working a lot of dead-end jobs, just taking out Melbourne and putting in New York. That is how the songs are written. But that doesn't mean I've come to the end of the process; that this is forever the way I will write. I think the next one will be different again, depending on where I am. Musically I feel I am expanding. The songs themselves are about everyday occurrences, day-to-day processes, and the places that these events occur are topics of reference. I write every day, as much as I can. Not every day is as fruitful as others. It is not a simple thing; I write a lot of crap songs that will never make the light of day. It's a routine, and I'll know straightaway whether I like how one is turning out and will turn my attention on that. I write constantly.”

It took almost a year, but Dermody managed to build a formidable bunch of compatriots around him so he could venture out into the Big Apple with a chance of people opening up to his unique charms. “It took some rattling the cages before anyone would take notice of me and listen to what I could do. New York is such an enormous city, which has its pluses and minuses. That first year was the hardest, because if you don't know anyone, you aren't really anyone; no one goes out of their way to welcome you, you have to be the one. So I just kept going to shows, and going, and going. Eventually I met Michael Ryman (Family Portrait, Underwater Peoples) and Michael Caterer (Full Ugly, Shorts), and things started clicking.”

As the project is very much Dermody's, Scott & Charlene's Wedding can be picked up and placed anywhere in the world, with a deployment of the wicked and willing ready to jump on board. Dermody admits the carousel of band members may seem strange, or indeed point to the machinations of a musical dilettante, but the reality is far simpler. “For the shows here I have Joel Carey (Peak Twins), Gil Tucker (Beaches) and Jack Farley who seems to have worked with everyone. It was easier to get people who are already here to do the songs. I just play with who is around. It can be pretty loose. The bass player in New York has a family and a business, so he's free to play or not depending on what's happening with him.

“I continue to push myself, but the themes I enjoy and connect with are the same. It's not like the band is massive or the troubles I have faced are gone, that is all still there. Personal struggle will always happen, no matter what happens for me.

“I'm back in Australia for a few months now. I'm back to driving trucks and moving furniture for the summer. I've also been getting back into my artwork again; I haven't had much space or time to fulfil that part of my life, and now I have both. So essentially I'm doing what I've always done, what I've always written songs about.”