Brindle: Folk’ll Point.

Ben Kweller

brindle launch Classification at The Healer on Friday and play the Big Day Out at the Gold Coast Parklands on January 19.

The last four years have seen brindle take leave of their acoustic origins, and become one of Brisbane’s most rewarding, spacious, and often lavish sounding, indie pop acts. This weekend the band let loose Classification, their fourth release, as guitarist Craig Spann notes.

This is brindle’s second release for 2002, is there a sense or urgency in the band’s writing and recording schedule?

“Not really, but we are constantly writing new songs and trying new ideas so I think it’s nice to be able to get into the studio as often as possible. I think putting out records is like taking a snapshot of a band at a very particular time and place. And given this band has evolved and changed so much over the past two years, I suppose it’s important to get that evolution down on tape and out there.”

Do you think the band’s earlier work is still representative of the directions brindle are taking now?

“On the surface it seems very different now - well it’s a shitload louder for starters - but the principals remain the same. Despite the fact we started off as an acoustic band, I was never that comfortable with brindle being considered a folk band because I think we dipped our toes in so many styles of music from day one. That approach to song writing and playing shows is still there now. Even if the line-up has changed and things are a lot more powerful and dynamic, we relished in diversity as much then as we do now. You just never know what’s around the corner creatively. It’s always evolving and changing and finding new directions is exactly what this band is all about.”

Can you tell us about the band’s connection with Peach Fish?

“Well (singer/guitarist), Deb and I have been doing acoustic duo shows for a long time. But despite our best efforts, those shows would invariably end up being billed as brindle gigs. So we had a case where people were seeing the duo show, thinking it was brindle and then showing up to see the next brindle gig and getting quite a shock to see the full band in full swing. We felt it was important to end the confusion and decided to give the duo it’s very own identity… besides, we rarely, if ever, play brindle songs as a duo.”