"My favourite highlights... breaking into the old Hydey during renovations to play a secret battery-operated gig to friends and fans. We got front page news... the headline read ‘Anarchy at the Hyde Park’."
Band history in brief? Brown was started by me and Jason Barfoot as a duo in 2005. We all met at various pubs playing gigs. I met the members performing out, decided they were doing great stuff and offered them a spot in the group. The key to a good member of Brown is being able to improvise confidently live, as we don't ever rehearse. Members must also be capable of making music with non-conventional instruments. This is our first album. We have many handmade CDs out there, but this is our first official release. My favourite highlights are being signed by awesome local label Heartless Robot, having a local feature album on RTR fm and breaking into the old Hydey during renovations to play a secret battery-operated gig to friends and fans. We got front page news for that in the Voice newspaper: the headline read 'Anarchy at the Hyde Park'.
Describe your sound. Home-made instrumental, lo-fi, experimental and improvisational noise music. We do finally seem to have developed an actual sound live, but what that is I'm not sure. Influences – I don't listen to much experimental noise music to be honest, making it is much more fun. I do like a lot of the local experimental artists though. Laptop stuff tends to bore me, I don't like staring at a glowing apple icon while the person behind the screen could be checking their emails for all I know. There needs to be a homemade performance factor involved to really get me interested.
Tell us about the album: The album has 11 tracks; it's called Various Shades Of as there are various moods within our music, and almost everything ends up as various shades of brown one day. Album artwork is done by Gidget Duck.
Recording process: It was recorded by myself on VHS tape and a Roland Zip disc recorder then mastered by Jason Hayles on custom-made valve/tube mastering gear. Recorded from 2005 'til 2011. You can find B-sides and free downloads that didn't make the album at bandcamp.brownperth.com.
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Collaborations? We have guest performances on the album by Steve Hughes of Usurper Of Modern Medicine and Injured Ninja, Max Ducker of Mongrel Country/Cellar Sessions, Scott White of Like Junk and Maurice Flavel of Gutterville Splendour Six.
Tell us about the launch: We are all playing on the floor, abandoning the traditional 'band on stage, audience on floor' format. Supports include Sub Ordnance, they are opening the night in the beer garden with a live chainsaw noise performance, not to be missed! It's $5 entry before 10pm, so get there early. I.nO.jaQ is bringing down an amazing experimental instrument you must see and hear to believe, it's an eight-string, synth-controlled pyramid instrument. Kucka, one of my favourite Perthies, is doing her usual mesmerising thing of beauty. Brown's buddies Frozen Ocean will be back from a hiatus to F#*! ear holes. Furchick is doing a solo experimental beer garden set, perhaps involving free haircuts or playing plants. Gilgamesh, a three-drummer dynamite act involving some Usurper Of Modern Medicine dudes. Abe Sada, one of Cat Hope's groups, will rattle the room loose with bass frequencies. Also, there will be amazing projections by Ivan Borgnino. There will be some more freaky random surprise appearances you'll have to be there to see.
What's on the horizon? Dunno 'bout the future, Brown don't think too far ahead. We'll see who calls and just let things evolve naturally. We don't go out and push for things to happen or have specific goals; we do it for the love of noise and sound experimentation. We'll just keep circuit bending a few more toys and keep going to the tip to find more instrument-making junk.