SpiderbaitSpiderbait play The Zoo on Saturday.
Writing this story means confessing to one of the great shames of my life. I was watching Sex & The City the night Spiderbait got their rockin little arses played. Four On The Floor cranking out as Carrie stacked it on the runway mid fashion show. Shit, I thought, that sounds like Spiderbait.
“Who is this American band that sound like Spiderbait,” Kram laughs.
Aussie rock’s finest hour? Well maybe not quite that magnitude, but definitely nothing to shy away from.
“It’s one of my favourite shows,” he relates. He’s not embarrassed, either. “I think the weirdest thing about the whole experience was not that we got it, but that it was how they used it. It was like the main feature of the show, and we were just blown away. We’ve got out publishers in the States to thank for that. It was really good to see that song done in a glammy way like that too, so we were wrapped.”
Spiderbait, as you may well know, have never been ones to shy away from a little glam action.
“Yeah, we all grew up with Gary Glitter, but we’re not allowed to like him these days,” he laughs. “We all taped the show. It was really cool. We do get a lot of film stuff and TV and adds offered to us in the States and in Australia. It’s just a really good way to give your songs another forum. Particularly songs that aren’t really well known songs amongst our Australian fans, or songs that we don’t play live a lot. It’s worth making them in the studio and using them for that.”
Even to the casual listener, Spiderbait can be quite a challenging sonic experience. From the band’s formative days through to their current Flight Of Wally Funk opus, they’ve been mixing and matching sounds and genres as they see fit, not to some set marketing scheme. Must make it hell to break into the US market, who seem to be constantly looking for the next band in a box, easily fitting an established genre profile, and willing to pump out the same track over and over again. Spiderbait just ain’t that band.
“One of the reasons that we are getting heard over there is that most of the stuff is for film and TV, not so much trying to push the band or sell us as a band. This way they look at the song for what it is without trying to push the band into a little slot or anything. It suits us really well. Realistically it’s no different to how it’s ever been, and even in Australia when people come and see one of our shows they expect a live three piece rocking jammy show, but on record it’s a different kettle of fish, and I’ve always sort of thought that the studio is the studio and the stage is the stage and you don’t really have to do one song that covers both. I think there’s been songs on the last couple of albums where it’s been on person’s song and everyone’s just gone, that’s cool, let’s do it. Everyone’s always been very supportive in that respect.”
“I do like doing some of the more live sounding songs in the studio and I like trying to bring some of the more studio driven songs to the stage. Realistically it’s good to have a foot in both camps. Not only are we getting things over there, but we’re getting to do interesting songs.”
“When we play live it’s me and Whit and Janet hanging out and living for the moment and trying to make it spontaneous. Whenever you see us there’s things that come up that are a bit of a mixture. In the studio we’ve got all this equipment and all these tools and ideas. We’ve mad not to utilise them. If you just made every record exactly as you play live you’d stand more of a chance of getting signed in the States and pigeonholed, but you’d lead a much less interesting existence.”
Do you have a preference?
“When you’re in the studio you want to get out and kick out the jams, and when you’re on stage you want some control over what happens. Live playing’s kind of like an exercise session, and bit of sport. You get that great band moment that not because it’s rehearsed, but because you’re all communicating and into it. It’s just one of those things. Sometimes you want to go out, sometimes you want to stay home.”
