Just Churning Through 'The Old Favourites' Would Be The Death Of The Clouds

Sydney outfit The Clouds were a key component of the alt-rock boom that shook Australia in the early '90s, building a strong following with their infectious mix of hazy psych and rough-hewn rock'n'roll.

Based around the undeniable chemistry between founding members and songwriters Jodi Phillis (guitar/vocals) and Trish Young (bass/vocals), The Clouds released four strong albums and a raft of singles and EPs - becoming a mainstay of the national scene and even making decent inroads overseas - before sadly pulling up stumps in 1997.

To many, The Clouds were the epitome of unfulfilled potential; never quite scaling the lofty industry heights they were so clearly capable of, but sometimes leaving behind a strong body of music is more than enough.

Inevitably back in 2011 The Clouds returned for some reunion shows, but this year they upped the ante considerably with the release of the Zaffre EP - their first new music in some 20 years - which they've just followed up with buoyant new single Beautiful Nothingness, a track more upbeat and joyous than anything they emitted even in their heyday.

"There's nothing more abhorrent to us [than] to just be seen as a nostalgic band who just come out and play the old favourites," Phillis smiles. "I wish we could say the old hits, but we didn't really have any hits, unfortunately - Triple M doesn't play any of our songs every hour on the hour. But with people who came to our shows, we certainly have a bunch of favourite songs that we could just keep going out and churning through over and over, but that would be the death of us as a band. New music it is.

"[Beautiful Nothingness] is very happy and very poppy. I don't think we've done anything like this before. It's just how it panned out, it's a natural thing. Nothing is ever that conscious with us, really. Obviously we've all grown and gone in separate directions, but when we're together and make music it just is The Clouds, that's all there is to it and we don't have to think about it."

Phillis is quick to admit that the innate bond she shares with Young is a major feature of The Clouds' aesthetic. "That's just a freaky, weird thing," she chuckles. 'We didn't know each other before the band, we weren't friends or anything and didn't mix in the same circles - we were just kind of introduced by Peter Oxley of the Sunnyboys. I worked at Mambo Graphics in Alexandria and Trish's boyfriend worked there as well, and we got introduced because Peter knew I was looking to start a band and was looking for a bass player, and just from that first moment I think we just kind of impressed each other with our songs.

"It was just very easy musically and very natural, and we both kind of propelled each other to do better and better. There was competition as well for years, when you're younger just being in a band together is like four people in a marriage basically, and all that was really hard. But we've come through and now Trish and I are like sisters - we're just very well matched and we understand each other, and we can go really fast. We can move really fast with our ideas and understand each other very easily."

In their initial tenure The Clouds seemed always on the move - constantly touring or working on a new release - and Phillis admits that they were very ambitious on the creative front. "I'm an ambitious person, not for the fame and fortune thing but I just can't stay still," she reflects. "I need to feel that I'm moving forward or progressing or growing, it's just how I am. And Trish is the same, musically, although she's not as driven as I am - it's just in my nature, I can't help it and have kind of come to accept it. So I wouldn't say we were ambitious in terms of trying to take over the world, but I'd say that we were really ambitious creatively.

"And that is something we all bond with - we couldn't be told what to do or how to do it. We got in trouble with our record label because they wanted us to repeat [acclaimed 1991 debut] Penny Century because that was a high selling album and they wanted us to do that again, but that was just the worst, most boring, frustrating thought for us to have to do that. It was, like, 'Are you kidding me?' We had to explore new things and that's what we continue to do."