Again And Again

Chris Abrahams speaks with an endearing sense of awe when discussing The Necks. The pianist founded the trio with bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer Tony Buck nearly 25 years ago. Since then, the group have released 16 albums and performed countless concerts around the world. Nick Cave and Brian Eno are both fans of the band's work. Somehow, Abrahams still seems a little surprised by the band's accomplishments.

“We didn't really have any long-term conceptions when we started out with this stuff. When we first started playing, we didn't even think we'd play live,” he explains. “For the first few months, we really just wanted to jam. We came upon this way of playing music together that we found really therapeutic and really great to do. We didn't really think about anyone else listening to it.

“I mean, for the first five years of the group, we would play maybe three gigs a year, in Sydney,” the pianist laughs. “I think, to a certain extent, yeah, we were surprised anyone else actually liked listening to it. Then again, we enjoyed doing it and it's only natural to assume that if we enjoyed doing it, someone would enjoy listening to it. That said, I don't think there's necessarily a difference between doing and listening in The Necks.”

The Necks don't make the sort of music with which one would feasibly build a career. Their live shows are vast, exclusively improvised performances. Their records are elaborately finessed slabs of abstract sound. While they've never drastically altered their sound or approach, neither The Necks nor their commentators have as yet managed to sum up their sound. Theirs is a profile built around vagaries and aphorisms.    

“It's interesting. I think there are different territories where we mean different things to different people. You know, in Europe, we get a lot of confusion. Are we a jazz band? Are we a 'new music' band? Are we like a jam band?” Abrahams reflects. “You know, we'll play a jazz festival and not really fit in at all. Fortunately, Australia and the UK just seem content to let us do whatever it is that we do.”

Yet, still they continue. In spite of their membership long having since been scattered to the four geographical winds (Abrahams spends a lot of time in the UK, Swanton in Sydney and Buck in Berlin) and each member operating a number of side projects (Abrahams, for example, has played with Midnight Oil and the Laughing Clowns), they still tour Australia every year and continue to release albums to considerable acclaim.

“Honestly, I'm actually not surprised we're still together,” Abrahams says philosophically. “Because it wasn't really set up as a 'we're going to make it big!' kind of thing. We were never going to be that band who moved into a slum in London to get a record contract. You know, in the '80s, it was all about making huge sacrifices in pursuit of some massive goal – and The Necks has never been a goal-oriented project.

“You know, we've never had huge clashes about what direction we should go in with the band. We've tended not to worry about that sort of thing. Everything's split three ways. There's no songwriter. We all contribute equally. We don't have a manager. We lucked out, really. I've been in goal-oriented projects and they have fallen apart – largely because of those pressures, I think.

“I think if we had a motto it would almost certainly be, 'One thing leads to another' in Latin,” he chuckles. “If any of us knew Latin, anyway.”

The Necks will be playing the following dates:

Wednesday 6 February - Byron Bay Community Centre, Byron Bay NSW
Thursday 7 February - Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 10 February - Lizotte's, Newcastle NSW
Wednesday 13 February - The Basement, Sydney NSW
Thursday 14 February - The Basement, Sydney NSW
Saturday 23 February - Kings Park, Perth WA
Friday 22 March - Castlemaine Festival, Castlemaine VIC
Saturday 23 March - The Street Theatre, Canberra ACT