The Whitlams: Moon Units.

The Whitlams

Torch The Moon is in stores now.

“We didn’t want to become more commercial,” Tim Freedman muses, reeling from the effects of an early morning flight. “We wanted to become more interesting.”

If there’s a charge to be levelled at Tim Freedman and his band The Whitlams, it’s hardly going to be one of falling into line with the musical status quo. The ten year anniversary of the release of their Introducing The Whitlams debut is now on the visible horizon, and although the band are adored by fans and radio alike, they’re hardly setting out to tread a well worn commercial path.

Their new disc, Torch The Moon, is no exception to this out of left field rule. All the elements that have made The Whitlams a musical treasure in the past are still evident, yet there’s something exciting and reinvigorated about what they’re doing this time around.

“I think the band has to evolve if it’s to remain relevant,” he states. “This is our attempt to do so. If you get very close to our albums, they’re all very different – it just depends how close you want to stick your face up to it. To the same extent Eternal Nightcap was different to the very rootsy Undeniably The Whitlams, this is very different to the last two albums. I think it’s a bit groovier, and it’s a bit spikier than in the past. I think it’s a bit more assured. I think it’s a little more difficult than our other albums.”

Do you feel more confident with your music and the directions you’re taking the band at the point in time?

“I do feel more confident with the music. The songwriting I’ve just feeling like I always do. It’s just a question of me and a piano late at night, and that hasn’t changed now in ten years. I think that’s good to limit the embarrassing moments a little better, the things that make you cringe a bit a few years later. There’s been moments on old albums where we’ve rushed through things to keep to a budget.”

Such was not the case for the production of Torch The Moon, the band spending almost a year putting the record together.

“This is the first time I haven’t been up against a deadline,” He confirms. “I’ve been able to go back a fiddle with things. Basically I allowed myself twelve months to put this together. I’d been writing songs over the years, but most of it came together at the start of last year. The band came down to a house on the South Coast of New South Wales for four days week for about two months to bang out all the arrangements, and then we moved in to Sydney for nine months with a little time off to recharge the batteries. It’s been quite a different process to the last couple of albums.”

The bond developed over this time between Freedman and musical collaborators Jak Housden (guitars) Terepai Richmond (drums) and Warrick Hornby (bass) is apparent in the effortless and natural musical interplay the quartet display throughout their new record. In fact, The Whitlams current bio proclaims Torch The Moon as the first real band record (as opposed to a Freedman plus musicians album) the act has put together since their 1995 release Undeniably The Whitlams.

“I just took advantage of the fact I have a great band at the moment,” Freedman expands. “It just takes too much energy to work on each song as a separate project with separate musos. The four of us play on pretty much every track.”

Did that make for a more enjoyable experience for you this time around?

“Yeah, it did. I really let go a little bit this time around and let the producer and the other guys do their jobs. Consequently I was a lot more relaxed. I think it’s pretty meaty and pretty strong. There’s a lot of work gone into it.”

If you’re quick, the initial pressing of Torch The Moon features a second bonus disc. Personally, I get pretty pissed when you get an album as soon as it’s out, and six months later it’s repackaged with extras so the hardcore fans either miss out or have to buy a second copy. I pass on my compliments…

“I think it’s fine doing things like that along the track, but I think it’s better to do it for the people who go and get things first. In the past we’ve always had a secret track on the first pressing. I think this is meatier, because this way you get an extra twenty minutes,” he muses before chuckling, “It takes it up to only four minutes less that Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”