Classic Control Freak

"I guess the Dutch know a thing or two about it, but in this case it's a reference to a scene out of Dostoyevsky's novel Notes From The Underground,” explains Boy & Bear drummer Tim Hart, kindly letting us in on the title of his solo album Milling The Wind. “It's about a person who always has too much to say on every topic.”

If the name's autobiographical, that certainly suits our purpose, which is to find out why the drummer for a highly successful indie-folk outfit would feel the need – and how he'd have the time – to write a solo album on the side. And, just as importantly, what does that mean for the future of Boy & Bear? It's time to mill some serious wind with Mr Hart.

Boy & Bear have been touring and generally being an active, working band over the past couple of years – but it seems that Hart has found the time between stick shifts to write songs for his own album. “Yeah that's right, I wrote these tracks all within the space of 12 months. Actually, I guess the writing was finished in September last year and that's when I started to record.”

To anyone watching Boy & Bear's continued success – not least of which has been 2011's ARIAs sweep – winning five awards – it might be difficult to comprehend Hart's solo album – his creative talents are already evidently recognised by both fans and the Aus' music 'establishment'. But being in Boy & Bear has lacked two key facets for Hart: allowing his own songwriting an outlet, and having the chance to get away from the drum kit. “Songwriting has always been a real passion for me, and definitely my first love,” Hart offers. “I get great opportunities to contribute to the Boy & Bear writing process but with this project it's nice for the genesis of the songs to begin and end with me – it sounds a bit control freakish, doesn't it?” he laughs.

With a self-confessed love of 'classic' folk music, perhaps Boy & Bear hasn't been exactly the right forum to express something that seems potentially more purist than the indie-folk blend he's been collaborating on for the past three years. Hart thanks his music-loving parents for the inspiration, but denies that the album is in any way a history lesson. “My influences in this area came directly from my parents' record collection. They were what I had access to growing up and what I loved. For me, writing this album doesn't feel like digging far back into history, it just was always something that was around.”

But just what is 'classic' folk music anyway? One person's Bob Dylan is another person's Fairport Convention. Is it Neil Young or Chumbawumba? “Classic to me is about the quality of songwriting, and the ability to tell what I perceive to be honest stories about whatever was happening for them at that time. I try to achieve the same through my tunes but don't pretend to be an expert at it… yet” he chuckles.

Honesty seems to be at the core of not only what Hart enjoys in classic folk, but what he wants to write himself – and perhaps why he needs to write and record by himself. “The concept of honesty in songs is something that's pretty important to me, as I'm a writer who writes from personal experience. I know not everyone writes like this, and that's wonderful because if all we had was biographical narrative it'd be pretty dark and boring, I do speak metaphorically in some songs, but I still try to present the narrative in a way I feel is genuine. Maybe I do this to avoid the regret – and possibly the consequences – of being a compulsive 'over sharer'” he offers.

Within folk music writing – to simplify perhaps a little too much – there seem to be the 'communicators' and the 'storytellers'; those who share something true and those who continue the tradition of telling mythical tales, a Bardic tradition often associated with Celtic folk music. Asked whether he feels any attraction to the storytelling folk tradition, Hart says “I'm just at this point really interested in how to tell a story and for me that's where I tend to use my imagination.”

As successful as Boy & Bear have been thus far, Hart perceives the transience of any currently-cool musical style, in contrast to the 'classics' like Dylan and Young (perhaps not Chumbawumba). ”The term 'indie folk' I find to be another example of popular culture that is here and then gone quickly once people have figured out what the next cool thing is,” he proffers. “Ironically, it seems to be a label people like to attach in order to give the impression of being outside pop culture and non conformist. I don't really buy into that for my music. I suppose it's just plain old folk.”

Writing his own album has given Hart more than just a chance to 'over-share' – he has been able to return to playing guitar and keys. “I play mostly guitar on the record and also some piano. These were instruments I grew up playing, and in many ways they feel far more natural to me than the drums do. Rhythmically it helps to have the drumming background for sure when putting a record together, but writing melodies and harmonies is something I really love.”

With Boy & Bear still active, but Hart now having experienced the joys of autonomy, one could wonder whether he might find it difficult to go back to a collaborative structure. But even his solo album was still kind of a Boy & Bear collaboration. “We were all completely on the same page when it came to my solo project and the guys are massively supportive,” he assures. “I think making the record, if anything, enhances my contribution to Boy & Bear. We've been busy the whole time and even during the recording, the boys – with the exception of Killian, who was on his honeymoon – came up and hung out at some point during the process. I feel really fortunate to be in the band. There's a lot of support and respect for anything one of us wants to do.”

For Boy & Bear, the show goes on – so these shows may be our only chance for a while to see Hart emerge from the drum rise. “I won't be taking any time off the band apart from my [current] solo tour… at least in the immediate future… For the remainder of the year I'll be promoting my album and writing album two with Boy & Bear.”

Tim Hart will be playing the following shows:

Wednesday 19 September - Lizotte's, Kincumber NSW
Thursday 20 September - Lizotte's, Newcastle NSW
Friday 21 September - The Vanguard, Sydney NSW
Saturday 22 September - Yours & Owls, Wollongong NSW
Sunday 23 September - Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba NSW
Thursday 27 September - Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD
Friday 28 September - The Loft, Gold Coast QLD