Never a band that’s happy simply standing still, picking a musical world and inhabiting it, Sidewinder have turned their knack for reinvention into an art form on their new album, Tangerine. With producer Paul McKercher, the band have fashioned an album that’s not only a solid collection of essential guitar-pop and searing rock drama, but is also one of the most sonically fascinating albums to be heard this year. The single immediately preceding the album, the impossibly memorable Here She Comes Again, provided some early clues to the direction the album would take; a glittering pop song where melody is paramount, the decidedly psychedelia-influenced production recalling the heady and wildly inventive days of late 60s English pop. And almost unintentionally, it’s taken Sidewinder into a phase of remarkable change in both sound and attitude. It’s certainly not what many expect from the Sidewinder they thought they had neatly categorised;
it’s such pigeonholing which has recently been frustrating the band’s co-songwriter Nick Craft substantially.
"I don’t know... We’ve been asked the question all through our career, ever since we started putting out records - why have you changed from the last one?" Nick says resignedly. "And that’s easy to explain - we are a band who does that. It’s strange, because sometimes you get accused of having your musical compass broken, by some journalists or some fans. And then other times you’re accused of standing still. It’s very strange, I don’t understand it, I don’t understand at all. As far as I’m concerned, I’m in a pretty fighting mood about it at the moment. I stupidly read all of the reviews for the album, and while a lot of them have been really good, some of them make me want to punch people. And I will." Over what, exactly? "Things that sound really personal. Things which sound as though someone’s got a record, picked it up and decided they’re not going to like it and they’re going to try to find out why they don’t. I really don’t understand. We’re a band who’s interested in a lot of different kinds of
music - our eyes and ears are constantly being opened to new records, new sounds... if people want bands to stay the same, there are lots of them out there."
The sheer aural complexity of much of the album does come as a surprise, though. Regardless of the time and that the production may bring to some listeners’ minds, there’s no denying that it works well at its intended task of enhancing the songs’ up-front melodies and exciting asides.
"We wanted to do something which was a bit more complex that Atlantis," Nick explains, "because Atlantis really is the sound of four guys in one room playing a song. This time we wanted it to be the sound of four guys in a studio making music, and that’s pretty much what we did. In some cases all of us would have a pretty clear vision about what we wanted to achieve, but in other cases it was like throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks. We did whatever was demanded by what we were working on."
Did the production style end up influencing the songs’ performance, though?
"Yes and no. We bought a four-track before we started recording this album, and Martin and I both recorded maybe fifteen or sixteen songs each. A lot of it was just with acoustic guitars and vocals, maybe a bit of drums. Going by those limitations that your face on a four-track, it did sound very lo-fi - you have to pan the drums hard right so you can actually hear the guitar and the vocals, all that kind of shit. Once we were in the studio, it was really just about what sounded good in the mixing stage."
Of course, reference points are king in the current musical climate, and it’s the constant pegging of the album in reviews as being a retro-influenced work that annoys Nick Craft more than anything else.
"I’m not picking bones here," he says, "but I’ve been completely mystified by how people have seen this as being a retro album. I guess some of the sounds can be pinpointed as retro, but I think the way we’ve actually put them together is thoroughly modern. That’s been one of the bones I’ve picked with a lot of the way this album’s been looked at. Here She Comes Again has been the single, obviously, and that is a beautiful, really simple pop song, and yes, I think that is the most retro thing on there."
And possibly it’s this song that has put reviewers’ minds solidly in 60s mods...
"Yeah, I think so. But there are maybe four songs on the album that could be considered as being like that. I mean, you’ve got a song like Mummy / Daddy on there, for Christ’s sake. Or Mad Woman Of The Universe, or One More Day - I don’t think that’s a retro song, it’s just a song. The irritating thing about it is that I can see a lot of bands, both Australian and overseas acts, getting lauded for simply exhuming the corpse of some 60s band." Nick muses for a second, then almost apologetically adds, "I must be coming across as being so sensitive and protective..."
More as misunderstood, actually...
"Well, I do feel that way to a degree. But look, I’m very proud of this album, and I feel really personally about it too. That’s maybe why I don’t want it to be misunderstood."
The next single - still not chosen - may go some of the way to redressing the balance; after all, it was only two singles ago that the band were exploding speakers with the phenomenal rock euphoria of Titanic Days (thankfully included on the album) without the slightest hint of what was to come...
"Singles are always a weird issue - you’ve got to try and balance between what you want to be seen as and what the record company thinks they can seel you on. Because after all, it is a business, and that is always a consideration."
It’s quite obvious that Tangerine is the album that Sidewinder have been waiting years to make, and now that it’s done, Nick and his band are not about to let people discover it through false impressions. Unlike its predecessor Atlantis, the creation of this album has been an enjoyable experience for Sidewinder, and they’re obviously more than delighted with the results.
"I have only happy memories of making this record," Nick points out. "Atlantis was made in a different kind of vibe - we were all sick as dogs, and I couldn’t come into the studio for two days because I was so sick. But it’s good thinking about making this one - I live just up the road from the studio where we made it at, and I walk past there every second day."
In the end, the defining of an album is often a job best handled by the songwriters; asked how he would describe Tangerine to someone thinking about buying a copy, Nick muses for a while, and then tries to sum his record up in a paragraph - not an easy take given the disc’s diversity.
"Well, I think it’s an interesting album. That’s pretty much what I think. Interesting, and it takes on board a lot of interesting influences. I listened to it for the first time and three-and-a-half-months about a week ago. And I thought it was excellent. I was listening to it being really detached, and I wasn’t thinking about if I’d screwed up a vocal or things I wish I hadn’t done. I was listening to it from a listener’s point of view, and I really, really enjoyed it. For me, it’s a record which functions on many levels. And that whole 60s rock thing - any musicians worth his salt is going to like that kind of stuff, because it was the birth of something very special in terms of music - it was when music became... colours and shapes."
- By Anthony Horan.
INPRESS MAGAZINE - Wednesday 5th November 1997.
