Q&A: Blue Diner — From House Shows to BIGSOUND

Photo credit: Nathan Rathsam (@reasonablynathan)

Meanjin's (Brisbane) dreamgaze four-piece band, Blue Diner, have been paving their own way from DIY house shows to a BIGSOUND showcase slot, all off the back of their debut album Disc 2 released this year. Known for call-and-response vocals layered over hazy, wall-of-noise soundscapes, the band draws influence from Horse, Jumper of Love, Feeble Little Horse and Slow Pulp, blending it all into something soft, loud and dreamy in equal measure.

I caught up with Tim, Rosa and Jarren from Blue Diner with only one week to go until BIGSOUND. We discussed everything from the making of Disc 2 and their love for house shows and playing local gigs, collaborating with (Heaps Normal) on their upcoming tour, to the reality of touring on a shoestring budget and what they're hoping to get out of BIGSOUND week.

How's it going, how has BIGSOUND prep been?

Tim: "It's probably been more hectic for me than anyone else because I've been organising all the meetings and interviews for next week. But today we had a rehearsal and finalised our set list, which is cool. I'm going to put up some posters of our set times around the Valley after this."

Rosa: "We did a rehearsal yesterday, just me and Jarren. So hopefully we sound good by the time BIGSOUND rolls around."

Jarren: "We did a lot of rehearsals today with three run-throughs. Just to get it back into shape, I guess."

Congrats on your album Disc 2. It's an album that should be listened to on stereo speakers from start to finish. "Trucks" is so nostalgic for me, any particular bands that influenced the writing and production?

Rosa: "We were listening to a lot of Slow Pulp, Armlock, Shower Curtain, Feeble Little Horse and this band is called Freight from New South Wales."

Tim: "A lot of the bands we like have released albums that go for that listen-from-start-to-finish feel. Armlock's first album is like that. So that was a big inspiration and Freight too, their album is a listening journey, you've got to hear it in one sitting. So that was kind of the main inspiration."

Rosa: "We also wanted to make a shorter album and a lot of the bands we were listening to had short albums too. Armlock, Feeble Little Horse. So we were like, yeah, let's do something like that."

What was the process like writing this album?

Jarren: "It was pretty casual. We had a bunch of songs and that sounded good together when we played them live. Some songs came at the last minute, some we argued about. We just realised some songs sounded good, then decided we should do an album, so we did."

Tim: "When it comes to writing, we all chip in on different parts. Sometimes someone brings a whole finished song, or just a riff and we work on it together. Or Rosa writes a melody and we all add our own parts. Everyone's written lyrics at different points across the album and previous releases. It's very collaborative."

"We had an EP we were working on but we thought it was going in too different a direction, so we scrapped it. We hadn't released music in a while, so we thought, let's just put a bunch of songs together and make an album instead. Recording itself took about 10 days spread across two weeks (with breaks for shows), all done in Melbourne with Local The Neighbour/Dave's attic studio."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRZiNw_xpcU

You guys call your music "dreamgaze." There's a kaleidoscopic, ethereal feeling when I listen to your music. If Disc 2 was a place, what would it look like? Is it somewhere real, somewhere from an actual dream, or something you've made up entirely?

Jarron: "It's like a beach at night. That might sound calm, but to some people that's scary  especially if you're swimming in the ocean at night."

Tim: "Yeah, we kind of all agreed that was the vibe. So it's like a very still beach, but like nighttime, like midnight stars."

"When we were on tour, we played a show in Sunshine Coast and we all went to the beach afterwards at night time. That kind of feels how the album feels as well. It was a bit scary when we swam though, because people told us there were sharks in the water."

You've done DIY house shows and proper venue tours this year. How are you approaching a festival/industry crowd differently, if at all?

Jarren: "I would say we're less silly when it comes to things like the official stuff, but when you're at the house, you can just kind of say stuff and laugh and have silly props."

Tim: "Yeah. When we do house shows, we always like to throw in a fun cover or just joke around or take our time. But I guess we're a bit more serious and structured with the showcases. We'll see how we go. Not too much difference. Like we still do our same set, just less funny." 

Rosa: "Yeah, I get more nervous for serious events like this."

Touring's clearly been the main focus for you as a band right from the start even when it would've been an out-of-pocket investment early on. Has it gotten more financially viable as you've gone along and how do you think touring that much early on has paid off for you guys now?

Tim: "Jack and I used to be in a band together before this and we toured. We would have the greatest time on our first tour, so we wanted to do that as soon as possible with blue diner, just for the experience of hanging out with your friends, going on a road trip, playing shows. It also helped going to Sydney early, obviously we played to tiny crowds, five or ten people, sometimes less. But the next time, when we released music, there were more people who knew about us. It slowly grew. Now Sydney's actually our biggest audience, bigger than Brisbane, which is pretty cool."

"As for the financial side it's never really been financially viable. Every time we go to Sydney, we still drive because it just saves money. We fly to Melbourne because it's too far to drive. But if we didn't have like merch, we would just be running on a loss all the time. We just treat the tour as a holiday and like we're not expecting to make money out of it, but just like exposure and stuff."

What are you hoping to get out of Bigsound? Are there particular people or types of people you're hoping to connect with, or are you going in with an open mind?

Tim: "A bit of both. We really want to get a booking agent and I think we've seen a lot of Bigsound artists, like the next year after they play, they often go overseas. So it'd be cool to try and link up with some international industry people. Otherwise, I'm just kind of open to anyone who reaches out who's keen to meet up. I'm happy to meet up just to get to know new people and hear what they have to say. There's one person I'm meeting from the US who looks after a community radio station over there and he said he'd be keen to play blue diner."

Is there anyone else on the BIGOSOUND lineup you're keen to check out?

Tim: "I’m keen to see Blue Diner, Koady and Double Date. Keen to see Public Figures. I want to see Zach from Hockey Dad, he's doing his solo stuff. Lady Hawk will be cool to see because I've loved some of those songs forever. I don't know too many of the artists, honestly, I'll just come along, see some random things and see how it goes."

Photo credit: Blue Diner

You guys are about to head on tour again with Local The Neighbour, it’s your second tour this year. Is there anything about this particular tour you're excited to try for the first time? And what made you want to build this tour with Local The Neighbour specifically?

Tim: "We're taking a bit of a break after this tour, so it's our last run of shows for a while. We'd actually been planning this tour with Dave (Local The Neighbour) since before BIGSOUND was even announced, so it was kind of crazy when we both ended up on the lineup. We've always wanted to do shows with him and I think our audiences overlap pretty well, so it'll be cool for people to catch both sets.

"For our Sydney show, we're doing a collaboration with Heaps Normal and they're doing a limited edition run of shirts and then also doing some CDs in the style of vinyl. So we are super excited about that."

There's a conversation right now about letting albums breathe, not rushing straight back into the studio just because the industry expects it. How does that sit with you as a band? Are you the type to let Disc 2 sit and resonate, or are you already wanting to write again?

Jarren: "I'm very keen to write because a lot of the band members are sick of playing the same songs."

Rosa: "We're only not writing right now because we're just focusing on BIGSOUND. But I think after all of these last five shows, I'd be keen to write during our break because I am getting very bored of playing our songs. It's been like two years straight of playing the same songs."

Tim: "I like bands that take a break rather than constantly pushing out music. Letting things breathe gives us time to properly flesh out the next project. Recording and mixing takes a long time and we don't want to rush something out. We'll let Disc 2 sit, maybe put out something smaller while we work on the bigger thing. No pressure though."

Five years from now, what's the one venue or festival you'd love to be playing?

Tim: "I think it'd be cool to play any festival overseas but I still hope in five years we're sometimes playing small DIY venues too, like a house show, or coming back to play the Junk Bar."

Jarren: "Honestly I just really enjoy doing rehearsals together, anywhere, any house. No real goals beyond that."

Rosa: "We have this fan from Brazil, and he's like, 'You guys should play a festival in Brazil, your sound is what they all really love.' There's this crazy festival that happens over there, I forget the name of it, but his friend runs it, and he's like, 'You guys should do that one.' So maybe that one."

You can catch Blue Diner playing BIGSOUND this week and on their East Coast tour this month performing with Local The Neighbour. Check the show poster below for more details.