LACHLAN X. Morris is renown for being a prolific songwriter. But on his second album Premeditations, the Newcastle retro-rocker wanted to push the boundaries on what he could create in the studio with his producer Fraser Marshall.
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“Opposed to sticking to what I know, I tried a couple of new things to see what I could do with the guitar,” Morris said. “I was feeling a bit more freedom in the studio to really push myself.
“A lot of the songs were already there in structure and lyrics, but production was pretty wide open to essentially try whatever worked or what we were excited by.”
This spirit of experimentation led to a decidedly denser and heavier psychedelic sound than his debut album Ouija Board Heartbreak Tambourine. Fans of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Brian Jonestown Massacre are likely to be impressed.
Several of the songs even feature racing radio broadcasts which were picked up by Morris’ guitar pedal then played backwards.
“It kind of sounds like some alien radio broadcast and it really ties in with the theme of the album which is all very technology based and asking how reliant we are on technology,” he said.
Morris will launch Premeditations on Friday at the Stag and Hunter Hotel where the album will be available on vinyl before it’s released digitally next month.
BODIE’S UNI WIN
NEWCASTLE’S dominance of the UniSounds band competition continued last week when Bodie Werleman’s Mr Sauce was judged the winner at Sydney’s Lansdowne Hotel.
Bodie’s victory follows Jones The Cat’s victory last year in a five-act final that also included Newcastle’s dave and Bravo Victor. Fellow University of Newcastle entrants The Pits and Nelipot also reached this year’s seven-act decider.
The UniSounds win comes complete with an international recording deal with Canadian indie label Dine Alone Records and a promotions package.
GROWING TALL
MUCH like the career of its festival director Holly Rankin, aka Jack River, Grow Your Own music festival is gathering major momentum.
On Tuesday the Forster-Tuncurry festival dropped the line-up for its third edition on January 12 and it’s seriously stacked. Sydney Brit-pop revivalists DMAs headline the bill, alongside Wollongong surf-rock buzz band Hockey Dad, The Preatures and Jack River herself. Completing the list is triple j favourite Mallrat, Totty, Goons Of Doom, Mini Skirt and Newcastle’s Belle Badi.
Tickets are on sale at 9am Thursday via moshtix.
FESTIVAL CARE
SAFETY at music festivals is again in the headlines after two people died from drug overdoses at the Defqon.1 in Sydney two weeks ago, which has subsequently re-ignited debate over pill testing.
University of Newcastle professor Alison Hutton will deliver a lecture at 6pm on Thursday at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music to outline strategies for safer policy around festivals.
