Hope Diamond

Thu 30th Oct, 2008 in Features

Hope Diamond has been gigging in Melbourne for 6 months, and recorded their debut EP Costume Drama over a long, cold Melbourne winter. Costume Drama is inspired by America’s Great Lakes, Death Valley and the rolling fog of San Francisco. It features beautiful evening hour harmonies, shoe gazing reveries and the multi-instrumental talents of Jed, Steve and Zoë. On the eve of their Adelaide show Zoë Barry sheds some more light on the goings on in this band.

Are you looking forward to touring Adelaide? “It would be a bit grandiose to call our one gig a tour,” Zoë thought. “But we are definitely looking forward to playing in Adelaide. Maybe when we stop for petrol in Tailem Bend we could play a few tunes and then it would be a tour.”

What have you heard about the Adelaide scene? “Good things, good things. We are really looking forward to hearing Horse and Cart play live, and of course The Sea Thieves.”

Do you have a favourite spot here? “Having helped paint the place, we have a special affinity with the Jade Monkey and its magnificent owners, Zac and Naomi. The venue has done such great things for live music in South Australia.”

The band name is interesting, is there any special significance? “Well,” Zoë paused. “It is a supposedly cursed diamond that lives in the Smithsonian Institute. Stories abound about who owned it and who stole it from who, and the bizarre bad luck that ensued. We like inanimate objects that over the centuries attain infamy.”

What can punters expect on this tour? “We will be launching our EP Costume Drama at our gig/tour, reproducing the recorded songs live fairly faithfully thanks to loops and sequencing. To be specific, punters will hear Steve playing drums, Jed playing guitars and singing, and Zoë playing bass and keys and singing. We are happy to be playing with Horse and Cart and The Sea Thieves on the night, two great bands.”

Is there any new material in the works? “This is our first gig in Adelaide, so it will be all new to Adelaide ears,” Zoë said. We have been writing together for a year and gigging for about six months, so everything is still in a state of development and refinement.”

How is that progressing? “We just finished a month long residency in Melbourne playing Sundays at the Marquis of Lorne, which was a great chance to experiment with songs and figure out what works live and what doesn’t. There are pretty severe noise restrictions at a lot of venues in Melbourne, including that one, so Steve (our drummer) is looking forward to being able to belt his drums again and make some real noise after a series of quiet gigs.”

Is there much of a departure from what we already know? “Some people may possibly remember previous bands we were in, including The Miltons, Simple Man, Modicom, Girls and Adam and Bergerac,” Zoë rattled off. “Those bands covered a range of styles but always with a focus on the texture of the sound, and combining samples and loops with live instruments. We are still following that path but are probably more disciplined now, focussing on melody and harmonies and what we think a song needs to really work, rather than incorporating every possible sound and special effect we can come up with. We are more interested in affect now.”

Does the process of writing and recording get any easier? “Yes it does,” Zoë answered. “We have been writing and playing music together in various bands for over ten years, but this trio combination is a new thing and we have discovered a fairly telepathic way of writing music together, collaborative and intuitive. It feels like we have a shared imaginary world that we can now tap into. Don’t need to talk much; often fragments of music arrive to us separately and then fit together sweetly. We have the luxury of a good home studio, and Jed is an engineer and producer. We know the sounds we like and he knows how to create them.”

Is it hard not covering the sound ground again? “No, there are too many sounds to create, words to write, melodies to find, songs to chase. A new idea feeds another new idea, and we push each other along.”

Does experience make you picky about what makes a good song and how it sounds? “Listening to lots of music makes you fascinated in what makes a good song, and I’m currently thinking it’s all about the intention; whether the song has integrity. It’s a delicate balance realising the potential of a song without leading it astray. I love songs that don’t second guess themselves.”

What do you see as the next big challenge for Hope Diamond? “Heptathlon?”

Hope Diamond plays the Jade Monkey on Friday 31 October.

Further information can be found at:
http://www.thehopediamond.com.au
http://myspace.com/costumedrama
http://www.basedonatruestory.com.au