The Music

Mon 9th Feb, 2009 in Features

Adam Nutter, lead guitarist of The Music, never went to university. He almost didn’t finish high school, in fact, due to being offered a big record deal at age sweet sixteen. So it’s kind of funny that his band is touring Australia to play at all the major universities’ orientation weeks on the Big O tour.

“I don’t give a shit where I play,” says Adam. “I can play anywhere so long as there are a few people. I’m not fussed because I’m not a student or anything. I mean it’s great that there will be a lot of students there, because young people like our music. It is a good thing being in a university environment because there will be a lot of young people there that we can excite with our music. If get a chance to play in front of a lot of people, we can usually win them over.”

And considering he doesn’t know any of the other bands on the tour, it should be an interesting one. He doesn’t even really know The Fratellis. “Well, actually, I think I’ve heard of the Fratellis. I know they did that fucking really annoying song. But that’s all really. I know they’re really big in this country and they’ve sold shitloads of records and they’re Scottish. That’s all I know about them. Okay, they look like really nice guys, really lovely guys, but their music doesn’t really do a great deal for me.”

As for the tour itself, though, Nutter is somewhat more upbeat. “I’m looking forward to it actually,” he admits. “We love coming to Australia. It’s great with the weather, lots of really good people. We love working with the people and all the friends we’ve made out there.”

The space between the albums that The Music has put out is intriguingly large – two or four years sometimes. Nutter explains that most of the reason for that was to do with relations within the band. “After the second album we didn’t really do much. We got really odd and upset with it all – hated it, didn’t want to do it anymore. We’d been touring so much; we’d been toured in to the ground. We were so depressed and we hadn’t written any music for ages because we can’t write on the road. We’re not that sort of band – we kind of need to be comfortable and at home.

“So we’d been touring for a year and I felt like I had no purpose in life. I wasn’t able to write music, I was just going around the world in a suitcase playing the same fucking songs all the time. I hated it and it just got to the point where I thought, – œI don’t want to do this any more.’ We kind of fell out as friends as well, because we spent so much time with each other. We’re different people and we need our own space. We’d been crammed in to a bloody bus in America for six months or whatever and at that point you kind of think, – œRight, well, I don’t want to see anyone for another year or so really’.”

All of this doesn’t change the fact that Adam sounds like he loves writing music. “We love performing it as well. Live is the main thing for us really. It’s different for each of us. I mean, I love the studio, but everyone else loves it live and I love it live too. But like when you do it for a year playing the same songs every night and you’ve got no other outlet for your creativity.” Like writer’s block? “Well kind of. You’re also being prevented from writing. It’s like a writer with his hands tied up.”

Tensions within the band could have many roots, and I’m not a psychologist or a counsellor ( Some Kind of Monster style). But the fact that the boys in The Music have known each other for so long might play some part. “Well we’ve kind of known each other for longer than [just since high school]. Like since we were babies. Me and Robert have known each other since we were tiny babies. I’ve known Stu since we were tiny babies too actually. We met Phil when we were 15 or 16.”

I’m sure their parents never expected a world famous rock group to emerge from tiny baby socialising. And sure, they never went to uni, but now they’re playing shows at them in Australia. So take that.

The Music headline The Big O this summer. The festival will be stopping at the following venues.

Thursday 26 February – Queensbridge (over two levels), Melbourne
Friday 27 February – University of Sydney, Manning House
Saturday 28 February – University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus Amphitheatre, Brisbane
Tuesday 3 March – Australian National University Bar and Refectory, Canberra
Thursday 5 March – University of Wollongong, The Great Hall & Uni Bar
Friday 6 March – Newcastle Uni, Bar On The Hill & Outdoor Surrounds