For many independent artists in this country, being labelled “the coolest band on the planet right now” by Australian Idol judge Ian – œDicko’ Dickson would spell the end of a career. But for Eddy Current Suppression Ring it was simply another seemingly ironic moment in a year which saw the fiercely independent garage-rockers receive the kind of mainstream recognition usually reserved for the likes of Sneaky Sound System.

There was an ARIA nomination, an AMP Award and a novelty-sized cheque all dished up in honour of their superb sophomore album Primary Colours – recorded in three days for less than $1600. Not a bad year for a couple of lads from Frankston.

Fittingly, ECSR will see out 2009 headlining the Meredith Music Festival, an event at which only three years ago they played the 11am slot to one hundred-odd punters. When I track down Mikey Young, the band’s guitarist and primary songwriter, he is away visiting his parents in an attempt to avoid “phone calls and emails for a couple days.”

Trying to overlook the fact that I have evidently just curtailed said efforts, I chat to Young about the year that has been, the new album and how excited he is to be playing with Tumbleweed.

The last time I interviewed Brendan [ECSR’s vocalist] he was visiting his Mum too.
Which is right around the corner from where I am now!

Good Frankston boys?
[Laughing] Yes we are.

This is your third Meredith – you are becoming somewhat of a house band for the festival.
Yeah, well that’s something I’m actually wary of. I don’t want people to look at the line-up and go, – œOh my God, them again!’

I think it’s actually been nice see you guys play that bill over some years. You have graduated from your daytime slot with the little passionate crowd in front of you to these huge night-time spots.
Woody and all the people that book it have really looked after us and have kept pushing us along the line-up. I think the first year we were in the coveted 11am slot and then I think we had a 2:30 slot then we got a 7 o’clock slot, and I think we have something ridiculous this year, like 11pm.

The party slot I believe.
[Laughing] Yeah, it will definitely be the biggest crowd we have ever played to!

Does that make you nervous at all?
Nah, I don’t think so. I’m excited, but I don’t think I’ll be nervous. I don’t really get that nervous on big stages for some reason, I think ‘cause you feel so distant. But I’m sure it will be overwhelming – thousands of people.

Are you going to have some time out from live shows after Meredith? I know you make a concerted effort to only play when you feel like it and this year has seen you play a lot.
This year was sort of good, because I think we stacked them. A lot of the gigs were at the start of the year and we played a lot and then from about April onwards we pretty much took the winter off and hung low, wrote some songs again and recorded another record.

We feel pretty refreshed now and the summer’s looking pretty busy from December through to Feb, then hopefully our new album comes out. So I don’t think we’ll be getting much rest in the next year cause we have a new record coming out. We’ll probably do something similar – play a fair bit when the record comes out, then hang low over the winter and then go overseas in the colder months.

Do you have much of a following overseas now?
Yeah, now that the album has been released – a label in the UK put it out so it has good distribution through Europe. It’s been on BBC and all the radio stations over there. I keep getting these weird emails from people I never got emails from before.

Does your rise to that level of popularity seem sudden from your end?
Sometimes it feels really gradual you know and it doesn’t feel bizarre. Then other times something really big happens. Weird stuff, like headlining Meredith or winning that prize [- œthat prize’ being the Australian Music Prize] we won and you go, – œGeez how did we end up here, we didn’t mean this to happen?’

Tell me a bit about the new record.
We went back to how we did the first in a way. We just hired out a normal rehearsal room for six hours and just belted it out and the whole album was done in five or six hours and cost nothing. So we’ve sort of gone backwards in way.

I guess when I first started doing the first album I didn’t know what I was doing, I was sort of learning on the job. Which is fine, I like that kind of thing. I guess we’ve got better at playing and I’ve got better at recording – so yeah, I think it sounds really good. The people I have played it to don’t think it sounds cheap and horrible. It actually sounds really good.

Well that is a relief!
[Laughing] Yes well, as good as we are going to sound. We are never going to sound like Def Leppard or anything.

You never know, give it thirty years.
[Laughs] Yeah, maybe.

Was it intentional to go back to recording like the first album? Did you do that so you didn’t get to far ahead of yourself and end up sounding like Def Leppard eventually?
I think there might have been some sort of reaction. I mean the last album was still $1500 in two days, but you know that sort of felt luxurious. We are not trying to do it fast, but that actually felt like too much time, we didn’t need that much time.

You know, our sort of theory is if we can’t play our songs right in just a few times, we shouldn’t be playing them. We are just a live band; we don’t really have any overdubs or anything, so there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to set up and press record and it be done. We either did it well or we didn’t.

We are a pretty simple band, so all we have to do is get it down on tape sounding like us and I think the more we go on the closer I get to that. At this stage I couldn’t even listen to the last couple of albums, because I just didn’t know anymore if I’d done a good job.

Really?
Yeah, I have no idea; I’ve never listened to them since. I just get too frustrated. This time I can actually listen to the record at this stage, and think it is okay. So I think that is a pretty positive sign.

Do you feel any pressure with this release given the response to your last one? I think a lot of people saw it as the album that broke you to a wider audience – you got the AMP, ARIA nominations and Dicko talking about you on breakfast TV?
[Laughing] You realise there is a bit more expectation on you putting out a record. But that’s probably part of the reactionary way we have done this record and gone back to doing it as quick and cheap as we can, you know?

I think by doing it that way and doing it in our rehearsal room we wanted to make it feel like we weren’t even making record; just like we were recording a practice. I think in doing it that way it takes the pressure off thinking, – œGee, we have to make a great record now!’ It was more; let’s just make a record now, who cares. If we like it, we like it. That’s all we’ve ever done and hopefully we surprise as many people have liked as many records as they have.

Meredith has an amazing line-up this year – who are you most excited about playing with?
Aww, I probably got the most excited about Tumbleweed actually.

I think a few people secretly are.
They were my first gig that I ever saw at an under-18s nightclub in Frankston when I was 15. And they became my first sort of favourite band and I bought all their records and had their t-shirts [Laughing].

So you’ll be rocking out up the front to Tumbleweed?
Yeah, there’ll be a bit of reminiscing for sure. I think that is the main one. It’s pretty strong all up this year. I reckon there’ll be a few dudes stoked to see them though.

Indeed. Well, enjoy your holiday.
Yeah a holiday an hour down the road at my Mum’s house! [Laughing] But it keeps me away from phone calls and emails for a couple of days.

And that bonus of home-cooked breakfasts.
Hahaha, I just had pancakes actually.

In addition to a headline slot at Meredith Music Festival, Eddy Current Suppression Ring plays these shows over summer.

Thurs 3 December – Annandale, Sydney [with Thee Oh Sees]
Friday 4 December – The Cambridge, Newcastle [with Thee Oh Sees]
Saturday 5 December – Homebake, Sydney
Saturday 12 December – Meredith Music Festival – check out the timetable
Friday 18 December – Billboard, Melbourne [with Thee Oh Sees]
Sunday 3 January – SOLAR Music Festival, Mornington Racecourse