Tumbleweed

Mon 7th Dec, 2009 in Features

Having made a rollicking return to the stage at Homebake on Saturday, Tumbleweed is looking forward to a special summer. The – œ90s cult heroes will play the opening night of Meredith Music Festival this weekend – and it’s sure to be a treat for punters and other bands alike.

As the – œWeed reunion rolls on, guitarist Lenny Curley lays down the law to FasterLouder’s Melanie Lewis.

Well, shit. Blow the cobwebs of the Spring Valley bong. It’s been a bloody long time since I was wearing decrepit flannel and playing air-guitar to Tumbleweed tunes. Whaddya been up to, old mate? Making music?
We’ve all put out music in a variety of different bands. Richie & the Creeps, Monstrous Blues, The Pink Fits. We have families and jobs.

How come you boys were always so shitty with each other? Is there any truth to the rumour that you kept having barneys over whose turn it was to mull up? Seriously, it was the Curley’s wasn’t it? Relos always punch on.
If you think I’m actually going to take a question like that one seriously and spill the dirt on my own band then you truly are a dickhead. Think about it.

Are you at all aware that the Gen Y kids have been re-living the – œ80s, and that all evidence suggests a – œ90s/grunge resurgence is imminent? Does this amuse or horrify you?
What a load of bullshit. They couldn’t be reliving the same – œ80s I lived in. Op shops were full of treasure; a lot of stuff from the – œ60s and – œ70s was still floating around. There was no need to buy clothes from anywhere else. Blokes use to wear their shorts real short in the – œ80s; we used to buy one-dollar suits and cut the trousers at the knees.

There used to be one hell of an underground pub scene in Sydney back then. It was in sharp contrast to Molly Meldrum’s – œ80s. Those divisions between alternative and mainstream are blurred nowadays and most of the venues that accommodated underground music are dead, being replaced by poker machines, yuppies and sports channels.

From an early age we were into the Hoodoo Gurus and that led us to The Celibate Rifles, New Christs, The Stems, Psychotic Turnbuckles, The Church, The Scientists, Kim Salmon & the Surrealists, The Exploding White Mice, Beasts of Bourbon – check out the Tales from the Australian Underground CDs. We were punters, we experienced a lot of that stuff that happened after – œ86/’87. We had our Australian influences, which educated us and turned us onto such bands as The Stooges, MC5, The Ramones, Velvet Underground and – œ60s garage punk (Nuggets box sets), plus a lot of other music I cant fit in here right now.

As for a grunge revival, that seems a bit odd to me. Grunge was the Seattle sound of the early – œ90s. The punk bands that played in that part of America as well as the same punk influences that inspired our Australian pub scene influenced grunge. However the sound that was developing had a heavy undertone that was inspired by Black Sabbath.

Grunge was uniting punk and early heavy metal, which for many were seen as traditional foes. They joined forces and declared full-scale war on LA cock rock. This is where grunge influenced us – we were free to explore Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer and incorporate its influence. It was OK for us to mix this up with everything we had already learned from the alternative punk that was happening in Australia. If you didn’t like it, tough shit. Music is freedom to do what you like. We were accused of jumping on the grunge bandwagon. That’s not true. We were guilty of being influenced by Black Sabbath.

It does mean you will assume the role of living legends. Sort of like Rolling Stones, but not really. Discuss.
Living legends? Give us a break. We keep it simple, we’ve got some great songs and we want to play them to a lot of people who want to hear them. So please spare us the bullshit.

Did grunge really go away in the first place?
Grunge is an extension of punk, which is an extension of the rebelliousness of rock – œn roll. I once heard Johnny Ramone say that Elvis was one of the first punks and I agree with that. There are some really great records that came out of Seattle and their influence is now tied up with the entire history of rock – œn roll. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Nirvana’s Bleach and Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff. And all these years later I still listen to Love Battery records occasionally.

Let’s not forget that there was a lot of music that came out of Seattle and the surrounding states in that particular area that was crap. Overall, Sub Pop put out a lot of stuff that was very pedestrian. We tried to get onto Sub Pop back in the day, but they weren’t interested. Our whole shtick reminded them of The Grateful Dead (which was extremely uncool), but this was due to our artwork. Our manager back then was always trying to get us to use Ed Fotheringham’s artwork (he did a lot of Mudhoney’s stuff) but we always insisted on using our own.

I actually can’t stand the Grateful Dead, however I’m a huge fan of Rick Griffin and all the artists who worked on the Zap Commix in San Francisco from the – œ60s onwards. Anyway we did a gig in Seattle; we were first on the bill. There were about twenty people there to see us, one of them we recognised as Dave Grohl, who was up the front bopping his head about.

Anyhow, a couple of Deadheads showed up about an hour after we had finished playing. Real-life Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. They saw our ad and thought it looked Grateful Dead-ish so they came to check us out. We somehow met up. They had pure LSD Blue Liquid and they were real generous, so we hung out with them and had a great old time. What I’m getting at is we were outsiders to the Seattle scene – we didn’t understand what was cool and what wasn’t.

Do you reckon there’s actually anything left in the tank for a new recording?
There’s definitely plenty left in the tank. So we will see what happens.

Give us some now-irrelevant gossip on what happened on the Nirvana tour all those years ago. The kids’ll dig it.
There’s nothing I can tell you that you haven’t already heard. I’ll say it again: they were genuinely nice chaps having a difficult time adapting to their success. Kurt was sick and apologetic. It was a shame that everyone around them, including the Australian crew, were such wankers.

Do you feel that the upcoming gigs allow sufficient time to grow your hair halfway down your back or will you be unrecognisable on stage?
It’s about the energy and sound. I’ve got better things to do then talk about hair.

If you were curating a festival and could get one of your favourite bands to re-form for the show which would it be? Conversely, which band should be shot in the street if they so much as think about reforming?
Fugazi, The Mummies, The Phantom Surfers, Supercharger, The Reining Sound, King Loser, The Space Juniors, The Sonics, The Remains, The Fluid, Swervedriver, Pussy Galore, plus all the bands I mentioned earlier. And I will pass on the second half of that question.

Any sage observations to impart regarding Australia’s current crop of young artists?
Young artists these days are forced to endure the humiliating process of having to win competitions to get noticed. Triple J Unearthed has taken over. Now you got a bunch of dudes sitting – œround a table deciding who will get the break. The lack of opportunities for young bands to play pubs and create their own aura means that someone up there gets to decide who gets the gigs and who doesn’t. This seems kinda sad to me ‘cause when I was young you got out there and you played.

If you were underage, you just figured a way around it. I will say that I actually really liked the most recent winner of the High School Band comp. I can’t remember what they were called, but the song was great. And for all the shit they play they are the only station that can occasionally really blow me away with an artist I’ve never heard of. As for working Aussie bands, Eddy Current Suppression Ring are my favourite. I didn’t hear them first on Triple J; I was lucky enough to meet them through my days in the Pink Fits. I’ve seen them lots of times and they are brilliant.

Now that you’re back, can you stay for a while? Pleeeeeeeease?
We will see.

Tumbleweed keeps on rolling at these dates in summer.

Thursday 10 Dec – Hi Fi Bar, Melbourne
Friday 11 Dec – Meredith Music Festival, Victoria
Thursday 31 Dec – The Espy New Years Eve, Melbourne
Sunday 7 March – Lost Weekend Festival, Brisbane