French Medicine

Sat 6th Nov, 2010 in Features

What happens when you send one third of French Rockets to interview one quarter of Injured Ninja about his new band and all the attention it has been receiving in the few weeks since their first single was released onto the interwebs?

They call it French Medicine, and it’s not so much an interview as a discussion that reveals an activist heart in the Ninja turned Usurper of Modern Medicine; An intriguing discussion about the Perth music scene versus those who would sell it all for real estate and shopping centers; A general love-in about the return of The Bakery; and they finally spill the beans about some of the things they have planned for the Inaugural Freq. Convergence at the Bakery on 13th November.

carlos rockets: Lets start with a question i suppose… Are there wasps in here??

Steven Aaron Hughes: rofls. Yes, Carl, there are wasps. Killer bees

carlos rockets: Should we broach the nanny state issue first?

Steven Aaron Hughes: If it’s relevant to this article, yeah.

carlos rockets: The Bakery reopened at a good point in time after a long protracted refit to council standards or thereabouts and then the Manhattan’s thing kinda blew up in our faces just after we returned from Melbourne…

Steven Aaron Hughes: Yeah, it was painfully obvious to me after just one weekend in Melbourne, a city that has a much stronger sense of community and support in its music scene – that things in Perth were very different. It’s obvious that all the people in the Perth music scene who are pro-active and outspoken (ie. give a shit) seem to move to Melbourne. Over there you get 15000 people marching down through the CBD, here you get a bitch thread on perthbands.com

carlos rockets: yeah its difficult to conceptualise when the two cities are so different. The population and infrastructure for one….plus the history of supporting local music in Melbourne goes back many decades….Perth is still malleable enough if put in the right/wrong hands….Just in the last 5-7 years the shift in the general population in Perth has become painfully obvious. The cost of living has sky rocketed, rent has gone through the roof, everyone seems involved in the mining industry to some degree, there’s a proliferation of cashed up bogans… these are very broad stereotypes but I think most people can associate with at least one of these…

Steven Aaron Hughes: It just seemed to me that musicians and music fans were being marginalised in the community – and they didn’t seem to want to represent themselves. Manhattan’s was only a very small example, but it felt like a good place to draw the line. The Hydey was a losing battle against a major corporate player, but when community ‘noise complaints’ likely from only one citizen, can overrule an entire cultural group – it felt like our ability to play music live and host events was being strangled. I do agree that the venue needed more soundproofing, but seriously, the loud sounds of music were much more pleasant then the sound of drunken revellers from the busy pubs down the street and MUCH quieter than the engines of their souped-up ego-fuelled vehicles that constantly burn down that cafe strip.

carlos rockets: Agreed. I read in the West the other day (which I don’t often read) that alcohol licensing applications for small bars/venues are getting blanket rejections because apparently there is ‘no valid public interest for these venues to be open’...which just seems utterly absurd.

Steven Aaron Hughes: Small bar licenses are exactly the reason why Melbourne thrives as an entertaining and inspiring city. And there’s this whole lockout thing that they’re concocting as well. The government seems determined to shepherd us into bigger, stupider, dangerous venues and then let us out loose and angry on the streets nice and early to cause a ruckus – maybe its part of some huge conspiracy to have bogan revellers kill themselves off or cause some juicy property damage for insurance purposes… I don’t get this place sometimes.

carlos rockets: The way these ‘restrictions’ and/or ‘threats’ weave their way into mainstream media and public conscious, anyone with half a brain has to wonder what the real MO is behind all this? The Govt. doesn’t seem to be one for tact or clever legislative procedures, they just come out with all guns firing with SFA rationale… hmm maybe it’s just me. The whole ‘increase in violence in Northbridge / % increase in glassings etc etc’ has me baffled as well….I’m not sure how or why this works but as the cost of admission to clubs and prices of drinks has increased so has the tendency for violence… in specific pockets I might add. In the 90s when there were such things as 50c middys all night or happy hours etc the levels of violence on the whole was significantly nothing like it is today….Perhaps the drugs were better then or people are using a lot of crystal meth these days?

Steven Aaron Hughes: It’s about taboos, restrict something, deny people something, and they’ll behave more aggressively in order to get their way. I’ve not ventured very far in this world, but I always compare this place to Japan – in Japan, legal vices are cheap, readily available and can be consumed freely anywhere, clubs are open late and its easy to find entertainment – yet it feels like the SAFEST place in the world. By not being restricted, it creates a mentality of normality and respect. By restricting things you only create tension and therefore violence. It’s like giving a toddler half an ice-cream and taking it off them once they get halfway – do you think he’s going to be rational about getting the other half of his snack back? Fucking doubt it. And yes, I’m comparing Perth pub-goers to toddlers here, I think that’s fair… heh….anyway, the Bakery is back amongst all this

carlos rockets: Yes before this starts reading like a transcript from a certain local talk-back radio show…it is refreshing the Bakery is back in action.

Steven Aaron Hughes: I’ve only been to a few gigs there, very impressed with how much their soundproofing has totally nailed what a live venue should be like…

carlos rockets: I’ve only been to a couple thus far, one being the opening night and I was mightily impressed with the set up they have there now….particularly IMO the way they have approached how to basically protect their ass from ‘the outside’ pressures that once plagued them. I hope over summer 2010/2011 it will become a venue that is supported in the right circumstances by general public as well as the people who attend as punters.

Steven Aaron Hughes: Yeah, let’s hope we never lose it again, there was a very obvious void in Perth during that year without its existence. I think people need to treat it as a cool bar just to hang out at also – I was in there last Sunday evening catching up with people for drinks and the vibe was killer but yet it was fucking empty. They’re talking about putting on some food on Sundays and making it more of a promoted night in the future. I think people should try and realise that it’s not just a place for gigs but is just an awesome location to spend some time out. Of course, ultimately, the best thing about the place is its complete focus on supporting artists and tailoring itself to their needs – There it is in a league of its own compared to other Perth venues.

carlos rockets: I do think this will become more obvious with time. If The Bakery is able to provide and promote these initiatives, I think it will catch on eventually. Now that a few interstate and international touring acts have played there, I think it has opened itself up exponentially to a diverse group of people who would support the idea of frequenting the Bakery as an attraction in itself as to a venue a particular band happens to be playing at. I’m sure The Bakery crew has got all this mapped out anyway.

Steven Aaron Hughes: Ben Taaffe (music director) has his finger on the pulse something serious!

It’s completely modular for the artists, if you come to the team there with an idea – they are fully on board to help you achieve it. In fact, they thrive on artists who want to try radically different things. Come in with ideas like that to other venues in town and they will laugh and tell you to exactly where to shove your artistic concepts! For example both times I’ve been to the Bakery, the stage has been completely different in shape and size – something we’re going to take advantage of when we host gigs there in the future.

I went in there last week asking about their projector set-up and about moving the screen and stage around – walking into that conversation expecting to get responses in groans and complaints – it was quite the opposite, their eyes lit up when I talked about what we were planning. I find it funny that genuine enthusiasm is surprising – that’s how it should be all the time for fuck sake, haha.

carlos rockets: Strangely enough, that’s the attitude I’ve experienced in Melbourne when French Rockets toured there….when venues found out we had our own light show we immediately had six roadies appear out of nowhere all wanting to help… Unfortunately it wasn’t always like that in Perth but then we never made gigs easy on ourselves I must admit… but all that is about to change with the inaugural Freq. Convergence coming up on Saturday Nov 13 at the Bakery featuring French Rockets, Naik and Usurper of Modern Medicine.

Steven Aaron Hughes: I’m looking forward to giving the audience severe tunnel vision – please take care walking down the stairs after the show, everyone!

carlos rockets: It’s being billed as a ‘light and sound extravaganza’ and I guess as insiders we can quite confidently say that it will live up to its name.

Steven Aaron Hughes: Indeed, I’m going to pre-render a bunch of visuals for our (Usurper of Modern Medicine) set, but with you guys (French Rockets) it’s going to a whole different beast all together.

carlos rockets: We’re placing some interesting challenges on ourselves with this show.

Steven Aaron Hughes: I’m finally getting a chance to try out these ‘organic’ projections that I’ve been working on for a while, now that we finally have the right venue to do it in. It’s important to dare to do something different, but even then you need the infrastructure. I don’t think there’s any other venue in town that isn’t a stadium size where we can even attempt this.

carlos rockets: There is a significant ‘Woah!’ factor in some of the visual ideas that are being developed that’s for sure and with the correct equipment in the right room it will make for a extra-sensory evening of entertainment.

Steven Aaron Hughes: And it’s only early days in terms of official Usurper gigs, and possibly one of our last until our debut EP comes out – and that’s going to be well into next year.

carlos rockets: That is a shame. UoMM are no doubt the best new band to arise from the primordial soup of the Perth original music scene in recent memory.

Steven Aaron Hughes: hah, thanks, don’t speak too soon, we still haven’t finished writing more than one song yet!

carlos rockets: Your first show at Manhattan’s had people totally locked into your groove by the end of the first song. It was a no brainer by half way during the second track you guys were onto something very fucking cool.

Steven Aaron Hughes: Naik playing at the Freq.Convergence is pretty badass I think.

carlos rockets: Naik is totally badass! He exists in a world unto his own with his approach to creating and performing music. There are a mass of musical styles he employs into his tunes, it’s not just hip hop as some might assume. Watching him perform live just proves that.

Steven Aaron Hughes: Yeah it’s absolutely joyous music that appeals to just about everyone – it’s only a matter of time before the world latches onto him, I’m surprised he’s not taking over the world already…

carlos rockets: …which is why the Rockets wanted Naik to perform at the Freq. Convergence….it’s about having some variance of musical styles…and with the 3 bands performing owning their own unique sound there will be an eclectic bunch of sonic treats over the course of the night

Steven Aaron Hughes: yeah it’s going to flow like sweet, tasty, liquid mind goo. I keep getting people coming up to me and commenting on the Usurper of Modern Medicine demo, so hopefully we’ll pack out the place early for you.

carlos rockets: It will be a different evening to that of an ‘atypical band gig’ that’s for sure…plus it being the evening after Damo Suzuki treading the very same stage, lets hope Damo-san will leave some positive Japanese vibes in the room

Steven Aaron Hughes: Fuck yeah, forgot about that, what a friggin’ weekend.

carlos rockets: Yep it will be a ‘psychonautical paradise’ weekend at the Bakery.
We’re playing some new tunes off our new LP as well as some golden oldies…… plus with your extra delicious light show this will be a performance where I could likely spend most of the time on stage with my back to the audience watching the screen! :) This show needs to be filmed! And I am contemplating sunnies on stage as a OHS issue (and it’s not because of the lasers either)

Steven Aaron Hughes: yeah don’t want to make you dudes have an intense flashback breakdown on stage – that is NOT my intention. Maybe I need to attach small electrodes to each one of you that I can zap you back into concentration if you turn around and get stuck in the void.

carlos rockets: Haha that happened yesterday watching your computer screen as we were scrolling through the filter options. I had to leave the room for 5 minutes.

Steven Aaron Hughes: You havent’ seen shit yet!

The inaugural Freq. Convergence takes place at The Artrage Bakery on 13th November from 8pm. Tickets from Now Baking or at the door if available for $10. Download a Hi-res poster from HERE and get it signed at the gig