Loon Lake

Mon 30th May, 2011 in Features

Loon Lake have been on our radar since we first saw them swinging their low-fi garage tunes at a Wednesday night residency in Melbourne last year. Last month we featured them as a band to watch on our FL Playlist and this week the raucous five-piece is launching their debut EP Not Just Friends at Ding Dong Lounge.

In the lead up to the launch we sit down for a quick chat with guitarist Simon Nolan, to talk all things Loon Lake.

Your new EP Not Just Friends comes out June 3rd, what can we expect?*
It is a 6 track EP that we think pretty much represents us as a band right now. Some of the songs on there are reworked/improved demos that have already been put out there, others are new. We have tried to stay pretty true to our raw garage sound, whilst also adding a tiny little sheen production wise to improve on those early demos. In terms of the songs, they are basically garage pop songs with sticky guitar hooks and vocal melodies. Hopefully people will give it a few spins and enjoy it, then maybe even come to a show one day.

You worked with Robin Mai (who has worked with Nick Cave and the John Butler Trio), what was that process like?
Robin is a fantastic guy, very laid back, which suited us to a tee. He knows his stuff, and it was great to see him work the way he does. Basically we just gave him our thoughts and ideas of how we thought the songs should sound, and he worked to those guidelines. Obviously at times he would give his input, and a lot of the time he was right. I think mixing is a hard job because half the time we are saying shit like ‘the snare needs to sound like this and that’ and really we don’t even know what we mean, so how is he going to know? He always came up trumps though, as did our engineer Andy Blythe, who has guided us immensely from the beginning.

Do you have a favourite track on the new EP that you’re even more excited about?
I really like the song Suburbs at the moment. It is a bit of a slower groove type track rather than the upbeat stuff, I think it is just good mix-up on the E.P. Originally I thought we hadn’t captured it in the recording, but once it was mixed and I had a few listens I realised I really liked it. The song has a great build in it. I also like the song ‘wine’, because I think the story is quite interesting.

If you could describe Not Just Friends in 3 words what would they be?
Frenetic. Vibrant. Sticky.

2010 was a great year for you guys , you were made a triple j Unearthed featured artist and won the triple j Big Sound competition. How has that impacted on your journey as a band?
It was fantastic that JJJ gave us those opportunities, we are really appreciative of what they have and are still doing for us. When we put the demo of ‘into the office’ on the unearthed page, I didn’t for one second think it would get heard or played by anyone in there. The day I got told it was on radio was a real shock. Winning the Big Sound competition was fantastic, we learnt so much from those few days up there, we met lots of people who gave us great advice, and we know that winning those sorts of things keeps you in the eye of the punters and industry. Triple J unearthed is a fantastic platform for unsigned bands, I can’t thank them enough for what they have done.

Your supporting the Red Riders for their final farewell shows as well as launching Not Just Friends; you must be very amped for that?
We can’t wait to support those guys, they make some really great pop songs, it’s a shame they are disbanding. We are really looking forward to going to Sydney again, we have had some really fun shows both times we have been up there, and this one should be no different with it already being sold out. Plus it gives us a chance to surf in some warm water for once.

How do you guys go about the song the writing process, do you all sit down and jam until you find something to work off or is there one person who mostly writes the songs while the others work out the melody?
We are not a jam band at all, we have tried it and it just wont work for us. Most of the time Sam (singer) brings an idea in, whether it be just melody and chord progression, then we just build from there. Every one puts in their parts and if we are feeling it, it is usually formed very quickly. We have found that our good songs tend to be the ones that take shape quite quickly. Other members of the band do contribute to songwriting. Nick our drummer wrote most of the music to ‘into the office’; even that catchy lick is his. I like that lick.

Where do you see Loon Lake in say 5 years?
Hopefully still playing. I would love to be doing this as a full time job, releasing albums and touring the world, scoring a wave here or two. I think at the moment we are really healthy as a band, and as long as we can keep the excitement up between ourselves, then hopefully the longevity will follow. We just want keep having fun, playing as much as we can and gaining new fans as we go along.

What is it like to be in a band with brothers and good friends?
It’s great. We started this band not really to get big or heard or anything, it was to get together, have a beer and a play once a week. Once we realised there might be a bit of potential in us we started taking it more seriously. The whole time though we try to stay positive and have as much fun as we can with each other. We are all great mates, as we were before the band started, and I hope it can remain this way for the rest of our lives.

When was the moment you decided ‘this is what I want to do for a living’?
Um, not really sure if this is the case yet, I mean I think we all want it too be, but don’t think the band income really matches the outgoings just yet. Whilst the momentum is there, we are just trying to put everything we possibly can into it. I would love to be doing this for a living, I love making and playing music, but not just yet. I do have a good full time job as a music teacher though, so that’s pretty cool.

What other bands do you think are doing great things in Melbourne at the moment?
I like Eagle And The Worm. We saw them at Big Sound last year, they were cool. I just think they make really cool songs. The new one sounds like something off Pet Sounds to me. I have only heard a couple of songs from Oscar and Martin as well, I enjoyed them. Tracey McNeill and Luke Sinclair are both great singer songwriters from down here. Can I just mention one of the best songs I have heard from an Aussie artist in a long time is ‘Months’ by The Middle East. Fantastic tune, great feeling in that song.

Loon Lake launches Not Just Friends on Friday 3rd June at Ding Dong in Melbourne with Frowning Clouds. You can listen to their EP streaming right now on their Facebook.

The gig is also part of the CHAMP Moves events that are taking place around Melbourne this month as part of a community initiative demonstrating live music can play a positive and constructive role in tackling alcohol-related violence – for more information on those gigs head here.