Belles Will Ring

Wed 6th Jul, 2011 in Features

A far cry from living the complete rock star dream, Liam Judson, lead singer of Belles Will Ring is currently homeless and shacked up in his parent’s place with the flu. “I’m just trying to stay by the fire and get better, you know, before the tour,” he weakly laughs down the phone line.

The tour he speaks of is Belles Will Ring’s national tour in support of their album Crystal Theatre. The band is keeping it old school, driving from town to town to play their tunes, “We love going on the road, it’s sort of living out our own road movie doing so. Driving back to Sydney from Adelaide in one day though – we’ve done it before. It’s usually where the romance goes out the window.”

Labelled as psychedelic-folk rock, Judson describes the band as “a band that have no particular genre but have a sound unto themselves. A band who tries to create imagery with their music, without being too style-specific.” Their latest giving has been praised by critics for its sprawling and cinematic sounds. Judson can’t be anything but pleased, “it’s been amazing, [we are] overwhelming happy with the way it’s been received.”

The sound of eerie isolation that is prevalent throughout Crystal Theatres – coincidentally recorded in secluded farm houses in rural New South Wales – came from a number of influences, with the band discussing their inspirations for the album such as road movies and small country towns prior to recording. This notion has been a long time coming however, with Judson first inspired by the 2007 Coen brothers’ movie No Country for Old Men. “That sense of space and eeriness definitely [influenced me]. The moment I saw that film, it inspired me straight away and I think ever since that moment – my songwriting for Belles changed as soon as I saw that movie. “

So what can fans expect from their live shows? “A lot of the new record [laughs]. Well you will see us doing our best to interpret the new record in a live set. It’s a pretty layered kind of a record, but it’s been really fun sort of converting it to a 4-5 piece band situation. For such a moody record, we’re going to be having a lot of fun. It’s not going to be a dour affair, that’s for sure. We’re still crafting the set list at the moment but I think it’s going to be one of our coolest sets. It’s been quite remarkable how much it has lent itself to a live sound. We did sort of write it more as a studio album. It always ends up sounding more rocking and louder, but I guess that’s the energy of a live performance. “

Post-tour, Belles Will Ring are not slowing down. In addition to looking to go overseas, the band is playing with the idea of recording another record, with the ambition of releasing it early next year.

“The line up is so good now that this feels like ‘this is Belles Will Ring now’. It feels like the quintessential line up. This line up has been together for a good two years now and there’s a sort of soul to the band now and we would rather capitalise on that than lose the energy. We’re keen to keep recording and putting out stuff. “

Belles Will Ring tour dates:

Thursday 7th July – Sol Bar, Maroochydore
Friday 8th July – Step-Inn, Brisbane
Friday 15 July – The Clarendon Hotel, Katoomba
Saturday 16 July – Goodgod, Sydney