Grinderman

Thu 21st Jul, 2011 in Features

Martyn P Casey has undeniable rock prestige, having spent some thirty years in the industry as the bass player for The Triffids, The Bad Seeds and most recently, Grinderman. He’s also one of the few people in the world who can answer a simple ‘Hi, How are you?’ by mentioning that he’s spent the day in the studio with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis recording a new film soundtrack.

“We’re working on the new John Hillcoat film called The Wettest County,” Casey explains down the phone from London, “It’s based on a true story about these brothers who make bootleg moonshine in the Ozark Mountains and they start flogging it during the prohibition. Without spoiling it, they get in a confrontations and madness ensues.”

“Madness ensues” – it’s a perfect capsule review of Grinderman’s live show. But how does the band manage to play in such a subdued way and then make it sound so heavy? “That’s an interesting question,” Casey says. “God! I think it’s … uh … it comes down to the way you play it. There’s a sensitivity to The Bad Seeds that’s probably overlooked by a lot of people. We’re all very conscious of serving the song. I think that’s what it is. Believe it or not, there’s a sensitivity to the musicians in The Bad Seeds and Grinderman – there are no show ponies in the band – we all just get behind the song.”

What’s the key to unlocking that sensitivity in a band that makes records that sound as abrasive as a Grinderman record does?
Even the full-on stuff has a swing to it, I’d like to think. It doesn’t come across to me as heavy metal. It is sort of heavy rock, but there’s something else going on in there.

Yeah! I think that the last Grinderman record is quite a dark, sort of cantankerous thing, but there’s definitely something running parallel to that. Is that fair to say?
There’s a darkness, definitely. Yeah, I think that it’s a lot more abstract; the last Bad Seeds records has a story to it, whereas this throws up some fairly disturbing images. But they’re not specific. They’re definitely dark lyrics, but there’s also a playfulness to them. One of the best things for me is when people come up to me and explain what they think a song is about.

How often are they on the money?
If they ever are, they’re clearly quite disturbed already.

Do you get worried about isolating an audience when you make an abstract record?
Like alienating them?I hope not. I hope our audiences are open-minded, and I hope they don’t need to be spoon-fed what we do. I want them to take it as it is, you know? There’s a line between alienating people and spoon-feeding them and that’s what we try to walk.

Is there something to be said for not putting yourselves in a box like that?
Yeah. That’s a difficult thing again. I would like to think that Dig Lazarus Dig! is to some extent informed by the first Grinderman record. The way we approached that record is similar. But the way we go about making songs in Grinderman is more formal.

What do you mean by that?
There’s more narrative. Grinderman are musically informed by the lyrics, whereas The Bad Seeds is lyrically informed by the music. I hope that makes sense.

It does. So the Grinderman stuff is more collaborative than a Bad Seeds record is?
Grinderman is definitely more fluid. It’s more ad-libbed and more of the ideas come from sitting in the studio just playing music. Whereas, in the Bad Seeds, there’s more of a concrete idea about what we want to achieve.

Is it liberating for you to go into something like Grinderman and just work it out as you go?
Yeah, yeah. Yes and no. Y’know? Grinderman is the culmination of hours and hours and hours of work. Everybody drops at the end of playing. We just weed out the bit that’s working and we take it from there.

How do you know when it’s not working?
That’s a good question. I think you just kind of know instinctually. I guess it’s like a lot of bands, really. We’re more informed by what we don’t like than what we do like.

What don’t you like?
I don’t like the kind of talent show approach to music. The X-Factor model, homogenising what people think it is to be successful.

I think you guys are a good example of being a band who have been able to succeed outside of the mainstream.
We’ve always been lucky to have success outside of what I guess I’d call mainstream music. The whole ‘rock school’ this has become a career choice. I think that’s what scares me the most about the modern music world.

The Bad Seed’s albums Let Love In, Murder Ballads, The Boatman’s Call and No More Shall We Part were reissued as double-disc “Collectors Editions” earlier this year.

Grinderman has just been announced on the lineup of the 21st Meredith Music Festival and the 2011 Homebake lineup.