Heading Way Up Beyond TheClouds

Sat 18th Mar, 2006 in Features

When Jodi Phillis and Trish Young, of the long-defunct Sydney indie-pop sensation the Clouds, decided to get together for a new musical project, one of their first gigs was at the Annandale – their old stomping ground. You’d think it was a deliberate choice. A homecoming of sorts, perhaps? The reality is more prosaic: “Trish and I never go out to gigs,” Jodi confesses. “So we didn’t really know where else to play!”

The new project is called the Girls From The Clouds - a name that is a nod to their shared musical past and still signifies the fact that they’re moving forward. The gorgeous harmonies remain, but it’s different. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus postulated that you could never cross the same river twice – the circumstances are always different. And so it’s proved for Trish and Jodi.

The Girls From The Clouds plays as a three-piece with Tim Oxley on drums, and Trish and Jodi on bass and guitar. The sound is brighter and chirpier, the lyrics more upbeat than Clouds probably ever was. It’s, perhaps, more musically direct as well. “The main difference is that, lyrically, we’re writing much more positively,” Jodi says. “Things are a lot more about fantasy, or exploration or imagination or love. We’re not wallowing in misery and darkness anymore.”

The fact that both Trish and Jodi are both parents now has a lot to do with it. “We have children,” Jodi says. “We have responsibilities.” She points out there’s simply less opportunity to wallow because of the responsibility that comes with having a young family. “And if you do wallow, then you’ve got problems. You can’t just do it on your own, write about it and indulge in it. It really fucks things up.” The flat way she says it makes you feel she knows from experience. “You can’t do that. So we don’t. And it’s a lot more fun as a result. And, I think, a lot more imaginative as well.”

Jodi describes the fan reaction to the Girls From The Clouds as amazing. “They could have been very down on us for still kind of using the name and not having the line-up we had, changing the feel that we had. There might be fans out there who prefer the old stuff,” she admits. “But not one of them has written to us and said that. It’s all been very positive. And all the people that we used to see at shows we see there still—and they really love it. They think it’s up there with the best of the old stuff or better. They like the fact that we’re playing, I suppose.”

She cites the internet as a huge influence in making people aware of their new incarnation. “That’s really what’s helping us now as we have no major push behind us. We just discovered since we got back together that there’s a guy in the United States that has a site for us called Silverlinings. It’s huge, we had no idea that was happening until two months ago. And that [site] has been going since 2004 or something. So things like that are just really surprising and encouraging. It’s definitely a good way to go with the internet. And it keeps us honest. It means the people who are there are interested in finding out about you. You really know where you kind of stand.”

She suspects the internet would have helped Clouds break more ground when they were around – but only so much. “The internet will do a certain amount but the force that a big record company has is pretty mega.” She pauses. “If they choose to be behind you. It’s great when it’s all going well, but when they choose not to be that supportive, it’s pretty boring and frustrating.”

Fans can look forward to more new songs to add to the five-track EP released – called lalalala - on Candle Records late last year. “We’re writing [a new album] now. We’re doing as much as we can but we’re both very busy with life outside of music. With children and just … stuff.” She laughs – a mental shrug. “It’s just the stuff that you’ve got to do. So unfortunately we can’t do it as quickly as we’d love to do it. So we just get together as often as we can and swap ideas, send each other tapes, swap lyrics, middle eights and … you know?”

“We’re keeping it ‘up’. We’re definitely keeping it up and positive and fun. So in that way, yeah, it’s going along the same theme. But there will be all kinds of feels and styles of songwriting. As usual. We’ve got a pretty good idea of what a lot of the songs are going to be on the album, but as far as starting to record them—I’m not sure when that will happen.”

A question about including other former Clouds members such as Raphael Whittingham for a full-on reunion returns a firm ‘no’. “We’re definitely going to just move ahead in a new direction and keep it with just Trish and I being the sole writers and arrangers and Tim Oxley will help us out where we need live drums.” They’ll continue to play – and reinterpret – Clouds songs, though. “We have done a little bit of [reinterpreting old material], live. Mainly because we don’t have enough new songs for a whole set. So we kind of have to keep playing some old ones for a while,” she says. “It’s good to be able to have that old stuff to fall back on and pull it out when you feel like it. It’s going to be great to have that huge repertoire to choose from.”

She says it’s not for her to comment on Cloud’s legacy to music. “The people who do keep coming to the shows, they’re very loyal. On the grand scale of things, only time will tell.”

The Girls From The Clouds are currently touring and will play at The Great Escape Festival on Saturday April 15, along with shows in Adelaide and Brisbane:

Fri 31st March – Fowlers Live, Adelaide
Sat 15th April  – Great Escape Festival, Sydney
Sat 22nd April - The Troubador, Brisbane