DO NOT apporve this article unless you’re me! (DP)

2006 was a massive year for The Wednesday Society. It began with a WAMi Award nomination for Favourite Newcomer, then the band played support slots for international touring bands The Subways and Les Savy Fav. Brendan Jay (guitar, vocals), Ian Berney (guitar), Jamie Sher (bass) and Tristan Dudley (drums) completed their first tour to Sydney and Melbourne and more recently won the rock category of the WAM Song of the Year award for debut single Red Means Go.

The Wednesday Society have also been invited to perform at the prestigious Canadian Music Week in Toronto and FasterLouder caught up with Berney to discuss the humble begins of this band from Perth and how they are planning to get get their music out to wider audiences.

FasterLouder: What has The Wednesday Society been up to lately?

Ian Berney: Mainly preparing for a tour to Canada and New York. Were going to Canada early in March and then New York, in mid-March. We’re playing at the Canadian Music Week in Toronto (at Sneaky Dee’s on March 9) and then doing a couple of shows in New York (including The Annex on March 14).

FL: What are your expectations for the tour?

IB: I’m really excited about going to New York - it’s such a famous city. We have high expectations about Toronto. In terms of shows we don’t know what to expect - we have a feeling our music will suit the Canadian scene so we are excited about leaving our own scene. We have a really different sound, it can be quite alienating in Perth. We hope to find a bigger scene and more of a demographic for our music.

FL: What about when you get back, do you have plans to release any material in the near future?

IB: In the long run new material is far more interesting for us than just playing the same songs and we have finally settled on a direction for the band. It’s come as a result of listening to lots of Australian and New Zealand bands instead of all the generic American indie bands. We got a grant to record (totalling $18,000) and we are going to execute that when we get back. We’re going to record an album this year. We’re going to skip the EP thing, we’re more interested in a full-length release. An EP is not really much value to customers anyway.

FL: On value to customers, how much of a concern is it to you guys, how much do you have the audience in mind when writing music?

IB: Do you mean are we self-conscious? There is certainly a degree of audience consciousness. We’re more interested in challenging audiences, we hope they’ll learn something. Hopefully the attraction is not initial but our sound is one that will grow on audiences.

FL: How did The Wednesday Society come into existence?

IB: Well I was friends with Jamie and Cam, who’s now left, at school. We taught each other our instruments. And then we met Brendan, the singer, about three years ago and we got him down to check us out, then he joined the band and we started playing gigs.

FL: And how did the name come about?

IB: I was watching a doco about Sigmund Freud and it brought up The Wednesday Society - a group of associates who met with Freud on Wednesday afternoons. It basically popped out while I was watching it and I thought it was cool.

FL: You guys have been playing gigs in Perth for a while now, what are your goals for this band?

IB: We want to write an album that we’re all happy with - we want to build a bigger following as a result of a good album. We want to write really strong songs we’re kind of at the foetal stage in terms of song writing. Well not at the foetal stage but maybe 3-5 years (laughs).

FL: What do you make of the scene here in Perth?

IB: It’s really healthy. Its like a big community that’s extremely proud of itself. In a decade or so its likely it will be a fairly historic period. Sometimes it can be lacking in creativity and open-mindedness though - although I’d probably get killed for saying that. Its like a little school, it will be good to see who graduates or if anyone graduates or if it will just become a big festering infection.

FL: Who do you draw on as influences?

IB: We’re in awe of My Disco, Die! Die! Die!, Pharaohs and personally, I don’t know about the other guys, I have been listening to a lot of Mint Chicks. So those bands have been a big influence on where we’ve wanted to take our band. You have accept your own culture - we used to be obsessed with several American bands but our music didn’t have any soul to it - to get this in our sound we have had to be completely honest with ourselves, we’re Australian so we have to embrace that.

FL: And how would you describe your sound?

IB: Its abrasive… hypnotic… with a heavy rhythm section and jarring melodic guitars, chops… The kind of music two indie kids would listen to before they had a fight (laughs).

FL: Perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world, how does a band like yours go about getting themselves known to the rest of the world?

IB: Its really a do-it-yourself operation. If a band is good and really interested in expressing themselves outside their city, then you’ve got to raise all the money, buy all the equipment, buy the tickets… Snowman are a great example of how to execute a national selling point. They had a lot of hype when they first came out, they distributed their EP nationally and it was something that sounded really different. They’ve done big national tours and they’ve made the right decisions - they’ve actually made decisions. A lot of bands sit on the fence and hope for it to happen, it doesn’t really work like that.

FL: Back to the tour - what are you most looking forward to doing over there?

IB: In terms of travel we’re planning to take in as much as we can and be fed a whole new line of culture, style and people. Most of us have not left Australia so we are quite excited about travelling. In America I’m looking forward to driving a really big car. We’re hiring… what is it… Yeah a Chevrolet (laughs). We’re also hoping to check out plenty of bands - there’s going to be hundreds of bands in Toronto for the festival. And musicians tend to party and drink a lot - we’re no exception.

Catch The Wednesday Society for their North American tour fundaiser at Amplifier Bar on Saturday January 27, before they head off to play the St Kilda Festival in Melbourne on February 11. They’ll hit the Rosemount Hotel on February 17 with Snowman as part of the WAMi Festival before playing the Canadian Music Week in Toronto. Check the gig guide for more details.