Partying on with The Grates

Mon 23rd Apr, 2007 in Features

The Grates new DVD - œTil Death Do Us Party is guaranteed to cement your boyfriend/girlfriends’ not so secret crush on irrepressible front woman Patience Hodgson. It will also leave you wondering if they replaced The Forum’s wooden stage with a trampoline for the night. FasterLouder chatted to drummer Alana Skyring, she of the insanely infectious perma-smile, about the making of their new DVD, also finding out what else The Grates will be getting up to in 2007…

The Grates are hard to keep track of, can you tell me what you’ve been up to so far in 2007?

Haha – I think we’ll be heaps easier to’keep track of this year: not that we’ll be waving flags to gain attention!. The three of us will spend most of 2007 writing a new record, and if we’re done in time we’ll be heading out again to record it by summer. So far we’re about 10 songs down. Maybe that’s not very many, but to some bands, too, that’s a lot.

What are you favorite ways to keep entertained on tour buses/planes?

I have this ability to zone out reading for really long blocks of time, usually without getting fidgety. John and Pae play heaps of DS (though not wirelessly on the plane ‘cause apparently that’s what causes crashes). On overseas flights you can contort into comfortable positions then binge on trashy movies you haven’t had a chance to see yet. Something about the sleeplessness and altitude, but you find yourself crying like a baby over romantic dramas, and getting REALLY sucked into action movies – like the time Pae and I watched X-Men 3 simultaneously, so we could still make eyebrows and tap each-other at the right times. It was sensational!.

Does Patience have to be restrained to get her to sit still for long haul flights?

No, she’s a seasoned flyer – is always TOTALLY prepared. Like; fox-print track pants and comfortable shoes, a huge water bottle she makes the attendants refill, and facial mist.. I SWEAR she still has the same blow-up pillow and eye-mask we all bought copies of before that first flight to London! You learn to switch your body off, because energy will only lead to a world of discomfort.

So what’s it like to be back home, are you taking time out, or too busy working on new material?

We took almost two months off once touring died down – from mid-December. We’re gradually spending more and more time writing and demoing songs, though. We’re demoing ourself with Pro Tools, just to experiment. I had forgotten how hard it is to play to a click-track (and John’s headphones are so taped-together that it spills out everywhere!), but it will allow us to build the songs a bit before going back into a proper studio. A lot of the layering for the last album was built up on the spot.

What can we expect from The Grates next release? Will it be as hyperactive as the first?

Mmm.. it’s too early to say!. Our arrangements are changing, just naturally. There’s been such a big gap between the last ‘new’ songs and here, and in the mean time so much has happened. But whatever we do, it is always a montage of the three of us. And we have heaps of fun making creating it.

How did the DVD – œTil Death Do Us Party’ come about?

Well, I guess we’ve always been a live band before anything else, and over the last few tours have been experimenting with ways of ‘changing’ venues. For the Science Is Golden tour (the one on which the DVD was filmed) we designed a whole Winter Wonderland stage set, with a big snowy theatre backdrop, animals, and a snow machine. We’d try and put it all up, regardless of how small the venues were on the regional nights. Folding the background over on itself and taping it, and cramming all the other junk on. We had separate jobs; John screwed on the spotlights behind the animals, and I wrestled with the fake trees. It was just something we wanted to do one day.

Was there a special significance to the choice of venue (The Forum in Melbourne) for the DVD?

It was one of the last shows of the tour, one of the last shows we’d be playing in Australia for Gravity... The Forum is such an amazing venue – so decadent and cheesy at the same time!. That huge dome with the fake stars, and the spray-gold castrated statues. The fact that it’s a theatre, and we were performing with a ‘set’. It just fit perfectly.

What is your favorite moment from the Forum show?

Dan’s fingers plucking the banjo, peeking out from under the paws. Pae’s trashy “C’MOOOOOOOOON!” at that person who wouldn’t Howl. That cute little girl in the front row who gets more air-time than me.

If you could be a drummer in any other band for a day, who would it be and why?

Umm… someone tough.

Hometown fans can catch up with The Grates at the Pauhaus Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse Newfarm on the 9th June. The lineup also includes The Panics, Expatriate, Ed Keupper, Red Riders, Dappled Cities Fly, Bit By Bats, Operator Please, Violent Soho go to www.pauhausfestival.com for more.