Anchors Away: New Rules ForBoats head East

Wed 11th Jul, 2007 in Features

It’s been 2 busy years now since locals New Rules for Boats released their debut EP All At Sea, and it seems that they are keen to remain working hard. Last month marked the release of their Skips on My Record EP and now the band are getting themselves ready to carry their country rock meets indie pop tunes over east for two shows in Adelaide and one in Melbourne, in order to teach them how to dance and have a fun time the New Rules For Boats way.

With an album due out in September, Sean Pollard from New Rules has described Skips on My Record as a way to bridge the gap between the first EP and the album. “We didn’t want to release an album out of nowhere. We wanted to get our name on the map before the album comes out”. And so far it seems to be doing the trick, receiving radio play on Triple J and on various community radio stations around Australia.

New Rules have only been across the country for Adelaide’s Fuse Festival, and also as the support for The Panda Band’s tour last year. These shows coming up are the first they’ve had over east on their own shoulders, and they seem very excited about returning to the cities, Pollard even referring to Adelaide affectionately as – œbabelaide’.

“We like Adelaide. It was a really good response there, which is kind of surprising. Adelaide seems really cool and they seem to really like what we do, so we’ll try to go back every time”. That’s not to say that Perth doesn’t like what they do, either. The launch of this EP had the Bakery in Northbridge filled with many who couldn’t help but dance and simply enjoy singing along to the catchy tunes of New Rules For Boats.

Only a few months ago, New Rules added a 5th member to their line up. Dan Grant now plays bass guitar, allowing ex-bassist Benjamin Golby to stay on keyboard, whilst Joseph Derwort remains in place behind the drum kit and siblings Sean and Miranda Pollard cover vocals and the electric and acoustic guitars respectively.

The addition of Grant has changed the band slightly, and Pollard comments very enthusiastically about this change. “It works surprisingly and amazingly well. We always thought that when you’ve got a band with 4 people that getting another would upset the balance or whatever, but it didn’t at all. He’s pretty much one of our best mates anyway. It was ridiculous how well he slotted in. It’s evened up the balance more than anything, so it’s more even now than it was before”.

The affect on their live performances seems to be positive as well. “It’s a slightly different dynamic because we were used to Golby running around onstage and now he just sticks to the keyboard. It hasn’t affected it too much though, because Dan is really lively when he plays. It’s changed our live show a bit, but I think in a good way. We’re a lot more solid, and the sound is getting a lot bigger which is what we were after”.

It all seems very promising and exciting in the New Rules For Boats territory. With new releases, new band members, and new shows, they like to keep themselves active. Or perhaps it’s better to use Pollard’s terminology and call them – œimpatient’. With their debut album long since recorded, the band couldn’t wait until the September release date that QStik records gave them, which seemed “so far away”, and so came this EP, which Pollard considers “more like an extended single for the album”. The title track off the Skips on My Record EP will feature on the album, and so too will a full band version of the song 77 which exists now in acoustic form on the EP. If you want a place to dance and have fun, and if you want songs that you can sing along to after no-time at all, get yourself to a New Rules For Boats show and also prepare yourself for the much awaited album due out in September.