A chat and giveaway with theBlackchords

Wed 15th Jul, 2009 in Local News

The Blackchords have been picking up rave reviews for their record and live show. With the band set to play at the lovely Thornbury Theatre on Friday 17 July bandleader and songwriter Nick Milwright took the time to speak to FasterLouder about the album, the live show and his time living and working in Paris.

How did your time in Paris colour the sound of the album? – œParisian bohemia’ immediately conjures romantic images of artist’s grottoes – is that in any way the reality of working there as a musician?

I headed to Paris last year pretty much as soon as I had finished recording Blackchords. It was a decision I had made a while before knowing that I needed to get away and see things from a different perspective. So the album itself is a pre-Paris chapter to Blackchords. Since living there I have definitely had my eyes opened to what is going on that side of the world. I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration by spending time there and it is undoubtedly have some impact on my song writing.

How does the music scene in Paris compare with Melbourne?

It’s got its similarities to the Melbourne music scene they both have very vibrant scenes. Its just on a much much larger scale and there always seems to be people wanting to go and see music regardless of whether it is Monday or Saturday. The French are also very passionate performers and they aren’t afraid to put on a show and it’s great to watch that energy.

You recently spoke about – œhaving this romantic idea of doing something great, being a UN peacekeeper or something, changing the world like that. When you look down and you’ve got a gun in your hand, that’s probably not a positive step to changing the world for better.’ Do you believe music can really change the world?

Music has the ability to inspire people, bring people together, teach people to open their eyes to what’s going on in the world and what’s going on in their own heads. So yeah without a doubt I think that music can change the world.

How much involvement does the band have in creating the music?

So far in our song writing process its been very much the idea that I will bring a blueprint of a song to the table and the band paints over the top their interpretation of how they see the guitars, drums etc. That process is continued in terms visual design as well. We may end up helping tweak the end product or the design itself is perfect and needs no changes.

I think we are very lucky as we have a record company who believe in us fully and therefore we have full creative control of how the art looks and how the music sounds.

How do your songs continue to develop when played live?

A studio recording of a song is quite different from the live performance of it. When you are playing the same songs over and over on stage it’s extremely important to find something new. If you are just regurgitating the recorded version of the song and not actually thinking about it then the song becomes old and tired very quickly. You can decide that a recorded version of a song is complete when you feel that you’ve captured what that song means accurately. But if you are playing the song live then you need to let it breath and change each time you play it.

At your album launch at the Espy you had the True Live strings to flesh out the sound – (perhaps another odd pairing) how important is it to include the strings in the live setting? Will they be part of the Thornbury gig?

The aim of Blackchords is not to be straight down the line and predictable. When I was looking for strings for the album I knew that I could find someone to arrange strings that would be a beautiful lush backing to my songs but listening to True Live and other side projects of Tamil Rogeon I felt that he was the person who would bring something exciting and a little left of centre to our songs. I know now that this dynamic worked perfectly.

When we can I’d like to bring strings into our live show. Its, again, another dynamic and colour to our music and show. They are going to be joining us on stage at the Thornbury Theatre on Friday night and be more of a presence throughout the set.

Now that the tour’s near finished – what next for the Blackchords?

I think that the touring for this album has only just begun. We are finishing up for now in Australia to head to the UK and France to launch the album there and then we will return in Australia over the summer months to do some extensive touring. Come early 2010 the boys and myself would like to take some time out of gigging and shut ourselves away for a bit and start writing for our next chapter.

FasterLouder has its mits on five double passes to the Blackchords gig at the Thornbury Theatre on the 17th of July. To win simply email melbourne@staff.fasterlouder.com.au with ‘Blackchords tix’ in the header. Get to it!