We have moved! Our blog is now at www.paper-deer.com.
In an age where Holga cameras are the de rigeur heavy weight hanging around hipsters necks, Polaroids are collectibles and every household seems to have a decent Nokia SLR in the cupboard, the word "cameras" makes you think of photography, tourists and taking happy snaps.
But if this Sydney band has its way, you may start associating Cameras with three fine musicians. Purveyors of dark, moody and decidedly addictive musical musings, this trio are setting our ears here at Paper-Deer on fire.
Paper-Deer listened to what singer and guitarist Fraser Harvey had to say about their musical experimentations.
Your Facebook page says “the band////not the machine”. Does having the same name as a very popular piece of technology get confusing? Not really for us, but I can understand someone seeing the word ‘cameras’ not immediately thinking of a band. We don’t exactly have the most Google friendly band name either.
Paper-Deer has been having trouble sleeping at night trying to figure out what genre you are… Cameras is very dark, very glittery and epic, melodic and epic alternative without the wankery. What would you guys classify yourselves as? There’s something quite boring about specific genres, so the words you’ve laid out there will suffice just fine. There’s always a dark element to our sound in some form, which I think is our common ground within the band. The rest of the sounds just happen around that central idea, and some songs will end up sounding quite bright and upbeat when we finish them.
So June was selected as an iTunes Single of the Week, and Defeatist was featured on an MTV show. What was it like having your music blasted out through millions of television screens in the US before you’ve even released an EP or landed a record deal? As a band, you want to get your music heard by new people, and it’s always flattering when someone takes an interest in your music so they were both good things for us. It was strange though being a band that not many people really know about, and your song is credited on a show next to Beyonce and Lady Gaga and people like that.
According to your MySpace, you’re not signed to a record label. Is this an active choice or has nothing appealing come up yet? We only ever do things if they excite or interest us, and that goes for everything we do, so it’s a case of both really. It was a conscious decision for us to put this EP out solely ourselves.
Judging from the almost addictive teaser track Polarise, your debut EP is going to be pretty phenomenal. Do you have any juice details you can give us?
We produced the EP ourselves, with Mike Morgan, a friend of ours, doing the engineering. Apparently Snoop Dogg had had sex on the couch of the studio control room we were working in while he was working there. I like to think some of that helped influence this EP.
What do you think about the great, almost comical, rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne? Do crowds here treat you differently because you’re from across the border?
There is a bit of a rivalry between the cities. I don’t think we’ve ever felt like we’re much part of the Sydney scene though, so it’s not something that really engages us. We did play in Melbourne about a week after we recorded the EP in May, with our friends Big Scary, really enjoyed the show, and appreciated everyone turning up a little bit earlier to see us. We are the kind of band though that people do tend to just watch. Occasionally we’ll get a wayward dancer, but our shows will often have a slight standoff feel to them anyway. I quite like the tension though.
 |
| Cameras EP now out through iTunes and other decent digital outlets |
DATES:
- Friday November 29: East Brunswick Club
LINKS:
No comments:
Post a Comment