Big Scary: ‘It's A Long-Term Thing'

On the morning after the night before, CAITLIN WELSH pinned down Big Scary’s Jo Syme and Tom Iansek to discuss island paradises, the challenges of independence and “making it”.

There’s a song that ended up on Big Scary’s first EP, 2009’s Earl Street, but originally popped up on their Unearthed page. It’s called ‘This Weight’, and it has one of the best riffs Pearl Jam never wrote. Driven by a growling hunk of guitar distortion that rumbles unrelentingly along the bottom of the track, with scrappy, punishing hi-hats and a sneering vocal that nods at a rawer, younger Jeff Buckley, it’s a 2.27 thwack of prickly grunge-pop with an artlessly Antipodean kick: “Who’s gonna stop just to worry ‘bout you? / We’ve got our own shit to worry ‘bout too.”

If it didn’t say it right there on the page, you wouldn’t believe that much noise was being made by just two people. Nor does it stop there – they do radiant piano pop, scratchy acoustic harmonies, pulsing and percussive ballads that get crowds throwing their hands up and dancing as if it’s a four-to-the-floor house beat. Instead of being a disastrous mish-mash, it all works, finding a cohesion and distinct sound that’s never the same twice.

The day after their show supporting Liam Finn at Oxford Art Factory, Tom Iansek (guitar/keys) and Jo Syme (drums) meet me in the leafy courtyard of a bookshop cafe in Glebe. Iansek, who’s far more softly-spoken than his wailing grunge-monster tendencies would suggest, is a little under the weather. They had to cut their OAF set in half, he says. “It was the first time I’ve had a problem singing,” he grimaces, “so we just kind of got off the stage.” It’s unclear whether he means the first time in the history of the band, or ever, but I’m yet to see them put a foot wrong live, and on record even the little experiments pay off.

Last year, they self-released a season-themed EP every three months, collecting them at the end as The Four Seasons. Earlier this month, their debut album Vacation hit shelves on their own label Pieater (as in, eater of pies).

So the presser claims you recorded on an “island farm”. Please explain?
Jo: Is that what it says? [Laughs] Makes it sound like more of a paradise than it is.

Tom: It is beautiful though.

Jo: It’s got, like, a smaller property, one paddock within a farming area. There are cows around, and there’s a dam. It used to be one of those 20-student primary schools, the only one in this suburb of Phillip Island [Victoria], which a few [members] of my family put in and turned it into a beach house. It’s good, it’s just one big room, a communal sort of space. It was really fun and quiet. You just have it to yourself, you know.

Tom: So we had a few weeks down there, writing.

A few weeks straight?
Tom: No, we had two one-week blocks. The first one was sort of unproductive, and then the second one we wrote a lot of the album’s songs, got them done…

Did you think about producing it yourself?
Tom: No, Sean Cook from [defunct Brisbane outfit] Yves Klein Blue, he’s a friend of ours, he was producing. I didn’t quite feel ready to put the producer’s hat on. I still feel like I’m learning it all.

And you wanted to move away from the home-recording vibe as well?
Tom: Yeah, we did. We wanted it to sound...nice. [Laughs] But it’ll still be us, and I think Sean and our mixer and engineer Gareth [Parton] were really sympathetic to that. We didn’t want it to sound like it cost a million dollars to produce.

Jo: It needs character and texture as well.

Tom: There was that in the space where we were recording, and so it came out well.

So apart from ‘Falling Away’, was everything else written in that Phillip Island stint?
Jo: No, one track called ‘Leaving Home’ is one of our oldest songs, and we’ve barely played it live except for maybe twice at the very beginning.

Tom: It was kind of revived by Sean – he worked pretty closely on the preproduction, and that one sort of caught his attention. I begrudgingly gave it a shot.

Jo: I’ve always loved that song! [Laughs]

Tom: I think I was kind of against it just cos it was so old – I just feel that everything should be spanking new, on a new album. But it came out really well. It’s a good track.

I read another interview where you, Jo, were bitching about how Tom always wants to chuck things out.
Jo: Yeah! I have to be more of a fan, because I don’t write the songs. So I get really attached to all the songs. But then I don’t have to sing the lyrics, and I can understand because he doesn’t want to be singing things he doesn’t believe in anymore. But as an actual track, I’m just like, “Oh, it’s so nice!”

I really liked [Iansek’s solo album under the name Dads] Man of Leisure. It was really interesting listening to that: the way you still had that mix of the softer, acoustic or piano-based poppy tracks, and then the ones where you wail and grunge the fuck out. So it sounded like a Big Scary record, but also...not.
Tom: I think part of it was I wasn’t thinking about it, whereas with Big Scary we think more. It’s a shame, but we think, “Oh, that’s a bit too Jeff Buckley, maybe we shouldn’t do that…”

Fuck that, it’s what your voice sounds like.
Jo: Yeah, it’s funny, isn’t it?

Tom: But those kind of thoughts creep in, whereas with Dads, it was just like, “Whatever”, you know. It was never meant to be a serious album. It was just a bit of fun. I guess that’s maybe what held it together.

Jo: Freedom?

Tom: Yeah!

Jo: But also I’m not at all jealous because I’m glad the songs got made. A lot of them wouldn’t have made so much sense on a Big Scary release, but I’m glad they exist.

Tom: That’s the thing. We used to have that [whatever goes] attitude for us, and it worked for us and also against us … I think that’s what we did on the Four Seasons, that was that chance to do whatever. Some things worked, and others not so well.

Jo: Plus we really do love albums.

You’ve done the EP thing quite comprehensively.
Jo: Yeah, it’s like six EPs! [Laughs]

That works for a lot of people. And you haven’t had a label breathing down your neck either.
Jo: We’ve sort of put our own timeline on this album as well, put those constraints on ourselves, everything can totally happen at its own pace. Tom and I are the least organised people, and no matter what we say everything will always be a month overdue. It’s cool when everything can just happen at its own pace.

Tom: That probably won’t ever happen though...The reality is we’re an independent band and we’re also partners in our own business, so I don’t think we can afford to just think about the art of it, you know? You have to set deadlines and stick to them. We want to stay independent and you gotta be smart about what you do. We’re lucky to have a really good manager [Tom Fraser] who’s also a good friend, so he kind of keeps us in line. You have to be on the same page. We do want it to be a career – it’s a long-term thing.

The way you’re doing it seems sustainable – you see a lot of young bands who sign to labels too early and it’s all too much too fast.
Jo: Yeah. It’s interesting because you can see what a label can do – how quickly [bands] become prominent. And sometimes you think, “Oh, that just seemed so easy.” [Staying indie] is definitely slower and we’re still working full time, also trying to make sure we’re spending enough time on the music to make it good.

Tom: And trying to make sure it grows organically. The thing about the label’s way is that even though it is very formulaic, it works. They do what they do well. But there’s not time for things to grow by themselves. We needed to do the Four Seasons thing, I think, for us to learn about how we write. And I don’t think this record would have been as good if we didn’t have that opportunity to learn. And if we had signed with a label I don’t think they would have allowed us to do that. They would have driven us down a certain path, and it probably would have got us a bit more attention a bit quicker. But, y’know, there’s something in learning things for yourself rather than just people telling you.

And have you got grand plans for Pieater?
Jo: There’s no huge amount of [structure] for Pieater yet, but we’ve got a logo, so we’re a big deal now! No, it’s actually pretty exciting thinking about it. I kind of enjoy – well, I don’t enjoy it yet – but I can really respect that side of the industry, and the people who love it.

Tom: You have to do it for the love of it these days.

Jo: Exactly … I’ve suddenly learnt about all these cool small labels, and they’re not even people I’ve heard of through the radio, but they’re a little family, and people are giving them support…

Does it ever get a bit much, doing band and label stuff with just the two of you constantly?
Jo: He actually went away for three weeks, and I realised I kind of missed him. Because we see each other every day.

Tom: It is funny. We do hang out a lot.

Because you weren’t friends first, right? You were both looking for someone for a band.
Jo: Yep. And it was almost for the first year as a band we barely knew each other, and didn’t see each other all that often, because we weren’t gigging much. And then it wasn’t until we started doing shows in Sydney, with the 10-hour drive, that we started getting to know each other, I think.

You started playing together in 2006, then had a break, is that right?
Tom: Yeah. It was sort of three years, but then I went away first for six months, then I was back.

Jo: Then I went away for six months. And we were both totally just mucking about. We were both in other bands then.

Tom: Yeah. And when you came back, at that stage we could easily have [given up], nothing was really happening. Because it was sort of a side project to our other bands…

“Now we’re massive divas, we pump the air-con, and just buy snacks all the time.”

Jo: We did a demo, and then ‘Apple Song’ got played once, or something. And then we did a gig at the end of 2008. That’s the point where we had Big Scary – the name – [and] we started thinking about it a bit more. And it was nice, because it wasn’t constantly knocking your head against a brick wall, and things started happening a bit easier.

Tom: Yeah, I think our other bands were all about “making it”. And it was a bit sad … My band were my best friends, and there was this naive idea that our group of friends would all be famous together: “Let’s get massive!” And it’s just so hard.

Jo: If that’s your attitude it’s a recipe for heartbreak. And also we know how arbitrary it is who gets lucky and who doesn’t get past being played on Unearthed.

Tom: And there’s no rhyme or reason to what happens in the industry, really.

Jo: So many good bands that we know who have had to call it a day.

Tom: And I think because it was a side project there wasn’t any thought that we would get famous. But there you go.

So you’ve only been playing outside Melbourne for how long?
Jo: Our first Sydney show was with the Villainaires in Manly. I’m going to say October 2009. I think it was about then...The three of us [Iansek, Syme and Fraser] were in the front seat of this big van, no air-con, being really tight about petrol money. But being so excited. And now we’re massive divas, we pump the air-con, and just buy snacks all the time.

+

‘Vacation’ is out now through Pieater.

‘VACATION’ TOUR:

Thurs, Oct 27 - Norfolk Basement, Fremantle, WA
Fri, Oct 28 - Jive Bar, Adelaide, SA
Wed, Nov 2 - Foreshore Festival, Canberra, ACT
Sat, Dec 3 - Homebake Festival, Sydney, NSW
Sat, Dec 31 - The Espy Hotel, Melbourne, VIC