The Clouds Return For Tour

The Clouds were one of Australia’s leading bands of the 90’s during a time when the independent scene and the mainstream reached a strange point of co-dependence. Eventually major label politics bought about their demise, but this year they are returning for a tour with international re-unionists Jesus Jones and The Wonder Stuff. HHMM spoke to leader of The Clouds Jodi Phillis in anticipation of the tour.

HHMM: Who would have predicted that in 2011 you would have been touring with Jesus Jones and The Wonder Stuff?

JP: I don’t think anyone. It’s bizarre isn’t it, but kind of cool.

HHMM: Did you know those bands personally the first time around?

JP: I think we might have played with The Wonder Stuff, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask the rest of the band if they remember that. But I don’t remember meeting Jesus Jones though. I mean, we were all around at the same time so I guess the people putting this bill together figured it was a big 90’s thing. We were around at the same time and I remember the Jesus Jones single was a standout song.

HHMM:  Whether by design or co-incidence, the tour co-incides with the 20^th Anniversary of the release of Penny Century. Was that something you were aware of?

JP: Yeah. Stuart, our original drummer was trying to organize the Penny Century shows which we were all a bit “maybe”, about. None of us were that keen  because we always thought we had so many other songs that we’d want to play in the set and not miss out.  It just didn’t feel right to just do Penny Century.  So we left that idea on the backburner. Soon after that Trish wrote an email to everybody out of the blue – because we hadn’t really keep in touch – and at that time everyone said “yeah, lets do it”. We were about to organize our own tour and then we got the email about the Jesus Jones tour and it all kind of made sense really. Mainly because I wanted to play at the Enmore and the Tivoli. I really love those venues and I’d never played at the Enmore so I was excited about that, so it felt like a fun thing to do.

HHMM: Looking back, it was an interesting time in music, especially in Australia.  It was a time when there was a real blurring between what was ‘indie’ and what was mainstream. Where did you see yourselves in that world?

JP: It was kind of when  ‘indie’ became a style rather than meaning you were independent and had no money behind you. We started off indie with RedEye but then Redeye signed with Polydor and so we became part of a major roster. I’m sure all those other bands that were called indie all had some connection to a major label. I mean, look at Nirvana.  “Indie’ became an adjective. But I think the thing about those times was the melody.  There was so much melody going around. The music was very powerful and there was so much distortion as well, but I think there were really amazing melodies and chord progressions that had really happened before.  That’s my perspective. We were part of that, and so were The Pixies and so were Lush and Nirvana and lots of bands. That was the thing that was happening in the nineties that was so exciting.

HHMM: It was also interesting that a lot of the bands in Australia from that time were smart enough to avoid over-staying their welcome. Bands like Falling Joys and The Hummingbirds and yourselves – in a way history overlooks you to an extent because you didn’t run around flogging a dead horse.  Do you know what I mean by that?

JP: Sure. I really admire bands that can keep going though. I’ll tell you one band that I only recently discovered called The Cardiacs.  They are a perfect example of why I said yes to doing a Clouds tour. I’ve been doing my own stuff for ages now and I’ve been on my own path, but two weeks before Trish sent the email to everyone I had discovered this band called The Cardiacs. They started in 1977 in London and had been inspired by Split Enz and the Sex Pistols. They kept going for over 30 years until the front guy had a heart attack – oddly enough – and just recently they stopped touring. They’ve got this huge underground fanbase and really loyal fans and they have created this whole world of music. They are so amazing. The reminded me a bit of the Clouds when I heard it and it made me think it would be so much fun to play our songs again, really tight and really well and with the energy I was hearing from the Cardiacs. That’s what made me excited to do it again. I know that every bloody nineties band is re-uniting this year and our reunion has nothing to do with that. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t have been inspired by The Cardiacs. They’ve never had a label, they’d always been ignored by the press and by the industry, but they kept doing it. So that inspired me.

HHMM:  In that time in Australian music, can you remember the mood? Was it euphoric or was it a slog that everyone was on? Was everybody making plans or was it all random?

JP: We had management organizing everything, but our lives were pretty random, in that we just wrote songs, practiced them, recorded them and toured. That was our life. We were young, we didn’t have kids then. Also, yes, it was euphoric and there was definitely a theory on the whole thing and our fans were very loyal.  You can only go round Australia so many times. So when we started going to London and living there and living in San Francisco and signing to Elektra that’s when it got a bit more serious and a bit more hard work. That became a bit more intense.

HHMM: Was there ever a plan for world domination or was that never part of the plan?

JP: That was definitely part of the plan. We thought we were doing that but then Elektra dropped their whole international roster, soon after we had signed to them. So that was real spanner in the works because we were ready to keep touring the States and getting on with the job, but it stopped everything. It got a bit difficult from that point.

HHMM: A lot of people say that out of that scene and out of that time a lot of lifelong relationships and friendships emerged, has that been the case for you?

JP: Sure. I’ll always love all the members from The Clouds and Susie from the Falling Joys is still a good friend. But everyone has their lives and families and so I hardly see them anymore.

HHMM: It also struck me that The Clouds actually played at the first ever Big Day out. If the tour goes well would there be any chance of making it to the 20^th Big Day Out?

JP: I guess so, yeah, that would be fun. We’ll see….

HHMM: You’ve continued to make music since The Clouds under a couple of different banners. Is it something that once its in the blood, its there to stay.

JP: Oh yeah, absolutely. For me I’ve had to make a choice about do I continue being a musician and try to make a living doing that, or do I go to uni or what do I do. All the other Clouds have got jobs. My husband and I make music and we put out our own music and we make music for screen so we are more composers. I have a vocal quartet called the Glamma Rays.  So I keep very busy and music is everything still.

The tour dates:

Thu Aug 18. The Tivoli. Brisbane.

Fri Aug 19. The Palace. Melbourne.

Sat Aug 20. Enmore Theatre.  Sydney.

 

The Pixies – Festival Hall

The Pixies shows were hotly anticipated and they were also bloody hot. It was like being transported back to a sweaty, inner-city public on a hot summers nights – somewhere a good proportion of this crowd had grown up. The show was like a reunion; many happy, familiar, slightly aged faces re-living the days of their altern-rock youth. I had a great time but my mate Ruttsy (Andrew Rutter) had an even better time, so we’ll let him tell the tale…..

When The Pixies last toured Australia with their “reunion” they were must-sees from a nostalgia perspective. Those shows made it obvious that they had lost nothing and their songs had stood the test of time very well.

So it was no wonder that a succession of shows sold out quickly for this latest Doolittle tour. The original line-up was all here – Black, Deal, Santiago & Lovering – the setlist was awesome containing B sides, the Doolittle album played song for song (as per the All Tomorrow’s Parties gigs) and a sprinkling of other “greatest hits” from Come on Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa, Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde

There is no pretence, no major showmanship and no fucking around with a Pixies gig. They hit the stage following a sepia-toned short film and get straight into it. Kicking off with Dancing the Manta Ray, Weird at My School, Bailey’s Walk & Manta Ray from the Complete B-sides compilation was a great way of warming up the crowd.

They then launched into the magnificent 1989 album Doolittle. Opening track Debaser with Frank Black’s vocal scream “Got me a movie, I want you to know…I am un chien Andalusia”) supplemented by Kim Deal’s slightly off kilter backups – sublime and brilliant. Next up Tame (“hips like Cinderella..”) with its trademark loudQUIETloud structure, “Uh huh, uh huh” refrain and gradual build-up to its sudden climax. Then the prescient El Nino song Wave of Mutilation was met with a rapt reception by a sweating crowd inside the Festering Hall sauna.

I Bleed with Kim Deal’s bassline, Lovering’s cracking drumbeat, the Black/Deal vocal and some Joey Santiago guitar magic followed and washed into the beautiful, lush pop of Here Comes Your Man. It’s about now I was again reminded of this record’s amazing consistency. I recall wearing out both vinyl and cassette versions and I reckon my CD will need replacing soon!

Next up was Dead the crazy song about Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite, followed by the brilliant Monkey Gone to Heaven with the line everybody knows and loves (“if man is 5, if the devil is 6, then god is 7..”) and we were indeed in Pixies heaven. Mr. Grieves followed and then came a personal favourite Crackity Jones (“crack crack crackity jones, wup wup..”) with its mighty speed before we mellowed out with the magical La La Love You sung by David to an adoring throng. #13 Baby followed and There Goes My Gun before we hit paydirt again with the best song on the album (my opinion) Hey. It’s hard to say why this resonates so strongly – it’s definitely the lyrics, the chained refrain, the plaintive guitar, the “UH said the man to the lady” bit and the drumming – pretty much everything really! The haunting Silver came next and the set concluded with the pounding, grinding, throbbing, hairy bassline and guitar picking of Gouge Away. Awesome!

We could have gone home happy at that poi, but no, we got two encores! The first featured an acoustic Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf) followed by Into the White with the world’s most powerful smoke machine obscuring the band and half the audience. Once the smoke had cleared we were treated to a greatest/greater hits selection. Picking best songs is a bit like choosing between children but I have two favourite Pixies songs that have stood the test of time. The first is Bone Machine which had me in apoplexy – everything about this song is great. U-Mass is a little ripper that came next followed by Nimrod’s Son, the Spanish Isla De Encanta and then my second favourite, Where is My Mind? (“with your feet on the air and your head on the ground..”). I think I sang the Ooh, Ooh refrain all the way home! (Yes, he did – AW)

But wait there’s more and the band still managed a quickfire version of Vamos (“ Vamos a jugar por la playa” means “Let’s play on the beach” in case you were wondering!), before finishing with the traditional closer Gigantic (a big, big love) – as apt a description of this gig as you will get.