Interviews

The Morning After Girls

Clark Summers 19/03/2006

On the eve of the release of their debut U.K. single “Hi-Skies” Australia's The Morning After Girls talk to Clark Summers about challenging the musical status quo, the influences that have shaped the band thus far and why U.K. audiences give them hope for a musical revolution.

• How did the band come together - was it simply a shared love for music/a chance meeting etc. or were you simply fed up with the current music scene and fancied shaking things up a bit?

Often, human beings never realise that they're drifting into a state of apathy and ignorance in regards to their own life and what its meaning is. I know for myself, I needed to be in a state of discomfort in order to realise new parts of myself that were perhaps being suffocated
by a place that had become un-stimulating. Musically that's how we always feel too. Thus our band came together and is what it is and isn't from day to day.

• Your band seems to fit firmly into the lineage of great psych-rock bands (from the songs I've heard so far) which albums/bands do you think helped shape the sound of T.M.A.G.?

It's more about feeling the same or similar feelings that we do as when we've listened to our favourite music. Life tends to influence us more than a band or an album. Certainly, "Saucerful Of Secrets" (by Pink Floyd) and "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" (by The Byrds) are wonderful albums, but I think it's more a case of us perhaps manifesting similar states of mind through our music as the bands you're thinking of.

• What do you make of the current music scene back home? Do you find U.K. / U.S. audiences to be more receptive/less cynical or is it the polar opposite? What do you make of U.K. audiences so far?

Back home, as I intimated above, there is a real danger of people becoming far too comfortable in their unconscious fears of changing and challenging the spoon that's shoved down their throats on a daily basis. I think cynicism is a universal feeling amongst anyone with half a brain and half a clue as to the nature of the current world's state. Audiences in the U.K have been very supportive and have actually given me real hope that there can be a musical revolution of sorts where three-minute fixes can be a little less the focus of everyone's live musical experience.

• What's the strangest thing you've seen on tour?

A Jackelope

• What's your least favourite aspect to being in a band?

People who worry too much about things that always work out.

• What's the best thing about being in the Morning After Girls?

Music is the reason I get out of bed every day.

• What can fans expect from your upcoming live shows / your forthcoming debut album?

An experience that hopefully reflects every emotion they've ever felt.

• What music are you digging right now?

Dead Meadow, Black Angels, The Boxer Rebellion, Silvertone, BRMC Howl B-Sides

• Are you playing any UK festivals in the summer?

Yes, in the middle of May, go to BestBefore.com

• Who would you say your non-musical influences (literature, films, philosophy etc.) are?

Expressionism, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Plath, Derrida

• You've been on tour with the Brian Jonestown Massacre (who seem to have built up quite a notorious reputation following DiG!) I don't wish to dwell on this but I'm curious (as you seem like kindred spirits on a mission to bring some danger back into rock 'n' roll) - what were they like to tour with/hang out with?

They are lovely people who share our hope that the right music may one day dominate our now-polluted airwaves.

• The obligatory controversial question (well, kind of) are T.M.A.G. rebelling against anything, are there any bands you have a complete disdain for?

Hate, disdain, I reserve for those who deserve it. We rebel against those whose direction is misguided.