Interview: The Fumes

Aussie blues rock duo, THE FUMES, have been tearing up stages across the country over the last year on the back of their latest record, Sundancer. Singer, guitarist, pianist and loose cannon, STEVE MERRY, talked to NATHAN WOOD in the lead up to their spot on the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival about how Sundancer has gone down with crowds live, plans to support the Hoodoo Gurus and dealing with other bands’ managers having hissy fits.

It’s been almost a year since your latest record Sundancer was released. How has touring on the back of Sundancer compared to when you toured your debut, Guns Of Gold?

It’s been a lot different this time around, funny too because Sundancer I really felt I got it right, where as Guns Of Gold we were pretty green and I didn't have much experience, therefore input into the production side. So it came out how it did and I was kinda like, “Oh well, it’s alright” (one good single on radio – that I didn't even like the version of either), but we had great touring success on that. [It] got us to Japan and all was great. Still broke, but good.

So [the] second album we demoed for nearly two years. I kind of don't like doing too many demos, the music is in my head and I guess I just think everybody else can hear it, so the process was slow and nobody was really interested in it to put up any money. But I knew I had a good album. So, somehow we managed to get the money from advances from publishing, Joel [Battersby, the other half of The Fumes] invested and I just had to depend on my good friends and missus and manager to make it work.

Well, we put the album out and got bloody critical acclaim pretty much across the whole media spectrum, but just couldn't get a single on radio, therefore cutting our touring routes down to just capital cities. And all of a sudden the album has run its course. Humbling experience indeed. Still, I love the album, but I guess people just have different tastes.

How has the record been received by the crowds at your live shows?

In Australia we have our core fans, bless ‘em! But we have been really trying to work in the States. New York City has been great, so I guess we’ll be trying to get back there for a third time to finally release the album. We've had some fuckin’ cool shows in some smaller joints in Soho – the Rockwood Music Hall is a cracker!

Guns Of Gold was a big hit in Japan when it was released, how has Sundancer gone down in ‘the land of the rising sun’?

I think it went down pretty well. We played our own headline show there and had about 200 people there, which was unreal. But I think ‘the land of the rising sun’ is, at the moment, the ‘land of the sinking economy,’ which is maybe hindering our label from getting us back over there.

Has your live show (already renowned for being a rollicking good time) changed or developed much while touring Sundancer?

I sometimes attempt to play piano, but it’s a keyboard. I just wish every venue had an acoustic piano, or Joel was bigger and he could carry one round for us.

You recently toured Oz with Clutch and Calexico. How did those shows go down?

They were both fun and really different. [With] Clutch we played a harder, heavier set and they were pretty cool. But I pissed off their manager because I asked for a piece of one of their 10 fucking pizzas after the show and he hit the roof and stormed out of the room like on a reality TV show, but fuck him. He looked like he ate about 10 pizzas a day anyway.

And then the ironic thing was, two days later [at] the first show with Calexico, who have been one of my favourite bands for a long, long time, we met them at sound check and they ordered a whole bunch of pizzas and shouted us as much as we could eat… Love Calexico.

Are you looking forward to tearing it up at the Blues and Roots fest in Byron?

Fuck no! I can't stand the idea off playin’ one of the biggest festivals in Australia, just down the road from where I live, with the likes of John Mayall, Rodriguez, Taj Mahal, and the frigging Gypsy Kings! Oh and maybe the chance to throw a bottle at Donavan Frankenreiter… No, please kill me!

You’ve also got some support slots with the Hoodoo Gurus coming up – are you psyched to be playing with such a legendary Aussie act?

First time I heard them was on Thank God You’re Here! Nah, they’re legends and we are very excited for that and to meet them. I watched them side of stage at St. Kilda Fest and it was funny because I knew every word to every song – they ripped!

Finally Steve, any plans to get back into the studio in 2010?

I have plans but I ain’t saying nothing yet! ! But thanks for the questions mate.