JOY DIVISION

Rip It Up, Issue 183, 1 October 1992, Page 15

JOY DIVISION

The success of Australian

The central core of Aussie rock is out of vogue. It's just not cool to be a bloke anymore. The hard man of the 80s has been replaced by the "in touch" man of the 90s who dismisses his predecessor as a sexist patriarch. And of course the death of the bloke heralded the demise of the gas crankin', mike rupturing bloke's bands — the Cold Chisels, Hunters and Collectors and Spy vc Spys of the past. Even jimmy Barnes hung up his tattered denims, slicked back his hair and tried to convince us he had soul.

The point is driven home by the massive upswell in popularity for bands like Ratcat, the Clouds, the Hummingbirds and the Falling Joys. The Joys number one mainstream hit 'Lock It' last year, a delicately insecure, deliriously melodic slice of guitar pop, was the antithesis of the ,XXXX brandishing, stick beating anthems Australia had previously been known for. 'Working class man' was overrun by hordes of middle class kids desperately trying to escape the pretensions of the bourgeosie. The sound of Australia became poppier, though more lyrically pensive and understanding. T

The Falling Joys bear out that image perfectly on stage. Lead singer/ guitarist Suzie Higgie bounces around, smiling like a street urchin that's just found a dollar, defying every pose you expect a guitarist to strike. Walls of frenetically blurred rock chords are created and collapsed on

all sides and she's just acting so . . . cute. Pete, the drummer, smiles so broadly I begin to wonder about the contours of his stool. They're so happily unpretentious it's almost annyoing.

It gets worse when I meet them. Somehow, you expect a band in their position to be at least a little arrogant, if only in that it takes a lot of self-confi-dence to get where they are. But the Falling Joys are anti-heroes with their feet seemingly nailed to the ground-

"We're incredibly sorry," says Stuart Robertson (guitars)

explaining the successive airplane breakdowns and flight delays that stopped them from getting here last year. "One of the plane's engines blew up and we were stuck in LA for 20 hours. It wasn't that we didn't like you, really. We were going to come straight here and play which would of meant that we wouldn't have slept for three days but we couldn't even do that. The irony is that they sent our instruments here in time, so hopefully they played a good gig without us."

The band doesn't seem to have much luck with modern

technology. Two separate recording studios burst into flame as they tried to record their second album Psychohum. "We burnt down the biggest, most expensive studio in Sydney," says Pat, the bassist, "We only had one day's recording in there and just as we were tuning up the amps started to blow up one by one. Just as we noticed a funny smell all the wiring in the wall cavities burst into flames. So we went to another studio the next day and for some reason that caught on fire as well."

Understandably feeling

somewhat jinxed, the Joys headed to Greenhouse Studios in London to be produced by Jessica Corcoran (Neds Atomic' Dustbin). Perhaps as some sort of subconscious exorcism ritual they recorded a fire extinguisher on the album, mixing it in so as to be indistinguishable from their heavier guitar blasts. Unfortunately while easily mastering how to turn it on, turning it off proved somewhat more difficult. , "We just banged it on when we wanted to start recording but couldn't find a way to stop it so the whole place got covered in foam. Kind of a mess." Stuart admits. Somewhat aptly, the band has moved away from technology on Psychohum. "Wishlist, the first album, had thousands of overdubs which ended up evening everything out too much," says Pat, "kind of like we left the songs somewhere in a computer. For Psychohum we wanted more extremes of loud and soft songs. We recorded entire songs rather than just short takes of lines on verses. I suggest that the stripped back to basics approach is a trend at the moment. "Oh sure," Suzie cuts in, "but it applies to everything. That's why so many cottage industries are being set up. Technology hasn't improved the quality of life, it's just made it faster. But we're not technophobes — another reason we cut things back was just because the heavier stuff is fun to play." So are Falling Joys the new sound of Australia? "No, I don't think so," says Stuart, "Sure, the real hard Aussie rock stereotypes have gone, but our type of sound has got more international recognition. The new sound coming through is more acoustic, almost NZ influenced, but with really dry Aussie Iryics. Bands like Peg and Crowe. Never heard of them. "You will." :

"WE BURNT DOWN THE BIGGEST, MOST EXPENSIVE STUDIO IN SYDNEY," SAYS PAT, THE BASSIST, "WE WENT TO ANOTHER STUDIO THE NEXT DAY

AND FOR SOME REASON THAT CAUGHT ON FIRE AS WELL."

TONY MILLER