The Fumes Our Manly Interview With Steve Merry
Perfect Pitch - Music Column by Simon Forman
To the casual observer it may seem as if they’re never off the live circuit… but with the new album ‘Sundancer’, The Fumes are once again set to ignite the Australian touring scene.
Blasting out another shot of their distinctive blues-rock sound, the guys are on the road this June. Northern beaches fans witnessed The Fumes live on stage at the Mona Vale Hotel.
Steve Merry, the axe wielding front man of the Aussie duo, took some time out from his busy schedule to chat to Our Manly.
Offering insight into a variety of topics we discovered, among other things, the influences that inspire him, the creative process that gave birth to Sundancer and what life’s like in one of Australia’s hardest working and most fiercely independent bands.
OM: Steve thanks for taking time to chat with us.
SM: No problem man.
OM: For those people that aren’t too familiar with The Fumes, I was hoping I could take you back a little and ask you about the style of music you play. With the blues being such an integral part of The Fumes’ sound I was wondering if you could tell me who or what it was that got you into playing that style of music?
SM: I started playing the guitar really young and dad played guitar as well. I guess back then it was, you know, Bob Dylan…stuff like that. But like I say, that was when I was really young. Then I started getting into some punk bands from the 80’s…a band called TSOL. I mean as a kid you just learn the rock and roll that you like. Then when I got older I started hearing blues guys like John Lee Hooker and Lightning Hopkins and also Tom Waits, stuff like that.
And I really loved the Violent Femmes. I was 12 or 13 when that first Violent Femmes album came out and I loved the fact that a lot of that stuff was pretty altruistic and pretty nasty… and pretty cool!
OM: And what about Joel’s influences (drummer for The Fumes)… are they pretty much the same as yours?
SM: Ahh, you would have to ask him but he’s pretty much into his rock and roll. Stuff like Kyuss…yeah, he’s just really into his heavy rock and roll.
OM: The bands that you’ve mentioned, in particular the old blues players, they come from an era when musicians played music as a way of actually earning a living in order to put food on the table. Do you think it’s an appreciation of this that’s one reason why you guys also work so hard and make a point of playing so many live performances?
SM: I think that the only way for a band like us to make any sort of a living out of the type of music we play is to… well you know… you’ve just gotta play live and play all the time! And it’s just really where we see our thing being at. We both really like playing live and that’s also how you get good at your thing… by doing it all the time.
OM: So onto new the album Sundancer that you’ve just released.
I’ve read that the songs for the album were growing and developing in your head for a couple of years. So I was wondering if this means that you are the creative force in the band and if you tend to choose the direction the music takes?
SM: Totally. I write all the songs. I mean on that side of things Joel is pretty much, well he just likes to be a drummer you know!
I mean they’re my songs that then go to him and then when we get together we put em’ together and we arrange them together. And if something doesn’t work it kind of gets ousted. But you know if something doesn’t really work to his style then it’s on the backburner. Maybe it becomes something else, something different later on, who knows. That’s The Fumes… that’s the way it sort of works.
OM: So you kind of thrash it out and see what fits?
SM: Yeah… and Joel is a certain type of drummer. He’s just really good at what he does and I really respect that and that’s the way we are and that’s the way we work.
OM: So was it an instant connection when the two of you started getting together and playing?
SM: Yeah, I mean being a two-piece, the dynamics of that other person can really define how you end up playing and sounding. Before, I played the same songs that I was playing with this other fella and it completely changed, you know… it all completely changed…and then it kind of morphed into what The Fumes are when I played them with Joel. So that was kind of cool.
I think we both have a kind of really good and similar idea about intensity in music. That was something we never had to speak about, it was just the way it happened. But the dynamics are really important right there! If something’s gonna be intense the whole way through then, after a while, it’s not gonna stay that intense anymore.
OM: Is it fair then to say that the sound of this new album is an evolutionary step for the band; especially given these songs have been growing and formulating in your mind for a while?
SM: Totally man. I mean everything that’s on there is influenced by styles of music that I’ve been into all my life. And I’ve found on this album I’ve been able to do what I wanted to do with it. The last one (Guns for Gold) we were kind of governed a bit by who we were and we kind of had to do a certain thing and stuff.
This one though I was able to just put down exactly what I wanted. You know, it was like I can put this tune on here if I want…
OM: And do you think this freedom of choice has been helped by the fact that you’ve remained independent as a band…that you can now just go and do what you want to do?
SM: Definitley! You know what the music industry is like…you can have ideas and dreams of making millions of dollars, but that’s pretty rare!
The reality of it is that if you can stick at it and do it by yourself, you’re gonna be better off than if you have someone mould you into something that they wanna try and mould you into. Then you’re just gonna get the shits and hate what you’re doing and then your gonna regret it for the rest of your life…(laughing) and you still didn’t make any money!
I mean I don’t want to sound negative about this but the way it is now, independent is the only way that you can get your art across and, if you’re lucky, you might just make a good living out of it.
OM: In regards to the production on this album you’ve been really specific about recording it on old technology and making sure you get an authentic sound. Is that because you feel that this type of sound is, if anything, more real?
SM: I guess a lot of it just comes down to personal taste you know. That’s the sound I like, and all the albums I like that carry some weight are kind of done like that. I mean you can produce something until it dies pretty easily, but if you’ve achieved that thing, that you’ve caught, then you want to keep it alive as long as and as well as you can… you know. I mean that’s what’s gonna’ be interesting in the end.
OM: And on that notion of keeping it alive, you recorded the album pretty quickly (the album was tracked in only two weeks).
SM: Yeah, we got Jim Diamond over from Detroit and he’s pretty renowned. He knows what he’s doing and he’s cool. So he came out and we just worked it out.
As I said, I had a lot of what I wanted to do already worked out and had it roughly in my head and it all went pretty smoothly. So we tracked it in about two weeks and then we went to Detroit and mixed it.
OM: How was Detroit?
SM: It’s a messed up joint! I mean, we stayed downtown right next to the Fillmore Theatre. Jim had a bar down the street that he ran with all these real nice people who are really good friends of his and they looked after us like nothing else. We pretty much spent the time between the studio and the bar.
OM: That sounds like the life!
Well, thanks for all your time today Steve and for letting the readers know a little bit more about what goes on behind the scenes with The Fumes.
SM: No problem man, good talking to you!
OM: Oh, just one more question… can you name one album that you own that would come as a surprise to any Fumes fan?
SM: (Chuckling) Harry Belafonte!
And on that calypso bombshell it’s time to leave Steve to do what he does best…playing balls out blues-rock to a sweating mass of music loving fans!
With Sundancer hitting the stores and the band once more hitting the tour circuit, there’s little doubt that The Fumes are set to make an impact over the next few months.