Fantastic Australian roots-rock septet HALFWAY have recently released their excellent debut album "Fairwell To The Fainthearted" on the discerning Laughing Outlaw label. Already a serious favourite 'round the W&H office, it's the sound of a band plugging into the best of supercharged rock'n'roll as well as dustbowl country and folk in the magnificent Uncle Tupelo tradition and immediately marks Halfway out as serious contenders.
To celebrate, the Brisbane band's co-singer/ guitarists JOHN BUSBY and CHRIS DALE very kindly agreed to some in-depth
interrogation via the wonders of e-mail and promptly sent back some cogent answers from their native Brisbane HQ. Stick around to discover the truth behind Australia's Country scene, why some songs will always be great road songs and John and Chris's respective favourite Big Star albums. Hell, these are the important issues in the larger scheme of things, right?
W&H:Basic one to start off: how long have you been playing together as Halfway? The band has a large number of members, so is it a full-time thing now, or do you all work on other projects as well?
John – We’ve been playing in Halfway for about 4 years. We don’t really work on other projects, because Halfway is really a full time band for all seven of us. Occasionally we might help some friends with a bit of recording, but very rarely.
W&H: It's great for me to hear a fantastic new band from Brisbane, as previously I'd automatically have thought of the Go-Betweens when thinking of the city. How are you guys received locally?
John - Brisbane has been really good to us. Unfortunately there are not a lot of venues for live music, but we do OK. I think at first the crowds were a little standoffish because country music is considered a little okay and backward - but they have warmed to it. The Go-Betweens and the Saints are the most notable Brisbane bands and quite a few other good bands have come from here also, though it’s not really a town that celebrates the arts. The Go Betweens in particular have been a big influence on us. The song Cattle & Cane is about Central & Northern Queensland, which is where some of us grew up.
W&H: Expanding on that last one a bit: are there many bands playing roots-influenced rock in Aus? I'm aware of the likes of Mick Thomas and a couple more, but other than that I'm struggling to recall many people working within that area from Aus. Does the country have more of a tradition for Country and folk music than most people would imagine?
John - There is a big country scene in Australia. The home of country music in Australia is Tamworth. Which I guess is something like a small scale Nashville. But we are not really a part of that. We basically play indie rock venues. Paul Kelly, Tim Rodgers, Archie Roach, Neil Murray and Kev Carmody are some of the cream of Australian roots/country writers here at the moment.
W&H: I enjoyed reading the introductory notes to the album which suggest Brisbane could be seen as a kind of Australian equivalent of Tucson. Would you agree? While you're totally different to them, I can also feel the dry heat and the desert in your music the way I can in Giant Sand's...
John - Brisbane is certainly a hot, dry climate. I guess a lot of our songs are rooted in a few different Queensland towns and I hope they sound like it.
Chris - I’ve never been to Tucson so it’s difficult to compare.
W&H: Songs such as "Sixpack", "Sure Uncertain" and - inevitably - "Drunk Again" - suggest Halfway are a band who appreciate beer and alcohol in drinking. Are you a big booze and party band in the tradition of, say, The Replacements?
John - We enjoy a drink or two, I’m not sure if we are in that league yet though...
Chris -I wouldn’t say we’re a party band but we do like to relax from time to time and play euchre (cards) or table tennis whilst listening to Alex Chilton on repeat.
W&H: I like your version of Lowell George's "Willin'" Little Feat were once very much a critical name to drop, but these days not so much critically at least. Are you guys all fans of them?
John - I only have a couple of their records. Willin' is such a great song. As is Truck Stop Girl. I really love a good road song. I drive my old 71 Chrysler Valiant to work everyday & when a song like Willin' or Born to Run come on the stereo, it takes you away from the everyday grind. I guess that’s the beauty of a great road song.
Chris -I’ve only ever heard Willin’ . Johnny and Noel put me on to Steve (the pearl) Earle’s version, then I heard the original. It’s a beautiful song.
W&H: Most of the album's songs have quite a big, dense sound with pedal steel, dobro, organ and banjo all colouring the regular guitars. Do the songs usually come from jamming or are they brought in as finished songs?
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John - We bring in the basic chords/melody & work it out from there. Generally we work out the structure and general composition in the rehearsal room and everyone puts forward their ideas or whatever as we go through the song. We have made our own little clubhouse at our rehearsal room and we just go through the songs, have a few beers, & listen to music & hang out together. The songs basically take shape from that. We don’t labour over the songs too much we just let them work themselves out over a few drinks.
W&H: I like the way you also sometimes utilise unusual sonic elements in your songs, like the E-bow on "Compromise For A Country Girl", which adds a nice jarring counterpoint to an otherwise relatively gentle acoustic song. I assume this is played by Chris Hess? He's also credited with "Noises" on the album. Is he the sonic explorer in the band?
John - I guess so. He has a great collection of vintage guitars/pedals tape echoes and generally cool stuff. He basically swaps lead runs and swells with Noel Fitzpatrick on the pedal steel. We recorded Compromise here at my house & we didn’t want it to be the standard acoustic track on the LP so Hessy filled it out with some E bow that worked quite nicely.
Chris -Chris Hess is indeed the ‘Explorer’ in the band. He’s very good at providing those ‘nice jarring counterpoints’
W&H: I can't resist asking you about "C.Q Skyline" and its' reference to Big Star, because they're a huge obsession of mine. If you guys are both fans, which is your favourite Big Star album? Mine's always changing...I think its "Radio City" right now.
Chris -Radio City
John - I can’t really split them? Maybe #1 Record just to balance the books.
W&H:I also like the way that song mentions Big Star and then says "making enemies". Does this refer to you being outsiders because you like music such as Big Star's?
John - I grew up in a town called Rock Hampton in Central Queensland which is about 650kms north of Brisbane. Music did make us outsiders growing up there. But that’s just a small town thing. It doesn’t really take too much to isolate yourself in that type of small community. Just the nature of it really. But it made us & our group of friends quite a tight knit group. In the beginning no venues would put us on to play, so we would put on shows under my house. It was $2 to get in to see 3 bands and free cask wine. They were pretty good times & I still have friends up there.
W&H: I'm getting to like a lot of the band the Laughing Outlaw label release. They certainly have an eclectic roster of artists. Do you hope to work with them on a long-term basis and what do you like about their set-up?
John - Yeah we hope to work with them more. We are planning to start work on another record later in the year with Wayne Connolly & Rob Younger (Radio Birdman) on production. I like the roster at LO, it’s really strong (Gina Villalobos, Jason Walker etc). The guys who run it are big music fans & for us so far it has been a very supportive environment which given us plenty of room to do what we want. They are sympathetic to our cause.
W&H: Finally, you've made an excellent debut album which, I feel, deserves to be heard on a much wider scale. Do you see Halfway as a band who can work on an international level and would you like to be able to tour regularly? What are your ultimate aims for the band?
John - We set pretty basic goals for the band, we just try to make good honest records & play them well. I guess we want what all bands want & that is to give up our jobs and play full time. We would love to tour the band overseas, though with the seven of us it makes it quite hard. We are hoping to get over to Europe before the end of the year even if it just a few of us. We are really looking forward to it
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