Getting set to play Splendour this weekend and then Fat as Butter festuival in Newcastle last this year, Larry recently caught up with Joe Ryan from Perth outfit POND (and Mink Mussel Creek) to talk about their upcoming shows, recent trips overseas and how they balance their time with Tame Impala and other side projects. Plus, he breaks the news that a new LP from both POND and Allbrook/Avery is on its way...

We’re here today to talk primarily about the Fat As Butter Festival, so we’ll kick off with that. It’s an interesting line up. What are your thoughts?

Yeah it’s going to be cool. A lot of the bands I haven’t heard of before, so it’ll be pretty interesting to walk around without any particular place to be and see what catches my ear.

It seems like there’s some good 90s bands like Wheatus and Eiffel 65 and acts like that! [laughs].

Wheatus is the name I’ve been hearing a bit about, but I haven’t heard any of the works by the other bands.

You might know the music when you hear it!

Probably, I’m really bad at remembering names!

What came out of all your travels overseas? You did SXSW and The Great Escape. I also noticed NME were pretty big on you after all that?

They’re good blokes, all those NME boys. With touring around, we never really get to practice much as POND, because usually Tame Impala is dominating the world. So it was good to just have three or four months of POND, and get better by playing!

As well, we just finished recording the new album called Hobo Rocket. We did it on the weekend in Freemantle, and we pretty much did the album live. I guess playing all those shows really helped, by just being able to adapt and change the structure of the song. Just recording it, and then being able to play it without too much hassle.

Is Hobo Rocket going to be a full length or an EP?

We decided it’s going to be eight tracks, so a full length. It was originally going to be an EP, but we’ve got too many songs backed up now and we’ve got to get rid of a few!

As you said, Tame Impala is dominating the world, is that hard to balance? Especially in the months ahead, you’ve got a couple of shows here and there, but it looks like it’s going to be difficult to get much more time in together.

Before Splendour we get to jam on Friday, and play one gig Friday night, and that’s pretty much all the time we’re going to get to rehearse. But it doesn’t really matter too much, with POND if you stuff up a few things, everyone just has a bit of a chuckle. It’s always just about having fun with the POND, so it’s not really too much of an ordeal having to balance Tame Impala and POND.

They’re pretty separate entities, so there’s never an issue of what songs should go to Tame and what songs should go to POND. And it’s good, we’re all friends, and if Tame Impala are touring, that’s essentially all the POND guys there as well. It’s easy enough to balance the two, we co-exist quite happily.

And of course you’ve got your other project Mink Mussel Creek, and a show coming up supporting Dada Records (in Fremantle)?

That’s coming up this Sunday, it’s going to be great. Have you ever been to Dada records in the city?

I certainly have, it’s a great store.

They’ve been putting on a lot of gigs out the back recently, in the car park and into the lane. It’s sort of a fundraiser so we can buy a bigger PA and some crazy lights.

So do you work there as well?

No, I just go in there and razz the owner Rob a bit! He’s going to be DJing actually, which should be great, unlocking the cosmic vault that is his record collection. So we’re just plugging along, all the boys have got their various side projects going strong as well. It’s pretty busy!

Speaking of keeping busy, I saw photos of you guys at the Damo Suzuki gig. What was that like?

I just got the audio back the other day, and it’s bloody incredible I reckon! Firstly it was an honour and huge notch in my belt to be able to play with Damo. I love Can and all that. But I think it’s the best we’ve ever played actually. It was an hour and a half of solid of grooves and crazy improves. It was pretty magical I thought!

Was that just after you had gotten back from overseas?

Yeah it was within the week I think.

That would have been perfect, because you guys were on top of your game then.

Well Nick and Cameron were staying back in England to do an Allbrook/Avery album with some of the guys from The Horrors, so they missed it. But we had a kind of hybrid POND, we got Cammy G from Usurpers of Modern Medicine. He just brought a whole other flavour to the mix. We had the whole thing recorded and filmed, so we’re going to try and make a DVD and release that.

That sounds wicked! Well you’ve got Splendour coming up, I’m looking forward to seeing you there, and good luck with the show with Mink.

Thank you very much my friend. Enjoy yourself!

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Don't miss POND when they play Fat as Butter festival in Newcastle on September 22nd with Wheatus, 360, Good Charlotte, Eiffel 65, Rufus, Yellowcard and much more. First Release tickets are on sale now and going out the door fast!

http://www.fatasbutter.com.au/

In addition to Splendour and Fat as Butter, world conquering psych rock fun makers Pond are back to inflict freakin’ good times on the good folk of Perth, Sydney and Melbourne with a few headline shows in September.

PERTH - The Bakery
Saturday 15th September
Tix: http://nowbaking.com.au/ticketing/EventDetails.aspx?EventGuid=80ef9be1-9...

SYDNEY - Metro (all ages)
Thursday 20th September
Tix: http://www.metrotheatre.com.au/events/2012/09/20/pond / 02 9550 3666

MELBOURNE - The Corner
Sunday 23rd September
Tix: https://corner.ticketscout.com.au/gigs/719-pond / 03 9427 9198

NEW VIDEO: Moth Wings
http://youtu.be/k_VlLzJS4bo

http://facebook.com/pondling
http://spinningtopmusic.com/