With the release of your album “In Loving Memory” and your Australian tour throughout June, what sort of preparation is The Paper Scissors going through?

We have been rehearsing a fair bit. We are just getting ready and trying to get people along to the shows. I have been organising posters and adds for the radio.

Ah so you're the man who does behind the scenes organising?

Yep yep I am. The other guys help a bit but i'm kind of doing the most of that sort of stuff. But we are all getting psyched up for the tour.

Where did the album name come from?

We were trying to think of names for the album, and the phrase 'in loving memory' popped into mind. It kind of just felt like it suited the content because a lot of the songs are about family, friends so I think it just fits. I like the phrase because it is putting a slightly hopefully spin on something that could be negative.

So do you think that your album is going to receive negative attention?

Oh no no, not on the album. Just It terms of the content. One song in particular called “Taller then You” is about a friend who died. I would rather look at that situation as something hopeful and try and remember him in a nice way, rather than get bummed about it. It is kind of funny because it is upbeat for a song about a friend who died.. I think it is a cathartic sort of thing, you can make something out of something sad or tragic.

For sure. So what is difference between your previous record Less Talk, More Paper Scissors, compared to “In Loving Memory” which came out on the 17th of June?

It Is pretty different (laughs). I feel like the first album was in impersonation of who we loved in terms of musical influences. Whereas I think a lot of this one (In Loving Memory) is our own thing. When you do your first album, like any band you get a lot more time to do it. I think you can kind of tinker away at it better. Your first album will always be loosely formed by the stuff that you listen to when you are growing up. Like parents record collections!
When you consider that the first album came out In 2007, so we were creating it in 2006 I was only 23. Even younger when I was writing it actually. I think there is a real mark difference in writing an album when you are that old, compared to when you are 28. You think about different things and your world view changes. You just change a lot, your personality really comes out in the writing so obviously age is an influence in the writing process. Even in the recording process too actually. With In Loving Memory we were more sure with ourselves about how we wanted it do sound. Whereas on the first one I kind of wanted it to sound like everything.

What tracks from In Loving Memory do you foresee that are you going to be the most popular amongst listeners?

There are a few which we have noticed work really well live and have a good energy to them. I think “Over There” is one of them, it is one of the more poppy ones. “Drunk Swim” is going really well too actually, it is the last track on the album. “Soft Pig” Is another one! It is the ballad on the album (laughs). A ballad that is intensely loud so that has had a really good reception as well.

In October last year you had a tour with the release of your first single from In Loving Memory titled “Lung sum”. What were peoples reactions to the new material in that tour?

It wasn't that amazing actually. I don't know what happened there, I think it was a bit ill conceived. I think maybe we should have left it a little bit longer. We have been playing this stuff for a while now (tracks from In Loving Memory) and it has been pretty well received. But what we are really looking forward to with this new tour is the fact that people would have had the chance to listen to the whole album before. We are looking forward to people at the shows giving us a bit more time and love for these songs. I think it is hard when you are playing stuff that you wrote five years ago, and because people know it that is the only stuff they want to hear. It is a natural thing, you go to a show and instantly connect with songs that you have heard. Whereas when you are listening to songs that you haven't heard it can sometimes be more of a challenge to connect with them. We are looking forward to the crowd having our perspective on it rather than just playing a bunch of songs that we totally love because we are writing them and have so much time invested in them, yet the crowd doesn't know them. You feel a disconnection when that happens.

Like you just said before, In Loving Memory has a completely different sound with a few electronic influences in there, where did the inspiration for these elements come into it?

Like I was saying before we have all grown up and our tastes have changed. All the music we have been listening to has expanded. We listen to a lot more contemporary bands, I think TV On The Radio is one of our really big influences. We all love that band. Even bands like Phoenix who have really nicely crafted from an electronic sound to a rock and pop framework. Friendly Fires are a really easy band who we really like now. So yeah, there are a few artists which influenced our new sound.

But also I think Ivan who is our drummer, he is a really big part of the sound style. He and I produced In Loving Memory together. He comes from a background of producing computer based music and more electronic stuff. I think he's had a big influence on that. There is also the fact that we all exchange music, we are listening to more electronic music. Personally I have been listening to a lot more computer based music without guitars.

What do you think your strengths are at playing live shows?

I think we are good at it, and it comes with experience. We have been doing this for a long time now. As a front man I enjoy it because it gives you that opportunity to turn into someone else for 30-60 minutes, which is fun. I think it is something that requires you to turn your inner theatre student on and pretend to be somebody else for a while which is cool. Well It is not like being somebody else but it is like a concentrated version of yourself. You know?

I think we are playing well at the moment as a band at the moment too. We have been working with these songs for a long time. As a band we have been working with these songs for a long time. We also don't take things too seriously which makes things fun. I think that is one of our strengths. We have fun and want the audience to reciprocate that as well. I think that is something that definitely works in our favour at festivals. We aren't afraid of fucking up on stage either.

This year you have had the festivals at the Fuse Festival and the Secret Garden Festival, how did they go?

Yeah good! Secret Garden is pretty weird. It is this mini festival on someones farm in the southern burbs of Sydney. It is in Camden which is a 40 minute drive south and it is just on a weird farm. There were some really good bands so that was fun. Whereas the Fuse Festival was more of a showcase, but looking forward to doing some more festivals later in the year. With having the album out people would have heard it which will make it more fun. With some of the other festivals we have played at, we have been doing some old songs and some new songs which they hadn't heard yet. So this years end of year festivals will be good because people will know our new songs! That is probably our moral theme to the story.

So what festivals do you have planned for the end of the year?

I can't talk about it yet we are still working on stuff. I don't know, we have to keep our fingers crossed and everyone keep their eyes peeled.

Any overseas tours planned or just Australia?

Probably just Australia for the rest of the year. Hopefully we will get overseas, we just have to see how we go. That is something that we are not planning, but working on trying to do. We'd love to but it is difficult sometimes, everything Is so far away! We will definitely get there though I think.

Are there other full time jobs that you guys are committed to here in Australia?
Ivan the drummer has a full time job but xav and I work 3-4 days a week and try and do band stuff. If I work too much I find that I don't have time for the band. I find it hard to be creative if I work too much, it just tires you out.

So when you actually do get to tour around Australia what is your favourite city to visit?
We have had a really good response in different places. In particular Adelaide has been every time we have been there. They love us there, it is really funny. We have had sold out shows and had a really good time there. We have been wine tasting there too! (laughs) We are like the least rock and band on earth. We'll play a gig and then the next day go up to the adelaide hills and go wine tasting.

I think Melbourne owes us. Last time we were there it hailed the same night we were playing and it was apparently the coldest night on record ever for October. It was in October so it shouldn't have even been that cold. We were loading out of our show and it hailed, so as I said I think Melbourne owes us a good show at the East Brunswick Club.

In reality though we just really enjoy touring around. We had a really good time over in WA a few times. It is just really 'cruisey' over there which is nice. There are different parts of every city that we go to that we appreciate. Melbourne is always good to go to because we have a bunch of friends there, eat amazing food, and drink good coffee. We like it down there but it owes us a non hailing show!

I have also read that you are looking at doing some long format disco jams at the end of the year, what has inspired you to do this?
How did you find that!? (laughs). We were talking about making an EP with stuff that is more pop. Not like Saturday night fever disco, but more like electronic disco stuff. We will see what happens with that. We have been writing a bit and working on some new stuff. It is sounding a bit different. We can't get ahead of ourselves though we have to play this stuff first before we start getting into the next thing.

It is hard. Especially when you are in an independent band. There is no money and there is lot of work to do. We finished the album at the end of January, early February and it is only just coming out now in June. Everything is kind of way behind in comparison to when you make it. As a creative person you cant help but want to move onto the next thing. I think it is a positive thing that we are keen to make more music, so it is all good!