Ahead of their performance at Tone in Sydney - one of the last shows for the venue - Larry Heath caught up with Max from Songs - a band who we haven't heard from in quite a while. He brings us up to date on the band and let's us know what's coming next...

Larry: Hey Max, it’s Larry here from The AU Review how are you going?

Max: I’m good how are you?

I’m doing very well, am I catching you at home at the moment?

Yes at home, I just got home I’ve been up at the Gold Coast.

What were you getting up to in the Gold Coast, anything exciting?

No, not really. Working for a few days, not terribley exciting and that’s all I’m going to say about it.

Well fair enough. We’re here to talk about what’s been happening in the world of songs. I guess first we’ll talk about one of the most recent things which was the video for Heavy which you work with Josh Heath on, how did that piece come together?

Well, Josh and I have been wanting to get into making some sort of film and we had the song so that was our opportunity and we didn’t really know what we were doing but we just kind of made it up as we were going along and had a good time and since then that’s sort of inspired us to get into some short films and then we’re about to make another one and maybe make a couple more clips and yeah, sort of get into it. But, it’s quite good when you’ve got a band and you’ve got songs which need clips being made so I suppose we didn’t need to go and find somebody else to make a clip for and yeah, that’s about it.

It certainly saves a bit of money if nothing else.

I’m going warn you I’m going to be rambling because I haven’t slept for quite a long time. I can’t seem to form coherent sentences.

That’s not a problem, well we’ll move ahead then. I understand that we’ve got a bit of a new line up for Songs for the first performance of which will be in a couple of weeks. How did the new line up come together?

Well, first of all the old line up has to fall apart and that was sort of coming for a while and Jeff really wanted to move to New York and he gave us plenty of warning and Steve couldn’t quite make his mind whether he would stay or go. We just started asking around and the first guitarist we tried out was Cameron and it was just incredible and the first drummer we got together with was Dan and you know, it just had a really nice feel and that’s all the work we had to do to find a new band. The first people we spoke to worked out and it’s been so great all though we sort of hooked up with them and then Ella went away for nearly 4 months and then I sort of found a keyboard player, we met her last year. I feel really lucky because it’s all fallen together nicely. It’s kind of ten times more fun than it ever was. Playing with Cameron was exciting because I was a big fan of his from before, he’s such a good guitarist it just blows me away but anyway, it’s sort of come together and it still sounds kind of like Songs but it’s gone off into some other very different areas. As it would you know when you replace half the band.

Will you be playing music that we’re familiar with still or is it going to be completely revamped?

I think at the moment we’ve got one song off the album that we do and that was a double album so that’s kind of a lot of stuff and then Heavy, we’re going to Heavy and the rest of it is all new. It’s working so well at the moment that just about every practice we get together we write a song. Then because it’s something new you just get so excited and it’s like we’ve got to do that and we’re just a bit overwhelmed by new things at the moment. I just feel like we should just go with it you know. It’s just more exciting and hopefully when we play it will come across. The old songs we were a lot kind of, we’ve made a shift and it’s kind of good to be new. But yeah there are a couple of songs from the album still.

The last time I was able to catch you guys perform was actually in Austin, Texas when you headed over for SXSW and I guess that was in 2010.

Yeah, wow. You saw us there?

Yeah, I was actually surprised to see you pop your heads up.

Yeah that was uhm, that was funny over there. You know, I knew nothing about it really, SXSW. We really had to have such a trimmed down set for that. Had to scratch a couple of songs out. But you know, we really enjoyed it. I think we were talking about going back to the states and we probably wouldn’t do that again, we would probably tour one of the coasts or something like that and find another way of going about it. We got on SXSW so late that we were staying at this motel so far out of town and just the logistics of getting in and out. It was a killer, we were like on the side of the free way, the only motel around and when you got a cab to come out and pick you up you had to book it hours and hours ahead. I don’t know, I guess we learned a lot But hopefully we’re going to go back over there soon.

I had the exact same problem, last year was my first year and I was out in whoop whoop as well having booked my accommodation last minute.

Yeah, it can make so much difference. Like if we were staying in those hotels right in the center of it, you’ve got it made. So yeah that’s where we’re at with gigs and we’re going to do an album early next year with all this new stuff and then probably try and tour. Make that happen.

What do you feel we can expect from that sort of material? Have you started to actually record the new stuff yet?

Yeah, we’ve done a couple of demos and, I don’t know. When I listen to it I think it’s sounding sort of more free and organic. It’s got a different kind of rhythm it’s just got a groove in it and it can get a little bit pschadelic sort of, it just feels freer and that’s because the writing of it comes from the musicians we have now just being really comfortable jamming something. Before we would have a song and work on the structure for ages and rip it apart and maybe lose a little bit of it. I think it will be kind of looser. We had a practice just the other night and just started dancing and I’ve got to tell you after all these years in playing in Songs that’s a first. I just looked around and everybody was actually dancing and it was just kind of hilarious but also like wow! We’re in some kind of magical corner. I don’t know, it’s good. It’s a wonderful stage in my musical career to be at. I just feel really lucky and having too much fun.

Well it sounds like it’s all on track and we really look forward to hearing the new material.

------------------------------------

Don't miss SONGS tomorrow night at TONE with special guests TIGER CHOIR!