2016 marks a pretty exciting year for The Living End’s Andy Strachan, with a new solo EP now released in Follow The Sun! Recently, Strachan caught up with Josh to have a chat about the EP which, as they discuss, is notably heavier and darker than what people may have been expecting, as well as a new Living End record and plans for the band as the year rolls out…
The new EP sounds pretty damn good, I have to say. The first thing I reckon most people are probably going to think about this material is that it’s, at least tonally, somewhat heavier and darker than the music you’re known for. Was that the intention?
Thanks man. Well, the whole idea of doing this solo thing is just to get out whatever’s in there (the brain) and not overthink it, just sort of let it come out. The first track is kind of heavy, and I really enjoy that kind of music for sure, but then there’s kind of quirky weird stuff in there as well and the last track is all done on piano. So I guess it’s just me trying to challenge myself to see if I can get what’s in my head out. I mean, I’m not even a guitarist’s armpit, but those kind of limitations in a sense make it easy because the decision making process becomes simpler.
I did notice one of the things about the songs was that simplicity. Whilst you can tell that the songs aren’t necessarily guitar dominated, as in they are reasonably simple, I think sometimes that has the most affect. I mean take The Edge, what he does isn’t particularly complicated but shit it’s good.
(Laughs) Yeah, well music’s not meant to be too complicated,, I don’t think. I don’t know, I think to answer the first question – I didn’t set out to write any particular kind of style, I’m essentially not trying to prove anything to anyone. It’s just whatever comes out and I hope people like it.
You’ve said that “Follow The Sun”, which has had a bit of exposure now, changed a lot before it was finally recorded. Care to elaborate on that for us?
Yeah well musically, it is pretty much exactly how I had it. I demoed it pretty much the same as it was recorded. But at the time the riff, like you said, was pretty heavy and dirge-y and my initial idea lyrically was all about suicide and people jumping off bridges, which horrifies me – I didn’t want to be singing about that sort of stuff. But every time I heard the riff, the pictures in my head were all about bad stuff. So I stepped away from it for months.
I had another crack at it one day when I was listening to it on headphones and just ran out to the man cave (where I record). It just all came out within half an hour. It’s all about just getting out of bed and realising that every day, you know, it’s gone. At the end of any day, you’re never going to get that day back. So the idea is to follow your sun, whatever that is. Go surfing, have a beer with your mates – just do whatever your body says to, follow your dreams.
You use terms like ‘not normal’ and ‘different’ quite often when describing this music. Has that been a theme that’s developed naturally or was it something that you set out to do?
That’s pretty much just how it comes out. I tend to term it as ‘not normal’ or whatever, because I literally don’t know how to play the guitar. I tune my guitar into a way that I can get around it and get the ideas down. In the traditional sense though, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what chords I’m playing. Musically, I don’t really know what the fuck I’m doing, but it’s just whatever sounds good. I think that’s kind of a cool thing. If it sounds good, then that’s okay and there shouldn’t be any other rules!
Amen. The only other taste we’ve had of your solo touch was with the Pants Collective. This new material seems to have gone to another level. Would you say that’s the result of natural maturation?
Yeah, I think that initial project was me just dipping my toes in to see if I could actually do it. Hearing your own voice back is not a very pleasant thing. It’s pretty torturous. But this time around, as long as it doesn’t sound too crass, it’s kind of like I give less of a fuck now. I’m just sort of letting it all go. Maybe I’m happier with it or maybe I just don’t care as much (what others will think). The other thing is, no one’s getting any younger and then all of a sudden you’re gone. I mean, I could die with all of these things in my head, so I figure I may as well get it all out. It’s just a fun creative thing to do and I’m really inspired. I just want to keep doing it. It’s just money that stops it, you know?
I guess that’s what gets in the way for most creatives, isn’t it?
Oh, absolutely! I was just saying to someone the other day there’s probably so many incredible songs in the world that we’ll never hear. You know, they’re on someone’s Garage Band files somewhere and they’re too busy to release it or they’re too shy to show anyone. You’ve only got a short window. And that’s the next single, “We’ve Got Nothing Left To Lose”. It’s just like well fucking hell, you can either give it a go or die wondering.
As successful as The Living End have been, how does it feel to release your own creative works to the world?
It’s far less scary than I thought it would be. Maybe if it was getting huge interest and maybe if there was a record company behind me putting in big money and effort, then I would be a whole lot more nervous. But I mean, the worst thing that could happen is that some people will like it and some people might hate it. Some might hate it just because they want to hate it.
Because it’s not Living End? There are people that pathetic in the world aren’t there…
Oh for sure, and I can’t change that. There’s nothing I can do to change what’s going to happen, so I figure it’s going out there. You know, I got a beautiful message from someone today that heard it and loved it and they said the lyrics were great. That started my day pretty well!
Well you know I appreciated it for being different and to me, if had been homogenous with the Living End’s sound – that would have been disappointing.
For me to try and emulate what we do as the Living End would just be a very, very pale comparison… I play with two of the best musicians I’ve ever known. Chris (Cheney) is next level genius stuff and Scott’s (Owen) the same. They’re phenomenal musicians.
Do Chris and Scott like it?
It’s not something that we sit around and listen to and talk about, to be honest. I gave them all a copy last time I saw them. I mean, they’re cool and supportive and all that but you know, it’s not like I’m going to call them on Friday and go, “Yay, it’s release day!!” or anything. But hopefully they like it, and next time we’re together we might have a few beers and I’ll quiz them.
Onto The Living End then, we’re all ready to go mad wondering when this unicorn of a new album is going to drop.
Yeah, so are we.
Any clues?
Um, we’re locking in dates and stuff for tours, so it can’t be too far away… I can’t really comment because in all honesty, I don’t really know. I mean the album is in the can, it’s just the nitty gritty that needs to be sorted which is, in a lot of ways, out of our hands. I mean, with Chris being overseas and we’re all so separate these days, things take a lot longer to eventuate. But it’s on the way and we’re bloody excited!
So are we Andy, so are we. So you’ll tour that. What about the EP, any designs on a solo tour?
Well I’m planning something that’s a little bit ambitious and wacky, but I think I’m getting there. It’s basically me doing everything live. Using a looping station and…
Ed Sheeran style…
Well kind of, but I’ll do the Ed Sheeran thing and loop up a couple of riffs, stack them, and then spin around play my drums over them. Throw in some vocal and guitar effects pedals and you know I can see it all in my head.
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Follow The Sun is out now!
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