Black Mountain‘s keys-man Jeremy Schmidt is excited about the band’s return to Australia this month. It’s been a little while in between drinks and when we caught up recently, the band were getting stuck into the press cycle for their latest album, IV. Having already been through Europe and of course, the US, promoting their fourth studio record, Schmidt and the rest of Black Mountain are fully ready to explore the territories this new collection of music is going to take them.
“2016 has been completely usurped by the preparation for the release of this record and all the touring,” Schmidt admits. “I feel like, since the year began, we’ve been working on this tour and this record cycle. Even back in February, Steve [McBean] and I went out to Europe to do a short press trip and it feels, to me, since mid-February that’s when I started with this! Here we are now and there are still many more engagements to go, but it’s good! That’s what’s to be expected, really, when we put out a new record and haven’t put out a record several years prior to that; we’re ready for it.”
Easily some of the band’s strongest material they’ve released yet, IV positions Black Mountain as a band to be keeping a close eye on as the album cycle continues to churn; their live shows have become world renowned in recent years and with IV being the band’s first studio release in six years, Schmidt ponders on the album being a starting point for many potential new fans.
“It’s interesting to think of that record, the new one, being a point of entry for the band but I suppose it would be for plenty of people. I feel like you could pick up any of our records really, and if you gravitated towards one then it’s likely that you would find plenty to find about any of the others too. I mean they’re all different, but I feel like they all inevitably sound a lot like us. I think the new one galvanises a lot of that in a way that people are really responding to, it’s great.”
“There hasn’t really been time to tinker on anything else,” he mentions, referring to any new sounds the band has been working on. “For me anyway. I tend to need quite a bit of time and gestation type periods for me to work on anything else, really. I need to get my head into the Black Mountain helmet and I leave it on for the duration of the process.”
Australian fans will be able to witness the new Black Mountain live gigs soon of course, with the band returning to play Wollongong’s Yours & Owls Festival, as well as a run of headline dates around the country through early October. With the touring market being as it is at the moment, Schmidt admits that Australia still remains an expensive target, but the good times Black Mountain has had here in the past has always kept that fire burning for them to want to return.
“It’s not logistically the easiest destination,” he says. “Obviously, on account of it being way over on some other corner of the globe. Also, just with the cities being so far from one another, it’s not really conducive to getting in a van and driving around and playing shows; it’s tricky, but I think because we went there before and had a good time, we decided to keep it in our sight whenever we can and come over there.”
“We’ve been there a couple of times and it’s been a force of good for us, for touring. We’re really looking forward to coming back as it’s been a while; we’ve been there twice and have had great shows there, we’re definitely looking forward to doing it again.”
The tour takes Black Mountain out to Perth as well as Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, giving the band an opportunity to spend some more time out here as opposed to the quick fly in, fly out type runs festival trips may usually afford.
“I feel like we’ve been to Brisbane both times we’ve been there,” Schmidt remembers. “I know we only went to Perth maybe during that first trip we made to Australia. I remember Tame Impala were our first support band! They were teenagers; I remember thinking they were really good, we didn’t know them then of course, they hadn’t really broken through yet. I remember thinking that these kids had something! Then a couple of years later I saw them play and they remembered us and we got to connect with them again, which was cool.”
Now that they’ve been at it on the road for as long as they have, and with a full round of touring to take them right up until the end of the year, Schmidt admits that spending so much time on the road can be challenging even now; it’s all part and parcel of being able to do one of the best jobs in the world, though.
“We do certainly buckle a little under the rigors of the road,” he admits. “I guess we’ve been at it for long enough that we know how to behave and we know how to deal with it, to a certain degree. As we get it older, it doesn’t get easier! It gets harder on you physically. It’s hard, but we recognise that it’s a privilege to be able to go around to different corners of the world where people know your band and know your songs – it’s a cool thing.”
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IV is out now!
Black Mountain hits up Yours & Owls this weekend (October 1st and 2nd) – head HERE for information and tickets! The band’s headline shows around the country can be found below:
BLACK MOUNTAIN AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
October 3rd | Factory Theatre, SYDNEY | Tickets
October 5th | Corner Hotel, MELBOURNE | Tickets
October 7th | Woolly Mammoth, BRISBANE | Tickets
October 8th | Rosemount Hotel, PERTH | Tickets
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