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Perth MusicBirds Of Tokyo Interview
With a debut single out now (Off Kilter) and a debut album out early next year (Day One), Perth’s Birds Of Tokyo are getting ready to ROCK OUT Australia. The band chatted with Justin Middleton this week:
Q. Tell us a little bit of history about yourselves as a band. How did you start out and what have you achieved?
Birds of Tokyo is a band made up of players from other Perth bands. We started by writing a couple of songs then recruited Adam (Weston) and Anthony (jackson) on drums and bass. So far i guess we have achieved a pretty cool following and have been lucky enough to travel and record around the country.
Q. What bands have had the greatest influence on you and who are your favourite bands at the moment?
There are too many to mention just a couple. Let’s just say everything from Otis Redding to Guns and Roses.
Fav bands at the moment, well dont know about the others but I’m really diggin The Killers right now…so hot right now!
Q. What helps in writing new songs? Do you need solitude to get inspiration?
What helps is wanting that feeling of having just completed a song that you cant wait to play live for people. Solitude? Not really. We just kinda jam stuff out.
Q. What is your favourite live music venue to play? Do you prefer small pub shows with a small audience or bigger shows with lots of people cheering you on?
Probably the Amplifier Bar, great stage and sound and always like a little sardine can of loud rock and roll in there at the weekend. I don’t think we’ve actually played to any “big” crowds hah so wouldnt know about that one!
Q. Favourite AFL Team?
Westy would say Collingwood and Kenny would say the Dockers. As for the rest of us…whoevers winning! hah
Q. What is your song writing process? Do you write the lyrics and music together or one first and then the other?
Changes…sometimes Kenny and I write the basic song and take it to the others. Other times we just jam on ideas and see where it goes. We never write full songs up front, we always like to see where one of the other guys is gonna take it.
Q. Is Myspace good or evil? Why?
R u kidding? What myspace has done for bands is unparalled in my musical lifetime. It’s giving people access to your music if you cant get on radio or cant get a big fat record deal. What it has done for bands like us is allow people all around the country to get familiar with our music and has allowed us to travel and play interstate to some pretty solid crowds for our own shows. It helps small bands get a foot in the door.
Q. What is your take on the Perth Music Scene at the moment? Do you think it is thriving or is it a bit of over-hype?
Depends on where you’re looking from I guess. From the inside I would say it’s rocking, but in other parts of oz, I dont think they are all fussing over us WA peoples. I think what we do have is ALOT of quality bands kicking ass on a national level, per capita I think we are ahead of the rest of the nation.
Q. What plans do you have for the next few months? Can you give us an update on your debut album?
Next few months we have a small number of shows around the traps. I guess check out our myspace (http://www.myspace.com/birdsoftokyo) or website (http://www.birdsoftokyo.com/) for info. The album is coming along well, took longer than had planned but its in it’s final stages, it’s a bit different from our previous couple of releases. This record is our hello/introduction/raw but fat production of the new stuff. We cant wait for people to hear it.
