Mosquito Coast born in Perth, Western Australia and named after an 80s film with Harrison Ford in it. Started their musical journey together while still in High School, now in their second decade filling clubs with their blend “sun-bleached, guitar-driven pop”. Naomi and Conor from the group caught up for a chat while in Adelaide at Peter Rabbit, where they discussed about the pending debut album (recorded in NYC) and opening up about who and what they’re all about…
To listen, click the green ‘play’ triangle… [note: may take few seconds to load]
(Transcript of Mosquito Coast chat below, check to delivery in audio)
Also, while talking about the 2019 JUNO Awards Gala – from the archives, some of a chat recorded 5 years ago with Micheal Bublé‘s trumpeter (an artist in their own right) Jumaane Smith.
SHOW NOTES: Mosquito Coast episode
Where to find the show to subscribe/follow:
- PlayPodcast – this link directs you, to the Podcast app on your device 9subscribe to not miss an episode)
….or you may prefer to Search “radionotes Podcast” in your favourite podcatcher.
The socials… Instagram – Facebook – Twitter
FEATURE GUEST: Mosquito Coast
- Official Site
- Marie Davidson (Bandcamp)
- Snacks With Yeo – Restless (Bandcamp)
- MEZKO (Official Site)
- Sweet Talking (Official Music Clip)
- Skipping Girl (Official Music Clip)
From the Archives: Jumaane Smith (6th May 2014, TBC)
Music Is My Mistress
- Official Site
- Alicia Keys – Superwoman (Official Music Clip)
- Micheal Bublé (Official Site)
- Jumaane Smith feat. Jackie Evancho – La Vie Rose (In Studio Clip)
In The Box:
- Gav Brown – Sound Circus (Bandcamp)
- Ryan Valentine (iTunes) Facebook and Instagram for them
- Emeli Sande – Sparrow (Rolling Stone)
Music Mentions:
Washington (Adelaide Festival) – Set-list
As mentioned in the episode, would share a rough rundown of the tunes shared on stage (best could gather as show went along)
- Achilles Heart – believed to be the title track of the forth-coming fourth album
- American Spirit – current Single
- Saint Lo – done in an extended orchestral version on the night
- Public Pool – lovely surprise off Insomnia, album thought never hear live cuts from again (last did at Sydney Opera House)
- I Believe You Liar – Title track from previous album from eight years ago, perfect for the open air venue
- [Bokito Gorilla] a new tune based on a yarn Kate Miller Heidke shared with Megan
- How To Tame Lions – Request from Audience
- You Got It – Cover of Roy Orbison (that Camille O’Sullivan yelled and stomped out ‘Gold’ numerous times in response)
- To Or Not Let Go – off There There… an interlude of, before flying into…
- Limitless – with sweet vigour of conviction to it. Started right on 11:11pm
- Cement – with a little self-reflection from behind the keys of “Why’d you write a key change?” before smashing it
- Belly of the Whale – Wii, drinking melodic escape into the night
- Kiss Me, Like We Are Going to Die – brand new tune, off the new album (likely)
- Catherine’s Wheel – perfect lyrical pop from a master of. Sparky, hot, dangerous and inviting story of…
- One For Sorrow – off There There and an Encore number, making perfect sense of why To Or Not Let Go was an interlude mid-set
This is just a quick write up, likely do a longer more detailed review later. Happy to be corrected on titles, just flick me an email or DM.
WASHINGTON’s OFFICIAL SITE here
Next episode guest: Christopher Sprake
- Storm (Official Music Clip)
More details on playpodcast here, thanks to Matt from them.
[Radio Production – notes: Main chat is 32 minutes and Archive about 15 minutes, contact for more details – thanks]
CREDITS
Theme/Music: Martin Kennedy and All India Radio
Web-design/tech: Steve Davis
Voice: Tammy Weller
You can make direct contact with the podcast – on the Contact Page
TRANSCRIPT
For direct quotes check to audio, first version of transcript by Jessica H at REV
John Murch: Folks, welcome to radionotes.
Naomi Robinson: Hello.
Conor Barton: Thanks for having us.
John Murch: Good to have you on board. You’re here in Adelaide, South Australia, as part of the “Sweet Talking” Single Tour. How’s the single going? How do you feel about it?
Conor Barton: We weren’t ever expecting it to be the single, so it’s pretty surprising to see it take off on the album that we’ve recorded. It’s definitely an outlier, and definitely stands out a lot.
Naomi Robinson: It’s got a really different feel from the rest of the album, but I think our manager wanted to push that as a single, because she saw it as a way to get more of the commercial reach that we wouldn’t get otherwise, if we chose another song.
John Murch: How important is that? Getting commercial success, compared to artistic success?
Naomi Robinson: Well, you still get both. You’re just choosing another song to focus on. But I think you need a balance of being able to reach the masses a little bit, and being able to express your individuality as a band.
Conor Barton: It’s still on-brand for us, and it’s still on the album. We’re obviously proud of it.
John Murch: Conor, let’s talk about the writing the song. My understanding is that when Naomi originally presented it to the group, there was a little bit more downbeat. It might be something she does quite often. And you went, “Well, it has to be a heartbeat. It has to be 115 revs per minute.”
Conor Barton: You’ve done your research. This is good. A lot of the time, Nomes plays things a bit slower, and so I’ll try and bump them up to a pace where her fingers are racing along the guitar. But I know that … Now, that’s just second nature, because we know the song so well.
Conor Barton: But when we were recording it, and especially with this recording process, we did go into it with a lot of songs half finished. There was one song, even, that Nomes showed me on the plane, on the way there.
Naomi Robinson: What was that one?
Conor Barton: What he sang.
Naomi Robinson: Oh, yeah.
Conor Barton: But I think that’s what made it so fun, was that there was varying levels of completion.
John Murch: He’s saying more of a downbeat, and then he pumps it up-
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, that normally … I feel like your BPM is what your resting heart rate is. I have this weird theory, it depends how … Because you’re pretty like, like fast music, but I’ll always write stuff that’s much slower, because I feel like that’s how I operate. I’m pretty slow, so I just want that to be a bit slower.
Conor Barton: The demos always meander. They’re always kind of like a slow jaunt through the … But Nomes lives by the sea, so I feel that it has such a-
Naomi Robinson: It’s so crazy.
Conor Barton: You’re just looking out. You’re not taking things too fast.
Naomi Robinson: How things reflect your environment?
Conor Barton: Yeah.
Naomi Robinson: I used to live next to an industrial area, in Fremantle, and they had heaps of construction. I started getting into industrial music, from that. I was like, definitely, like “This is really good.” You could hear notes in the construction when they were doing it. That sounds weird, but drilling has a key, and I’d be like, “Oh that … ”
Naomi Robinson: Literally, the key sounded like a Gary Numan song. I went and learnt the Gary Numan song after that, because it sounds like the beginning of.
Conor Barton: Yeah, actually Kevin from Tame was saying once that-
John Murch: As in Tame Impala?
Conor Barton: Yeah. When he used to work on the mines, he would always-
Naomi Robinson: He worked down the mines?
Conor Barton: Yeah! Would always write songs in a certain key, because it was the key that the-
Naomi Robinson: Drone.
Conor Barton: Yeah, the key the machine would drone at.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah! It’s really weird how that happens.
Conor Barton: So he would always have that natural note in his head.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
John Murch: The new album’s been recorded by a French producer, but in New York, but a French producer all the same. Has that come through in the album recording, that they are a French producer? Because French, I’m thinking Daft Punk.
Conor Barton: No, so he’s been living-
Naomi Robinson: Oh, thinking Moodoid.
Conor Barton: He’s been living in New York since he was 11. He’s got a thick New York accent. You can’t really tell that he’s French.
Naomi Robinson: But he got out references and stuff. We’re referencing melodies Echo Chamber, but he was like, “Oh, yeah. I know him.” We were like, “Oh, cool.”
Conor Barton: With the benefit of hindsight, when we’re listening back to the stems of the album, you can definitely hear lots of things that he’s left in that we’ve … You’ve never really noticed until now you can really have a proper listen into it.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, ’cause we get the stem.
Conor Barton: There are just so many funny things that we wouldn’t have even remembered, like … But yeah, he definitely left his mark on it.
John Murch: I also understand is the Grammy award-winner for War on Drugs. So the producer has gotten a Grammy.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, I think that was recent.
Conor Barton: Yeah. That was just before we went.
Naomi Robinson: That was before we … After we had booked to go.
Conor Barton: Yeah, we’d booked, but we hadn’t actually gone yet.
Naomi Robinson: It’s so funny, because he could have upped his price after that, and be like, “No, I’m a Grammy award-winner.”
Conor Barton: Yeah, luckily we had already negotiated that, but-
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, we’re like Grammy Award win-, “No, can’t pull out now.”
Conor Barton: That was one of the main reasons we wanted to work with him, because we were looking at mid-range Australian producers, and then we just weren’t really getting anywhere. Then our manager just decided to take a shot and e-mail all-out idols, and my all-out favorite bands’ producers.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, she e-mailed Reuben
Conor Barton: from…
Naomi Robinson: And he replied.
Conor Barton: She just went, “Go hard or go home,” pretty much, and Nick got back, and yeah.
Naomi Robinson: He liked the demos. I had done … We went down to Mantura, and we did some demos. They’re just on my loop pedal, some of them. We sent them all to him, and he was like, “I like the lo-fi vibe.”
Conor Barton: Yeah. Really specific sounds that I liked, and a lot of them … not even realizing that they were his work. Were his …
Naomi Robinson: Well.
Conor Barton: … snare drum sounds, or guitar tones, or reverbs on certain vocals of songs.
John Murch: Do you believe in fate?
Conor Barton: Not really, but I just think-
Naomi Robinson: That’s a deep question.
Conor Barton: … we were lucky enough to just have a real good manager, really.
Naomi Robinson: Just timing. It’s just timing. It was the point where we were getting into the bands that he had produced. Which was weird, because you’d be referencing people, and he’d by like, “Oh, yeah. I’ve already done that. So-and-so did it.”
Conor Barton: Yeah, just all the bands that we idolize were his friends. He definitely name-dropped a lot, but it was cool. We had some pretty cool stories.
John Murch: Both of you are currently listening to Marie Davidson. Where did you discover her work?
Naomi Robinson: How did you know that? I discovered her through Conor, so …
Conor Barton: I listen to a lot of dance and techno records. Kept popping up on the blogs and stuff.
Naomi Robinson: She’s amazing.
Conor Barton: And we just … Yeah. Her way of going about things is so unconventional.
Naomi Robinson: I think, as well, she’s has so much power in her music.
Conor Barton: Her beats are incredible, and then the fact that she actually has something meaningful to say over the top of them. Critiques dance music by making dance music is super-interesting. She’s pretty cynical, but I like her.
John Murch: Do you like that cynicism?
Conor Barton: Yeah. It’s good to … Because I think, club culture, we can build it up and say that it’s this whole escapism thing, but her take on it is that your responsible for your actions within that space, which is pretty interesting.
John Murch: Both of you just clicked over to your second decade.
Conor Barton: Yeah.
Naomi Robinson: Second decade?
John Murch: Yeah. 20s.
Naomi Robinson: Oh, right. Right.
John Murch: As in your 20s. There’s a lot of future ahead. What is the plan for the next 10 years, for both of you?
Naomi Robinson: Well, the plan is …
Conor Barton: I haven’t planned next week, so this is all yours.
Naomi Robinson: The plan is to keep getting better. Keep trying to do music, and try to figure out which direction we want Mosquito Coast to go. I’ve got other solo projects that I want to work on, and try and make that a career.
John Murch: Do you still have your café job?
Conor Barton: Yeah. Yep. Literally worked yesterday.
Naomi Robinson: Did you?
John Murch: So in the next 10 years, that hopefully will be in the rear view mirror?
Conor Barton: Yeah, I want to work in the music industry, even if it’s not making music, which I’ve never expected to make, me, personally, any money. I’d like to at least work with other musicians, so whether that be managing, or working at a booking agent, or in the music press, or whatever. I just want to be involved in it somehow.
John Murch: I want to walk you through this new album, because we’re at a great position. Whilst this is the tour for the single “Sweet Talking.” You’re back in Australia before you head over to New York. What was the preparation like for the debut album?
Naomi Robinson: We had 11 songs, and we had to cut them down. Then we shaped them when we were there.
Conor Barton: There were some songs that were pretty much finished, and then there were some songs that-
Naomi Robinson: But none of them had lyrics-
Conor Barton: … didn’t even have a bridge.
Naomi Robinson: … so we had to write lyrics when we were there.
John Murch: Definitely music first for you guys?
Naomi Robinson: Yeah. Melodies. Melodies are good.
Conor Barton: Yeah, even if it’s just gibberish-
Naomi Robinson: Or vibe.
Conor Barton: Yeah, words are always after.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
Conor Barton: But they always somehow click.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, there’s always … This album has a bit of a theme. We decided that it was about relationships, kind of thing.
Conor Barton: Yeah, they’re all little intimate snapshots.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
Conor Barton: Whether it be romantic relationships, or friends, or familiar … Yeah, they’re all just each a little bit of a story. Which had to be more direct, as well.
John Murch: Obviously, there’s relationships with other people, and with groups of people, and with family etc. But is there any songs that are purely a mirror to each one of yourselves?
Conor Barton: Not really. Most of them-
Naomi Robinson: haven’t done that-
Conor Barton: None of them really have “I” pronoun.
John Murch: Right.
Conor Barton: But when-
Naomi Robinson: No, they’re never “I.”
Conor Barton: It’s a way of thinking about someone-
Naomi Robinson: Oh, no.
Conor Barton: Except for-
Naomi Robinson: That one, “Rouge.”
Conor Barton: Yeah.
Naomi Robinson: [crosstalk].
Conor Barton: But there, it’s still about another person. You’re looking on from another person. Then there’s … There’s another song called “Goodbye Kiss,” which is about fleeting, you weren’t expecting anything, but it’s always more like … I can put a portrait to each song. Put it that way.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
John Murch: You guys have said that there’s a long-distant relationship band that you’re in.
Naomi Robinson: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
John Murch: Those challenges over the years … I believe you’re still in Perth. You’re in Melbourne. Is it a good or a bad thing?
Naomi Robinson: It’s good, because I get to come to Melbourne. I really like Melbourne. It’s a good music scene over there. It’s harder to jam with each other.
Conor Barton: It makes it more special when we see each other, as well.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
Conor Barton: Like when we see each other at the airport, it’s just like, “Yay!”
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, it’s nice. You don’t take it for granted.
Conor Barton: Yeah, and the internet is so handy. Being able to shoot each other tracks, and edit them, and send them back over. We’ve always been doing things pretty DIY anyway, so a lot of the time, it’s just a voice memo of someone humming over a loop pedal.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, that’s true.
John Murch: You guys are early enough, you may not feel it, but you’re early enough in your musical career, particularly on the [prepicise 00:11:15] of a debut album, to talk about influences, so I’ll do that now. David Byrne’s urgency and Kim Gordon’s cool.
Conor Barton: Well, it was more like really specific … I didn’t realize that quote was going to be taken like verbatim.
John Murch: That’s why I want to check. Because I only saw this quote … I’m there going, “That doesn’t really sum up how I hear you guys.”
Conor Barton: Yeah, only specifically for “Sweet Talking,” so when Nomes is talk-singing the verses, we were thinking of “Once in a Lifetime,” where David Byrne’s doing the … You know, “Find yourself living in a shotgun house-”
John Murch: Okay.
Conor Barton: “Duhduhduhduhduh.” –
John Murch: And then Sonic Youth’s “Cool Thing,” maybe?
Conor Barton: Was the sprawl, where she’s-
John Murch: Ah, the sprawl, yeah.
Conor Barton: … doing the whole-
Naomi Robinson: Talking over everything.
Conor Barton: Yeah. Does that sound simple enough? that quote? Trying to get that effortlessness of just being like talking in the mic as if no one’s listening. Then the David Byrne urgency thing was just after I read an article that said once he wanted to sound urgent, so he ran around the block twice-
Naomi Robinson: [crosstalk].
Conor Barton: … and then went straight into the studio and recorded the song. So he’s literally puffing in the song, and it’s not fake. He literally just can’t breathe. I thought that was pretty funny.
John Murch: What kind of education for you, Conor?
Conor Barton: I went to a public school, and then just floated along. Now, I’m studying politics and international relations and media.
John Murch: Is there a particular pinpoint in the world that takes your interest?
Conor Barton: No. I actually really don’t like doing the international relations side of things. I much prefer the politics side. I like looking at different demographics and why they vote the way they do, and trying to figure out how you can change that.
John Murch: So you’re into changing people, or changing their perception of what they know?
Naomi Robinson: I’d be surprised if-
Conor Barton: Maybe just trying to make … especially with young people, how much political apathy there is … just trying to make people care a little more. Even … yeah, just people close to us that are pretty switched on, but will still think they don’t need an opinion on certain social issues. But it’s been a really interesting degree, but I’m also pretty sick of it.
Naomi Robinson: You’re nearly finished, though.
Conor Barton: Thank F—
John Murch: Do you think music can change political view?
Conor Barton: Yeah, totally. I think of politics really broadly, so I think a lot of everyday life things that you do can be political. Like being a person of color, being a person … or being a queer person. Everyday life can be political. Like being out can be political. Yeah, I think we need to look at it more broadly. You can’t just be like, “Ah, Midnight Oil’s political, and that’s it.” Or pretty much hip-hop, as a genre, is political.
John Murch: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Conor Barton: I did a whole unit on this, so I’m like …
John Murch: How much of this record is Nick’s, and how much of this record is yours?
Naomi Robinson: Most of it’s ours. I think it’s ours.
Conor Barton: Totally.
John Murch: Yeah?
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, I think most of it was ours. Obviously, he had a spot in mixing it and stuff. It’s going to be a little him, but …
Conor Barton: But he always pushing us to say what we wanted.
Naomi Robinson: We’d be like, “No,” if he said an idea, and he didn’t like it.
Conor Barton: Yeah. Totally.
Naomi Robinson: ..like”no”.
John Murch: How many tracks? Naomi said 10 tracks?
Naomi Robinson: 10? 9?
Conor Barton: 10 or 11?
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, 10 or 11. And there’s some interludes in there that we [crosstalk 00:14:46].
Conor Barton: Yeah.
John Murch: Okay. About 40 minutes, or …
Conor Barton: 36.
John Murch: That’s good.
Conor Barton: It’s a short one.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, they’re quick. Quick songs.
Conor Barton: Short and sweet.
John Murch: Because it is about relationships, is there a conscious connection of those chapters of those people that those songs are based upon?
Conor Barton: No.
John Murch: Did Fred and Jeremy live together, or something?
Conor Barton: No, it’s not really linear, because they’re all such varied-
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, it’s not linear, really.
Conor Barton: … relationships. It’s not-
Naomi Robinson: They’re both of our relationships with different people, so they’re just … We’re just like one human with several relationships. They’re both merged together.
Conor Barton: Yeah. Mosquito Coast’s relationships.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
Conor Barton: Our Hall of Fame.
John Murch: Having been together for a number of years now, what’s stronger? The band relationship, or the new friendships and relationships you find outside of the band?
Naomi Robinson: I think our relationship has changed a lot. It’s matured a lot as we mature, because I was very immature when I was younger. I feel like it’s gotten better since we’ve been together more. Because of that, the band’s improved, and you can see that even in the live set, that the relationship is there. It’s more strong. You can see it.
Conor Barton: Yeah, we take things a lot more seriously now.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
Conor Barton: Yeah, it’s just been such a long friendship now, that we joke that it’s like a married couple.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
Conor Barton: We’re so comfortable with building each other’s ideas up, but also vetoing things, and not being too mad about it.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah. We don’t really fight that much when we work together.
Conor Barton: No. It’s just-
Naomi Robinson: It’s not really –
Conor Barton: We know it’s for the best of the album.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah. And we respect each other’s … I respect your … You know what you’re doing with [crosstalk]-
Conor Barton: I think it also helps that neither of us can play each other’s instrument. Keys is our shared baby, but yeah. I never comment on Nomes’s guitar, because I have no idea what’s going on. Nomes doesn’t say anything about my drums. Synths is just an all-in, where we just can’t get enough of it.
Naomi Robinson: But the difference is you know notes, and I don’t know synth notes.
Conor Barton: But that makes it fun.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, I like it.
Conor Barton: Because Nomes doesn’t know any of … Well, now you do. But when we first started playing keyboard, some of the progressions were really unconventional, but it makes it really fun to listen to.
Conor Barton: Like at first, I wanted to shut it down, because it was just difficult to play. I just didn’t want to have to learn it. But then once I did learn it, I was like, “This is so worth it, because they’re the chord progressions I wouldn’t come up with because-”
Naomi Robinson: You have the theory.
Conor Barton: … I’m too basic.”
John Murch: Talk to me about the level of trust that’s required for that.
Naomi Robinson: It’s difficult. It’s just trial and error, and also knowing when to back down on ideas, or give someone the room to try an idea.
Conor Barton: Yeah.
Naomi Robinson: Sometimes that means just going into separate rooms, and both trying to come up with a part. We’ve done that. We’d both be like, “I’m going to go find out a bit -”
Conor Barton: [crosstalk].
Naomi Robinson: Then we’d come back and be like, “Oh, okay. This one.” Or “No, yours was better.” We combine it, or something.
Conor Barton: Yeah. Another thing with Nick was that he was so open to experimentation. The way we had the studio set up was that everything was on and ready to record at all times. If I was like, I had something in my head, and I straight away was like, “Let me record it.” We’d just run in, and we’d record it. If it was bad, then it didn’t matter. It would go in the bin. We did so many weird things that all went in the bin, but there were heaps of other things that we did that ended up staying on the record, and are our favorite bits.
Naomi Robinson: That weird bass drop. There was one time where it was really late, and someone was like, “Why don’t we just do some weird free-for-all thing?” Then he started … I don’t know. He got a sample from YouTube, and then we were like, “Put that in there.” It got really weird. By the end of the night, we were like-
Conor Barton: The next morning, we were just like-
Naomi Robinson: F— what happened there?
Conor Barton: We wasted two hours on this little track, and then just like didn’t [crosstalk 00:18:50].
Naomi Robinson: It was funny, though. Yeah.
Conor Barton: Or there was one song where we tried singing in an accent. You tried singing-
Naomi Robinson: [crosstalk].
Conor Barton: You tried singing-
Naomi Robinson: What accent?
Conor Barton: In the [inaudible 00:19:00] one, in the Paris, Texas song?
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, because I’ve really … I wrote that song to sound like John Maus. John Moose. You know that guy? But then I was like, “Oh, it’s not going to fit the Mosquito Coast vibe.”
Conor Barton: Yeah. There’s other things, like in “Skipping Girl,” There’s these little heart things that just pop around.
Naomi Robinson: I like those.
Conor Barton: That was Nome’s-
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, we we’re like, “too risque.”
Conor Barton: It randomly was just like … jumped into the thing, and we were like, “What are you going to do?” We just did that. We were like “That’s actually really cool.” Then it’s there.
Naomi Robinson: We’re like, “Is it too lame?”
Conor Barton: That’s really fun. There’s lots of little things like that, that were-
Naomi Robinson: Flourishes.
Conor Barton: … were just experiments that turned out okay.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
John Murch: How do you make that professional relationship work. Now, you’ve said understanding. We’ve spoken about trust. Is there other elements that you would recommend?
Conor Barton: Make sure you’re always well-fed, because we don’t work when we’re hangry.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, don’t get hangry.
Conor Barton: We get hangry real quick.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
Conor Barton: Then nothing works.
Naomi Robinson: His mum brought cake to the accommodation. She’s from Perth, and she ordered it. We rocked up ]-
Conor Barton: We rocked up to the hostel, and there was a cake at the hostel –
Naomi Robinson: It was so cute.
John Murch: In New York?
Naomi Robinson: No, here. Just now!
Conor Barton: No, here.
John Murch: Oh, in Adelaide.
Conor Barton: My 21st birthday, so …
Naomi Robinson: Today!
John Murch: Today?
Conor Barton: Today.
John Murch: And you’re wasting time with me?
Naomi Robinson: You’re cool.
Conor Barton: What else am I going to do?
Naomi Robinson: Did you get him a present?
John Murch: Happy birthday.
Conor Barton: Thank you.
John Murch: What did you get Conor for his birthday?
Naomi Robinson: Well-
John Murch: Or is it a surprise?
Naomi Robinson: No, I’ve already given it to him. I like … Because he always complains that there’s no good beaches in Melbourne, I got him … I had this wooden box, and I painted it, and put some shells on it. I made a little shell key chain from the beach.
Conor Barton: It was the best present I’ve gotten.
Naomi Robinson: Then I put “Beach in a Box.”
John Murch: What’s the deal with Virgin Airlines still not respecting musicians’ …
Naomi Robinson: Our luggage.
John Murch: Hmm.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, did you see his Twitter posts?
John Murch: Yeah, and I saw how quickly-
Naomi Robinson: You’re so good.
John Murch: I can see how quick their customer service were, as well, but that’s not the point.
Conor Barton: Yeah, I don’t know. It’s one of those things that … It’s never going to get any better, because a) Virgin’s the only airline we’re ever going to fly with, because they give you the APRA allowance, which is lovely.
John Murch: Can we talk about what that is? Because I don’t know what that is.
Conor Barton: If you’re a member of APRA, which is the Australian-
John Murch: Performing Rights Association.
Conor Barton: We can tour without paying extra for luggage, which is awesome, because we bring a load of-
Naomi Robinson: Four pieces of instruments a person. Four pieces of luggage per person.
Conor Barton: And we use all of it.
Naomi Robinson: That time that you posted on Twitter, that was really bad.
John Murch: The 24th of February.
John Murch: Getting back into your life, and particularly I haven’t had a chance to ask this yet, but I know it’s a big thing for Conor, so I’ll start with Naomi.
Conor Barton: It’s broccolini.
Naomi Robinson: It’s about vegetables?
John Murch: What’s the favorite food?
Naomi Robinson: At the moment, I really like cooking curry. I like eggplant curry, and stuff. I’m really into that, because it’s cheap. It’s got a lot of flavor. It’s good.
Conor Barton: We like to do band cooking sessions.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, our bass player, he used to be … Well, he is a chef, kind of. He just knows really good quick recipes and stuff, for tour.
Conor Barton: It definitely gets us through.
Naomi Robinson: He’s got an Instagram. Plug your Instagram page. Cooking Instagram page.
John Murch: What’s your-
Conor Barton: Mine started off as a bit of a joke, but mine was influenced by our friend Yeo. His Instagram handle is SnacksWithYeo. Then I did SnacksWithCon. It’s growing. If you want to follow it, you definitely can-
John Murch: SnacksWithCon?
Conor Barton: WithCon, yeah.
John Murch: C-O-N?
Conor Barton: On Instagram.
John Murch: Yep, okay.
Conor Barton: What’s this one … Mitch and I did a collaboration. We did a tofu and mushroom banh mi. I like to do things that look fancy, but I know were really cheap. I got discounted salmon the other day, and I did …
Naomi Robinson: It was pretty good, that one.
Conor Barton: That was my salmon dish. I’m quite proud of that one.
Naomi Robinson: I like it.
Conor Barton: I try and do … We’ve got a lot of vegan and vegetarian friends.
John Murch: You said that you stole that idea from-
Conor Barton: Yeo.
John Murch: SnacksWithYeo. Y-E-O, for those that are playing at home. What are they up to?
Conor Barton: He’s just released a new single. I think it’s called “Restless.”
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, you’re right. I haven’t listened to it yet, but it’s probably going to be really good. Yeah, it’s going well. We had dinner with him the other week in Melbourne, which was nice.
Conor Barton: Last time he toured Perth, Nomes got on stage and sang some songs with him, which was really fun.
Naomi Robinson: That was nice. That was scary. I was like, “I don’t want to butcher your songs.”
Conor Barton: He’s also playing with MoJo JuJu. He’s their bass player.
John Murch: What’s the family of musicians that you believe that you’re part of in the Australian music scene.
Conor Barton: There used to be a band called MEZKO, from Sydney-
Naomi Robinson: Oh, yeah. They’re really nice.
Conor Barton: … who, they were one of the first bands we toured the whole country with. They’re originally from Perth, as well. We just got along with them so well. Every time we’re in Sydney, and every time they’re in Perth, we make sure that we’re at each others’ gigs, and have dinner, and yeah. I’d say they’re the closest for me.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah. There’s a few different people out playing music in Fremantle that I really look up to, and stuff. That are really nice. Yeah.
Naomi Robinson: Like Nelson from POW! Negro.
John Murch: Okay.
Naomi Robinson: I mean SUPEREGO. They changed their name.
John Murch: Right.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, he’s really nice, and really down-to-earth. His girlfriend plays music, and stuff, and she’s super cool.
Conor Barton: Yeah, and Ben … , and … –
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, he’s amazing. He’s an undiscovered gem of Fremantle.
Conor Barton: Yeah.
John Murch: Where’s Perth-Fremantle music at, at the moment?
Naomi Robinson: It’s still just doing what it does. Well, like, it depends who you talk to, because it’s what people want to get out the scene, and if you look at it from like-
John Murch: We’re talking to you, Naomi, so what’s your experience of it? What’s going on there?
Naomi Robinson: I like it. I like it. It’s not like … Melbourne is really what I like is that broken-beat jazz stuff that’s going on in Melbourne. That’s not really in Perth, yet. It’s more like … I don’t know. It’s still psych-rocky, I reckon.
Conor Barton: Yeah, but you’ve also got-
Naomi Robinson: A little bit. But there’s more-
Conor Barton: You’ve got a lot more singer-songwriters coming through. You’ve got Stella, obviously.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, there’s a lot of really good singer-songwriters.
Conor Barton: And Carla Geneve, who are really good friends.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, that’s true.
John Murch: Is Bri Clark one of those over there?
Conor Barton: Yeah.
Naomi Robinson: I don’t know.
Conor Barton: She plays … not as much as the others. She wasn’t one of those people that you would see open MoJo, say, like Eve would with Carla or Stella. Yeah, we saw her at Big Sound. She was really cool.
John Murch: It’s an artist that sits on my radar to catch up with them in the next couple of months, because I just think there’s something there, so I just thought, since you guys are around those bands a bit more than I am …
Naomi Robinson: But it’s like mostly all the bands that you end up sawing at local gigs. Those people are getting to tour now, which is really cool. They’re finally getting some recognition.
John Murch: When did you first see Stella Donnelly?
Naomi Robinson: I saw her a couple of years ago, and she … I used to play with Boat Show, and she was friends with Ali, who’s in Boat Show. Then I quit, and she would fill in on guitar and stuff. She’s so good. Every time she would play … She’d play Wednesday open mics, or something, but everyone would be in tears. She’s just so captivating, and she practiced really hard to get to where she was. Is now, I think.
Conor Barton: She’s definitely super deserving.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, definitely.
John Murch: The visual representation … What’s your plans for the videos for this particular record beyond “Sweet Talking,” of course?
Conor Barton: We just gave pretty much all full creative license to our friends Stanton and Alex, who make up the Highball Collective. We just were lucky enough that we trusted them so much that we didn’t want to hinder their vision. We just said yes to everything.
Conor Barton: We pretty much just rocked up, and they’d obviously sent us a-
Naomi Robinson: Script treatment.
Conor Barton: Treatment. That’s it. Yeah. We were just like, “Yeah, that looks incredible.” Pulled through on minimum budget, and was just doing things because they look good, and because they want to make nice things, not-
Naomi Robinson: Yeah. We’re both at a similar level. They’re definitely going to go far in their industry. But we’re at the level, we’re like, “They can help us, and we can help them, as well.” Do you reckon?
Conor Barton: Yep.
Naomi Robinson: Maybe they’re even above us. Yeah, so it’s good that they would want to work with us, because-
Conor Barton: We’ve definitely kept it going. We’re starting to wear the outfits from the “Sweet Talking” video on stage every night.
Naomi Robinson: Which is nice.
John Murch: After the gig tonight, after you’ve performed, what emotions do you have after you’ve performed?
Naomi Robinson: It really depends. Sometimes it’s like dread. Other times, it’s like really good, when you just feel so calm are the gigs when you feel really good afterwards.
Conor Barton: Yeah, it’s always nice when you turn to each other and it’s like, “Thumbs up.” You know? Like, “Nice job.”
Naomi Robinson: Yeah. It feels great. It’s nice, because you accomplished something as a team, as well.
Conor Barton: Yeah.
Naomi Robinson: Playing a team sport.
Conor Barton: Totally.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah.
John Murch: Is there a particular song that you listen to after performing your own music, after a show? Is there any particular music you listen to, or any ritual, even?
Naomi Robinson: We do rituals before the gig. We do vocal warmups all together. We stretch, and stuff. We do star jumps. Just to like … Because if you get nervous before a gig, you just need to be taken out of your head a bit, and just do some physical exercise or something. It sounds lame, but it works.
Conor Barton: The last gig we played, as well, we started doing clapping games, like you do in primary school. Just to get out of your head before the show. We’re just really silly.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, we’re just silly, but I like it, because I’ve played in other bands where you don’t have that camaraderie, where you’re all together before you go on stage. It’s good to have that moment.
Conor Barton: Yeah. We’re all super close friends. Even just having the week apart, it was so nice to all catch up, and hear what everyone’s been doing for the last week. It’s like a little family. We’ve had such a … as well.
John Murch: You miss them, don’t you?
Conor Barton: I miss them so much!
Naomi Robinson: He does! Oh, Conor, you miss us!
Conor Barton: Our Manager-
Naomi Robinson: We miss you, too.
Conor Barton: … and we’ve always had the same sound guy.
Naomi Robinson: Yeah, he’s so nice.
Conor Barton: We’re so lucky to have such a tight-knit team, that everyone’s willing to-
John Murch: You two have a great team. Absolute pleasure to speak with both of you. Thanks for joining radionotes.
Conor Barton: Thank you.
Naomi Robinson: Thank you.