INTERVIEW: Boomgates

BOOMGATES are quite simply a great band. Composed of a bunch of Melbournian friends, the five piece just want to hang out, write songs and play gigs. So they do.

They aren't just any regular band though, they're a super group, respectively. Made up of members from Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Dick Diver, Twerps and other great projects, Boomgates are a serious cluster of musicians who really just seem to know what they're doing.

Their music has been described by their label - Bedroom Suck Records - as "something like a mix of Big Star, Camper Van Beethoven, Towns Van Sant, The Velvet Underground, The Church and probably a heap of something else thrown in on top", yet the end result is something that can only be known as Boomgates. There is not one band that can solely compare to the sound of this Melbourne outfit.

After just launching their debut record and unpacking their bags from Meredith, we were lucky enough to catch up with Boomgates' drummer Shaun Gionis.

Considering some of the group's members are from a few different Melbourne bands, I asked Shaun if Boomgates found their union by meeting each other through music or actually knowing each other through other means.

"It was kinda through music and just through groups of friends. Me and Brendan kinda knew each other as teenagers and used to work together, and he was good friends with Rick and also good friends with Steph. Steph knew Gus and then we all kind of came together that way through Brendan and Steph kind of getting together just jamming acoustically and then me and Brendan wanted to go to the beach one day and he was having a jam with Steph so I came in and then Gus came in, but he was playing bass, and then he jumped on guitar. We were doing just us four for a little while. Then Rick being mine and Steph's friend, Brendan's gone “We'll get Rick on the bass and chuck Gus on the guitar.” As soon as Rick kinda jumped in and had a jam, it all worked out. He kinda just made the final piece of the puzzle.

But it wasn't all through music it was kinda all being friends but in different circles. It just really worked out naturally and easy."

I found this quite coincidental, considering the bands that these members have come from are all quite well known from the same music culture.

"Yeah I think Melbourne is just kind of like that. Different people and different bands, get along and just make music and yeah it feels good. Everyone just kind of goes with it. We're all lucky that we really just like hanging out and get to make music, it's just kind of like a plus."

Is it a difficult thing for each member to maintain their involvement in both Boomgates and their other band commitments?

"Nah not really, we don't try and overdo it. We only kind of get together when everyone's got free time or wants to do it. Like if someone's just kind of knackered from work and playing with other bands, then we don't get together. We only really get together when everyone's up for it. So it's really easy if we book a tour, we just make sure we make it really cruisy, just on the weekend, it doesn't kind of interfere with anything and give each other heaps of notice. You know, book things a few months in advance. Same thing when we're writing tunes, we just kinda take it as it comes. Just kind of jam one week and see if everyone's free the next, we'll just keep going. So it's really easy, we don't put any pressure on it. It's the easiest band I've ever played in."

It sure does sound like a pretty sweet band to be playing in!

Boomgates have just released their debut record Double Natural. How long did this LP take to write?

"Good question! I don't know! Cause we wrote a whole heaps of songs and just put them out on singles but I don't know if we had the songs before that.. It didn't take long, I think it would have been over like a six to twelve month period but we weren't jamming all the time, like we might not have jammed for two or three months. We write songs pretty easily, we just get together, if we have a jam we usually write like a song or two a night. So yeah, maybe six to twelve months but on and off. It was really – I won't say easy, we still put a lot into it – we just clicked really well, so it's just kind of super natural."

And what is Mr. Gionis' personal fave from the new record?

"Oooh good question! I like 'Flood Plains', I really like playing the track that's first. I really like 'Cows Come Home', yeah that's probably like a personal favourite. It's pretty vulnerable and pretty and just sings from my soul I suppose. Yeah, I really enjoy that."

Speaking of 'Flood Plains', the band have just released the clip to it, composed of hand puppets and a lively backdrop. What was it like creating this?

"Well I think probably about a month ago, maybe the start of November even, Brendan said his best mate's little brother had this idea for a video, and told us he's making it just for him. Literally kind of last week he's like, “the clip's done, let us know what you think” and he sent it to us all, and everyone was like, “Siiiick”. But we didn't actually have anything to do with it. His friend's little brother just kind of made it on his own whim and it's really cool, we just love it, it's a bit quirky."

Considering the video's content, I had this idea in my head that we were talking of a real little dude with this really cool and playful idea for a film clip that was transformed into a reality with the help of some producers and such. Turns out I was wrong!

"Oh no he's not like little, he's probably like mid to early twenties. I think he's supposed to be – you know the puppet that looks like Ellen Degeneres? I think that's supposed to be him. But everyone's like “man, that looks like Ellen Degeneres” and it does, it really does."

Regardless of my drongo-ness, it's a great clip!

Boomgates - Flood Plains from Nathan Ceddia on Vimeo.

Boomgates have literally just put their feet up after playing a few Australian shows to launch Double Natural. What was Shaun's personal favourite from the tour..

"Aw man, it was a really good tour, I liked all of them. We did a show on Saturday during the day at the Evelyn Rooftop. Cause that was the last of the tour and we did an overnight drive from Adelaide to do it and we were really tired but that was probably the funnest. Really good atmosphere up there and I don't know, it was probably the funnest show that we played that tour I think. It's just a really good feeling up there for our last show of the year. Canberra was really good. The first show we played in Canberra was in this little book store. They just cleared everything out and we just set up a vocal PA. We'd never been to Canberra before so that was surprising, cause we didn't even know if anyone would be there. It was this packed out little book store.

"Meredith as well, we got to play Meredith – that was awesome. But that's standard, we knew that was going to be pretty special. Just to play there was good, you know? We had a ball there."

It's like he read my mind as my next question was focused on Meredith. Shaun explained Boomgates' feels and experience of playing the Melbourne festival.

"I'd never played it, Rick played the day before with his other band and Brendan's done it a couple of times. We were super excited to play, and on the Sunday, like we didn't think that many would stick around but there was a really good crowd cause usually it kind of thins out, a lot of people leave early to try and beat the traffic. Festivals and stuff can be different cause it's so big, but we kinda have a rule, like with festival stages, just to bring everything in close so it doesn't feel unnatural. We want it to kind of feel like a normal gig, so we pushed the drums right up, brought the amps in and made the big stage small. It just sounded great and just, ahh I don't know, it was just such a good feeling looking out into the amphitheatre just packed full of people. We were happy with the set we constructed for it. It was just really something else. It's weird to say but we just walked off just feeling like we've never felt before after a gig. It was such a different experience for us. Yeah, we had the most fun, it was a really, really surreal experience, and just to play that festival was really special. We'll remember it for a long time."

After reading Bedroom Suck's short list of artistic comparisons, I was curious to know who Boomgates' main influence is collectively. My question proved ambitious in obtaining the answer as there isn't one. To break it up a bit, I asked Shaun who his personal influence is when he drums in Boomgates.

"Well my favourite band would be someone like Talking Heads, but I don't know if they influence me when I play drums in Boomgates. But me personally, they're probably the band I like to put on, and probably make me feel the best; so I'd have to say them."

If you've missed Meredith and the Boomgates' album launch, you can catch a taste of their live show at Melbourne's Forum Theatre for Sugar Mountain on the 19th of January. A festival showcasing some pretty amazing talent, who is Shaun most looking forward to sharing the bill with for this day of sweet and tasty music and art?

"I really want to see Lower Plenty cause the music I've heard from them is great. Even though they're from Melbourne, I haven't seen them so really looking forward to seeing them. I was talking about it with a buddy the other day and he just got back from London and he saw Dirty Projectors over there. He didn't know who was playing when I was reeling off the bands and he got me pretty excited about them. He said they were a highlight, he was over in London for two years and he said they're a really good live band, a bit different. So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing them. I'm looking forward to being there, yeah. I've never been, a couple of the other guys have been, Rick's played it. So yeah! It's going to be good."

As we're about to leap into the new year, I asked Shaun what's on the agenda for Boomgates come 2013.

"I think we're just going to kind of just do our normal thing, just a pretty chilled out, normal approach. We'll start writing some tunes, probably get together just before Sugar Mountain. Every time we get together, we kind of jam through songs and end up writing a new song so I think after Sugar Mountain we'll just kind of do things the way we do, just get together when we can and write some songs and probably record an album sometime next year, when we get around to doing it. I'd say that's what we're going to do! Write songs when we get a chance to write them and record them when we get a chance to record them."

Words by Hannah Galvin.

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