The Thousands

Eddy Current Suppression Ring are Australia’s biggest rising stars in the independent music world. They have made a colossal impact on the punk and garage revival scene in the past year. Now they are playing a show at La Campana amidst tapas and sangria.
*This interview took place Feb 2009.

Patrick Collins: Mikey, how are you?
Mikey: Oh good, just taking it easy after the Big Day Out. It was the first time we played all five. It’s pretty casual though, you just go play one, and then come home, hang out for a few days, and then go play another. It’s not like a gruelling tour or anything.

PC: How was the crowd for Big Day Out? Do you like performing in front of 50,000 people?
M: Well we didn’t get all 50,000 at our stage, but we had a couple thousand and that was good. They cheered instead of booing so it must have been okay. (laughs)

PC: So your new record, PRIMARY COLOURS, got released and promoted in the States pretty well this year, do you think you’ll be going overseas soon?
M: We originally went over about a year and a half ago to play Gonerfest and then they put out our new record so that’s good. They’re pretty keen for us to get back but… well… I dunno, we’re just slow. We’ve had offers for good shows over there, but we’ll get around to it eventually.

PC: I was reading that you guys enjoyed small intimate shows better than the festivals, I’m wondering do you get a lot of those on tour? With the long distances to travel and tour do you get multiple small shows in one city?
M: No, not really. It’s gotten to the stage where it’s a trial to get small shows anywhere. Especially in Melbourne, the crowds have gotten to 700 or 800 so it’s pretty impossible. But we try to just book a house party or small show and keep it on the down low. Get that out of our system ya know? It’s too fun to play those shows, and we want to keep it a variety and have small gigs that just our friends can go to and not have to compete with a thousand other dudes.

PC: Do you guys feel like you have anything to live up to because of bands like The Saints or Radio Birdman?
M: Nah, not really. We’ve already gone well above what we thought we would do. We just wanted to jam out a couple of dumb songs and so in my opinion we have already overachieved. I don’t feel any competition with any legacy like The Saints or anyone.

PC: Did you catch the gig at the Forum (Melbourne) with the Saints and X?
M: Oh no, but whenever a gig like that is announced I get really excited and then reality sinks in and I just think, I don’t want to see them like that. (laughs) No matter how good they play it’s not going to be the same and I would rather leave it in my head.
PC: You want the strung out version right?
M: Exactly.

PC: I have heard some comparisons of your lead singer Brendan to Ian Curtis. What do you think of this?
M: (laughs) I think there is a similarity in dance moves, but singing or lyric wise, naw.

PC: So you listen to a lot of other music than punk and garage, what is your most surprising favourite artist?
M: We’ll I’m not really a person who’s ashamed of anything I listen to. I’m just looking through my records right now. You know, I used to have to spend a lot of time convincing people that Rod Stewart is excellent. I would make a compilation and give it to doubters to turn them around, but now that’s not too hard.