JEREMY SONNENBURG from CITY CALM DOWN: Simple, Tangible, Direct.
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
They are the Melbourne four piece that last year gifted the world the exceptional Echoes in Blue, an album, steeped in emotions that captured the hearts and minds of music lovers everywhere.
Just over a year has passed since that magical release, and City Calm Down are back with their latest work entitled Television.
Stripping it back, and with a new producer on board in the form of Burke Reid, City Calm Down have brought forth an album that has a message; “wake up, the world is happening to you”.
This is simplicity at it’s finest, but without losing any of the intensity that City Calm Down are so well known for. Television is raw, direct, drawing the listener in while enfolding them into its colourful embrace.
With the release date of August the 23rd looming, I caught up with bassist Jeremy Sonnenberg for a breakdown of everything from the album’s conception, through to touring and his own personal touches that feature throughout.
To start off with, while we will be talking about the new album, I just have to say that Echoes in Blue was one of the album releases of 2018! I love that album!
“Hey, thank you. That’s really, really lovely. I appreciate it. I get awkward about this stuff, but obviously there is nothing more rewarding as a musician to hear that people really connect; with our albums in particular. I think as a band we still really care about the album as a thing which is why we keep making them, it’s why we keep putting ourselves through this. But yeah, it’s great, there’s nothing better than people saying what it meant to them. A lot of people love playing it through and if people still enjoy listening to our music as a body of work than that makes us all very happy.”
Yes, as an album its spectacular, but if there was one song that I would always put forward to anyone it would be ‘Joan, I’m Disappearing’.
“Oh cool, yeah…”
There’s just some crazy emotion in that song that’s basically indescribable. It’s a song that just has to be experienced.
“Well that’s my personal favourite song off the last record, both as a player in it and as a song. It’s also one of the best music videos we’ve ever had produced for us as well.”
Yes! Such a beautiful and emotive music video.
“It’s good. It all synced up well, and it’s still fun to play. And even though it may not be as quick or as much of a ‘banger’ [laughs] as some other songs, I think the emotion does carry. People get it.
I’ve noticed from playing that song in particular that the room really like quietens down and settles. It can be like a weird and powerful mood, it’s hard to put your finger on what that is, but it’s fun. It’s good I guess… [laughs]
But anyway, thank you for your lovely, honest, generous feedback. It’s lovely to hear.”
Yes well, there are some songs that stay with you for life and that’s one of them for me. But onwards and upwards! You have got a new album coming out…
“Yeah!”
… which, oh my god where does the time go!
“Number three! Yeah, I know! It’s also crazy to think that it was like only a bit over a year ago that Echoes in Blue came out; instead of taking three to four years to get these early albums finished, everything was a lot of quicker…
It’s like you said, where did the time go?! How did that happen?”
[laughs]
“It wasn’t that long ago that we had no songs for this record, it’s like from writing to doing all the pre-production, getting together with Burke Reid the producer we worked with on this release; it’s felt like we’ve really come away as songwriters. Intuitively, you play with people longer and longer and you kinda know how each other works. I guess handing ourselves over to a new producer, a new external party … we were so fortunate to be able to put so much trust in him, and we had so much respect for him.
I think the reason that we were able to get the record done and sounding good and finished so quick, was because we didn’t have the opportunity to sit on our eggs and do five million revisions and you know demos and different version of songs.
That’s how we used to work, and I think we knew we kinda needed to possibly work a little bit differently, to work with someone differently. To just let things, flow a little more naturally and be less guarded with how we go about things.”
And of course, you are speaking of Burke Reid [Jack Ladder, The Drones, Liam Finn] who is the producer of your new album entitled Television, which is also the name of one of my favourite bands [laughs] which is quite cool…
“Yeah, they are…”
How did you personally find the process with Burke, did he bring something different out of you?
“Yeah, definitely. And look, to be honest like personally I was very nervous going into it. Again going back to all of our body of work to date, that has all been recorded and produced by Malcolm Besley who was both a friend and guy we’d known … he was the drummer in Northeast Party House, a band that we had played with and had been sort of on the scene with since we started playing around Melbourne. We were so comfortable with Malcolm which is why it was great, and you know we’re able to do all this recording and everyone was comfortable and in their safe zone and you felt like you could say anything to each other and we trust him [Besley] so much now.
But you know with Burke, I’d listened to so much of the music that he’s worked on before, like he’s just had great success with Courtney Barnett’s record, and so I was very nervous before we started working with him. I don’t know, I’ve got issues about my own abilities, as a musician I am totally self-taught, and I kinda assumed that all these big dog producers are just like savant musicians and know absolutely everything about music and I was worried I would just get in this room with this big dog and just feel uncomfortable or inadequate, or whatever the self-doubt and ruminations are.
We had a meet and greet with him and hung out and all that vanished in like five minutes, everyone was ripping into each other, it was such a comfortable atmosphere from the get-go. So, I think all of us let go of this weird fear and we became comfortable with each other really quickly. It felt like you could really feel a sense of respect from him as well in regard to how we worked and our music.”
Which is important component in the relationship.
“When we started demoing and moving into pre-production with a bunch of these songs for Television, the new album, yeah Burke really … it was so different working with him…
He was brutal, songs got absolutely torn apart, any part, anything that wasn’t up to scratch or didn’t necessarily feel like it had real purpose or intention. It was like, nothing was off limits, stuff got cut, stuff got changed up, he had so much to offer in terms of… like, I’m talking about everything, from melody to rhythm, all elements. I guess in the past we had always come to Malcolm our last producer with pretty much very finished, very polished songs and he was able to just help us execute these visions. But we had spent so long demoing we thought we knew exactly how these songs were supposed to sound. But with Burke, it was all different and it was all new and he showed us that less is more and like less can be very powerful and surreally really examine everything.
You don’t need to just hide behind fifteen layers of synthesizers …”
[mutual laughter]
“… to make something that sounds good, as much as that’s fun to make. Each of us individually, the guys in the band, most of us were listening to some more classic stuff that isn’t just swamped in a thousand layers, it’s stuff that’s just like punchy, quick, shorter songs that get to the point, hooks, hooks [laughs] all that kind of stuff. All the stuff you think of that is kind of like pop you know?”
Yeah, yeah…
“They’re the kind of things we tried to home in on. And you think that simple music or like pop music, it sounds easy to make… that’s the trick. When you go away and you sit down and you try and write simple music, try and make simple music that has the emotion, that has our personality, that has your sound, that’s tricky! [laughs] That’s hard work. So, it was very cool to work differently and see what we could achieve by switching it up” [laughs]
Most definitely. I must say, your honesty and humility are quite touching, the fact that you were worried about a “big dog” producer especially. There is nothing wrong with being self-taught as it can be just as good as somebody who went to music school for ten years, so hush…
[laughs] “Oh, thank you.”
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Let’s talk about the new album Television in some more detail, obviously I am not going to talk to you about the lyrics as that is very much Jack’s domain…
“Jack’s domain, yup! Yeah, I can be honest and tell you that I didn’t write any…oh, there might have been some words that were in debate and I might have had an opinion one way or another about the choice of two words. But honestly, I just play the bass really hard.”
[mutual laughter]
“Everyone is kind of king of their own domain, even though we all share and collaborate in different ways when we write…”
Of course, of course…
“But yeah, lyrics are Jack’s thing, the drums are Lee’s thing, the synths and stuff are Sam’s thing and I just play the bass, that’s all I do.”
[mutual laughter]
Stop saying just [laughs] The bass is a very important instrument…
“Yeah, bass is good!”
Looking at the songs, which in particular stand out to you personally? Like if you had to give two or three tracks as representation of yourselves to someone what would you choose and why?
“Oh gosh! Look I think the title track; there was a reason we put it out first, we wanted to offer up something that was a bit of a curve ball, you know, not trying to stir any pots but like ‘Television’ the energy of it, the sound palette, it felt very fresh and exciting to us. It is so much fun to play, to play live, like I mean we’re starting to try and jam these songs and get them up to a live standard. That one just felt right, so yeah, I would – even though it seems obvious – I would send people to the title track.
Another one of my favourite songs on the record, is a track called ‘Flight’ which is one of our shortest songs to date. I love the energy of it, again it’s very fun to play. [laughs] It’s a mission to play, it is bloody quick. But it’s fun, it’s got the energy. But in terms of like my favourite song on the new record, it is a track called ‘Visions of Graceland’ and that’s the song from when we started getting this collection of material together, that was the one that always felt like… you know that was the ‘Joan, I’m Disappearing’ track moment for me.
And I’ve been getting that when we played it live at the last couple of shows. The first couple of times that we’ve played a bunch of this new material, for audiences here people have been asking ‘What’s that one? What’s that one called?’
I don’t know, but that’s pretty telling. Because I think we’ve played maybe like five of the new album tracks live before across a bunch of shows, and yeah, that’s the one that people are like, ‘What’s that song called?’”
That’s very cool…
“Yeah, so that’s cool! That’s good to hear. And we haven’t released that one…yet…”
[laughs]
“…we’ve kept that one in the bag, so that’s good. You know, you can’t show all your cards at once [mutual laughter] But yeah, ‘Visions of Graceland’ is my favourite, because as a bass player feel is everything and I get the feels from that one.”
Ahh, the feels! That’s endorsement right there!
“And also, I have a memory of when we were recording that song and we’d been in the studio for like fourteen hours or something that day and everyone was just at the very end of their tether. It was so early in the morning and there was like this big gang vocal kind of sing a long thing at the end.
And I’ve never – in all the music I’ve ever recorded – I’ve never sung backing vocals before and I’ve never been on record, but we all got into the vocal booth at like four am or something and we [laughs] were absolutely beside ourselves, like just on another planet.
But it was so much fun, we sung this thing, I don’t know how many times and that was good. Afterwards we were just crying with like delusional laughter, because it was pretty funny, because it sounded like shit most of the time, but it’s kind of like the point of that piece or that kind of singalong…
Anyway, it made it on. So bear in my mind, my voice is on one City Calm Down song, so I guess that can be my legacy …”
[laughs]
“…a few backing vocals, a few bass lines, whatever. I sung on ‘Visons of Graceland’, my crowning jewel of accomplishment for 2019…”
It’s a great title for a song!
“Yeah, thank you! I’m looking forward to releasing that one and continuing to play it for humans, I think it will be fun, and I think other people will like it too … I hope!”
Of course, the album drops on Friday, are you nervous?
“Ummm…”
[laughs] Ummm…?
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, look maybe for like the last couple of months, it’s still been that weird twilight zone when finishing a record; you spend, like in this case the best part of a year writing the thing, and then you go through the whole recording of it and you’re like ‘Oh, it’s over, we’ve done it!’ And then you have this like weird lull, between finishing the album, but it’s not out, you kind of forget that no one has heard these bloody songs yet”
[laughs]
“You know, the album doesn’t have any artwork, none of the songs have bloody proper names, there’s still lots of work to do to get it out. And I will be a little bit nervous for the next couple of days until it’s out… and then…”
Then it’s all about the touring! It’s about getting it out there and selling it live…
“Yeah, yeah! Then it’s the next technical stage. So, I’ve just been enjoying the lull, you know?”
Yeah, I hear you
In saying that though, Echoes in Blue was released April of 2018, Television August 2019; it’s very close together! For your next album are you planning on a little more time between releases? Or do you already have more material ready to go?
For most bands the average is two to three years between records, and yet City Calm Down has released three in four years, which is very impressive!
“There were lots of songs again that were put on the chopping block, that didn’t make the cut. There wasn’t anything that we recorded and then pulled the plug on, but yeah there is definitely some stuff lying around. Hopefully not gathering dust…
I think the plan is we’re gonna strap our boots back on again soon and you know get back in the room together and just try and keep the foot on the accelerator because I think that’s the best way to do it. You know, I’m not a spring chicken anymore, I just turned thirty-one…”
Oh. My. God. No.
[raucous laughter] “It’s all over. What a nothing year! [laughs] I think we want to keep the ball rolling hopefully and definitely like at the tail end of this year have a go at trying to get some new stuff off the ground, again just keep it coming.”
You will of course be touring this album, and I know you are doing a tour of Australia – have seen the dates already – are you touring Europe etc?
“We’re doing UK and Europe soon, like before Australia…”
Oh wow, cool…
“We start in Glasgow and finish in Munich in early October. So yeah, we’re doing a Europe tour very much this time, like thirteen shows in fourteen days or something so that will be a lot. It will be fun, I’m really, really excited; but it will be work. It will be hard work. For us going overseas it’s going back to playing small rooms again and yeah, it’s not quite as glamourous but it’s fun as it reminds you of what it was like when you first started out…
Obviously, they’re all our headline shows, but it’s going back to the small rooms and playing in front of audiences and crowds that don’t necessarily know all your music or haven’t seen you for the last how many years. It’s fun, it’s fresh you gotta turn it on and get in the mode and it will definitely be a great way to start the touring cycle. It will be a very quick succession of many European and UK shows and also in a few cities that we haven’t played before. So, it’s cool, I’m excited.
And then yeah, we come back home and then across October and November we will do all the majors here in Australia and then, considering I am talking to a lovely New Zealander such as yourself …”
[laughs]
“…our people are knocking heads together and early next year we are hoping we can jump back over the ditch and see our lovely neighbours!”
I hope so, otherwise we would feel very left out!
[laughs] “It was definitely a lot of fun last time and hopefully again we can play some different cities not just Auckland and Welly, hopefully we can expand the horizon a bit and play some different venues.”
One last question for you; if you had to describe the new album Television in a couple of sentences or even just a few words of what it personally means to you, what would they be?
“When we were making this album, and talking to each other and to Burke, Burke asked us at some point ‘What do you want this album to be or what do you want to achieve with this?’
And we kinda all just came to this consensus that we want the album to be a record that could be playing at a house party, in a different room, and the sound was raw and simple and iconic enough that it would draw everyone into that room.
We wanted to create something that was just a bit more direct and to the point. Something that grabs people. Raw and direct, that cuts the crap and feels good. Something that people can connect with and get a vibe off instantly.”
I think you really have achieved that with Television!
“Having sat with the record for awhile and even though I have heard these songs a thousand times – I’ve heard all our songs a thousand times…”
[laughs]
“…I understand that it is something that people come back to, and with more and more listens people draw out new meaning and new feelings and new values from the songs. So, I don’t think this going to be entirely different but it’s just going to be to the point.” [chuckles]
I love that though, because as you said before, sometimes the simplest things in life are the best. And it’s the same with music; yes, it’s fun to build all these layers and produce some rock opera that is a fifteen-minute opus to life itself, but sometimes just simple yet tasty is all the soul needs.
“I hope we have gone some way to achieve that.”
Yes, you have, and you are releasing it on vinyl, so from all us record lovers, thank you!
“That’s something else that I am really proud of, that we make albums that people want to buy on record. Because records are the reason, I love music so much and the reason I got into music was truly because my parents had a large, tangible, physical collection of music in my home and it got played on the weekend. As great as the advent of technology is, streaming has opened so many doors and people all over the world hear your music and exposure, exposure, blah, blah, blah…but there is something about collecting, about getting a vinyl or even a CD. I love sitting down and reading the liner notes, or whatever it is, lyrics or photos, anything that gives you a bit more about what this thing was to these musicians. It’s such a personal expression and some of my favourite records are the ones that have a personal feeling to it, little surprises in the inner sleeves you know?”
I know exactly what you mean…
“Yeah, I’m really proud, because I’ve got a bunch of photos that I took while we were recording this record that are all over the inner sleeve.”
Oh nice!
“One thing I do feel confident in, it’s a good-looking package with the record, it looks great! I’m really excited for people to see it and touch it and feel it, because it’s pretty. It’s colourful!”
City Calm Down have released their new album ‘Television’ today via I OH YOU Records. It’s available on all your favourite streaming platforms with physical versions available from your local record store.
Feature Image by Sam Wong. Group shot image by Maclay Heriot.
STOP THE PRESS! We also have a small pack to give away containing both ‘Television’ and ‘Echoes In Blue’ on Vinyl! To win, name your favourite City Calm Down track in the comments below and we will pick one lucky person at random!
Competition ends 8.30pm Friday 30th August 2019. You must have a NZ address to enter. Prize is not transferable for money.
Blood
Congratulations Mark – you’ve won the albums! Please drop me an email (doug@ambientlightblog.com) with your postage details and we’ll get them out to you! Cheers!
Joan, I’m Disappearing
Blood 🙂 nice wee interview there!
Excellent interview
Blood from Echoes in Blue