Of Capes And Horses

With all the airplay these Brisbane locals have been receiving, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’ve got more than just two EPs under their belt. But the John Steel Singers, named after a horse of the toy/ steel variety, are almost two years into it and still on the edge of releasing their first full-length album.

That’s not to say they haven’t been busy. Vocalist Luke McDonald is fresh from touring when he takes time from uni power-naps and serious cramming to tell us about the next wave for this five-piece.

“Basically I’ve been living at uni trying to finish off all the stuff. We came back from touring and everything was due at the same time so I’ve been sleeping at uni,” he says when we caught up in November.

“I’ve been having like micro sleeps while typing. Basically I’m just writing stuff and then suddenly there’s about 18 h’s or something,” he laughs.

You can hear university degrees all through their music. It’s complicated, full to the brim with intricate arrangements and their sort of romantic-absurdist brand of lyricism.

So when Luke says horses and capes will be involved when the LP drops next year, no one should be surprised. Horses, capes, Brooklyn and a couple of the industry’s best, that is.

Nicholas Vernhes, who’s worked with the likes of Animal Collective, Cat Power and Deer Hunter, mixed their pending LP, and with Robert Foster from the Go Betweens as producer, Luke and the JSS gang can’t wait to bring their shiny new creation out into the open.

“It’s definitely a lot different, like we do it independently and ‘cause we felt like we’d moved on so far from the EPs we didn’t do the general thing and throw all those songs on the album … it was very surprising, the direction of the mix when he (Nicholas Verhnes) kept sending it back. I ended up loving it, really,” Luke says.

“He just has a unique way of looking at things.”

Highbrow pop and Brooklyn’s gritty urban uber-cool aren’t typically two things you’d expect from a Brisbane indie group on the rise. But after the pending summer festival season and a wee bit of a break, that’s exactly what’s a-coming.

“It’s funny ‘cause a few of the guys went over to Brooklyn and they were saying that Nicholas and the people who were involved in that whole thing, scene, everyone at least in Australia obsesses over how cool that place is and it seems that they’re so unaware, they’re just in their little Brooklyn headspace.”

Two years isn’t a long time for five guys in their 20s to go from regular Ric’s gigs to mixing shit up in Brooklyn - independently, mind.

But when Triple J unearthed them, Luke says everything just seemed to come at them thick and fast.

“It’s been a bit crazy lately,” he says, a week from finishing uni for good.

“It was weird, we were playing Rics over and over again for ages and then as soon as we got this unearthed thing it just went crazy pretty much.

“Since then I guess things have settled down while we’ve been recording and everything like that and now we’re just keen to get everything out - it’s been such a long wait really.”

Which is where the horses and capes come into it.

The first single is locked and loaded, a video clip is in the works, but Luke says Brooklyn won’t be the main inspiration of the clip.

“It’s gonna be budget-inspired,” he laughs. “The song calls for a low budget, just ridiculous film clip. So we’ve been trying to work out what to do over the past few days… “

After a bit of prodding he adds, “It involves capes …”

And undies?

“Capes and horses.

“We’re sort of planning it to coincide with our live show over the next four months, over the summer festival period.”

So are you taking horses with you?

“Yeah, possibly live horses … could make the tour van a bit packed up but …”

The John Steel Singers play Sunset Sounds, at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens and Riverstage, January 6-7.