Alexander Gow - Oh Mercy (23/08/2012)
With their third studio album ‘Deep Heat’ set for release nationwide this Friday, The 59th Sound recently spoke with Alexander Gow, of Melbourne group Oh Mercy.
Last night you performed solo as part of an Elvis tribute show in Melbourne, how was the night?
It was great fun!
I didn’t grow up listening to Elvis like some people have, nor did I really seek him out when I was growing up, I’ve only recently started listening to Elvis, so it was lovely to be part of it and it was cool to hear all his music, which is so well celebrated that I have no idea about.
What song did you perform?
I played a song called ‘Let Yourself Go’ which from talking to people wasn’t one of his popular ones, but it was the most provocative one of his I found.
Seeming it’s quite a recent discovery who introduced you to Elvis?
I didn’t listen to him until I was in the studio and my producer was using a delay on my vocals which was something that Elvis did something a lot of, so he gave me some ‘Classic Elvis’ documentary or something and I watched that and then since then I’ve been interested.
I don’t love Elvis, I mean there’s about a thousand other people I’d listen to before him but I understand his importance in the history of rock’n’roll.
I have noticed in film clip for Oh Mercy’s latest single ‘Drums Of Love’ that you’re sporting an incredible gold jacket, which is very Elvis-esque, does he have influence on your image?
That’s fair enough. That was a bit of coincidence and I’ve definitely been hearing about that a bit!
Now I do want to talk more about the film clip for ‘Drums of Love’, it was the first taste for the new album ‘Deep Heat’ and it has such a fun snap shot of a night out in Melbourne, what was the idea behind the shoot?
Well I didn’t want to make a narrative film clip. The song and the album is fairly tongue in cheek and I thought a narrative film clip would be far too serious for the kind of song it was.
It’s a bit of a party song, it’s the closest we’re ever going to get to a party song. It’s danceful music but the lyrics aren’t considered to be, which is something we often find is not the case in music orientated towards the whole idea of being able to dance to it, so I wanted to marry the two, so when it came time to making the clip and I just chose to showcase the idea, I proposed to throw a party for all of our friends and tell them to dress up and we had a really fun night that took a long time to clean up the next morning.
It doesn’t sound like work at all?
No it’s not. I don’t consider what I do work, especially when I negotiate my own destiny, like “How about we have a party as a film clip?” I’m a fairly lucky guy.
It is the eve of the release of Oh Mercy’s third album ‘Deep Heat’, being your third album do you still get nervous before a release?
I don’t get nervous. I’m curious as to what people think, but I had a lot of fun while I was making it and I put everything I had into it so I don’t have any kind of regrets at all, associated with the album, so I can only hope that people enjoy it and if they don’t I won’t be loosing any sleep over it.
Do you find it hard not to share to songs before it’s released? Do you play the record for friends before it’s released?
Yeah! All of my friends have a copy of it, they all say that they love it, but they’re my friends so they have to say that.
It is hard to detach the personality of a friend from the music, do you find friends and your friends in the Melbourne music scene are honest with you with their reviews?
Maybe, you’d have to ask them.
I think the Melbourne music scene is very supportive, they’re not over the top and they’re not delusional but making music despite it being a dream job, there’s lots of things that are difficult and complex about it so I think kind of support from friends is well deserved and I wish to do the same to all of my friends.
I’ll leave the criticism to the critics.
Good idea! And it is such a supportive scene here in Melbourne.
Now moving on, the first album Oh Mercy release, ‘Privileged Woes’ looking back to the record has the bands sound progressed in the direction that you expected it would?
Well nineteen year old me couldn’t have anticipated where things were going.
I’ve always listened to similar music so it’s not a surprise that I’m making the music that I am now, but I don’t like to think that I’ve necessarily progressed as a song writer, just developed. I’m proud of all the albums and I think they stand up on their own two feet. I think they’re all different but I give them equal amounts of respect, as I didn’t know what the third album was going to sound like when I was nineteen, I have no idea what the next one’s going to sound like right now, so I’ll have to figure that one out for myself.
All of Oh Mercy’s records, are relevant to listen to at any time, for any mood, with the strong lyrics and melodies. ‘Privileged Woes’ has a soft but bitter taste of youth, ‘Great Barrier Grief’ has it’s own meaning and that more Australiana sound to it, as ‘Deep Heat’ has a pop vibe that you can dance to that moves away from the Paul Kelly comparisons, is this change in sound an influence of the change of musicians working in the band?
No, the musicians around me haven’t really had much to do with the sound.
The musicians I have are incredibly talented people and very supportive of my kind of ideas and concepts. The change of sound is more just to keep myself excited and keep myself interested and that stems from the idea that I don’t like to be pigeon holed so as soon as someone starts to do that I figure it’s time to throw them a curve ball.
So the sound on ‘Deep Heat’ is it a reflection of your life now?
Not really. It’s the same of me.
I’m interested in different types of music for vastly different types of reasons and with that understanding I’m able to explore those territories when I feel the need.
I’ve been listening to a lot of late 70s disco and glam rock and that kind of groove based music that I’ve always loved, but at the heart of it I’m still a song writer, so the lyrics are really important to me so I was trying to marry the two ideas of having considered lyrics and groove based music.
I think that’s the one theme that carries through all albums is the lyrics, apologies for the pigeonhole. Had you been writing before you started song writing?
No, song writing was my first introduction to any kind of writing. I do find it really exciting and satisfying to do. I’ve written a couple of articles to magazines and stuff like that, which I get a kick out of, it’s something that I’d like to do more of in the future.
We could possibly see a ‘Dear Alexander’ column “can you help me with my boyfriend” advice column.
I probably wouldn’t be much help in that department, but I’d give it a shot.
With the elements of the festive artwork, the party themed film clip and the fun Youtube teasers, is this theme carried through to the live show?
Yeah, I’m not going to be playing the guitar anymore because there’s not much guitar on the album so I’ll just be the front guy, which is something I’ve never done before.
I have no idea how that’s going to go, I’m throwing myself in the deep end and we’ll see if I sink or swim, maybe you should buy a ticket to the show to see either the painful death or the triumphant victory.
It’s a really fun-tastic album so the live show will be suitably similar.
And it will be very interesting to see you, as you said, the safety blanket of holding the guitar.
I don’t know what I’m going to do with my hands.
I might have to do some kind of art attack-esque painting session while the show goes, just to occupy my hands.
It’s been a pleasure having the opportunity to speak to one of my favourite musicians, thank you for your time.
Thanks for your support; I’m glad you still listen to that first album.
Cassie Walker
Last night you performed solo as part of an Elvis tribute show in Melbourne, how was the night?
It was great fun!
I didn’t grow up listening to Elvis like some people have, nor did I really seek him out when I was growing up, I’ve only recently started listening to Elvis, so it was lovely to be part of it and it was cool to hear all his music, which is so well celebrated that I have no idea about.
What song did you perform?
I played a song called ‘Let Yourself Go’ which from talking to people wasn’t one of his popular ones, but it was the most provocative one of his I found.
Seeming it’s quite a recent discovery who introduced you to Elvis?
I didn’t listen to him until I was in the studio and my producer was using a delay on my vocals which was something that Elvis did something a lot of, so he gave me some ‘Classic Elvis’ documentary or something and I watched that and then since then I’ve been interested.
I don’t love Elvis, I mean there’s about a thousand other people I’d listen to before him but I understand his importance in the history of rock’n’roll.
I have noticed in film clip for Oh Mercy’s latest single ‘Drums Of Love’ that you’re sporting an incredible gold jacket, which is very Elvis-esque, does he have influence on your image?
That’s fair enough. That was a bit of coincidence and I’ve definitely been hearing about that a bit!
Now I do want to talk more about the film clip for ‘Drums of Love’, it was the first taste for the new album ‘Deep Heat’ and it has such a fun snap shot of a night out in Melbourne, what was the idea behind the shoot?
Well I didn’t want to make a narrative film clip. The song and the album is fairly tongue in cheek and I thought a narrative film clip would be far too serious for the kind of song it was.
It’s a bit of a party song, it’s the closest we’re ever going to get to a party song. It’s danceful music but the lyrics aren’t considered to be, which is something we often find is not the case in music orientated towards the whole idea of being able to dance to it, so I wanted to marry the two, so when it came time to making the clip and I just chose to showcase the idea, I proposed to throw a party for all of our friends and tell them to dress up and we had a really fun night that took a long time to clean up the next morning.
It doesn’t sound like work at all?
No it’s not. I don’t consider what I do work, especially when I negotiate my own destiny, like “How about we have a party as a film clip?” I’m a fairly lucky guy.
It is the eve of the release of Oh Mercy’s third album ‘Deep Heat’, being your third album do you still get nervous before a release?
I don’t get nervous. I’m curious as to what people think, but I had a lot of fun while I was making it and I put everything I had into it so I don’t have any kind of regrets at all, associated with the album, so I can only hope that people enjoy it and if they don’t I won’t be loosing any sleep over it.
Do you find it hard not to share to songs before it’s released? Do you play the record for friends before it’s released?
Yeah! All of my friends have a copy of it, they all say that they love it, but they’re my friends so they have to say that.
It is hard to detach the personality of a friend from the music, do you find friends and your friends in the Melbourne music scene are honest with you with their reviews?
Maybe, you’d have to ask them.
I think the Melbourne music scene is very supportive, they’re not over the top and they’re not delusional but making music despite it being a dream job, there’s lots of things that are difficult and complex about it so I think kind of support from friends is well deserved and I wish to do the same to all of my friends.
I’ll leave the criticism to the critics.
Good idea! And it is such a supportive scene here in Melbourne.
Now moving on, the first album Oh Mercy release, ‘Privileged Woes’ looking back to the record has the bands sound progressed in the direction that you expected it would?
Well nineteen year old me couldn’t have anticipated where things were going.
I’ve always listened to similar music so it’s not a surprise that I’m making the music that I am now, but I don’t like to think that I’ve necessarily progressed as a song writer, just developed. I’m proud of all the albums and I think they stand up on their own two feet. I think they’re all different but I give them equal amounts of respect, as I didn’t know what the third album was going to sound like when I was nineteen, I have no idea what the next one’s going to sound like right now, so I’ll have to figure that one out for myself.
All of Oh Mercy’s records, are relevant to listen to at any time, for any mood, with the strong lyrics and melodies. ‘Privileged Woes’ has a soft but bitter taste of youth, ‘Great Barrier Grief’ has it’s own meaning and that more Australiana sound to it, as ‘Deep Heat’ has a pop vibe that you can dance to that moves away from the Paul Kelly comparisons, is this change in sound an influence of the change of musicians working in the band?
No, the musicians around me haven’t really had much to do with the sound.
The musicians I have are incredibly talented people and very supportive of my kind of ideas and concepts. The change of sound is more just to keep myself excited and keep myself interested and that stems from the idea that I don’t like to be pigeon holed so as soon as someone starts to do that I figure it’s time to throw them a curve ball.
So the sound on ‘Deep Heat’ is it a reflection of your life now?
Not really. It’s the same of me.
I’m interested in different types of music for vastly different types of reasons and with that understanding I’m able to explore those territories when I feel the need.
I’ve been listening to a lot of late 70s disco and glam rock and that kind of groove based music that I’ve always loved, but at the heart of it I’m still a song writer, so the lyrics are really important to me so I was trying to marry the two ideas of having considered lyrics and groove based music.
I think that’s the one theme that carries through all albums is the lyrics, apologies for the pigeonhole. Had you been writing before you started song writing?
No, song writing was my first introduction to any kind of writing. I do find it really exciting and satisfying to do. I’ve written a couple of articles to magazines and stuff like that, which I get a kick out of, it’s something that I’d like to do more of in the future.
We could possibly see a ‘Dear Alexander’ column “can you help me with my boyfriend” advice column.
I probably wouldn’t be much help in that department, but I’d give it a shot.
With the elements of the festive artwork, the party themed film clip and the fun Youtube teasers, is this theme carried through to the live show?
Yeah, I’m not going to be playing the guitar anymore because there’s not much guitar on the album so I’ll just be the front guy, which is something I’ve never done before.
I have no idea how that’s going to go, I’m throwing myself in the deep end and we’ll see if I sink or swim, maybe you should buy a ticket to the show to see either the painful death or the triumphant victory.
It’s a really fun-tastic album so the live show will be suitably similar.
And it will be very interesting to see you, as you said, the safety blanket of holding the guitar.
I don’t know what I’m going to do with my hands.
I might have to do some kind of art attack-esque painting session while the show goes, just to occupy my hands.
It’s been a pleasure having the opportunity to speak to one of my favourite musicians, thank you for your time.
Thanks for your support; I’m glad you still listen to that first album.
Cassie Walker