Bachelor Of Arts - Red Wine and Frankinsense
The Melbourne music scene seems to be awash at the moment with university students performing distinguished weird arty indie pop at the present time. Bachelor of Arts is a three piece musical extravaganza that nicely slots into this genre. The Dwarf caught up with Angus Tarnawsky (drums/vocals) to clear up a few matters.
Asked to offer an explanation as to why there are a plethora of great bands available in Melbourne, Angus had this answer “It's probably something to do with this town being the epicentre of arts - as far as I'm concerned - in Australia. Each state has its own unique scene but Melbourne just feels like the place to be. Everyone is in a band, or they're an artist; it's a really nurturing environment."
Now normally I ask the interviewee what he plays, but being clever red wine drinking university students, Angus replied,"We do our best to play with what time we have left". Googling their name on the internet just brings up various universities and arts courses, but it seems their single status is what inspired the noma culture, as Angus justified, "The group began during a period of singledom, hence the 'bachelor' angle and similarly we both study arts. If my memory serves me correctly, Bill (guitar/vocals) came up the name".
The music is very much eighties ‘art’ pop, with the band wearing their influences on their sleeves, such as Sonic Youth and Joy Division. Which prompts The Dwarf to ask, can Australian bands carry on the torch that was lit by Ian Curtis? and moreover can the bleak soulfulness of the dark north of the U.K. be transmitted from these golden sunny shores? To whit, Angus replied, “As far as writing music goes, Australia can be pretty bleak. I certainly think we're a very lucky country but no one could call the place faultless. Politics and music can be dangerous - take 'Crass' for example - so maybe I'll just leave it at that".
Whilst the band mentions on their MySpace that they "Are rogue scholars; vigilantes exploring a world of dark pop sensibilities.” they really don’t take themselves that seriously, and pay a nod to the DIY attitude and irreverence that is punk, as Angus reiterated, "If you can laugh at yourself, the world around you becomes a much better place. Punk music is excellent; as a band we've really been meddling with some punk influences. We're not punk per se but the DIY ethic is something we admire".
Bachelor of Arts define themselves as a ‘jam’ band whether this had anything to do with preserves, The Dwarf was not sure, so Angus explained, "For me, too much pop music is orchestral. That is, pre-defined parts replicated night after night. And I mean pop in the sense of popular music, count any specific genre you like. With the Bachelors we try to mould each song differently when we play and improvise a little".
It seems to simplistic a label to describe this band as pop, while their music is light, it has more substance than the candy bum fluff that is played on Triple M these days, taking us on a trip back to the late eighties, when bands such as Sonic Youth and The Cure were stretching the boundaries of the indie pop genre.
BOA have been lucky to have the help of sound engineers that helped produce the sound that is My Disco, a band that they admire, as Angus clarified, "My Disco; such an amazing group with a simply stellar approach to their art. We ended up recording most of our EP at Head Gap Studios in Melbourne with Sloth and Neil, both of whom work with My Disco. As soon as I heard their latest release Cancer it just seemed the most logical place to record".
With the release of their new EP Signal Receiving,The Dwarf asked why should the public buy BOA's music - what is it they bring to the party? Laughingly Angus responded, “Bill brings gold, I bring Frankincense and our bass player Kevin, brings Myrrh. I guess people should only buy the EP if they like it. We're no bullies".
Bachelor Of Arts' new EP Signal Receiving is now out through Exo Records.
