Hearts Won: The Grates!

“I love The Dwarf!”

I love you already, Alana Skyring. Aside from website love, the adorable drummer from indie-pop’s latest success story, The Grates, has been sick and, consequently, Internet-bound: “I’ve been tying up loose ends on the Net. My body went, ‘I can drag you around for a week or you can just sleep for 48 hours’ (laughs)”

So, before a merry chat with the cutest drummer ever, a short, concise Grates history, if you please, maestro. Manic frontwoman Patience Hodgson and Alana have been friends since they were little’uns, and met guitarist John Patterson in a drama class all three were attending to avoid PE classes. Patience apparently didn't even discover she had a voice for pop herself until (legend has it) a night at a karaoke bar, when she performed A Whole New World, from Aladdin. To have been a fly on that wall!

According to indie lore, they performed under a different name every night. They thought they might trick audiences into thinking they were a new band instead of the same “shitty” one all the time. In 2004 they constructed and sent a rough demo of the song Trampoline, recorded on an 8-track recording with two cheap microphones in John's shed, to Triple J accompanied by a hand-written bio. The song was very well-received, and appeared on the nominations list for Triple J's 2004 Hottest 100 alongside two other Grates songs, Rock Boys and Sukkafish.

Their debut EP, The Ouch, The Touch was out and wowing punters by 2005. In 2006, they released the exemplary Gravity Won’t Get You High, with performances at Big Day Out, Meredith, Falls Festival, Homebake and Splendour in the Grass (“it was the most amazing show, top 5 experiences ever”) to back up their burgeoning success. Now, come August 2, they release their 2nd long-player, Teeth Lost, Hearts Won on a drooling, excited public. So, Alana, what can the public expect from this new rekkid?

“This time round we stopped touring, started again, spent 12 months writing. Basically, all of the new songs no one has heard before but they’re upbeat. The crowd response [to the new songs we’ve been playing] has been really good. Its execution, really, is bigger, grander in sound. It’s more sentimental. We wanted to make something a bit closer to our hearts. The songs, when were writing, didn’t come as spontaneously as the last album, we put more intention into preparing the songs and arrangements, but it’s got the same sorta spirit. Different songs call for different measures, you’ve got a year or so and songs don’t just keep coming. It’s more aggressive. We hope people still really enjoy it”

Now, it’s no secret to the punters that the Grates are major road bunnies: “We’ve been touring since 2004, we weren’t scared to just hop in the car and drive, we would drive 40 hours to Adelaide to be first on at a Regurgitator show (laughs) and luckily Triple j supported us from the start”

So, what‘s the plan for this upcoming tour in October for the new album? What does a ramshackle group of kids like The Grates get up to on a long-arse national tour, anyway?

“It’s a heap of shows in one month; the main things we do are; think about eating, and then eat. Were big foodies. How to keep us happy? Make sure there’s some food around! It’s a really good way to get people together; my favourite at the moment is Pepper Lunch, a Japanese chain restaurant. They get a hot skillet, raw meat, rice and this cold kind of ball of butter and creamy sauce, smoosh it around and the meat cooks with the butter and sauce and delicious sauce, mmm! Cafe Galleon [in St Kilda, Melbourne] has the best eggs Benedict ever, sweet potato hash browns, oh, yeah!”

So, Alana, now that I have your favourite meal down (hey, it might come in handy), this important query must follow: who would win in a Beatles brawl between the fab foursome?

“I like Ringo, but he’s not much of a fighter. If anyone’s to throw a punch it’d be McCartney, but you gotta give props to Ringo, he had a solo album called I Wanna be Santa Claus. Ringo Starr, the quiet achiever...”

Alana is what my nana would call “lovely”...actually; it’s what I would call her, too. But this energy and vivacity is not confined merely to the Grates drummer-girl; the whole band uses their exuberance and colourful air to draw fans into their cartoony world; such in their success thus far. Alana remains staunchly withheld in the band remaining ‘shiny, happy people’; “It’s funny because I can’t even imagine it. You can’t shoegaze your way through shows, for our jobs to play music for people who are supportive with our friends, we feel so lucky, it’s great”

Teeth Lost, Hearts Won is out now through Dew Process/ Universal.

The Grates Tour Dates:

2 Oct- Sands Tavern- Sunshine Coast, Queensland
3 Oct- The Arena- Brisbane
4 Oct- Coolangatta Hotel- Gold Coast, Queensland
5 Oct- Great Northern Hotel- Byron Bay, New South Wales
8 Oct- 21 Arms- Ballarat, Victoria
9 Oct- Peninsula Lounge- Moorooduc, Victoria
10 Oct- Hi Fi Bar- Melbourne, Victoria ***SOLD OUT***
11 Oct- Hi Fi Bar (2nd and Final Show)- Melbourne, Victoria
12 Oct- Governor Hindmarsh- Adelaide, South Australia ***SOLD OUT***
15 Oct- Wollongong Uni Bar- Wollongong, New South Wales
16 Oct- The Metro - (2nd & final show)- Sydney, New South Wales
17 Oct- Metro- Sydney, New South Wales ***SOLD OUT***
18 Oct- Cambridge Hotel- Newcastle, New South Wales
23 Oct- Prince of Wales- Bunbury, Western Australia
24 Oct- Settlers Tavern- Margaret River, Western Australia
25 Oct- Capitol Bar- Perth, Western Australia

The Grates also play the following Festivals:

1 Nov- Stonefest- Canberra
30 Dec- Falls Festival- Tasmania
31 Dec- Falls Festival- Victoria
3 Jan- Southbound- Busselton, Western Australia
8 Jan- Byron Arts & Music Festival- Byron Bay, QLD, Queensland

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