Kram gets fishy

When speaking recently to Australian musical great, Mark Maher - aka, Kram - it is hard not to acknowledge an elephant in the room that is the “s” word. And by that, I mean Kram’s longtime band, Spiderbait .

Shedding some light amid constant speculation (and fear) over the band’s future once and for all, Kram eases the minds of all nail-biting fans who fear the end is near.

“No, definitely not,” he says emphatically. “People always ask us that 'cos we haven’t done much in the last few years. We just keep telling everyone that we’re in a low gear.”

All three from the super-trio (including Janet English and Damien “Whit” Whity) are enjoying their own pursuits, in spite of playing a few festivals together every year.

“We’ve just been around for so long we don’t feel the pressure to have to go out and bust our arse, we just want to play when we feel like playing.” He says. “But we still have fun playing music together it’s just now everyone’s busy doing their own stuff.”

And If you are wondering what to anticipate of said “stuff” proffered by Kram in the lead-up to his debut album – aptly titled Mixtape - be prepared to explore the entire ocean floor (so to speak).

“I like to use the analogy of all the colourful fish in the Great Barrier Reef.” He says. “With every single one of those fish, they represent all the songs on the album… In my rock ‘n’ roll net I managed to catch some beautiful fish.”

Then he lists some examples of what to expect in the Mixtape aquarium.

“You have a fish called the many-lined sweet lip…now that’s a country ballad if ever I’ve heard one…” He says. “The northern butterfly fish is kind of in the region of trip hop. And the black anenome fish that is metal – pure metal.”

Running with the idea, I propose a variety of fish and their potential musical specialty (for example, the damsel in distress could be emo, maybe...?) and Kram is only too enthused.

“Yeah, I might decide to change the whole concept so that the rest of my life it’s all about the fish and do as many as I can. It was fun doing that.”

If there were any insecurities over venturing out on his own, to make the album, Kram will admit to none.

“It’s actually really liberating – I don’t feel as nervous and vulnerable as I thought I might – and as much as I love my band, I was happy doing this too, so it’s cool.”

Working on the album in Chinatown, New York City with longtime friend and producer, Andy Baldwin, the experience was not a typical one.

“I was playing all the instruments so it was just me and Andy there the whole time. So it had to be someone that I got along well with and also a person who couldn’t be too intense and freaky.”

Being the multi-skilled musical man such as Kram is, yet recognised officially as a drummer for most of his career, I wonder which role – if any – he identifies with the most.

“I’m just a dude, a fella, a musician…I like doing all that stuff, there are so many different way with music with which to do it,” he says. “I really like playing drums as much as I like to play acoustic or lead singing or playing guitar or keyboards, or, you know…whatever…”

There are major tour plans for the year ahead once Mixtape is released, but Kram has already notched up two impressive live slots. Performing solo for the first time with virtually no material on offer, Kram nabbed his first live spot at the inaugural Meredith Music Festival, where fans were surprised to realise that he had legs.

“It was the little things like being able to do a couple of songs acoustic up the front, where there’s nothing else it’s just you playing…I think that was a bit of a spin out for people,” he says.

Not only that, but he had the opportunity to show off his new material at the Medibank International final, where he performed to celebrate the anthemic status of the album’s first single, Silk Suits for the Australian Open. Kram admits his surprise over its successful outcome.

“It’s funny cos sometimes those gigs I think they’re not so experienced in rock and roll but it was on a really good stage and the crowd was cool.”

Of the after-party, Kram is the first to admit that teetotalling tennis players are not usually at the scene of a post-gig bash.

“They were alright – they’re a lot fitter than me. Can’t hold their liquor though!” he says of partying with sporting legends.

The video for Silk Suits even features Kram facing off in a tennis match with retired tennic champ, Alicia Molik, Jet frontman Nic Cester acting as ref.

When asked if there was any camera trickery involved during post-production, Kram is somewhat affronted at the suggestion that he couldn’t take on Molik.

“She was definitely playing me and there’s no way I could beat her but I held my own so that was alright.” He says. “That was the whole point - I’ve been playing tennis for years and me doing the tennis clip with me wearing my headband and my motorhead t-shirt and playing against a pro.”

Yet another attribute to add to Kram’s growing list: tennis pro.

“You gotta play sport or you go mental,” he says of his upbringing in the sleepy town of Finley, population 2200.

“I used to play football and tennis and golf cricket and table tennis and basketball…I mean I played everything, but we also played rock and roll in the shed.”

And there paints the picture of the humble beginnings for the Candy Spuds who would eventually become known to all and sundry as Spiderbait.

“Oh, we were shithouse! We were so bad,” he says of those early “shed days”. “I mean Janet had never played a note of music in her life, until we started.”

For Kram it effectively meant unconditioning himself from the technicalities of music and learning to let it all hang out.

“I went to music school and I was a musician but I think what the band did for me is make me unlearn all my overly dexterous, complicated techniques, it made me just chill out and play the song and I always like that punk rock thing - it was kind of like what was kind of cool about us.” The Victorian College of the Arts drop-out says.

“So the mentality of the band was always strong, but we eventually became good musicians.”

When I question what the mentality of Kram the solo man is, he is stumped.

“I was hoping you might tell me!” he says with a chuckle. “It’s basically just everything, it’s just a life, a person has a million ideas of what they like and don’t like and I’m no different…I just put it all on a record.”

Another surprising admission from the all-rounder was that he acted as a rock ‘n’ roll ambassador during the Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit.

“I was the only guy from rock n roll who was invited to it, there were lots of dancers and theatre people,” he says. “I just stood up and said, ‘look you know, the Australian music scene is so strong, there are so many festivals and so many great gigs are on every weekend. For a country so small we’ve got a great live scene’ and they were all like, ‘yeah’!”

Then there’s always that other side project that he’s been involved with for awhile now: fatherhood. And Kram is every bit the doting father.

“He drums like a mad man – he’s not even 2 yet and he can already drum – like father like son.” He says, a note of pride evident in his voice.

Ironically, he is fairly insistent about keeping Kram Jr. out of a world in which he has belonged to now for quite an extensive degree of time.

“I want to keep him away from mainstream media as long as I can, The Wiggles are nice blokes but I am just wanting to keep his stuff pretty obscure…”

With all that on his plate it’s hard to contemplate how there would be time to pursue another project. But Kram still attempts to satisfy Spiderbait fans with this tasty morsel of hope.

“We haven’t recorded for ages, but we would like do a record in a couple of years, like next year, when we celebrate our 21st anniversary, but that’s in the future, you know.”

In the meantime, get out your rock ‘n’ roll net and start hunting down some some trip hop northern butterfly fish…unless the black anenome is more your thing…pure metal.

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