Rumours and Time Travel with Steve, From The Fumes

The Fumes are a hard rockin blues two piece out of Sydney. A couple of weeks away from another tour, The Dwarf caught up with Steve, The Fumes guitarist and singer, for his fourth interview in two hours. These two guys rock out with the power of ten men, delivering damn fine blues to dance your arse off to. There's Joel, pounding out some throat shaking beats, along with Steve, tearing it up on his resonator guitar (otherwise known as a National).

The resonator is actually a relatively rare guitar in rock circles - not every jam session has one, after all. This is partly what drew Steve to the instrument, some time ago. Something a bit different, although they are more common on the blues scene. Basically, he says they "Sound pretty cool, sound really good acoustic." He ain't kidding. Though he may be understating it.

The resonator, in the right hands, sounds bloody awesome. So Steve has collected a few, from in Australia and overseas, and is about to get another from master craftsman Greg Beaton, who is rumoured to have supplied the likes of Jeff Lang, John Butler and Hat Fitz. Steve's been lugging his resonator to a lot of festivals in recent years. He cites last years Great Escape festival, held in NSW over the Easter Long weekend, as one of the best. Just the right amount of people, in a good spot, where he managed to sneak his car into the backstage area. Totally sorted, backstage with a bed and close to the loos. That was cool, he reckons. Beats three days in a tent, I'm sure many of us would agree. As far as low points go however, Steve couldn't really come up with one. "The mornings can be a little rough, but I wouldn't call them low. They're just a buzz to be at."

With the tour about to start, the band is also looking forward to playing in Melbourne again. "Always a hoot, rock'n'roll central." Steve says he doesn't go out a hell of a lot when he's not playing, but last time he was in Melbourne, in the mood for drinking, he ended up round at Birdman studios, bothering Lindsay Gravino, who recorded the Fumes last year. "That was fun, I'd recommend it to anyone." [We can supply an address.]

The Fumes will be playing various places with The Blackwater Fever and The Legs, good friends of the band. They'll also be joined by the Whiskey Go Go's, who were previously a bit unknown to the band, until they got familiar with the Whiskeys CD Roadhouse. With a sound slightly similar to Kings Of Leon, but with more punch, more interesting instruments and a great look, Steve has now learnt that the Whiskeys are pretty damn cool.

Another cool name Steve has come into contact with is master guitarist Bob Brozman - but not nearly as much as some have reported. Steve did spend awhile in the U.S. and he did have a jam or two with Bob, but they were not, as one paper claimed, in a band together. Most of what has been said about them is a crock of shit. An example of how rumours can escalate, although nobody takes it too seriously.

Asked where the title of the Fumes debut album, Guns of Gold came from, Steve spun a tale of wild west time travel, tough guys with dirty habits, gun racks and work as a waitress. An evocative story worthy of a Fumes-style spaced out blues tune. "Just shit that I made up," is the titles actual origin.

Which is also the basic answer for the beginning of the brilliant songs he and Joel create. Steve might write something, then Joel will put his part in, changing, adding, shaping. Or Steve will have a riff that they build around. Although he says that he doesn't end up including a lot of what he writes, if it's a bit too close to the heart. But maybe he should? "But you do worry, can they put me in jail if I say that?" So it's mostly a pretty organic process, a lot coming from good old fashioned jamming, in time honoured blues tradition. It's also an ongoing process, with about half of a new album written. Hopefully we could be hearing something within six to ten months.

As someone who gets around the country, seeing and hearing a lot of Australia's current blues-rock scene, Steve says it's "Pretty good, a little bit of non mainstream goes a long way." Not overly enamoured with chart music, Steve thinks chart mainstream music for people who don't like music. They don't go looking for themselves, they just go oh well, that’s number one, so it must be good, so I'll just buy that. People who get into music go and find other music.
Finally, asked what people can hope to get out of a Fumes show, Steve modestly suggested that they'll think it's all right. When pressed, he said "A headache?"
But really, people should come away with sore feet from dancing, and if they're heads are sore it should be from drinking, and having a bloody good time.

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