The Grates go South

“A revivalist church actually cut out the offensive parts of the statues in the 70s, they’ve all been castrated” Alana from The Grates says with a sad sort of humour. She is sheltering from the American downpour (of rain, not fans) in a car outside a venue in New York the band is about to play. So rock. How has America treated the Brisbane cuties anyway?

“It’s been really good, we were deliberating it for a while but we’ve got brand new management over here, and we’ll soon be releasing the second album over here. This May tour in Australia will be the last for a while”

Aw. The diamond in the Grates crown of late has been their playing at the South by Southwest Festival- the illustrious and massive Festival in Texas, USA. “With SXSW, everything becomes a venue, bars, cafes....it’s really funny: 1500 bands and one small city that isn’t much bigger than Brisbane” Alana laughs. “So many Americans are larger than life. Same with New Yorkers. They’re just doing their own things. It’d be like Funniest Home Videos; a 3-minute montage of New Yorkers blowing up at each other and getting parking tickets”

“We like small venues over here” Alana offers. “Stuff like the Big Day Out is like arena rock, it’s amazing to play but there’s no intimacy. Patience likes to chat, we play intimate venues here, Americans like to yell things at you, and they like to chat”

So how was the process of making Teeth Lost, Hearts Won all those months ago?

“The more albums you make, the more confidence you get; with every album you have a different way of approaching it. You put the pressure on yourself because you wanna make music you like. The more you worry, the harder it is” she says, becoming serious. Let us laugh again. Do you find many Aussies in your audiences in the States?

“It’s nice seeing familiar faces, but...some Australian travellers get a bit over the top. We were playing with all these drunken bogans, maybe six drinks ago they would have been more...lucid.....but we were trying to play, and they’re going AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI, shouting out for themselves”

“Every band approaches playing differently, we’re so comfortable now” she offers happily.

The American shows have been, shall we say, less then glamorous: “Five of us sleeping on top of each other, John’s guitar was right next to my head...plus there’s rats”

Rats??

“Yeah, I saw them the other night just running around. They were clashing. I always picture a Rat Gladiator scenario, where I’ll be on the phone and have to say “gotta go, rats are fighting!”” she laughs.

The Grates hit the road in May for their last tour for a while. Check out the deets on http://www.myspace.com/thegrates

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