Soulshine talks with Midlake

23 June 2010 by Richard Wilson

Ahead of their upcoming Australian tour and Splendour in the Grass appearance, Soulshine had a chat with Paul Alexander, bassist from Texas band Midlake ,  about touring, recording, making the music business work and relaxing in Byron Bay.

Midlake aren't strangers to Australia. They were last out here in 2006 to play a string of shows including an appearance at Meredith Music Festival in Victoria. Fond memories of their time here seem to play a part in coming back.

Midlake's tour this year sits right in the middle of their summer touring schedule that sees them play across the US, Europe and Australia. When I called Paul Alexander at home in Texas he was brushing up on the bass after a few weeks off. "We finished touring and I think we all just put our instruments down," so I'm just doing a little bit of practice to make sure I can play next week."

On the topic of touring, Alexander seems excited about their forthcoming tour. "Yeah, I think it's cool that we've got a few fans there," Paul said enthusiastically, "I think Australia seems like an exotic place to Americans. So we're pretty excited about going."

For many international touring bands like Midlake, touring Australia has many barriers to coming to such an isolated country to play only a handful of shows. Paul is quite optimistic about the distances and number of shows, "Logistically it's quite challenging, but I think if you can that sorted out it's quite nice to go somewhere that's so far away, and you're not going to be there long, you're just going to be playing a few shows. You know last time we had a couple of days off in Byron Bay... we also go to sort of just chill out a bit while we were there too, so we're hoping it's the same sort of feeling this time. I think Australia's nice and it's just a journey you know so it's nice to take a break and just get your bearings."

This couldn't have been further from his mind when asked if a few days off by the beach were on the cards this time, "I've got like 20 shows to play before then but I hope so.

Having made both their voyages to Australia off the back of major festivals, it becomes apparent that these sorts of events play a big role in luring international bands like Midlake. "Festivals are very important because the reality of a band from another continent coming to a different continent to play is logistically challenging. And there's no way around some of the expenses of making that happen. So they are great because they've got that little bit of extra money to help you pay for it so you can come do it. Otherwise coming to Australia is really prohibitively expensive."

It's easy to think of a touring band as a bunch of musicians buying a few flights, checking their guitars and drumsticks, but it's typically not that simple as Paul suggests. "You know we've got about 8 or 9 people -- we've got 7 on stage and a couple of crew to help us -- and you know, all the flights and all the equipment getting it over there, that's a big bill to have to pay so festivals help." Paul pauses, "I mean, not to put it in such pragmatic and boring terms but yeah, that's the reality of it."

Asked about the festival experience, while some artists dread the idea of playing to a crowd that might only have a passing interest in them or just killing time until the next band, Paul is quite excited by the experience. "Oh, it's fantastic because the festivals are getting all these bands in that the crowds wouldn't get to see on the same day in any other way because they're just pooled from all over the place. I think there's energy at the festivals that's quite cool; people want to see bands and you know, they might not have heard the band, but it's your chance to hopefully turn them onto your music and we get to see all these great bands."

Midlake are known for their very chilled and mellow sound. There won't be too many other bands playing at Splendour with a flute, but Midlake make it work. "We're a pretty mellow band, so we've got a be sure we play our more energetic songs. You know there's a lot of music out there and you want people to stay interested. Some of our more chilled out music is sort of for our die-hard fans. I think all things good are an acquired taste so you know we have to just lure them in with advertisers you know."

I ask about how the unique folk-meets-rock sound of Midlake works, but it seems even Paul isn't sure of that himself. "I don't know what works -- sometimes what you think works doesn't. I think we just strive to make music that we find to be beautiful and we would enjoy listening to. To some degree representative of us and our emotions and personality but also representative of our musical taste and that's what we're trying to meld you know... the things that we love to hear and the things that we think are already inside of us. That's the goal." Paul pauses for a moment and distills this line of thinking, "It's hopefully an honest thing and a beautiful thing. I think that's what we're striving for."

Their music is largely a product of what interests them, with albums seeking to capture a definitive sound, allowing their live shows to breathe a bit. "I think when we play live, we play with it a little bit more... hopefully live there's liberties, that's the idea."

But while a bit of freedom on stage is a core component of Midlake's live show, don't expect a jam band with sprawling instrumentals and solos. "We want to keep the song the centre of the music. The improvisation stuff is sort of bookending it a bit but the song is what the focus is. It's all to embellish and make the song sound good. With the jam band thing I think of like 20 minute jams and we don't have that... we're all going to make ourselves sick on stage if we do that."

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of Midlake is the way they have approached recording from a standpoint that balances artistic and business sensibilities. "We learnt early on to start building a studio. You get time, because when you're paying $500  a day or however much it is to be in a studio, you know if you're second guessing something or your thinking 'Man, this isn't quite right, I want to fix it', you're paying to screw around with that, and that gets expensive."

Producing themselves isn't without pitfalls, but all-in-all Midlake feel that this produces the best possible end product. "On one hand in a studio where you have an outside producer, you're gonna get a pretty good snapshot of where the band is right now. But as far as developing your sound on record, you're not going to get a chance to do that because there's going to be a lot more stuff you're unhappy with. Because time and money were the bottom line at the end of it, so producing it yourself gives you a lot more freedom. And sometimes that is a hindrance, but overall we think it's a good thing."

Even with their own studio and producing themselves, albums come together as efficiently as possible for Midlake. "We don't want to take very long. We'd like to be able to make an album in a week if we could."

Midlake play Splendour in the Grass 2010, and have sideshows in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney.

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