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Interview: Shannon Leahy
THE Stickfigures aren’t your run of the mill Perth band.
With a front person, who has you thinking sometimes that he might
injure himself on stage, and with music which veers from the chaotic
to the beautifully melancholic...you would be a fool to miss one
of their gigs.
The Stickfigures are Josh Fontaine (guitar/vox), Paul Haimes
(guitar/keyboards/vox), Rob Colcott (drums), Jerome Kennedy (bass/vox)
I spoke to singer/songwriter, Josh, to find out a little more
about these guys.
Q. When did you first start writing music.
A. Probably, first up, playing the guitar when I was 15, or
turning 15, in the lost summer where I didn’t see anyone
for about four weeks at a time, and I’d managed to not contact
the girl I’d been chasing for two years.
I just kept avoiding her and started playing guitar and felt depressed.
I suppose, earlier on, I was very Nirvana-inspired, and, later
on, I ran into Sebadoh, and became the sensitive songwriter sort
of thing that was doing the Perth rounds at the time, in 1997.
Q. What do you like to write about?
A. I don’t know. I suppose, at the end of the day, a
lot of the subject matter is the universal love theme - you know,
girl/boy and all that sort of crap. Also, I suppose my lyrics
are something I like to take care of, and often there are triple
entendres and that going on, and interesting images and word play.
I suppose that it’s a little bit offbeat, but it does paint
a vision that I’ve got in my head. Whether it’s a puerile
rant, or expressing a mood, or a feeling so that I can...I don’t
know, if you could give them actual themes, but just like a certain
light...like a different shade of the sky can become a feeling
and I suppose that draws on what the song becomes both musically
and lyrically.
Whatever creates a mood. It’s more about mood. Don’t
actions speak louder than words at the end of the day? I suppose
there’s an element of beat poetry, a stream of conscience,
if you will, in there, in a way...just with the cut and paste
and slang, I think.
Q. When did you have your first gig with the Stickfigures?
A. This can be answered in two parts. We adopted the Stickfigures
moniker when we were a three-piece, when it was Paul on keyboards
and guitar, and Rob on drums and myself playing guitar.
This said gig was a battle of the bands tilt they had on at The
Grosvenor, in 1999. We were a bit more country-influenced back
then, and quite a lot quieter, and they put us up against three
sort of punk bands, plus Full Scale Deflection, who are a really
heavy band.
They were really intense and then playing last was us, doing all
these lost sort of ‘lonely boy’ songs. But I suppose
the first true Stickfigures gig would have been when Mike joined
the band, and he came on in 2000. We played some gig at Fremantle,
in March or February of 2000.
Q. Are the Stickfigures due for a release?
A. Yes, well we recorded a single. Two A sides and two B sides.
The A sides being Kissing For Science and Bilbao Is Burning!!,
and the B sides being Twilight Shields and Brooklyn Cheer.
They are very much like chalk and cheese, really. So it’s
been recorded, mixed and mastered. We’ve still got to do
the artwork and we’re hoping to have it by July.
Q. What music are you listening to at the moment?
A. I’ve been listening to a lot of music in the past
couple of months, but when push comes to shove, it has all been
about The Polyphonic Spree. I’m re-listening to Grandaddy
again. The Flaming Lips... old Flaming Lips. Kraftwerk.
Q. The first three bands you mention, their sound is not unlike
the Stickfigures…
A. Yeah sure. That slightly modern psychedelia, yeah, your
layered sound bands, with sort of whiny guy vocals.
Q. The Stickfigures, I remember from early gigs, were a little
bit more on the soft, melodic side, but now you seem a lot harder
and rockier. Was that a conscious decision?
A. No, not really. I suppose that it is a result of the music
that was inspiring me at the time songs were conceived. Although
it’s not as extreme as the music I’m listening to...
you know, bands like At The Drive-In and Trumans Water and The
Icarus Line.
The loud, aggression-skronk thing just appealed to my senses at
the time, and I suppose it influences a bit of what I’m writing
at the moment as well.
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Q. Do you think that music can be original now?
A. Yeah... I mean, post modernism has - and I know this sounds
really pretentious - but you know, it has threatened to sabotage
music, really, because it just meant that people were becoming
retro revivalists and what not, and that’s cool... I mean
everyone likes the garage bands going around these days, and the
60’s pop bands, like Apples In Stereo and what not.
But I think there’s enough forward-thinking bands doing good
albums that will inspire more future thinking musicians.
I don’t think post modernism’s a strong enough concept
to really intake music, through. It became, or has become, an
excuse for people not to think, in larger circles.
Q. Have you ever injured yourself on stage?
A. Yes, I’ve actually got a cut on my head from Friday
night... up here somewhere. I found blood last night and I’ve
got a carpet burn on my elbow. I was playing at the Carlton Hotel
and it’s a bit of a flop house.. a place of ill repute, you
know, apparently they’ve had ladies of the night upstairs.
There are these little tables that have a pillar going up - like
a podium... so as soon as I saw that, I knew that the whole stripper
theory was confirmed! And when I was singing the last song, I
put the guitar down, and went to take the microphone and go jump
on the podium, but the microphone was a bit short, so I fell down.
It wasn’t too harsh but I hit my head on the PA stack - the
foldback. It didn’t hurt, though, I think the alcohol cushioned
the blow!
Q. Did you go and see the film, Teesh and Trude, that one
of your songs featured in?
A. Yeah, yeah. I dressed up and we all sat in a row. We planned
to do a Mexican wave when our song came on. But I was the only
one who could actually hear it. It was mixed that low in the shopping
centre (Garden City, Booragon) scene. I was there ready to do
the Mexican wave, and everyone’s looking the other way!
Q. If you could meet anyone in this world, who would it be?
A. Oh Jeez. I’d have to say probably something pretty
shallow. No Ghandi or Jesus! Meeting Wayne Coyne, of The Flaming
Lips, would really please me a lot. Wayne Coyne, to me, has an
almost quasi-religious aura to him and it’s just really nice
that it comes out in his music and demeanour.
That really appeals to me. Just the warmth that comes from him.
I love his music and just imagine he’d be a pleasure to meet.
He’d be nice. He wouldn’t disappoint me - like meeting
some of your heroes does, when they’re a bit cold.
Q. Do you miss The Grosvenor?
A. Yes. Actually, I was talking about it with some bands the
other week. We sort of missed the craziness of going out on Wednesday
nights to The Grosvenor.
It was integral to many lives for many years. It was good when
The Amplifier opened up. You’d go to The Amplifier after
Cosy or Posy Club gigs. We cut our teeth doing a lot of those
gigs. The Grosvenor had always been pretty good to us. Apart from
when we got blacklisted!
Q. Do you have a favourite Perth band?
A. It would have to be the Tucker B’s. I was into them
when I was younger- when they were a different band. Sort of loud
and brash and the songs were more crazy. A bit more anarchy going
on. And now, as time’s gone on, and they’ve had a new
drummer come in, they’ve really tightened up.
Matt [Rudas] is writing really excellent material and they’re
composing songs really well, and everyone’s bringing in something
excellent. They really gel together and they’re amazing live.
Q. Do you ever get disenchanted with your music?
A. No. The moment you come up with something which you think
is your best song ever, and particularly, a couple of days later
when you’re still playing that song, you’re shocked
that you’ve accomplished that.
That personal satisfaction is a wondrous thing. If you are broke,
you will happily spend your rent on frivolity, in the name of
celebration! It puts that spring in your step, makes one strut
like a rooster. It’s better than any drug.
Q. What are your aspirations for the Stickfigures?
A. Well, ideally, we’ll all still be getting along and
writing stuff that we really like. I’ve got a lot of songs
stock-piled and it would be nice to have the money to be able
to experiment more with different instruments and recording techniques.
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