cash savage
cash we’re chuffed to be able to shoot the breeze with you and might i say we’ve all been taken by your smoky tunes. quite a few of our readers were begging for us to get the lowdown from you and i welcome you to powder.
so you’ve just released your second album hypnotiser and you’ve been out touring it around oz. what’s the reception been like and is there a story behind the name?
It’s been pretty humbling. We are pretty proud of the album so it’s very heart-warming when other people like it too. The name comes from one of the lines in the third track. I guess it felt fitting for the album and the band.
since your first album wolf and the new one you’ve done a lot of touring and the band seems more cohesive. is there a reason that the band became solid? who's in the lineup of the last drinks?
The band used to be quite fluid, it was the plan all along – to have a band that was slightly different each time and only really dependent on me. In some ways it’s easier but it comes with its challenges as well.
These days the band is a solid 7 piece. I think once you get a trumpet player you have to close the doors. So we have drums, guitars, bass, banjo, violin and trumpet. I think that will do us for the time being. Recently we have had 3 singers come along for the Melbourne shows but that is only a sometimes thing. Not every stage can fit us plus the singers.
ninety five km to sandy point is a track on the new album that’s quite gripping. what’s the story behind it?
I ran into a friend of mine in a bar in Healesville, Victoria, where the band plays under the stairs. Turned out that we were traveling the same road on Black Saturday and by chance he had picked up the Churchill firebug. It also turned out that he had to go to court that week to tell his story. He told me what he was most anxious about was that he had to see his ex-girlfriend, who was in the car with him that day. He hadn’t seen her since the break-up. I loved how Australian it was. He had a job to do, he had to go to court and be in what would of course be a very emotional space and he wasn’t fearful of that at all, it was a job. He just wasn’t ready to see his ex again.
another song that caught our attention is the sparse, swampy number early morning come down blues. is this from personal experience and does it hit often if it is?
Ha. Yes, some people think this song is a sad song, for me it’s somewhat of a celebration. It fits with a lot of mornings in my life but it really takes me back to a couple in particular. I get the feeling that a lot of the people who come to see us understand the sentiment of this song. That moment when you realise that drinking is no longer having any effect and that it’s probably time to sleep the day away so you can do it all again that night.
On a side note, when we played this song in Tamworth we changed the weed line to Beam, because apparently they don’t smoke weed in Tamworth.
i do have to ask about the video to an earlier single, sooner or later. the woman in the black corset and suspender belt smashing up the room with a crow bar as you sit in the centre of the room singing is one of the most alluring clips i’ve ever seen. how’d that come about?
I was sitting in my lounge playing guitar and wondering how much it would cost to get a beautiful woman to come to my house and smash up all my shit. Turns out it’s kinda pricey if you want to film it too.
It was such a fun couple of days. Lillian Starr was amazing; I think she found it quite cathartic. I head hunted her for the role, I had seen her stuff before, she’s pretty great. You know you’re doing something right when you can sit in your lounge and fantasise about something and then three months later it’s happening for real.
when you take to the stage you certainly have a presence that soaks up all the attention. did you always have that? what drove you down the path to be a performer?
That’s a hard one to answer. I come from a family of musicians. It was never really a question for me, it just always was. As a kid I was always putting on performances for my family. My dad bought me 3 months of guitar lessons when I was 11 after he found me playing one of the guitars in the house. I can’t say I don’t enjoy the performance aspect. It’s a big part of why I do what I do.
what’s the most outrageous thing that has happened at a cash savage gig (and keep in mind at powder we’re fairly open minded)?
We have seen the crowd do some ridiculous stuff. I think the one that probably takes the cake is the woman who flashed her vagina at the band, you kind of expect the crowd to get excited and do silly things but that definitely was a surprise to us.
speaking of last drinks… what’s your poison?
I’ll drink anything you’re buying except for Tequila. Can’t stand the stuff.
when you’re kicking back who do you listen to?
There isn’t much I won’t listen to. I tend to shy away from really hard rock but even then there are exceptions. I try and see as much live music as possible, I’m pretty lucky, I live in Melbourne and there is always something going on. Bands like Cherrywood and Tim Neilson are killing it at the moment. There’s also a band going around at the moment by the name of Eaten By Dogs, they are the best drinking band you will see.
and lastly, what’s next on the cards for cash savage and the last drinks?
Everyone is keen to get back into the studio again, the whole process has been pretty inspiring but I think most of the next twelve months will be taken up with touring the album. Summer is booked with tours and festivals. The Hypnotiser is being printed onto vinyl as we speak. This is cause to celebrate, it’s the first time for us.
cash it’s certainly been an honour and a pleasure to speak with you here at powder. all this talk has given me a hankering for some sour mash. look forward to catching another of your gigs next time you swing by these parts.
