Riff Random - An Interview With Raph Brous
In a swanky nouveau-cuisine eatery, Riff Random livewire Raph Brous cuts sick, and rails against boring punters, Dad Rock, and expensive garlic bread. RB - Please don’t put this in… CB - I won’t put it in, don’t worry I spend a lot of time sitting at home patting my dog and worrying and talking to my grandma … [people] don’t realize what a fool I actually am. Why is that? I’m disorganized, I worry too much, my backside Smith’s aren’t good anymore… I need a shower … this is my only jumper Well… tell us about the genesis of Riff Random instead... It basically started about a year ago, when I just wanted to get a band together – I had never really been in a proper band before. I played with a singer-songwriter who’s now on Neighbours occasionally… then in a terrible three piece – I was on bass – and we played three gigs, one was at the city saloon bar in King Street, to nobody, literally nobody; to the bar-staff, and they didn’t like us either, I didn’t like us, no-one did. Then I had this band called The Problems, we played one gig at Edward’s Tavern, and we incited a riot which destroyed the toilets and we got permanently banned from our first gig – we just didn’t have a clue. Our first
show [as Riff Random] was a 21st in Glenroy, to an audience of redneck
bogans who were there for the rave on the front lawn, and they didn’t
like us because we weren’t Fragma. How do you feel about the deification of rock and the whole Melbourne-is-the-new-Seattle vibe? Do you feel that it’s healthy for the scene? Yeah I think it’s healthy. Mainly it’s about productivity, and it’s good because bands that otherwise wouldn’t get recognition get to [play to] a wider audience. There are always gonna be old-rockers who’ve been doing it for 25 years who get annoyed because young bands are getting crowds they never got, and that’s sad, because everything’s cyclical. You’re not worried about the possibility of being flavour of the month? Well, not really, because rock and roll is here to stay. All the people who love rock & roll and guitar-based music, whether it’s just classic shit, or bit-more-interesting-stuff, or indie, or punk – whatever – they’ve loved it for years and they always will… There’s always going to be an audience for good music… Well, for
a ‘revival’ to actually last, as well as there being a rash
of marketable revival bands, there has to be bands who are doing something
really interesting and making some great records, instead of everyone
just wanting to be The Who, or AC/DC or Thin Lizzie. I think part of the problem is that the revival now is a revival of an end zone in music in the 70’s, before something amazing really did happen. It’s
funny how ‘the kids’ now like music that’s influenced
by or sounds like The Stones, when in the late 70’s, all the kids
thought they were the most boring old farts, with their twenty minute
solos – like Emerson Lake & Palmer – when they [the kids]
wanted to go hear Wire or a band that was actually punk and different.
But now kids think that… Dad Rock is In, and I don’t really want to do that myself, because I think if your parents really like something, then there’s gotta be something really wrong with it. I remember I gave an early demo to my aunt, and she gave it back to me within five minutes like it was plutonium or something. I don’t want to make music that is safe and happy all the time, because life isn’t always happy, you know? We’re trying to fuck shit up a bit. Jump around and get random… Get loose? A noisydelic attack that’s gonna burn? Yeah, from the sonicky trash-heart of M-Town… How do you feel about ‘noisydelic’ and ‘M-Town’ entering the general lexicon? Are you flattered? That’s cool, because when I talk about the sonicky trash-heart of M-Town, it’s not just an expression; because I think there is a sonicky trash-heart within M-town, within any group of normal people there is a heart of rebellion and irreverence and frustration. I jump around
the audience and scream in people’s faces. We throw around stuff
– it’s a bit expensive throwing stuff – at the Specimens’
gig I broke my guitar in half. Which no one even saw. How do you feel about being endorsed by the Herald Sun? [Riff Random were named one of three bands to watch in 2003 along with Jet and The Casanovas] That was
really surprising; obviously it’s flattering if people like us,
and generate some good vibes. And trying to get chicks? And free beer. We don’t give a shit about free beer and we don’t get any chicks. We try to be a band that has substance as well. We want people to know that music is an art form that deserves more attention, that it can have depth and fucked up fun simultaneously. I see it as, if Sonic Youth and Fugazi collaborated on a Christmas single produced by Nile Rogers. Yeah. And Donna Summer. Do you feel that your image is important? Yeah. I mean, there are a lot of good bands out there that don’t get publicity because they aren’t the right age, or they don’t look the right way. But music is a business. Music? Or the music industry? Music’s
an art form, but the industry goes after what they think is going to be
marketable. Alright!
This is a message to all you kids out there, stuck at home playing Dr
Mario: |