Children Collide

For a band that has been described as raw overdriven rock, CHILDREN COLLIDE feel it is just one of their guises when playing live. Boasting influences such as Silver Apples and Kraftwerk, with reference to electronic music through a rock idiom, and Nick Cave and his finely crafted musical abilities, Children Collide bring a whole new world to fruition.

The two original members, Heath Crawley (bass) and Johnny Mackay (guitar/vocals), made the offhand hitchhiking journey from Lismore to be based in Australia’s musical Mecca, Melbourne. “Heath and I met at uni in Lismore,” explains Mackay. “One day we just decided to hitchhike to Melbourne. Back then we didn’t know any better, we used to hitchhike all the time.”

The band started in a natural rock progression on a Halloween night at Bar Open in 2004. Sporting grunge tactics interlaced with Chemical Brothers beaten electronic basslines and stop-start rhythms, it took the band a while to find a drummer. “We’re currently on our fourth drummer, Ryan [Caesar], who auditioned for this gig,” reveals Mackay.

Now a happy band family, Mackay, the unofficial leader of the troupe, still hasn’t lost his sense of humour. “Taking the piss out of society is just part of the annoying person that I am. I’ve been criticised that this album is too simple. The next bunch of songs we make will be much more complex.”

For a band, going both backwards and forwards, paying tribute both to a Nirvana-esque style and developing their own, Children Collide seem to have the right attitude. “Musically we’ve gotten more complicated as our music has progressed, but that will come full circle and we’ll return to simplicity,” says Mackay. “We’ll rely on songs more than sounds. We’ve finally accepted that this is our career; we’re not in a financially successful location – we’re still living below the poverty line but we’re serious about it. We work on graphic design to help us pay the bills.”

Gaining inspiration from a variety of media, the song content stems from a range of interesting origins – from Martian space missions in Brave Robot from the 2006 EP Glass Mountain Liars to their 2008 debut album The Long Now. “The Long Now is named after a clock in the Science Museum in London. Every millennium, the clock chimes by a cuckoo coming out. It really makes me think outside of the human lifespan. It helps me realise that a moment in time stretches out indefinitely.”

Besides the highly metaphysical, social commentary content stuffed compactly in simple lyrics, Mackay believes that it’s not to be taken too seriously. “I do what I do and try not to analyse myself too much,” he offers. “Everything that the band creates is a work in progress. We’re happy with what we’re doing but we’re always moving forward.”

When asked about the future and the second album, Mackay jokes sardonically, “The second album will be out tomorrow. It will be deep house and progressive trance.” Earnestly he continues, “we hope to get started on the second album after our tour in the States in June. If everyone doesn’t get their act together after this tour I’m going to leave the band. I’ll wear a brown robe and wander around the desert, like John the Baptist, except I’ll create my own disorganised religion. This is because I don’t believe in organised religious institutions.”
It is obvious Mackay can’t stay earnest for too long. An attitude like that deems that all musical pretentiousness should fly out the window.

Children Collide play with The Grates at ANU Bar on Wednesday May 6. Doors open at 8 pm. Tickets through Ticketek.