"I have to be on my toes," laughs Kat Spazzy. "I was going to have a glass of wine before (this), but then I thought 'Take it easy Kat!'" The usually forthright frontwoman of Melbourne punk rockers The Spazzys has to choose her words carefully as, after three years of legal wrangling with their former record label, there are issues of confidentiality and all kinds of indecipherable legalities to consider.
Last time we heard from the girls they'd returned from LA after polishing off sophomore LP Dumb is Forever with Charles Fisher - the man behind such Australian classics as Radios Appear and Mars Needs Guitars - and were gearing up for the Big Day Out. Then, as Kat explains, "everything just went to shit really."
Unhappy with their record label, The Spazzys were thrown into a length legal battle which essentially put the band on hold and left Dumb is Forever on a shelf gathering dust. "The main problem was we weren't okay with the way (the label) were managing us and they way they were dealing with us," Kat explains. "We thought it was really important to start afresh and emancipate ourselves from them. We were fighting for freedom."
"The record's changed a lot since we recorded it," she continues, "and I guess in some kind of weird ironic way we are lucky to have the record sitting there to go back to, make adjustments and get it perfect before we put it out. We're really looking forward to getting this record out. We still love it! I think it's a fantastic record and, you know what, to be sitting on a record for that long and still love it is a good sign."
And, thankfully, rock 'n' roll has once again prevailed, kicking 'the man' to the curb and returning its attention to giving those pesky jams a good stomping. Now footloose and label-free, Kat and the now decidedly independent Spazzys anticipate Dumb is Forever to be unearthed from the crypt all too soon.
"We've still got to finalise the dates but I'm thinking early next year," Kat says. "We might have something out late this year. We're starting to play some more shows again, we're doing the Blueprint festival here, some festivals over the summer, getting back into things. It's really great to be playing music again. For the last three years I was in a band but it was all just business. Even though it was the fight of our lives and we're so much stronger because of it, it's great to forget about that and just play music because that's what we were fighting for."
The Spazzys play the brand new Blueprint Festival in Ararat, Victoria, September 18 to 21, alongside Jebediah, The Panics, Blue King Brown, The Beautiful Girls, Tim Rogers and many, many more. For tickets and further information, visit www.blueprintfestival.com .
