It's been a slow rise to fame for Sydney duo THE MESS HALL. What started out humbly in 2001 has progressed steadily over the past eight years to see the band become one of Australia's truly great bands. On the eve of the release of their fourth studio album, Feed the Birds, I was lucky enough to speak with both Jed Kurzel and Cec Condon. The only problem with this being it often left me confused as to who said what, though the Mess Hall have never been ones to do as they're told. "Well, we were both free and thought why not. That way we can't say anything too damning about the other," they both laugh.
After winning the 2008 Australian Music Prize, the album has come at a welcome time, with a view into what life has been like since then. "That was a really amazing thing. It gave us an opportunity to do things with our sound that we hadn't been able to before." A step away from their trademark ear-smashing sound, Feed the Birds takes the road of the muddier side of things, with long rolling guitar solos and drawn out warbles for vocals. "We always have two intentions with our sound; one is that immediate noise that reaches you and the second is that more beguiling sound that uses the instruments in a totally different way. We haven't really gone towards that in the past but I'm definitely glad we did. With every album we step away from the last one, but they're always done in the same spirit - that fly by the seat of your pants manner, which isn't usually what people do."
In anticipation for the release the Mess Hall are now preparing for another long stint on the road, something they say they're not new to; that side to life holding its own appeal for them anyway. "Its nice knowing that once you've recorded you don't have to do that again for a while and then you can go out and play all your new live songs, and when they start to get old, you can always return home and do it all over or do something totally different." For the Mess Hall, the formula of touring and returning home to start work on an upcoming album shortly after seems to be a winning one, with the band rarely taking an extended break. "We've never been good at writing on the road. Music has a totally different meaning when you're travelling, you can staple it to places and things that happen and stamp it with memories, but it's when we're back at home and settled that things seem to flow naturally."
Including Trackside in their schedule, they both enthuse "festivals are good because not everyone's there to see you, but that challenge of winning over the crowd is great! It's something we always look forward to."
Catch the Mess Hall at the Trackside Festival at Thoroughbred Park on Saturday November 21. Tickets through Ticketek, Moshtix and Oztix.
