Charlie Howard

Paul Greene

Travelling extensively and devoting long stretches of time to the road has a special significance for singer/songwriter PAUL GREENE. It's a livelihood, a call of duty and an avenue for building enduring personal relationships, which in turn spur the creativity and messages behind his songs. "I hunt and gather when I'm on the road," he tells me from his home in New South Wales' South Coast as he anticipates his upcoming national tour. "I've got a whole community, a whole bunch of people I look forward to seeing." Paul's tone is friendly and forthcoming and while he seems grateful to be getting some rest, he is clearly enthused about getting his act back out there.

The former Olympic athlete turned full time musician is unequivocally committed to developing friendships and loyalties as a touring performer and this reflects closely on his longevity in the Australian music scene. Being entirely independent as an artist and having an image that binds his personality and attitudes to his music is central to this. "There's more to it than the music," he suggests. "I definitely come from the campfire and busking side of things... the people I meet know I can't be bought and that I'm going to come back to town in six months and have a beer with them." The reinforcement gained from positive experiences with people is evidently a contributing factor to his success. "With word of mouth it's amazing what can happen," he acknowledges.

With his latest and fifth release Distance Over Time, Paul looks to consolidate what he has learnt from his journeys on the road. It's an uplifting and accessible album with songs that draw on the immediacy of fetching hooks and laconic messages to connect directly with the listener. When our conversation touches on the inspiration behind the record, the singer hints that the songs draw more on his individual pursuit of happiness and wisdom than any direct advice he might have for his audience.

"I'd hate to think it's preachy, but I think a lot of it's been self-help in a way," he explains, and it occurs to me that the man's own music provides a looking glass for him to view and understand himself. "It's like I'm talking to myself... I'm trying to get myself out of a situation or look at the good side of a bad situation."

Fittingly enough, the act of observing and coming to terms with the influence of different people in his life provides Paul with the impetus to relate to himself through his songs. He is quick to credit his diverse and far-reaching support base as the inspiration for the optimistic spin on his latest material. "I have a lot of faith in humans," he confides simply. "My existence is possible only through the efforts of incredibly passionate people."

Paul Greene plays the Phoenix Bar on Thursday August 27.

Dave Graney

Longevity and diversity are two words that immediately spring to mind when contemplating the career and personality of DAVE GRANEY. With almost 30 years of experience as a recording artist and performer and a tireless commitment to reinventing himself through the exploration of frequently shifting group dynamics and sounds, Graney has produced a wildly varied and eclectic body of work spanning over 20 albums with bands such as the Moodists and the Coral Snakes.

As a songwriter who thrives on unfluctuating levels of creative energy to drive his detailed and graphic narratives and soundscapes, Graney has showed no signs of slowing down. Knock Yourself Out is his latest work and while it is a singular achievement in that it is his first record without a band backing, it closely reflects a disciplined and absorbed approach towards assembling music that is common to each of the albums he has been involved in.

Focus and planning may not be part of the Graney ethic in the eyes of fans drawn to the more ad-hoc and unhinged elements of his music, but by the artist's own admission Knock Yourself Out involved a great deal of thought and attention directed towards the recording process to ensure that the end product turned out exactly as planned. This fine-tuned method of strategically crafting the tone and structure of an album to create a sense of "time and place" has been a part of Graney's approach since day one and is a key to the music sounding meaningful and assured all these years later.

"It's a way to focus people on the way that we make the record," says Graney about the choice he made in releasing Knock Yourself Out under his name only. "Every record has been a bit different that way. The last one (2008's We Wuz Curious with wife and collaborator Clare Moore and the Lurid Yellow Mist) was a very collective record... We went into a studio and did it all together in one day." Working according to a structured model is also a way of being productive and cohesive. "With digital recording there are endless possibilities with time and space," he adds. "I find you have to have some strategy in place to have a bit of an event. Otherwise it's just endless."

Dave Graney's intentions for Knock Yourself Out as a musical statement are extremely concise and direct. The album is littered with boxing imagery with the title-track evoking the spirit and passion of the boxer as a metaphor for the singer's own larger-than-life persona and creative reach. While the singer freely invokes fiction and secondary characters, a trend stemming from his career-long interest in noir film and crime stories, the message behind the song comes straight from the artist's mouth. "I'm saying to people who think they know my stuff and might not like it to come and take me on if they want, to knock themselves out," he says. "I'm feeling so strong and powerful and vulnerable that I think they'll punch themselves out trying to attack me."

Knock Yourself Out is out now through Cockaigne / Fuse.

Helm

When I get round to calling singer and guitarist Lucas Stone from HELM on a Saturday evening, I find him settled at home, devoted to a quiet night looking after his daughter. The equanimity of this setting lends our chat a smooth and leisurely flow and Lucas is measured and at times even contemplative in his observations about the band he put together in the Gold Coast in 2007.

Being quite new to Helm, the first thing that struck me was the diversity of sounds that the band draws upon. The Helm experience ranges from Neurosis-esque sludge metal to detailed forays into the melodic soft-loud dynamics of classic post-rock. Interestingly, Lucas is quick to play down any direct external imprints on Helm’s music and is reluctant to categorise the band. His approach is more philosophical and he informs me that 18 years of songwriting and close involvement in music, combined with the levelling effects of life changing events, has channelled the Helm project into an expression of the exact stage of development he and the band are at now.

“I grew up on a lot of different things,” he tells me, pointing specifically to ‘70s hard rock, seminal ‘90s acts like Soundgarden and metal staples such as Meshuggah and Converge. “It’s hard to pinpoint a modern influence… for me Helm is rock for 2009.”

I’m intrigued to learn that Helm’s arrival on the scene follows an entirely natural and inspired course. “I hadn’t written a song for a couple of years,” Lucas tells me. And then all of a sudden a string of personal evolvements saw him “reinspired to get stuck back into it” with the creative impetus to write “an album’s worth of material in three or four months.” As far as this positive energy is concerned, it seems that the other guys in Helm are going through similar changes. “We’re all happy boys,” Lucas assures me.

The sense of equilibrium found in the band’s attitude towards its music, while sonically at odds with some of the more cathartic moments that the band touches on, is reflected in the focused and accomplished feel of the first release, Keelhaul. It’s an ambitious and frequently dark record that runs a surprising depth of emotions. And there’s more to come. Helm will be heading back to the studio as soon as August to record a follow up and remain in the public radar.

My experience with bands that channel the same heavy, dense territory as Helm is associated with enormous live shows, rife with both volume and presence. I was thus curious to hear from Lucas his thoughts on Helm’s extensive upcoming national tour. He insists that the band’s priority is to “play hard” and “try and smash it out so everyone gets their dollar’s worth.” I can only imagine it’s a sight well worth seeing.

Helm play The Basement on Friday May 29 with special guests Five Star Prison Cell and Spoil. Contact the venue on (02) 6251 4541 for ticket info.