David Bridie is nothing short of a national treasure. Well known for his solo work, Bridie has earned his stripes as one of Australia’s great musical innovators.
Alongside numerous film soundtracks stands a healthy catalogue of albums recorded with both Not Drowing Waving and My Friend The Chocolate Cake.
For his third solo release, Succumb, Bridie takes his audience by the scruff of the neck and leads them into a uniquely Australian terrain. The album, which is dotted with Bridie’s slant on politics [both of the state and the heart], simply … ‘rocks’.
‘Rocks’ might sound trite, but the album is a glorious slice of work that will have you repeatedly turning up the volume.
“There is a deliberate shift away from the piano and the guitar,” admits Bridie backstage at a recent MFTCC gig. “When I was writing the songs in the lead up to [recording], I got really frustrated at a point and started thinking, ‘No, I’ve been here before’. So, I just chucked it all out and started again.”
“When we started it wasn’t like we were saying look ‘Let’s make a rock record’. Its kind of where we went with it and it was good fun. I’ve always had it in me. I’ve always been into rock music. I know how to play it. I’ve played it in other bands and stuff, just never in my own band.”
The album was recorded quickly in Melbourne between January and March this year. A pivotal song in the process is ‘Going Out With The Enemy’, which boasts a horn line imbued with the spirit of The Saints.
“I’d written that ages ago,” explains Bridie, “and that was always going to be [on the album]. I’ve been listening to Sugar a bit of late, especially Copper Blue, which I really like. It’s this melodic record but it’s got this wall of fuzzy guitar. When I wrote ‘Going Out With The Enemy’, that’s where it went and it was fun to do.”
Still, it wouldn’t be a Bridie record without textures. On Succumb, you’ll hear everything from loops to Melanesian rhythms presented in a rock context.
Adding to a core band that includes bassist Paul Cartwright, guitarist Phil Wales, drummer Greg Patten and drummer/percussionist Airi Ingram, Bridie was inundated with guests. Helen Mountfort (MFTCC’s cellist), Bart Willoughby (didgeridoo), Stephen and Alan Pigram and Rob Craw all count among the players. Co-producer Chris Scallan and Bridie mapped out the album in detail.
“Chris is my buddy,” continues Bridie. “There’s this bar around the corner from my place called Kelvin’s. For twelve months before the record [started] we’d go there for the first Wednesday of every month from 11-1pm and talk about life and we’d actually plan this record. I just really wanted to make an important Australian record.”
“I wanted to do something that kind of hit home and was interesting … without knowing exactly what that was going to be. When we started going with these songs we went up to this place in the country [that] a mate of mine has in the Blackwood state forest. We took the Pro Tools gear up there. When we started afresh with everything at the end of that week, I was going ‘I think we’re on to something here’.”
Succumb is out now through Liberation.
