It’s hard not to be impressed by Opossom’s Kody Nielson and his nonchalant attitude considering the anticipation and excitement surrounding the release of Electric Hawaii. The debut LP has almost snuck under the radar, perhaps mostly due to the fact that he was simply recording for himself.
There’s something pure about making a record solely to express your ideas without the intention of releasing it to the wider public. “I kind of just put a bit of time into a bunch of ideas I wanted to get out of my system,” says Nielson, the man behind the moniker says about Opossom’s inception, “I wasn’t trying to make a record, I just had a few songs that I wanted to try out… it just kind of came together.”
Nielson spent a portion of last year helping girlfriend Bic Runga produce her latest album, which Nielson adds, helped inspire him to make more music, “I felt like I wanted to keep recording and writing, I was pretty inspired at the time so I kept going but I wasn’t really thinking I’d release it, it just kind of turned out like that.”
In talking with the Kiwi it’s clear that he’s certainly taking it all in his stride. On speaking about Opossom’s first shows in Australia, he’s particularly relaxed, “they were pretty cool ay,” he says in a familiar New Zealand twang, “that’s the first time we’ve played in Australia. We played Sydney and Melbourne, they were both quite similar with the turn out, it was real good, people were getting pretty into it.”
While it may appear that Nielson is fairly non-committal now the album is out, talking about its creation is something he speaks about with more focus. “I wanted to make some more music that was less angry or less aggressive compared to the music we made in the Mint Chicks [Nielson’s previous band]. I wanted to just make more music that I like to listen to these days or stuff that’s kind of more enjoyable.”
Electric Hawaii certainly points to an affinity with the psychedelic rock of the 1960s, an era of music Nielson hoped to encapsulate. “I’m real into that kind of music,” he confirms “I always was, I suppose I tried to make it sound a bit more like that kind of stuff. It’s quite hard to write music like that, it’s quite sophisticated even though it’s simple, it’s trickier than it seems.”
In capturing the essence of that older style, Nielson points to his collection of vintage equipment that helped kick things off. “That [equipment] kind of gave me a good starting point, sometimes I would be like ‘I want to try and record some drums that reminds me of some Motown stuff’ and that would give me a good starting point to kind of just start experimenting with it.”
Growing up with a father dedicated to having his son involved in his chosen art form: jazz, certainly helped when it came to putting to tape the vintage sound Nielson had in his head. “I think with that [’60s] music, the musicians generally came from a jazz background. I’ve always been into jazz as well” Nielson explains, “I maybe tried to incorporate more of that side of it. I play and write on keyboards and the voicings were maybe more jazz voicings from playing and listening to [it].”
“I asked my old man to add a few bits and pieces,” Nielson continues, on further utilizing the musical prowess of his trumpet-playing father Chris Nielson. “I’ve always wanted to use horns, there’s not much you can hear in it. It was kind of just mucking around using more of it as an idea and wanting to use my dad’s expertise because he’s a really good horn player.”
Nielson was famed for his front-man antics in his previous outfit, the Mint Chicks, which included hanging upside down from PA and lighting rigs. This time round, he’s focused more of that energy into playing his instrument and is enjoying the responsibility.
Having more control in the live setting is something he wanted from the get-go, “it’s another thing I really wanted to do…this time,” Nielson continues, “I would record a lot of the drums in the Mint Chicks records as well, live. It would come to… being free to do whatever and just dance around and I would get a bit bored and start climbing up things and trying to do something a little edgy. It’s good to be able to spend the energy on actually drumming.”
Nielson will get another opportunity to show us his renewed energy on stage when Opossom come back to Australia in August to support White Arrows on their tour. After that, in what seems like typically Kody Nielson style, he’s not particularly sure what’s next. One thing is for certain, Electric Hawaii should hopefully put Opossom at the forefront of 2012’s best releases.
Electric Hawaii is available now through Create/Control (you can read the Tone Deaf approved review here). Opossom is playing alongside Jinja Safari in support of LA’s White Arrows nationally through August. Read tour details here
