Jarrad Brown isn’t one to do things by halves. Literally.
Twenty songs into a forty song double album, The Eagle and The Worm frontman put the project on the backburner in favour of something more short-term.
“I started writing it at the start of the year and we got to a point where we thought maybe we don’t want to finish it just yet,” explains Brown. “We just wanted something solid that we could finish, rather than continually trying to write songs for years. Then we’d never get to play them to people.”
And so was born the band’s new five-track EP, Strangelove. The record boasts everything from southern rock to spaced out psych – the combination of which pushes the pop music genre into unexpected places. Though that last description is somewhat typical of Eagle and the Worm, Brown is wary of any tag attached to the Melbourne group.
“We don’t want to continually over-brand ourselves with this huge identity that we have to live up to. We’re a young band and it’s important for us to keep experimenting,” he implores casually.
Rather than feeling pressure to constantly explore new musical avenues, Brown’s approach to trying new things simply comes out of curiosity. “It’s nice to be able to sit at home and write a song and not worry about who you are in the band, or as a band. For me, the worst thing would be for that to change – to have our love of the band compromised by feeling that we had to fit a certain image.”
Forming in 2009, Brown fronts an eight strong ensemble consisting of – Richard Bradbeer, Jim Lawrie, Joe Cope, Michael Hubbard, Emily Mould, Ross Beaton, Liam McGorry – including a three-piece horn section, bass and synth.
With a goldmine of instrumental infusions to work with, Brown acknowledges that he’s hit the musical jackpot. “I’m so lucky to have seven incredible musicians as my best friends,” he gushes. “To have everyone creatively invested in the band and to want to say something with their musical personalities – that’s really great.”“We’re a band that genuinely like playing gigs. I think we all get a kick out of that feeling of building an arrangement and then hearing it live.”
As lead vocalist, guitarist and…well, basically as the boss of the band, Brown is aware that piecing together arrangements for such a group has implications. “[Writing for eight musicians] is kind of an imposed limitation, trying to marry all the sounds, but it’s also really rewarding.”
A process that distinguishes the aesthetics of each Eagle and the Worm composition, “these five songs on the EP are kinda different but essentially they are pop songs. The only real difference may be in the arrangements and maybe the production,” postulates Brown.
Once again teaming up with producer Steven Schram, a man Brown says has been involved in “pretty much everything” he has done musically over the last seven years. As well as the debut Eagle And The Worm album, last year’s Good Times, the two worked together closely on records Brown’s other project (Custom Kings) have produced.
The familiarity between the two makes it that little bit easier for Brown to preserve the band’s creative control. “There’s generally a bit of input from everyone. I don’t want it to turn out to be the Jarrad Brown Experience. But being the creative director of the band, when democracy isn’t working I can kinda say, ‘Well, let’s try this then’.”
As the unofficial leader of the pack, Brown has a lot of intuitive trust placed in him by his bandmates, “that’s kinda nice,” he adds with a laugh.
“Really, I’m in my dream band. I get to do the things that I love the most.”
Fortunately for Australian fans, hitting the road to tour is one of those things. The band will embark on an eight-show expedition to show off the new tunes and some of the old ones, such as the off-centre, lazy samba of “Futureman” and the dreamy, light psychedelia of “Too Young” – both unexpected radio favourites.
As well as the standard capital city visits, Eagle and the Worm are going regional, hitting up places like Castlemaine and Newcastle, but Brown is looking forward most to playing to a home crowd, despite enjoying recent experiences overseas.
After touring the UK with fellow Melbournians The Cat Empire in 2011, the band played to big numbers at the Electric Picnic and End of the Road festivals, in Ireland and England respectively, earlier this year.“Really, I’m in my dream band. I get to do the things that I love the most.”
Reflecting on the experience, Brown states, “we got the offer to go again this time – it was just a matter of, ‘well, we’re not doing anything else right now, so why not’?”
The frontman begins rattling off a list of big names they got to share stages with, “we played with Alabama Shakes, Sigur Ros, The Cure…it was awesome!” And then we were on the bill with Patti Smith and Richard Buckner at End of the Road. They were both really cool festivals.”
While foreign gigs provided some new experiences and eye-opening moments, the band’s most recent overseas venture wasn’t too far from Brown’s comfort zone. “Electric Picnic was a bit like playing Meredith [Music Festival]. We’ve played there before and it’s also one of my favourite festivals to go to. So that was nice.”
“We’re a band that genuinely like playing gigs. I think we all get a kick out of that feeling of building an arrangement and then hearing it live.”
Strangelove is out now through Warner Music Australia. Eagle and the Worm embark on their Strangelove tour tomorrow Saturday 3rd November, with dates around the country throughout the month. Full dates and details here.
