They say all clouds have a silver lining, and last October’s Hurricane Sandy is about as bad a cloud as you can get.
To say the least, the devastating hurricane definitely wouldn’t be most people’s pick as the catalyst for a rewarding human experience.
But that’s exactly what happened to Children Collide frontman Johnny MacKay when the storm hit during his recent stay in New York.
“We were actually out getting a cab – or trying to get a cab – to go and have a shower somewhere and we heard cheering down the end of the street,” he recalls. “I said to my girlfriend, ‘oh, there must be a street festival going on down there,’ and she said ‘no, look!’ and the lights were coming back on, block by block.”
“As the lights came towards us you could hear the cheering moving towards us,” he continues. “So that was pretty cool, just hearing a whole city cheer.”
Of course, the killer storm that ravaged the North East coast of the States as well as the Caribbean was much more than fodder for artistic inspiration.
MacKay is sombre as he reflects on the damage he witnessed, and the people that “had their whole lives destroyed.” But he also manages to make the whole ordeal sound positively quaint when reminiscing on his own reaction to the freak weather event.
“We had four or five days without power and gas, and it was kind of like camping except that we played lots of chess and backgammon,” he remembers.
“One night I lit tea light candles and arranged them and managed to heat up our unit using [them]!” he laughs
Despite the effects of the hurricane (having to walk 80 blocks to charge appliances is another prime example) MacKay does concede that “it was kind of an exciting time, I guess… I feel bad saying it, because a lot of people had a really hard time, so I definitely won’t whinge about the hurricane.”“We had four or five days without power and gas, and it was kind of like camping except that we played lots of chess and backgammon.”
He doesn’t have too much to whinge about lately – although someone who doesn’t consider a hurricane to be worthy of complaint probably isn’t the type to harp on about life’s smaller inconveniences.
There’s his work making films in New York, which he is modestly closed-lipped about. There’s his recent Children Collide tour in support of their latest album, Monument, along with two shows at the end of December at Melbourne’s Esplanade Hotel and Sydney’s Annandale (Christmas presents, anyone?).
There’s also his solo work as DJ in the support slot for the Living End’s insanely popular retrospective shows at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel.
But in spite of all this, MacKay is determinedly self-effacing about his success as a musician. He muses on a time a dedicated fan approached him after a Children Collide show, crying and praising the band’s lyrics. Apparently, they saved his life.
Finding out you’ve unwittingly acted as a lifeline is a pretty intense thing to happen to anyone, but MacKay is humbled by the knowledge.
“How can you react other than to be flattered, you know? That anyone gives a shit about your music,” he says.
“The whole point – well not the whole point but a big part of the point – of making music is to connect with people and if you’ve done it on such a deep level that they feel the need to express something back to you then it’s a pretty amazing feat,” he continues.
“I don’t get bands or artists that shy away from doing their songs that are really popular. I get that you may get sick of them and whatnot but to be able to connect with a large group of people and have them singing songs that you wrote in your bedroom when you didn’t really think anything of it…” he trails off, letting the force of the feeling speak for itself.
That particular fan reaction happened shortly after their first EP, We Three, Brave and True. They since have added three full-length albums to their resume: 2008’s The Long Now, 2010’s The Theory of Everything and this year’s Monument.“I don’t get bands or artists that shy away from doing their songs that are really popular.”
Their latest studio effort has been well-received by critics, who have praised its Krautrock and psychedelic subtleties.
Even the cover of the album has been created with hidden textures, not obvious to the eyes of most consumers.
Even though the album sleeve may be your run-of-the-mill 2D paper and ink production, the eerie image of the Children Collide symbol was created using old-school materials rather than the easier option of a Photoshop session.
“That’s actually a miniature monument that the artist built out of felt and cardboard, and then she shot it against a little bit of felt with light coming through it,” MacKay explains.
“I don’t know if anyone could tell that, but it’s pretty amazing how she made it. I think Heath (Crawley, bassist) has got the little monument at home.”
So were they trying to make a statement about an analogue approach to music in their tactile design? Did they arrive at the idea after some kind of intense artistic brainstorm? Well, not exactly…
“We were actually walking around the Crocs store or something and we were talking about how cool it would be to make an album out of fuzzy felt,” MacKay remembers. “I don’t know if you ever had that as a kid, the fuzzy felt with the little barnyard animals…?” he ponders.
“But no one really gets that into physical products anymore and if they do it’s hard to convince a label to spend the money on making something like that! So we thought, oh well, let’s just make all the art out of felt anyway.”
With that in mind, the album cover really does look more 3D, and on further inspection the eerie bone-coloured symbol juxtaposed against the tactile black background is almost Mayan-looking.
Were Children Collide fearful of the supposed impending apocalypse?
MacKay suggests doom-sayers have missed the Deceber 21st prediction, and instead should head to Pyramid Rock Festival if they want to catch the first signs of the end of the world.
“It all starts at Phillip Island,” he predicts sinisterly.
Monument is out now through Universal. Children Collide play The Espy this Friday 28th Dec and Sydney’s Annandale on Dec 29th, as well as Pyramid Rock Festival at New Year’s. Full details here and dates below.
Children Collide Australian Shows 2012
Friday 28th December – The Espy, Melbourne
Tix: oztix.com.au
Saturday 29th December – The Annandale, Sydney
Tix: oztix.com.au
