Interviewed for The Dwarf

“We made a record with a sense of spontaneity and energy to it that maybe we haven’t achieved so well recently. I liked the last few records but this one just feels fun and I think that comes across.”

Powderfinger’s guitarist Ian Haug is discussing the merits of their new album Golden Rule on the eve of its release. He is keen to emphasise that the band relaxed and opened up to whatever possibilities arose with the writing and recording on the new record.

“In the process leading up to it we didn’t do heaps of demos of songs and try to improve on sounds or structures or anything like that in the demo process. We thought we’d work that out later if the song kept our interest and was good enough to be in the batch of songs we went into the studio with. We thought we’d just run with it and take it as far as we could when we were in there,” explains Haug.

A side effect of having an open policy in the studio is how to translate the songs to the stage where they have to be performed in such a way that still does them justice. “After finishing recording it we did a secret gig under a different name (Adult Baby) – which wasn’t such a big secret in the end – so we had to work out which parts were the most important ones on the song. If on the recording we ended up using two guitar parts that I’d played, Darren and I had to work out which one he was going to play. We never try to recreate the songs totally live anyway. I remember seeing Dire Straits when I was younger and fuck I could have just listened to the record, its just no fun for the audience so we’re quite conscious of that,” says Haug.

Though Golden Rule is a typically big and polished Powderfinger album it does retain an organic element, something that Haug acknowledges as a key to their sound. “We don’t like anything that sounds too slick. It probably does sound slick to somebody who likes the White Stripes and thats all they like, I like The White Stripes too but thats not really what we’re about. We’re about creating some kind of emotion and bigness I guess and the goal is to not make it sound like Nickelback, the paddle pop lion himself,” he laughs.

At this stage of their career the band are able to call on bigger names to contribute both production and artwork. This time round they hooked up with legendary artist Storm Thorgerson who has been responsible for album covers for acts like Pink Floyd, Muse and Led Zeppelin. “During the throes of making the record he was doing an exhibition in Brisbane of all of his artwork and a couple of us went along to it and were blown away by it and hadn’t realised some of the stuff he’d done over the years. He’s had a stroke and doesn’t travel anymore but he sent his offsider out who spoke to us and came and met us in Byron, we had some Bundy rums with him. He got a sense of what we were after and then started emailing ideas to us. We just all thought it was a great strong image. Controlled random was what he kept saying – he’s a hippy,” chuckles Haug.

International success has been a dangling carrot for a few albums and the band have now accepted that their biggest achievements will always be at home in Australia. “We’ve resolved ourselves to the fact that after beating our heads against the wall in the States and traveling for 6 weeks in a bus and not playing to as many people as we’d hoped. Without a radio single or much support most people just don’t even know you are there. I reckon the American audience would really like us if they heard us but there’s 5000 records a week released over there. It’d be great if we were popular around the world but it just doesn’t matter,” Haug openly admits, “Maybe one day they’ll discover us and our kids can get the royalties. Its never been the goal for us anyway, we want to sell as many records as we can but its about the quality of the stuff we put out there.”

Looking back over their career they have evolved from Pearl Jam copyists to their own brand of melodic rock that has managed to include a semblance of indie and americana in its flavours. Haug proudly defends their back catalog and the songs that comprise it. “I don’t really listen to it that much other than when we are working out what songs to play or it comes on the radio. I listen to things and often think we could have done certain things better but thats just what we did at the time. Parables is the one that cops it the a beating all the time but there are some good songs on there. Its just that the production was a bit unclear and we were losing our head up our own arse – as some people in the press said at the time, which we both laughed at and got offended by at the same time.“

Powderfinger have Homebake coming up next month as well as an online release gig this week that will stream globally to their fans. From there they will travel overseas for touring before returning to Australia for for national shows.

The ball keeps rolling for Powderfinger and in spite of the persistent rumours that their days are numbered they give the impression that they are genuinely still passionate about playing music in one of Australia’s most successful and adored bands.