Q&A: Richie Lewis (Tumbleweed)

By ADAM COOPER

Hot Metal: The new single “Patchouli Girl” sounds great. How did you come to work with Rob Younger (Radio Birdman) as producer?

Richie Lewis: “I’ve always been a fan of Rob’s work, as the singer of Radio Birdman and the New Christs and as a producer. Looking back at some of the classic seminal Australian records he has produced, it’s an amazing list of credits. From the Eastern Darks legendary EP Long Live the New Flesh, or Hard Ons’ ‘Girl In A Sweater”, Died Pretty’s ‘Mirror Blues’, ‘Slave Girl’ by the Lime Spiders, a lot of really important moments in my formative years, so working with Rob was always a bit of a dream.  Steve and I were sitting around spinning a lot of these 45s and decided to give him a call to work on a few 7” vinyl singles for us. We wanted to recreate one of those magical little records that meant so much to us and luckily for us, he was keen to be involved. We first did ‘Shadowland’ and ‘Rebellion’ with him and now ‘Patchouli Girl’ and there’s another one coming soon.”

HM: Bit of a different sound with the horns?

RL: “When I wrote the song it was pretty much complete in my head, including the horn parts. The first few times I played it on acoustic guitar, I hummed the horn parts imitating a trumpet. When recording it, I wanted to try and realise the song that was in my head as closely as possible. It’s pretty close but not quite as jangly as I had hoped. In regards to it being different, yeah maybe? That’s a good thing, I think it’s more important than ever to break free from the limitations that being in a band for 30years can bring, whether real or imagined.”

HM: When you guys came back after a hiatus and released Mountain’it was like you hadn’t missed a beat. Is that how it felt for you?

RL: “There was a lot of water under the bridge and a lot of personal growth during our years in the abyss, a lot of pain and despair we had to get over, but we got over it. We realised we had something special together. In that sense we kind of picked up where we left off but without the illusion of youth caught up in a fantasy world. We kind of knew who we were and where we stood and why we do it.”

HM: I first saw you guys with Nirvana and Guttersnipes at the Palace in ’92. How were those halcyon days?

RL: “It was like standing in the centre of the universe with all the stars aligned and whatever you dreamed, would actually happen. It was like being swept up by a huge perfect wave at just the right time and getting to your feet and riding it. I was so caught up in it, I lived and breathed it 24/7, I loved every fucking minute.”

HM: The Monster Magnet tour must have been a crazy crazy time too…

RL: “The Monster Magnet tour was pretty cool. They weren’t as into drugs or UFOs as I thought they would be though, which was a little disappointing. We had a fire on a beach in Perth one night after the show and I was chatting to Dave Wyndorf about some of the themes he sings about, telling him some UFO stories and noticed he was looking at me puzzled. He told me he just thinks it sounds cool and didn’t actually believe that kinda stuff. We played poker most nights. They were good people to hang out with and a great band, shame we all got ripped off at the end of the tour. That kinda left a sour taste in our mouth after such a fun and successful tour.”

HM: Speaking of tours, are you guys gonna tour for the new single?

RL: “It doesn’t look likely. Most places are booked until Christmas, kinda missed that boat. I’m doing a bunch of solo shows at the end of November in Sydney, hoping to get down to Melbourne too.”

HM: OK. Real talk now…. Fave desert island album or artist?

RL: “I like listening to all kinds of music, it’s hard to pick one. I get bored with the same thing all the time but if I had to take one record to a desert island with a powerpoint and a turntable, I would take the Stooges’ first album.”

HM: AFL, NRL or sport teams followed? How are they travelling?

RL: “I’m one of those arty farty weirdos that doesn’t follow any sport at all. I just can’t get into it. Back in the days of footy cards, back when the local butcher or mechanic played for the local team, I could understand how following your local team made sense, when it was territorial. Now it’s just business and gambling. Not into it. Happy to be weird. You guys have fun!”