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THE BROWN BIRDS
FROM WINDY HILL
Interview with Neal Purchase Jnr
By Mat G
A lot has been happening in music over the last month. We have had the Aria's, it's coming to festival season and there has been a plethora of new music being released before Christmas. To top it all off The Brown Birds From Windy Hill have released their debut album 'Three Sails to the Wind'. I caught up with backhand tube genius and Brown Birds guitarist Neal Purchase to talk all things Brown.
SW: So Neal, how did the Brown Birds get together?
NP: I met Andrew in the late '90s. We met surfing and started jamming. We had similar taste in music around that time. Andrew had just released his solo album. Then we did some really basic recordings while on tour with Guy Flave down in Kiama. After that we just started playing a lot together then we went on tour in 2004 or 2005 for about a month and a half, just got sideways and tried to hang on.
SW: Are you going to tour this album?
NP: We'd like to but it gets harder and harder with our families and work. Andrew and I are currently working on a new movie.
SW: Cool. Do you experiment with guitars like you do with boards?
NP: Oh mate, I'm just the biggest guitar and surfboard slut there is.
SW: They're pretty similar pieces, aren't they?
NP: Totally. I just can't get enough of them. I've got a great ES37 Gibson hollow body I picked up in Tennessee. I'm in love with it. But I've got a heap of crappy nylon string guitars.
SW: I love a nylon string.
NP: Yeah, they are great aren't they? I've been leaving one out in the sun and when I travel I don't use anything to protect it, no case. It's getting a lot lighter and feeling good. Squeezing three years into one; I'm loving it. I'd love to get a Martin steel string. They sound more like a nylon string than a steel string. They have that warm sound. All just fun and games.
SW: Who else is in the band?
NP: Jay Krueger is on drums, Sutho is on crazy gut-wrenching slide, and then we got old Paul on the double base. Jay plays a little bit of this mouth organ thing. Ank and me are on vocals and guitar.
SW: The first track on the album has a great sonic tone, reminds me of Neil Young when he is rockin' a bit.
NP: Yeah, more Crazy Horse-style. That has been a big influence on Andrew and me. As you get better equipment you can get that sound. Eventually I would like to do a whole rock album.
SW: There is a bit of country in there. What's behind that?
NP: Ahh, just because ... You hear people ask Beatles or Rolling Stones? I've always been a Rolling Stones man. I've always liked that sort of stuff, Gram Parsons, honky tonk all that blues sort of stuff.
SW: Who wrote the music on this album?
NP: Andrew wrote most of the material but there are a few songs I wrote with him and that is "Bad End to Lies" and "Squid Lips". It was kind of like holiday at the Kidman ranch for the week.
SW: So that is where you recorded the album?
NP: Yeah his missus went to the States and he was like, let's get something going. We got this guy Mick Wordley from South Australia and he bought all his gear up. He imports microphones so we had great gear. We met him doing some stuff for "Delightful Rain". He rang up Andrew to get someone else's number and we where like, mate we play music. And that was it.
SW: Did you like recording in a home studio?
NP: Yeah, and Nick was so good to work with he is into some loose type of stuff. He was there when Neil Young and those guys where around and he totally understood the sound we where going for. We recorded the tracks live, played them about three or four times and used the best one. Did a few overdubs and that was it.
SW: Good times?
NP: Yeah. It's funny, all the good numbers turned out when we where totally drunk.
SW: You're a great surfer, a designer and a musician. Where do you find your inspiration for your creative endeavours?
NP: I think inspiration just comes, as it is, when it feels like it. Breaking things up keeps me inspired in other areas. If you stay on one thing for too long you can burn out. I just happen to get off on those things.
SW: Thanks for your time.
NP: Thanks.
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