It's such a treat to have The Cannanes back! And with a new single and British shows too! I'm very excited about the forthcoming split with (Baby Honey favourites) Summer Cats and Soft Paw in particular. Can you tell us a little about how that single came about and what will be on it?
Well the song is called 'Truth B2031A.' It’s a little bit about bushfires as they were much on our mind at the time as 50 houses burnt down where we live and 173 people died not too far away(Feb 2009). Scott from the Summer Cats has long been a friend and also a supporter during some bad OS touring experiences and he asked us to do it, and we are pleased to oblige of course. Not sure what will be on it from the others as we haven't heard it yet.
There's three(!) new albums on the way too? How is this even possible? What form do they take and when can we expect to hear them?
How is it possible they haven't come out 5 years ago is more the question! But stuff happens in life and sometimes you cannot get what you would like done unfortunately.
Well there is one album we recorded a few years ago which we are not so sure about and may come out in the form of an EP maybe. There's some good songs but the band wasn't really together when recording and we didn't do that great a job. The sound is sort of arty barbecue like I guess...
Second album we recorded with Explosion Robinson in New York and he is working on this but is so busy it will take a while. I expect it will be well worth the wait as he is a whiz to put it mildly. There's some pretty good songs on that one.
Then...there is the album we recorded just before Christmas known as LAWN 2 (Love Affair With Nature 2) which was recorded with Francesca Bussey and David Nichols and James Dutton - people we have played with on older recordings. They are coming this weekend to work on that one and get most of the overdubs done we hope.
I won't even go on about the 40 tracks we recorded with Stewart Anderson a number of years ago which are sitting on an old Mac and one day we hope will be finished off if technology can reach back that far in time.
And you're playing Indietracks! That's going to be amazing. Have you been before or heard about it? It's quite the most perfect festival ever.
It looks pretty fabulous. I was supposed to be back in Sydney well before then but pleaded to get the trip extended as it looked good and something unusual and the chance mightn't come again. It is so long since I have spent any time in England it will be odd. I lived in London for a year once and spent quite a bit of time in Nottingham and when I went back to Australia I was so miserable and thought I had made a bad choice by coming home . I recovered long ago of course but it will be good to be back even if for a short while.
And tell us a little about 'Short Poppy Syndrome' the Cannanes documentary. Were the band involved in the making of it all? The UK premier is coming up right? Didn't you design a Converse trainer too? How on earth did that come about?
We were only involved in the making of the film by being in it I think . With some dreadful hairstyles etc on my part I remember. The film makers moved on to other things so it was never quite finished but will have a showing in Newcastle with live performance and we hope may be able to come out with a Best Of compilation
We were going to put out a Best Of in the near future but Stephen said last week he is so excited by the new recordings we have to wait to see what should go on there from then.
The film is by turns funny and rather embarrassing but what can you do? It is the past. I hope it makes sense to people who don't know the band.
The shoe - Well Converse asked us to contribute to 100 artists designing shoes and we got Davo as we knew he would do a good job. They are a pretty impressive shoe I have to say and I don’t give a toss about shoes normally
Let's go back to the beginning. How did The Cannanes form? You (Frances) were a founder member right? How did the hook up with Calvin and K come about?
Despite being around since 1985 it is often pointed out cruelly to me that I am NOT a founding member. You know I can't remember but its all at www.cannanes.com- Here's a sample
"The Cannanes really began as an imaginary band of David Nichols, featuring friends Annabel Bleach and Michelle Cannane. The fiction sort of became reality when David moved to Sydney from Melbourne in Oct. '84. This lineup did not really change until early '85, but Michelle was rarely available, besides which, none of the members could actually play instruments. However in December one song was recorded with these 3 involved
Annabel and David had written some lyrics, notably "The Cannanes"(later changed to "Tales of the Brave Cannanes" to suit their fixation with 60's supergroup Cream "Ode to Cream " (aka "Shower Scene Backstage at the Fillmore"): Stephen ONeil who lived across the road had written music, or so he claimed, and so one afternoon in December the four rehearsed in the 'family room' at 202. At this session they composed and recorded "The Cannanes" and "Ode to Cream" (one rendition of which featured a guest performance from "Triffid" Alsy MacDonald), the same versions now found at the beginning of "Rarities". This is the first time Annabel sang in the group. David was too nervous to play. Many songs were composed over this 3 month period, sometimes with and sometimes without Fran.Gibson Towards the end of the band's usage of this title, Stephen, Annabel and David recorded the 12 copies of the cassette single "Life"/"It's Hardly Worth It" individually. 3 shops were chosen to sell 3 copies each. Covers were individually made.
Then Fran, Stephen, Annabel, David and Michelle combined to record what was to become "The Cannanes Came Across With The Goods." It was to be a C30 cassette, side one beginning with "Hell & Back" and side two with "Sunday". "Bone " was to be excluded as it was cut off half way through. Many more songs had been composed including "Happy Was A Fly", "Skeleton is your Little Boy", "You're So Groovy", "Sunday" and "Gloom Turns to Boom" (pt.2).
The line-up in the Cannanes Mk. 2 was usually Annabel, David, Stephen, and Fran more often than not. A,D + S had busking forays in the streets of Sydney, including one marathon outside the Hellenic Hall recalled here by David's brother -
"In 1985 I was 16 years old. I was studying year 11 biology at high school. My main interests were gardening and golf. Something has changed in the intervening period... At easter time of that year my sister and I visited David in Sydney. His house had a tabloid newspaper poster in the kitchen which said "Skeleton is your little boy". On Saturday night there was some kind of benefit concert at the Hellenic Hall in Abercrombie St. with lots of punk bands playing. The Cannanes took two guitars and a drum, some cider and Tamsin and me and set up a sign outside saying "the Cannanes play 40 of their greatest hits" (or something like that). Not much money or interest was raised, but I do seem to remember an ugly drunken couple dirty-dancing (ahead of their time) to some tune or other, accompanied by Annabel's taunts. It took me a bit more than all this to convince me that The Cannanes were a 'band' but it was a start."
Michael Forbes Nichols Sydney, Australia 27/7/1990"
Calvin and David were/are pen pals. We played with him on recent Australian tour.
Let's go back to the beginning. How did The Cannanes form? You (Frances) were a founder member right? How did the hook up with Calvin and K come about?
Despite being around since 1985 it is often pointed out cruelly to me that I am NOT a founding member. You know I can't remember but its all at www.cannanes.com- Here's a sample
"The Cannanes really began as an imaginary band of David Nichols, featuring friends Annabel Bleach and Michelle Cannane. The fiction sort of became reality when David moved to Sydney from Melbourne in Oct. '84. This lineup did not really change until early '85, but Michelle was rarely available, besides which, none of the members could actually play instruments. However in December one song was recorded with these 3 involved
Annabel and David had written some lyrics, notably "The Cannanes"(later changed to "Tales of the Brave Cannanes" to suit their fixation with 60's supergroup Cream "Ode to Cream " (aka "Shower Scene Backstage at the Fillmore"): Stephen ONeil who lived across the road had written music, or so he claimed, and so one afternoon in December the four rehearsed in the 'family room' at 202. At this session they composed and recorded "The Cannanes" and "Ode to Cream" (one rendition of which featured a guest performance from "Triffid" Alsy MacDonald), the same versions now found at the beginning of "Rarities". This is the first time Annabel sang in the group. David was too nervous to play. Many songs were composed over this 3 month period, sometimes with and sometimes without Fran.Gibson Towards the end of the band's usage of this title, Stephen, Annabel and David recorded the 12 copies of the cassette single "Life"/"It's Hardly Worth It" individually. 3 shops were chosen to sell 3 copies each. Covers were individually made.
Then Fran, Stephen, Annabel, David and Michelle combined to record what was to become "The Cannanes Came Across With The Goods." It was to be a C30 cassette, side one beginning with "Hell & Back" and side two with "Sunday". "Bone " was to be excluded as it was cut off half way through. Many more songs had been composed including "Happy Was A Fly", "Skeleton is your Little Boy", "You're So Groovy", "Sunday" and "Gloom Turns to Boom" (pt.2).
The line-up in the Cannanes Mk. 2 was usually Annabel, David, Stephen, and Fran more often than not. A,D + S had busking forays in the streets of Sydney, including one marathon outside the Hellenic Hall recalled here by David's brother -
"In 1985 I was 16 years old. I was studying year 11 biology at high school. My main interests were gardening and golf. Something has changed in the intervening period... At easter time of that year my sister and I visited David in Sydney. His house had a tabloid newspaper poster in the kitchen which said "Skeleton is your little boy". On Saturday night there was some kind of benefit concert at the Hellenic Hall in Abercrombie St. with lots of punk bands playing. The Cannanes took two guitars and a drum, some cider and Tamsin and me and set up a sign outside saying "the Cannanes play 40 of their greatest hits" (or something like that). Not much money or interest was raised, but I do seem to remember an ugly drunken couple dirty-dancing (ahead of their time) to some tune or other, accompanied by Annabel's taunts. It took me a bit more than all this to convince me that The Cannanes were a 'band' but it was a start."
Michael Forbes Nichols Sydney, Australia 27/7/1990"
Calvin and David were/are pen pals. We played with him on recent Australian tour.
What's the line-up of the band at the moment? I believe you have a kind of rotating cast of oddball geniuses currently.
I don’t know about genii but David Nichols and Francesca Bussey and James Dutton are doing stuff and we hope others like Stewart Anderson and Shintaro Kiyonari and Guy Blackman and of course Explosion Robinson will in the future,
It will be just Stephen O'Neil and I in the UK and we hope to have help from Sarandon folk on bass and drums for a couple of songs.
You're heavily involved with the campaign to save small live music venues in Australia. What's the situation with that at the moment? Is there some kind of petition our thousands (cough) of readers can sign?
There was a great march in Melbourne-Basically it is about the usual- gentrification and people not wanting music in their areas and also badly thought out legislation trying to curb alcohol fuelled violence which doesn’t even happen in most original music venues, but laws were passed requiring bouncers even for a pub with an acoustic guitarist in it and forcing live music to stop at 12 pm and even earlier. And charging very expensive licence fees.
There is a petition I have signed but not sure about online. You know anyway - Think globally, act locally - so you readers go and make sure you look after music in your town!
What are The Cannanes listening to at the moment? Have you heard Milk Teddy, the band that Scott Summer Cats has been producing? We like them.
No haven’t heard Milk Teddy. I have been listening to some music from some surfing people - Windy Hill from Byron Bay and a reissue of the Chads Tree albums and stuff from Canadian songwriters James Keelaghan & Hugh McMillan - kind of folky - and Djan Djan who are : Mamadou Diabate, Bobby Singh & Jeff Lang whom I saw on the weekend, and I bought that Grizzly Bear album, and I had a ridiculous Stevie Nicks phase for a while
I don’t know about genii but David Nichols and Francesca Bussey and James Dutton are doing stuff and we hope others like Stewart Anderson and Shintaro Kiyonari and Guy Blackman and of course Explosion Robinson will in the future,
It will be just Stephen O'Neil and I in the UK and we hope to have help from Sarandon folk on bass and drums for a couple of songs.
You're heavily involved with the campaign to save small live music venues in Australia. What's the situation with that at the moment? Is there some kind of petition our thousands (cough) of readers can sign?
There was a great march in Melbourne-Basically it is about the usual- gentrification and people not wanting music in their areas and also badly thought out legislation trying to curb alcohol fuelled violence which doesn’t even happen in most original music venues, but laws were passed requiring bouncers even for a pub with an acoustic guitarist in it and forcing live music to stop at 12 pm and even earlier. And charging very expensive licence fees.
There is a petition I have signed but not sure about online. You know anyway - Think globally, act locally - so you readers go and make sure you look after music in your town!
What are The Cannanes listening to at the moment? Have you heard Milk Teddy, the band that Scott Summer Cats has been producing? We like them.
No haven’t heard Milk Teddy. I have been listening to some music from some surfing people - Windy Hill from Byron Bay and a reissue of the Chads Tree albums and stuff from Canadian songwriters James Keelaghan & Hugh McMillan - kind of folky - and Djan Djan who are : Mamadou Diabate, Bobby Singh & Jeff Lang whom I saw on the weekend, and I bought that Grizzly Bear album, and I had a ridiculous Stevie Nicks phase for a while
Tell us a secret.
I saw the Pixies and they were bad. Is that a secret? A real secret is that we haven’t played since one night in Mexico City in 2008 and I am rather scared about our shows in the UK.
Do you have any tattoos?
Nuh. I can't think of anything I would want indelibly written on me. I did think for a second I could have the word Newtown (where I lived and am about to live again in Sydney) once but I would never bother. Pain is to be avoided in my world. Most tattoos are a bit pathetic I have to say but I don't care if others want them. I am surprised they are still in fashion though.
I saw the Pixies and they were bad. Is that a secret? A real secret is that we haven’t played since one night in Mexico City in 2008 and I am rather scared about our shows in the UK.
Do you have any tattoos?
Nuh. I can't think of anything I would want indelibly written on me. I did think for a second I could have the word Newtown (where I lived and am about to live again in Sydney) once but I would never bother. Pain is to be avoided in my world. Most tattoos are a bit pathetic I have to say but I don't care if others want them. I am surprised they are still in fashion though.
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