Project Description
Interview with
AREA13
Interviewer – Dave Bruce
.
.
.
.
How did you find each other and decide to become a band?
JP and Rob met as a result of their interest in the reef and diving and started jamming on the 13th Floor of JP’s apartment building. Paul joined them and started jamming around 2016 with some other musicians and formed a band called 13th Floor. Around the same time, Jools, Kev and Paul formed a 3-piece called Timeslider and started gigging around Cairns. 13th Floor had some gigs lined up but 2 of the members decided to quit so Paul asked Kev and Jools if they could fill in so that they could honour their commitments. And they just kept filling in. Timeslider and 13th Floor are now Area13.
Which music did you all grow up listening to? How has it influenced your current style?
The Australian connection in the band grew up in Sydney in the 80s and was influenced by artists like Midnight Oil, The Angels, The Radiators, Richard Clapton, The Bondi Cigars, as well as international acts like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and so on. The list is endless. Jools is clearly influenced by the 70s British hard rock and prog rock scene.
How would you describe your sound and why do you think people will and do resonate with your music?
We play a type of catchy pop rock for the most part. Lyrically, I think people can relate to what we’re saying because we’re talking about issues or singing about life.
Your new album “Classified” has just been released! Describe its origin and evolution.
We were still writing new material when we finished the first album, so the logical progression was to keep going and once we got to the end of 2018, we started talking about what to do next. Some of the new songs were popping up in our set and we just decided that if we wanted to really see it through, we needed to go back into the studio and see if we could do better than the first one. By the time we got there, we had 6 or so songs ready to go and the remainder filtered in while we were recording those.
What are the signature tracks, and which is your favourite track and why?
I would have to say Grinding my teeth, Indian giver, Revolution and This Moment. My favourite track would be Stepping stone as it hits close to home for me as a writer.
It is said all five of you take part in the writing and creative process. How do you balance the obvious benefits with the equally obvious challenges?
It’s challenging to agree on some things. I think we were less focussed on collaboration with this album and gave the songwriter most of the creative licence when it came to how to put it together. Having said that, each member brings extra ideas that help the songs to grow into the final product.
.
.
What shows, events, tours are coming up, what are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
We have a bag of party shows coming up through the end of 2019 and into 2020 where we’ll be showcasing our tunes but also keeping the fans rocking with some classics as well. See dates at www.area13.org
If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
I would choose The Bondi Cigars and an independent artist by the name of Iota. The 2 bands had a huge influence in my life and was the inspiration behind my writing style.
What’s next for you in the near future?
We already have some new material coming through so a 3rd album is something that’s on the radar, but we are aiming to spread out a little and promote Classified and see if we can build on the great vibe that we’re getting/.
What are your longer-term aspirations?
To continue playing and writing music and to share that with our audience.
What is the best thing about performing to a live audience?
The instant response of a live audience is amazing. You know if you’ve got it right from the minute you start playing. If they’re dancing or tapping the feet or ignoring you, you know straight away. Then trying to string them along and keep the vibe going or getting it going is a fantastic challenge.
Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Classified
Artist – AREA13
Movie – Flight of the intruder— Apollo 13
Place to visit – Great Barrier Reef
Venue to play – Cairns Esplanade.
Food – Thai food
Drink – Beer. Great Northern
Person in History – Leo Fender
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) – A mix of Music and Scuba Diving as a single tattoo.
.
.
Check out AREA13 below
Website | Facebook | Instagram
.
.
Tropical North Queensland’s
AREA13
release sophomore album
“CLASSIFIED”
showcasing the band’s five songwriters
Hot on the heels of their acclaimed debut release, Tropical North Queensland five-piece AREA13 are back with a sophomore album – Classified – that showcases the band’s songwriting nuance. With five established songwriters in the band, the creative process for AREA13 is never idle. In fact, the band started writing tracks for Classified as soon as they finished recording their 2018 debut Parachutes for Puppets. This creative outflow has been steady from the very beginning, the band had only been together for a little over two years when they released their first album, and they started writing material together from the outset. That kind of musical chemistry is impossible to force, and with each member bringing their own prolific music background it has made AREA13 a formidable force on their local live scene.
Classified gives music fans an insight into every member of the band – Rob Midgley (guitar), Julian Cliffe (drums), JP [John Paul] (acoustic guitar), Paul Southwell (bass) and Kev Boorman (guitar) – and the musical style that they bring to the band. With all the band members featuring on vocals throughout the album, it truly is an entire band effort – something that has been essential to AREA13 from the first song they wrote together and continues to hold true.
“The creative process is really important to every member of the band,” says bassist Paul Southwell. “We all have very diverse songwriting styles, and this helps with the distinct sound we are trying to achieve with AREA13. We experimented with a lot more sounds and recording techniques on this second album. This really added to the creativity. Some of the songs were actually written in the studio, which really stretched us creatively. The process was more organic than the first album.”
AREA13 take listeners on a musical journey in Classified. The eclectic range of songs make the album a listening pleasure and is one of the reasons why the band’s music has such a wide appeal. From driving guitar riffs and rock licks, to funk-driven styles and laid-back acoustic melodies, it is a release that draws on all the bands member’s influences. The songs on the album delve into religion, politics, hate, love and everything in between. Listeners are uplifted and brought back down to earth – it is a heady journey and one that needs to be experienced, on repeat.
AREA13 spent months writing, re-writing, rehearsing before heading into the studios in March this year. They finished their final recording session in July, totaling up more than 100-hours in the studio to pull together the sound they envisioned for Classified. While they wrote the vast majority of the tracks before heading into the studio, some of the songs were penned during the recording process.
Guitarist Kev Boorman says the songs for the Classified album seemed to pick themselves in a way. “There were a lot of ideas floating around from all the band members and it seemed like people’s ears pricked up when a good idea was thrown into the pot,” he says. “If it got a good reaction, we tried to take it further and polish it a little. There were obviously some songs that didn’t appear until later in the process, but we worked around our timing constraints and came out the other end with something we’re very proud of. There was probably a little less collaboration as far as songwriting was actually concerned, and more emphasis was placed on the arrangement of the songs. For most of the songs, we recorded a number of different demos and then went down the path of making it work for the band.”
Once again, the band recorded with revered producer Nigel Pegrum at Pegasus Studios in Cairns. The rapport AREA13 had already built with Nigel made him an obvious choice, and one that they are not disappointed with. The album is first-class quality.
“Nigel pushes us on every level to get the best out of us,” says Paul. “While at the time this can be both a painful and a frustrating experience, the end product is well worth it. Add to this Nigel’s state-of-the-art production, and you get a genuinely inspiring assortment of songs worth listening to over and over again.”
AREA13’s sophomore album Classified was independently released on Tuesday 1st October 2019. For more information, please visit the social pages above.
.
.
.
.
.