Underlapper interview by Chris Downton

Interview with Underlapper
by Chris Downton

Sydney-based six-piece Underlapper first coalesced around the central core of school friends Marc Chomicki, Matt Furnell, Morgan McKellar, Simon Oh, Greg Stone and Simon Tyte back in 2002, who fused their diverse influences through group jamming sessions over the next couple of years. By the time 2005 had rolled around, the results of these fevered creative sessions and experiences gained performing live around Sydney built to fruition with the emergence of Underlapper’ debut album What Came Forth From The Sea through local imprint Feral Media. Upon its release, What Came Forth…immediately stood out as a record with a characteristically different feel to many of the other artists populating Feral Media’ arguably leftfield-electronic/post-rock dominated roster, perhaps most notably due to its prominent incorporation of hip-hop-drawn elements.

While tracks such as “3 Sides’ and the grand piano and melodica-strewn “Pa’ On Heat’s certainly showed stream-of-consciousness MC vocals taking the foreground however, the fusion of intricate “widescreen’ instrumental arrangements took proceedings to a distinctly different place than that currently being explored by other Australian hip-hop practitioners; one that was arguably much closer to the sorts of post-rock majesty forged by Morr/Anticon supergroup 13 & God. With leftfield electronic influences smoothly coexisting alongside the energy of instrumental performances, many of What Came Forth‘ tracks showed Underlapper moving through a wide range of different moods, the tone of instrumentation frequently counterpointing the intensity of verbal flow, to the point where it was frequently impossible to discern just who was leading who.

If the level of detailed arrangements packed into the 12 album tracks reflected the scope of Underlapper’ creative ambition in the studio, then that same factor is also arguably a barrier the band were forced to confront head-on when translating their intricate works to a live setting. Indeed, by all accounts these same difficulties encountered during the live performance of tracks from What Came Forth served to exert considerable changes upon the band’ creative approach, providing a fresh level of perspective when it came to writing and recording new tracks. If hints of these considerable shifts in Underlapper’ sound first revealed themselves amidst the feathery glitch-electronics, chiming gentle guitars and vocal harmonies of May’ preceding Little Tapioca single, then the significant changes are certainly evident in the band’ newly-released second album Red Spring. Clad like its predecessor in gorgeous sleeve art by Sopp Collective, the delicate and drifting moods generated by the 10 tracks contained within certainly act as an apt sonic metaphor for the beguiling visuals, which appear to depict hand-drawn octopi against a mysterious dark-hued subaquatic backdrop. While the marine theme is distinctly still present, perhaps the most immediately obvious change is the virtual complete absence of hip-hop elements; a genre previously inextricably associated with the band’ output.

“I think the first album was only a very small representation of what we were interested in as a group at the time,” Greg Stone explains. “We wanted to make hip-hop music that did not rely on cliches and that showed a different side to a genre that is often misrepresented. On the new album, we’ve returned to using many of the elements such as post-rock, folk and downbeat electronica which have always interested us as a group. I think this album is a return to the music we began making from the beginning and it gives the listener an insight into where we are at as a band today.”

“After trying, usually unsuccessfully, to adapt the last album to a live setting, we wanted to make an album that could pretty much be taken straight from the studio to the stage,” Greg explains. “This seems to have worked and we definitely feel more comfortable playing this (latest) album live. The approach we took this time was to write and record a cohesive album, as opposed to throwing a bunch of songs together and hoping they fit. We definitely wanted to use more “singing’, as opposed to spoken word vocal and we also wanted to create an album that would be interesting when played in a live setting.”

“This time around, we did most of the recording ourselves on a farming property in northern New South Wales. We travelled to the farm with the intention of recording a new album and I think this allowed us to focus and write music more as a group. The songs from the last album were usually written by one or two members and then added to by the rest of the band.”

“Whereas, this time around, we were able to figure out our individual parts and decide what was needed in a song before the foundations were set,” Greg continues. “There are some songs on this album which were written by playing together and jamming on particular ideas. Then, there are others which started as ideas from one or two members in the group, and were then looked at by all of us to decide what the song needed.”

Underlapper have already had several opportunities to perform Red Springs live in both Sydney and Canberra and they have worked well.

“The shows so far have been very positive,” says Greg. “We seem to get a good response from the new material and once the album is officially released we will be heading down to Melbourne to play a couple of shows and will hopefully get back down to Canberra over the next few months. As well as playing a Feral Media showcase in the sound lounge at the Seymour Centre in early July alongside Barrage and SA duo School Of Two (who both have upcoming releases on the label), we are also planning an official Sydney album launch at the moment.”

“I guess one of our constant struggles is just trying to fit on the stage,” Greg confesses. “We have played plenty of venues where we are cramped and spend most of the gig running into each other. Apart from that, trying to get everyone together is always a task, although we seem to have a pretty good routine at the moment.”

“[Feral Media] have given us plenty of room to work with creatively and have always been supportive of what we are doing. Hopefully, the label will continue to grow and gain the recognition it deserves. We need more people like them who are willing to experiment and take a chance on music that may not appeal to everyone, but deserves the attention of those willing to seek it out.”

Red Spring is available through Feral Media/Fuse Distribution