The long anticipated debut LP from up-and-coming artists Amy Meredith is Restless, and it finally dropped yesterday! A week before the release, Larry Heath had a chat to drummer Kosta Theodosis about the album, touring plans and Xylophones.
You’re not on tour at the moment, so how have Amy Meredith been spending the weeks leading up to the release of their debut album?
We’ve been busy actually. Last night we had the ASTRA Awards that we performed at.
I was going to ask about that – how’d the night go?
It went well actually, it was really fun. It was good to be a part of it – it was a last minute sort of thing. We only got called the day before because Jimmy Barnes pulled out. It was at the State Theatre (here in Sydney) which is beautiful, and it was a lot of fun – I’m still recovering from the after party!
It’s already been a bit of a whirlwind year for you guys – you must be anxious to Restless out there!
Definitely, it’s been a long time in the making. The album was recorded in the beginning of last year, and so the songs have been around for a while. The first song on the album is the first song the band ever wrote together! So we’re really excited to get it out there next week.
Before you recorded the album, had you roadtested any of the material?
Yeah, probably with about half of the album. A lot of it is songs we’ve been playing (live) for a while. Some of it we’ve never played live. So there’s a bit of both. We’re excited for people to be able to hear them on the album, and then we can start playing them when people are a bit more familiar with them.
Other than the songs off of the first EP, the only other songs that people know are the two singles, (“Pornstar” and “Lying”), so it’ll be really exciting to have people a bit more aware of the other songs. Hopefully it goes well live!
Have you found the crowds to be growing since you released the singles?
Yeah, definitely. There’s a lot more awareness of the band and it’s really good, definitely. It’s helped it a lot.
The Cobra Starship / Owl City tour in March must have raised your profile, too.
Yeah that was an amazing tour. They were both great bands to tour with. We played to a lot of packed houses around the country. There were a lot of underage shows on that tour, and we always have a lot of fun with those.
It was good to have “Pornstar” out there that people were aware of. Then to play to all these audiences, a lot of them didn’t know the band, so to steal a few fans for our own tour was nice as well. A few people coming back who saw us at the Cobra Starship tour.
Going back to recording the new album, I understand you ended up with a shitload of material. How did you dwindle it down, and how many songs do you reckon you recorded in the end?
Well there were about 60 songs written for the album. Not necessarily for the album, but written in the timespace before the album, and we ended up recording about 15 or 16 tracks. So some of the tracks we recorded didn’t even make it onto the album. Actually, there were probably a couple more than that.
It was actually really tough, because there were a lot of great songs that didn’t make it onto the album, which hopefully we’ll be able to bring out next time around, or as B-sides and all sorts of things. We’re still not sure if all the right ones made it. There’s still a few great songs out there, which I’m sure we’ll release in time.
I understand you worked with (Grammy Award Winning Engineer) Brian Paturalski on the album? What was it like working with him?
It was definitely an honour for us, he’s worked with some of our favourite bands. I think we came with a good product with that relationship.
You are going to be doing a pretty extensive tour on the back of the album in August and September – what can you tell us about it? You’re hitting up quite a lot of regional NSW!
The regional tour is with Grinspoon actually, so that one’s through August and September. But then straight after we’re going onto our own national headline tour. So we’re heading all around Victoria, Perth, Brisbane – right around the country, and playing some of the regional areas as well. So that’s the big tour. But that’s not until Late September / Early October. So that’s the one we’re really excited about, after everyone’s had a bit of time to buy the album and listen to the tracks. That’s where we’ll really get it out there and have some fun.
It sounds fun – but quite busy!
Yeah definitely. We love touring though. That’s what we do it for. We love getting out there playing. Anytime we can get out there we have fun and make the most of it.
It’d have to be your biggest headline tour to date?
Yeah, well the tour we just finished was our first ever headlining tour. We didn’t get to go to all the places we would have liked to, so this time we’re going to make it to all the places that missed out. We didn’t even get to Perth last time, so we’re definitely going to be spending a bit of time over there.
You have toured with quite a lot of international artists over the years – do you think this is an important learning process for a band on the rise?
Yeah definitely. It’s great to see these bands that have been around for a lot longer than us, and they’re constantly touring, so they’ve got a really high level show – they’ve really got it together. So to be able to see these bands every night and watch side of stage, it is a lesson – it’s a really great opportunity for us to be able to do that.
I think it’s the best way to first play to a bigger audience than you normally would, and just to be able to see these great bands and spend time with them on the road, and make friends with the bands – you can learn a lot.
To an outsider, it may seem like you guys have come out of nowhere, and that everything’s happening at once for you – but having recorded the album almost a year and a half ago, on the back of extensive touring, you must have been well prepared to ease into all the attention?
Yeah definitely. The band’s been around since the end of 2006 / beginning of 2007. So we have done a lot of shows in that time. There have been a few setbacks with all sorts of things going wrong, but I think we’re definitely prepared now – more than prepared. We’ve been wanting this for quite a while. So we’re going to take it an run with it!
You’ve even performed in the States?
Yeah, this was in the very beginning, before I was in the band. One of the first shows the band ever did was in LA doing showcases. They played two shows in Sydney and then headed straight over to LA to do some showcases, and then off to Japan.
We’ve got some big overseas plans. We’re looking at heading over there in the next couple of months again, back to LA and do some showcases. Try and get the story happening over there as soon as possible.
Will you try the whole South by Southwest (SXSW) thing next year?
Not sure, quite possibly actually. We’re going to try our hardest to get some success over there, so I’m sure we’ll take every oppertunity.
So how did you get involved in the band? Because you did come in quite a while after everyone else.
I used to play in a band called Dash and Will, and basically the two bands toured together, and Elliot, the drummer of Amy Meredith just happened to be leaving at the right time. So seeing as we’d spent a lot of time together touring, we knew each other pretty well, it was pretty easy to slot me in with the group. It worked really well, everything started to happen once I got into the band, so it’s very fortunate for me!
And finally, the question I ask all drummers – what’s your favourite percussion instrument?
I spent a lot of time in high school playing the Xylophone. I had a big orchestral Xylophone. I was actually planning to go to Uni to study to be a classical percussionist.
With a major in Xyplophone?
I did a lot of work on symphony, Arimba, Xylophone – all that side of percussion. But I spent most of my time on the Xylophone practicing! So I love that one!
Did any Xylophone make it onto the album?
There isn’t unfortunately! I wouldn’t mind putting some glockenspiel, or some of that sort of stuff into the next album.
We’ll leave it there. Thanks for talking to us today Kosta!
Awesome. Thank you!
Restless
is in stores now – and you can catch Amy Meredith on tour with Grinspoon later this year. Tickets are on sale now and the dates are below!
4th Aug 10 – Station Resort – Jindabyne, NSW
5th Aug 10 – Capital Entertainment Centre – Wagga Wagga, NSW
6th Aug 10 – Bathurst Panthers Leagues Club – Bathurst, NSW
7th Aug 10 – Orange Ex Services Club – Orange, NSW
11th Aug 10 – Campbelltown RSL – Campbelltown, NSW
12th Aug 10 – Castle Hill RSL Club – Castle Hill, NSW
13th Aug 10 – Waves Nightclub – Wollongong, NSW
14th Aug 10 – Revesby Workers Club – Revesby, NSW
15th Aug 10 – The Entrance Leagues Club – Bateau Bay, NSW
9th Sept 10 – Inferno Nightclub – Traralgon, VIC
10th Sept 10 – Ferntree Gully Hotel – Ferntree Gully, Victoria
11th Sept 10 – Pier Hotel (Flanagan’s) – Frankston, VIC
12th Sept 10 – Settlers Hotel – Mildura, VIC
15th Sept 10 – Eureka Hotel – Geelong, VIC
16th Sept 10 – Shadows – Mt Gambier, SA
17th Sept 10 – Governor Hindmarsh Hotel – Adelaide, SA
Header Photo: http://www.myspace.com/amymeredithband
