Blue about the future

Yves Klein Blue sing About the Future

Noel Mengel
June 25, 2009


"WHAT this generation needs is a war," Michael Tomlinson croons on a song called About The Future.

It's not so shocking as it reads in print, as he goes on to sing about the ills and dilemmas facing his generation – he's 22 – part-serious, part-mocking.

Those ills, it turns out, aren't so very different from the problems every generation of youth faces: Where do we fit in this big world, how can we best make use of our allotted time in it, why the hell are we so apathetic in the face of the challenge?

About the Future is a fantastic song, one among numerous gems on Ragged and Ecstatic, the debut album by Yves Klein Blue.

"Ragged and ecstatic" is a phrase borrowed from Jack Kerouac but it neatly sums up the pop thrills on the Brisbane four-piece's debut album, recorded in Los Angeles earlier this year.

About the Future is a big topic – Tomlinson, guitarist and chief songwriter, isn't afraid of those – and it's delivered as a simple but energetic acoustic guitar tune.

As with the band's best-known song to this point, Polka, there is something old-timey about it, like some escapee from a particularly black stage musical.

"It's difficult to know what phenomena are unique to your generation," Tomlinson offers. "You know how in the '60s people had a movement and something to get behind, bucking the system? Today everybody is doing their own thing. It's very easy to feel little about everything."

Tomlinson is sitting with guitarist Charles Sale, his musical collaborator since they met at high school in Brisbane.

Their conversation is as entertaining as the band's colourful songwriting, bouncing ideas and asides off each other in the way that old friends can do.

Tomlinson: "The first time I played guitar was at my grandma's house. It only had two strings on it and I wrote this really crappy song. Then I wrote a song about a rapping chicken. And one about eating vomit for the primary school talent show in grade seven . . ."

Sale: "At high school, you interviewed me. You were, 'So what music do you like?' And I was like, 'Led Zeppelin'. You were, 'Cool. See you later'. That was it!"

Tomlinson: "We had a rocking high school band called The Mighty Morphine Powder Railers. Not that we did morphine at high school or ever, except for the time I got my arm broken and . . ."

Sale: "We didn't sound too far off what we do today but there were more Strokes references and Stooges references."

That band fell apart after school, Sale and Tomlinson continued their university studies while spending plenty of time in a home studio working up new songs.

With the addition of bassist Sean Cook and drummer Chris Barnham, Yves Klein Blue was born.

Independently recorded 2008 EP Yves Klein Blue Draw Attention To Themselves certainly did that – as did the youthful fizz of their live performances.

The band signed to Brisbane label Dew Process, home of The Grates and The Living End.

Chief among the EP's pleasures was the daffy, scuzzy Polka, which also appears on the new album. It starts with a bouncy, polka-ish rhythm before exploding into a howl of, well, ecstatic guitars.

Clearly Tomlinson is a songwriter who enjoys exploring deeper than last year's pop charts. Summer Sheets has a ska beat; Gin Sling is an authentic slice of country-rock; Make Up Your Mind and Getting Wise are delirious pop tunes.

"Polka," Tomlinson reveals, "that's all about listening to (gypsy jazz legend) Django Reinhardt. That's the rhythm I was apeing but obviously it's not what came out. I also listen to old blues guys, crooners, old cowboy songs.

"I just love songs and melody.

"When I was younger I messed with the sound of guitars and synthesisers but doing this record I realised, I don't listen to music like that. I listen to Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, The Clash.

"It seems like the most important thing is not changing the order of the parts or making a huge art show out of it, but just having those incredible parts and arranging them in the classic way.

"That seems to me to be the most beautiful form.

"We don't think about styles. If something's cool, we don't care if it's a ska song or a country song. We like The Specials and we like Neil Young, so what's the problem?"

And the LA experience, recording with producer Kevin Augunas?

Tomlinson: "The level was intense. We were in a two-room apartment that was 10 minutes walk from the studio. There was nothing else for us to do but obsess about the music . . ."

Sale: "Michael is definitely obsessive."

Tomlinson: "It's also fun for me to be obsessive."

Sale: "You can't have fun unless everything is being obsessed over."

Tomlinson: "That's true. That's what I get a kick out of I suppose."

With Ragged and Ecstatic, there are plenty of those kicks to share around.

Ragged and Ecstatic (Dew Process/Universal) is out tomorrow.

Yves Klein Blue play Bon Amici, Toowoomba tonight; Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane tomorrow (sold out); Sound Lounge, Gold Coast, Saturday; Woombye Pub, Sunday.

taken from: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25684824-5003421,00.html