Ned Collette + Wirewalker at FBi Social, Sydney

Having recently chatted to Ned Collette about his new album, Carol Bowditch braved the cold to check out his live show in Sydney, which was to promote the new album, Ned Collette + Wirewalker - 2

Nursing a chilli coma, the relaxed vibe of the loosely packed crowd was a welcoming environment for my ill self. It was the sort of gig where you could lounge on couches or park yourself cross-legged on the floor while sipping on something warming.

The support act, the Russian born, Berlin expat, Mary Ocher, took to the stage wearing a sparkly bra and sporting a messy peroxide blonde do. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the solo songstress from her eccentric appearance and her strange exclamation in her thick accent that the lights were "SO cool, they make me feel like I’m in a horror film.”

The vocals in her short tracks were aggressive, with unidentifiable lyrics yelped between staccato screams and whimpers. Ocher’s solo set was brave, although it was a little hard to fully enjoy and appreciate with my intestines burning.

A crowd emerged after Ocher’s set, ready and waiting for Ned Collette + Wirewalker to take over. Ned, looking schmick in an all-white ensemble started the set with one of my favourite tracks off the new album, Il Futuro Fantastico. It was a strong start, with pulsating keyboard samples, monotonous pacing vocals and gangly Spanish guitar.  The dreamy The Decision was heavy with keyboard chords and organic percussion sounds, with Ned’s reminiscent lyrics layered over the top. The only instrumental on the album, For Roberto, another standout track, was executed well live. The Spanish-infused tune blends these awkward, broken melody progressions on the synth, with acoustic chords and dextrous fingerpicking. Midway through the song there was an interlude and where Ned took time to sip his wine as eerie synth sounds filled the room. The band finished off with Long You Lie, with the tropical intro, and multiple vocals singing in harmony through the chorus.

The varied sounds of the set proved that Ned and his Wirewalkers could seamlessly blend genres and borrow from different countries’ music. The Spanish-tinged set had something distinctly organic and Australian about it, and with the members having come from their base in Berlin to play, it was a truly international affair.

Review and live picture by Carol Bowditch 

Ned Collette interview

Carol Bowditch talks to Melbourne-born, Berlin-based musician Ned Collette about his upcoming album and Australian tour: 

Your sound seems to take influence from different genres. Do you have an especially eclectic music taste? 
Sure, I guess. I mean I listen to all sorts of stuff from all over the shop really. Different times and places. And though it might seem eclectic it's somehow all tied together in my mind by some indefinable thread. Goodness, or honesty, or risk, or something that makes me feel like the artist/composer is really putting themselves on the line. I guess the one thing I'm not really good at is knowing about new music - stuff that is coming out now. It seems to take at least five years or so for something to filter through to me. I keep realising things I think are new are ten years old already.

In what ways do you think this album differs from the 2009 long-player that Ned Collette + Wirewalker released? Were these differences planned or did they occur organically?
It's a lot more sonically diverse, mostly because it began as stuff I was recording on my own and was then developed with Joe in any direction we felt like taking it, rather than from one session based around the band recording some songs on our usual instruments. So it's not as rock, it's not really as heavily guitar based, though the lyrics and themes have continued in a direction I can't seem to avoid. In that sense it was really organic but the album certainly wasn't planned as a Wirewalker album until quite far into the process.

You created the new album after expatriating to Berlin. Was it an easy relocation? There are some dark themes within the album that suggest that there might have been some difficulties.
It was remarkably easy really. Berlin is a a wonderful city that is very easy to become familiar with. Sure there were difficulties, but no more than usual in a comfortable, first world, white middle-class kinda scenario. I find personal difficulties always get projected on to the background of one's environment though, and I really like writing from that point of view, as if the city or the space around you is somehow an accomplice or at least a witness to your experiences.

You recently toured the UK and Europe. How was it? Any particular favourite gigs/cities?
We haven't toured here properly since 2010, but I've played a fair bit here and there solo since then. It's good. People listen like crazy in Europe - the rooms are silent. They like to let you know exactly what they think afterwards too, which is sometimes interesting, but often gets in the way of the first drink… I played one at the Swiss Cultural Institute in Rome last year which was very beautiful but not
a great crowd - a bunch of Swiss artists and scientists wanting to get off their faces and dance to a horrible Parisian cover band. Other than that, the closing party of a warehouse party institution with the Wirewalker in Freiburg, the regular gigs to a very faithful but also varied crowd I do in a small place here, playing with Kurt Vile last year…

Are you excited about your upcoming tour of Australia?
Yes, very excited. The band played one show of this material when I was back in Melbourne mixing it in October and it was by far the best gig we've ever done. Easily. Even though James and Ben weren't involved in making the record, they understood and fitted their respective things effortlessly into the songs. It was really very enjoyable.

After the tour, what do you have planned for the remainder of 2012?
Well, the album is coming out worldwide in August through Fire Records, so I'll be back here and hopefully busy with that, and with trying to find a way to get the whole band touring a bit more over here again. I'm also going to spend a couple of weeks on a Greek island with a bunch of friends at the end of summer, which has been taking up a fair portion of my consciousness ever since we made that
decision.

Tell us something that we might be surprised to learn about you...
I genuinely think George Michael's 'Faith' is one of the best albums ever made.

Ned Collette + Wirewalker Australian Tour 2012

June 14 - Brisbane, Blackbear Lodge
Tickets: www.mobileindustries.oztix.com.au

June 15 - Sydney, Fbi Social
Tickets: www.mobileindustries.oztix.com.au

June 16 - Adelaide, Metro
Tickets: www.mobileindustries.oztix.com.au

June 21 - Canberra, Front Gallery (Ned solo)
Tickets: www.mobileindustries.oztix.com.au

June 23 - Melbourne, Northcote Social Club
plus Inevitable OrbitTickets: www.northcotesocialclub.com

Interview by Carol Bowditch. Visit Ned's site here: www.nedcollette.com