Australian rock supergroup Floating Me is comprised of vocalist Andrew Gillespie, guitarist Antony Brown and keys player Tobias Messiter of ground-breaking ’90s Sydney band Scarymother, Jon Stockman of Triple J favourites Karnivool on bass, and drummer Lucius Borich of influential hard-rock trio Cog who took a moment to chat with us…
How would you sum up Floating Me in three words?
The best band you’ve never heard. Oops thats 6 words sorry!
You’re about to fly up to Brisbane to play a showcase at the Big Sound Conference. In what ways will the MusicNSW Quick Response funding support you in getting there?
Gas, accommodation and a few hire cars.
Why would you recommend other local Sydney acts apply for the next round of Quick Response funding?
Musicians are known for having no money so if you can get some from something like this to get you from A to B then that’s a good thing you never know what might eventuate from it.
What is your favourite venue in Sydney to play in and why? The Annandale Hotel is a real rock venue that has the vibes and mojo of all the bands that have been and gone. I’ve had lots of great gigs there and I’ve seen many a good band. Its sad to see that it might be on it’s way out too.
Sydney’s music venue ‘crisis’ is seemingly the talk of the town, reasserted by Tone’s recent announcement of closure. As a band regularly playing around Sydney, how has your band been affected by the venue ‘crisis’? Would you describe it as a crisis or rather simply a temporary transition between the demise of old venues and the rise of a new generation of performance spaces?
Venues have always come and gone throughout the years but I feel it’s different now and yes it effects the band I’m in. But I think if the bands are crap thats not going to help venues stay open and have an ongoing businesses, who wants to see shit bands. I think the people making the music have to take some responsibility at some point. People also have facebook now, computers, playstations, iphones so much to stop them from going out and spending what little cash they have. I would also say this dying out of venues has been a plan thats been in the works for a long time because it’s the last platform for free speech we have. We have so many rules and regulations now in place that end up costing the venue owner money so why would you bother opening a venue at all, tightening the noose is a good way to stop freedom.
Floating Me is an Australian rock supergroup combining members from Scarymother, Cog and Karnivool. How did this collaboration first come about? Would you like to see more collaboration between other Australian artists?
Yeah there is lots of people in bands I’d like to see get together and make music. Floating Me really came together about two and half years ago with the strong intention of finishing something we started about 10 years ago. I’ve known the Scary guys for a long time and I got invited to play on some tracks when they started writing again after Scarymother broke up. I jumped at the chance and we just kept on getting together over a long period of time to put the music you now hear. This process went on for many years giving I was very busy with Cog. John bass player from Karnivool was the last piece of the puzzle has been a good friend for many years and I thought he was perfect to be the bass player in the band. I played him the music he loved it and the rest is history in the making as they say!
Are there any local Sydney artists or bands that inspire you?
I like Red Remedy and Marlow are great. The band of the moment for me and has been for years now is Interpol plus I’m loving what Mastodon have been doing over the years!
After Big Sound, are there any other new projects or tours are on the horizon?
Yeah I run a studio, Studio19 in Sydney so I’m recording and producing bands all the time and teaching drums. I’m still playing drums with heaps of projects Ox and the Fury, Juice and also playing bass in a band call The Night Train as well as playing bass and producing a young artist who go’s by the name of Alasdair McClintock…Lots on!!