regular john says...

By their own admission, Regular John, as they told Kluster’s Sam Hartmann, “play loud and [they] ain’t a fashion band”. Some find this a little intimidating and that’s fine by the band. Their debut album has come with high praise from audiences and critics alike and has received frequent airtime on Sydney radios. On top of supporting many well-known bands from different walks of the music life, Regular John completed their first tour as headliners mid way through this year and are pumped by audiences reactions, even when it’s negative. To experience Regular John for yourself, catch one of their support shows throughout October.

Covered: new age magazines, expanding the rock, studios sounds and how to win over an audience.

Sam Hartmann: Did your debut album live up to your expectations/hopes for it?

Regular John: Yeah I think it has. Musically we are pretty happy with it and how it came out considering it was our first album and we hadn't had much experience with it, I think we're happy that we captured the sound that we wanted. Critically the reviews have been really good; the response has exceeded our expectations. I think we are pretty happy with it; excited to have it out. 

SH: Will you be quitting your day job soon?

RJ: Not for a while. I wish! Even if [the album] is really successful, I think it will take a bit of time before we can live off it, if at all. That may never happen. It's fun at least.

SH: Your album has a very live performance sound. Did you set out to achieve this?

RJ: Yeah we tried to make it as live as possible, as true to our original sound as we could. It's tempting to get carried away in the studio and make all these crazy sounds but ultimately you still want to be able to perform songs live and have it translate. To me, the live experience of Regular John is the true way we sound so we want to capture that [on the album] as best we can, to give a true representation of what [our] sound is. 

SH: Audiences seem to have some pretty mixed and often vastly opposing views of your live shows, how do you feel about this?

RJ: Sometimes we play with really rocking bands and sometimes we play with more pop orientated bands so our audiences are different all the time. Some get into it and really respond, others don't really know what to do. I can see for some it might be a bit too much if we are loud but other people think that is perfect. Some people don't get it or it's not their thing but at least there is some sort of reaction. I'd rather people hate us or love us than not care either way. At least they will remember us. If they leave the gig and complain that their ears are ringing or that they get a beer spilt on them [it’s a reaction]. 

SH: Who do you want to attract to your music?

RJ: We like to play to everyone - it's a challenge. The other night we supported a band who are sort of this indie rock band; to us it was a challenge to play to their audience. I'd rather play to the biggest range possible. If you always play to a crowd that loves you then you [may not] try as hard as to a crowd that is indifferent because you want to try to impact on them more. Plus it's fun! If people are complaining it's too loud, it makes you want to turn it up more!  

SH: Do you think that helps develop your music?

RJ: Yeah I think so. It's not that we want to please everyone but if we get stuck with one type of audience then it's not very challenging. Ultimately you want someone to find something in your music that they like no matter who they are. We definitely want to expand outside of rock, not necessarily to please audiences but to satisfy ourselves and the different tastes we have. It's more to do with what we want rather than living up to an audience expectation. 

SH: Headlining vs supporting, how does it differ, which do you prefer?

RJ: You play a different role for each. When you support you are trying to be better as the audience may not know you so you want to convert them. They usually start cold and it is really rewarding if you can win them over. When you headline you are playing to satisfy, you feed off the audience and it often makes your performance that much stronger. We don't prefer one over the other as they both help your performance in differing ways.  

SH: How do you rate your first album tour?

RJ: It went well. It was our first headlining tour so we didn't really know what to expect. There is definitely an audience out there for us who understand and are excited about what we are trying to do. It’s nice to know there are like minded people around Australia who are interested in what we are doing. That was really cool, it's a good affirmation for us that we might be onto something, or at least people get it.  

SH: Tell me about the album title and artwork.

RJ: It came from an old new age magazine. I like to cut out pictures that interest me and make collages for inspiration. There was an image of the grim reaper with a protester holding a sign that had written ‘The peaceful atom is a bomb’. It grabbed me because you can take so many different meanings from it and it is very ironic. We played around with using it in different ways until we decided it would be a great album title as it reflects our music; chaotic and loud but brings peace - to us at least!

regular john