Tell us about your new single/ album/ tour?
Recording a new full length album as we speak and heading to Syd/Melb for the first time in 2 years … we used to tour Melb regularly.
What’s your favourite work at this point in time?
I would say our last Ep on Swashbuckling Hobo Records called “Medicinal Requirements”, although our last 2 “Trough” (Long Gone Records) and more specifically “Home Brand” (Neumusak) which is getting a rerelease through Sydney label “Chemical Imbalance” are definitely records i was happy with..well as much as someone can be happy with their own stuff!
How would you describe your sound in food form and why?
Oh, well that’s easy! It’s a Gravel Samwidge which is something hard to swallow; which is how we came up with the name!!
Tell us a quick, on the road or studio, anecdote.
We won Triple J Unearthed and, a week after, Grinspoon, the singer Phil stole our bottle of Jack Daniels and locked us out of the band room when we played with them, this didn’t go down well with our drummer at the time John so he subsequently donged him on the head with it after he let us back in… not heavily just a naughty tap, that was pretty funny!
Also, we once played with the Melbourne’s legendary Venom.P.Stinger (Two members went on to the equally legendary Dirty 3) and Dougal the singer had to be gaff tapped to the stool he was so out of it; in saying that, he was still brilliant!
What, or who, inspires you?
Lots of stuff … good music..good songwriting anything from Australian stuff like Kim Salmon (The Scientists / The Surrealists, Lubricated Goat, younger acts like Brisbane’s Kitchen’s Floor, Per Purpose and a lot of the german 70’s Krautrock, the English apocalyptic folk scene including Current 93 , American acts Butthole Surfers and older big acts like Black Sabbath and Van Der Graaf Generator … the list goes on and on plus I don’t think we sound like any of these bands!
Which song do you wish you wrote?
Coming from a Gravel Samwidge noise rock perspective i would say “Intense” by Kim Salmon and the Surrealists … if you like your rock turned upside down and stripped back to its most primal state..this is the song for you..Intense being the operative word!
What’s next for you?
We will come back and finish off the record which may take awhile and finally hopefully head overseas to Japan, U.S and Europe. For me, personally, also starting the debut album of my other project: 2 Chevrons!
What’s your scene?
My scene is being surrounded by music from noise rock/experimental, weird folk etc with good friends in a very laid back environment!
Tour Dates:
Fri May 13th – The Tote GRAVEL SAMWIDGE w/ Paul Kidney ExperienceThe Electric Guitars Root Rat
Sat May 14th – The Eastern – GRAVEL SAMWIDGE, 2 Chevrons, Lime Lagoons Aktion Unit Donkey Muthers of Arse
Sun May 15th 2 CHEVRONS w/ Scrabbled Peace (tribute to Bek), Secret Valley New Estate Assetstripper
Gravel Samwidge began life in the infamous Sydney ‘Black Eye Scene’ (in the latter part of the movement), playing with legendary bands such as King Snake Roost, Lubricated Goat and various incarnations of Tex Perkins’ outfits Thug and The Butchershop before the untimely and tragic death of drummer Jay Doherty (Nunbait) put a halt on proceedings.
Reforming and surprisingly winning one of the first Triple J Unearthed competitions, Samwidge played and recorded sporadically, seemingly ensconced in a never ending long weekend!
In recent years, the band has received a new lease on life, buoyed by the encouragement of younger acts Sewers, Per Purpose, Psyants and Kitchens Floor.
Samwidge released a plethora of recordings that have received worldwide rave reviews from respected sites, such as: Terminal Boredom, Yellowgreenred and Sonic Masala.
After a two year break they are back in Melbourne as part of a national tour to promote the re-release of ‘Home Brand’, and to bring their unique, discordant breed of Australian noise rock to willing audiences.