The Grates Interview

Australia may have been born an island of criminals but its now houses the energetically and possibly mentally unstably brilliant act The Grates.  To see them live is an amazing bridge between their inaugural studio long player Gravity Won't Get You High and alt punk perfection.  The on stage presence of lead singer Patience Hodgson as she jettisons across hitting high notes with ease and growling with emotion is only part of the perfection the band has accomplished but her energy is impossible to contain.  Guitarist John Patterson tries to keep up - but try as he may with addicting licks and his grunge littered chords he offers, only a heavy dose of prescribed speed could equal Hodgson's chi.  But her hoping demeanor could only work under Alana Skyring's tense and skilled drumming - with the speed, timing, and toned perfection of a women bent on creating a new sound out of a tired set of toms.

Don't believe us? Then check out their introduction to the American scene in the form of their 14 track opus Gravity Won't Get You High. So sweetly timed are the crackling guitars and beckoning bass drum - its no wonder that Patience can't stay still on stage.

We had a chance to speak with the band about their sound, the follies of an indie tour, and rocking as a female driven act.  Just don't call Patience another Karen O.

Pensatos.com: How’s the tour going? Any debacles or ‘stories’ yet?
Alana: We're currently on tour around England with the Young Knives. We're all sharing a double-decker tour bus; and by 'all' that adds up to ten big men and us two little women packed in like sardines in slim bunks, the only fresh air piped though a tiny plane-style vent near your pillow! The whole place smells like armpits and cigarettes, but I guess you can adapt to anything if you set your mind to it! [laughs] We're feeling a bit rebellious 'cause this is our first tour without anyone directly taking care of us in over a year - Anna and Bob, our tour manager and stage manager, are currently back in Sydney getting MARRIED - our Ultimate Family is building itself perfectly.

How did the Grates start out?
We were close friends for years - John and I since year 9, and Pae and I lived together. I guess that once the Real World started taking up too much of our time, we formed a band as an excuse to keep hanging out together.. 'Practice' was over Sundays and involved about 6 hours of talking crap, one hour of eating bbq, and about 30 minutes in which we managed to cram writing, like, three songs without thinking twice.. We've been really lucky to have had amazing opportunities offered to us since then, and we've done everything possible to make the most of them.

Not only do you guys have the music end, but you also design and create all your own covers, band shirts, and even your own wears. Do you sleep?
You forgot website and MySpace, set design, ads and posters! [laughs] Personally, I'm a master of the Oprah Winfrey 10-min-Power-Nap. Not as much as we used to, so we tend to appear a little sickly.  But I guess that's the best thing about this all-in tour bus - your bed is waiting for you after the night's wrapped up - if you can pass through the gantlet of pack-down, merch collection and excess Rider being consumed loudly in the first-storey lounge!  But we wouldn't want it any other way - we love designing our own shirts and having fun with socks etc, and feel its really important to represent ourselves in every possible way. The band is our collective lifestyle, and every facet of it reflects who we are.

I'm not even going to question the sock comment. Patience, your stage presence is for lack of a better word, bouncy. So much so, our camera man could hardly keep up with you at a recent show. Yet, to see you in person on the street, you seem tranquil in comparison. Is it this force that just takes over when the music hits or were you a terror as a child?
Patience: Well, that's it I 'spose, it's tranquil in comparison. In that same way that regular pink is tranquil in comparison to neon pink. In'it? No, it's more like, if I'm regular pink in my adulthood I was definitely neon pink in my younger years.

Color coated memories? Alana, punk and pop can be so simplistically accomplished with 2/4 beats and standard fills but you take it to another level with challenging changes and broad strokes that tease influences of acid jazz, speed grunge, and surf rock. Who are your influences and how did you start playing?
Alana: I think the key to it working is NOT thinking about it too much! I just play what feels right for the song. I'm pretty much self-taught, and have some shocking habits when it comes to grip and posture, but I guess its all part of it.

Do you think you're annoying – because your band name would suggest such. Or are we just completely off here?
Back when we were starting out we were SO bad that we'd joke that we'd change our name every show so that when people came we'd be all "SUCKERS!!!". The Grates came about because someone was telling Patience that all of The Greats in history were either single children or born five or more years apart from their siblings. Patience has two sisters and a brother, and they're all separated by seven years... But we couldn't use the 'correct' spelling, because, well, that would've just been a lie!

‘Rock Boy’ is such a departure for the band; slower and a bit darker if not restraint when compared to other songs in your catalogue. How did it come about?
Patience wrote the bare bones of that song when she was in England.. when she came home it was one of the first ones we finished, alongside '19-20-20'. We've never tried to confine ourselves to any particular type of song-style, which is why the album is so all-over-the-place. We just enjoy building different characters from thin air. 'Rock Boys' was originally played by jjj in its crappy original recorded form, but when we did it with Deck we added on the fist-pumpin' ending, which i'm still a sucker for.

What is your response to the oft comparisons [and we are guilty as well] to Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs?
Patience: Yeah, we're a similar shape cut from a different cloth. I'm a female front woman with brown hair who's confident, happy & fun. I love woman, I come from a fabulous strong mother, and completely appreciate other female performers. I understand women. I'm fucking over this Karen O shit however. It's like it's some big deal that I'm a female front woman with brown hair who's happy, confident and a good performer. There's something wrong with how much of a big deal it is. I watch the telly & see loads of guy bands who could all have a similar description. Females are still relatively uncommon & therefore I get asked this same question all the fucking time.

I promise to never mention her name to you again.  How do you compare your fanbase you formed in Australia starting out – where you received some great success and awards - to those in the States you’ve garnered since?
Alana: I feel we're lucky to have a slowly-building group of really supportive, friendly people helping us grow in all the different territories we're attempting to cover. Being on the road can feel quite isolating at times (funnily enough), but when people come up to talk to you after a show, and show encouragement through the internet etc, it makes you feel really nice and gives you confidence to keep investing all your time and energy into what you're doing. We find American audiences, in particular, really vocal - they'll yell out EXACTLY what they think - for good or bad! [laughs] At least you know where you're at!

‘Sukkafish’: we can’t get enough of it. Such a different direction for the band with the banjos, chimes and then the rigid hitting guitar. Please tell us all you can!
Well, I can tell you it's my Dad's favorite as well [smiling]. We wrote this song to have a good stomp - In its original form, on 'The Ouch, The Touch', there were tracks of banjos as well, but with Deck we were given the opportunity to really strip it back and build it up, piling extra banjo, fiddle, boot-whacks, clanging metal and all manner of miscellanea on top of the original guitar line!. It turned into a real wonderland! [laughs] I think people get really confused about the lyrics, though. It's kind of about, well... Ned Kelly, and Bonnie and Clyde. A man decides to top himself by swallowing a fish (seals always swallow fish head-first so the scales don't get lodged in their throat and choke them), leaving a note for his woman.. When I hear the final song I imagine Patience sitting at the base of a tree, slowly being surrounded by little cartoon birds and animals, playing instruments, kind of like Dot and the Kangaroo.

I'm confused but it sounds brilliant so I'll digress. What are your plans after your tour is finished? I’m sure you are already itching for the studio. Any new material we can see soon?
Hmm.. I think you need to take [your previous question] into account with this one! We've been so incredibly busy, setting up and releasing the FIRST album all over the world, touring our guts out, that we haven't had time to complete a single song in over a year!. Gosh.. The plan is to tour 'Gravity..' for another 4 - 6 months, then finally stop and start remembering how to write again! [laughs] The important thing is not to put any pressure on ourselves, songs will build again when the time is right.