Country Town Collective: more talent than you can poke a stick at. An interview with Alice & Anja.

[Megan Spencer]

Sophisticated. Prolific. Understated. Unassuming. Talented. Professional. Atmospheric. Steamy. Sexy... Just some of the words that come to mind when describing Country Town Collective, Darwin’s darlings of alt.country/folk.

CTC began its life in Adelaide but it now happily calls the NT home. Alice Rae is the lead singer; she was the quiet force behind this year’s Long Way To The Top End tour, the ambitious showcase of contemporary NT bands who wended their way to the 2009 Adelaide Fringe Festival. 'Long Way' left audiences scratching their heads in befuddlement, asking “What's going on in the NT?!”

In spite of their prolific live music output, Houses is the CTC’s very first album release. About time: CTC's Alice Rae – and percussionist Anja Bretfeld (Darwin’s answer to the Velvet’s Mo Tucker), let the cat out of the wriggling bag…

Music NT: How long has the present line up of Country Town Collective been together, and who are the members?
Alice Rae: CTC Darwin has been together for about two years now. The line-up is myself on guitar and vocals, Kim Orchard on lead/slide guitar, Robin Bugden on bass, Anja Bretfeld on drums and Penny Cameron on cello. We have all been in other bands; Penny is in the DSO, Anja played in the Flugendorf Irkestra which is how she came to be in CTC, Robin used to be in a goth band in Perth called Psychodrama, Kim has played in heaps of bands including The Nine Balls of Winmau, Rojak Dua on Christmas Island, Jigsaw and his own band. I used to play drums in a band called Teenage Girls which in retrospect I think influenced me a lot. We used to play at Enigma Bar and we did a heap of obscure cover nights, e.g. from Leonard Cohen to Black Sabbath..

Anja Bretfield: Alice head-hunted all of us. And funnily enough we all get on well with each other. This has especially come about in the last recording session last year and the gig we had in Adelaide, where the collective expanded all of a sudden to 7 or 8 members.

MuNT: The term "collective" is a pretty loaded one.. ! How does it work in a music context? Are you a real collective or is it just a cool name?
AR: At the time I came up with the name; I was writing about Marshall McLuhan and in his first book ‘The Mechanical Bride’ he talks about the "collective dream" of twentieth century culture. He was influenced by Jung's "collective unconscious". So it has many different meanings for me. I like the idea of the band being fluid and we still have band members in Adelaide and Darwin and one (Alex Carpenter) in New York City. His work is also worth checking out - www.myspace.com/transparentmeans - he is influenced a lot by the minimalist movement and music in just intonation (i.e. tuned to natural harmonics). It's him playing harmonics in 'Darling', on ‘Houses’.

AB: We thought it was quite fitting for either Adelaide or Darwin, both still being country towns in the city scape...

MuNT: What kind of music do you all want to make together? Are you all on the same page or do various band members have influence over the direction you take at different times?
AR: I read this question and went "same page” – oh no, no no!!! We have our different influences and we discuss it a lot... For example I love the alt. country scene and at least three other people in the band want to purge all hints of country music from our sound.

AB: Everyone has got their own likings and, one could say, have stopped at a certain moment in time with what they like. But what ís unique is that we all like the sounds we make as Country Town Collective, which includes bringing in bits and pieces that we are familiar with from other listening experiences.

MuNT: How would you describe the sound of the band? And do you feel you're part of the 'alt. folk' movement currently sweeping Australia and the rest of the planet?!
AR: I love the alt. folk movement and would happily be a part of it - I think Bjork was doing alt. folk even in her electronica phase in ‘Debut’ So I think it's been going on for a while. I love Clare Bowditch, Kate Miller-Heidke, Josh Pyke - yep all that kind of stuff really appeals to me. I think I'm most influenced by the Beatles because I love everything they've ever written and it never fails to put me in a happy mood. Crowded House for the same reason.

AB: I reckon folk fits it quite well. Most people expect country coming through and Alice sometimes feels the need to live up to the name. But it ís folky overall. Plus good old Bob Dylan...

MuNT: You recently launched your first album 'Houses' at the Adelaide Fringe - and also in Darwin at the Communiyt Centre in Malak. They must have been two very different experiences - can you give us a snapshot of both?
AB: Both launches were great in their own right. The Adelaide one was fantastic as it was amongst friends and family. And we had almost the whole Darwin music scene launching their CDís with us!

In Darwin we played at Malak at a carpark in front of residents from the northern suburbs with Tracey Bunn and Jigsaw Collective. This was a totally different scene but important to us. We wanted to support the Malak Community Centre and the work Darwin Community Arts are doing out there. Launching our CD in Malak as part of a community festival gave us a great opportunity to do that.

MuNT: Can you describe the process of song writing in CTC?
AR: I imagine the mood I want to create for an audience and go from there.

AB: Alice is the songwriter and usually has an idea in mind as to what the song will sound like. But that mostly changes once the characters of the band translate the vision through their instruments. We are keen to look at collective song writing one day, but that ís a skill which might take some time.

MuNT: Where is CTC right now in terms of its musical evolution - how far down the track are you? Do you feel you have carved out a distinct voice/sound yet? Or is it still a work in progress?
AR: We are at the very beginning. We are probably still too eclectic to have carved out any niche yet but I'm working on it. I want to become more dirgey and more like the Dirty Three...

AB: I agree. We haven’t yet got there to say “This is CTC”. But we’ve got elements, and I believe the eclecticness is a big part of it. I guess it is a challenge for CTC to make music simple and timeless with a hint of being special.

MuNT: How far do you think you'll take CTC - do you have certain ambitions for the band?
AR: My ambition was always to get on Rockwiz and play a gig with You Am I! I think CTC will be something that I do forever but not full-time.... just as long as I have something to say.
AB: We are having fun and fit in the music as well as we can. I reckon a tour to some of the cities and regions around to Australia would be fun especially with the band. And what did we say? Wembley Stadium - one day…

MuNT: What's the best thing about being a band in Darwin - and the toughest? And do you think in order to be successful as a band you need to leave the NT?
AR: Best thing - the great people in the Darwin music scene. Toughest - it's so far to travel anywhere else.

AB: Best thing is that if you want to try something, you just can. We don’t have the capacity to be full-time musicians, having other lives and ambitions as well. In Darwin we can develop slowly. Especially with the Happy Yess giving everyone a stage.

MuNT: What's next for CTC?
AR: We're taking a couple of months off to write some new songs... we hope to record again next December or January. We're hoping to start playing again around August – Darwin Festival time.

AB: To produce the CD and to get ready for the Long Way To The Top End was a pretty busy time. But yeah – the Festival sounds great!

Country Town collective has re-launched their website and you can check out their album Houses there too.

[Rhubee_Neale]

wow!! loved this article. Rhubee Neale