Ones to Watch: The Planets Collide

The Planets Collide recently signalled their way into an edition of PULSE and we, that is to say I, couldn’t help but wax all kinds of lyrical about the groovy, spacious, multicoloured waves the self-titled debut EP made in all its psychedelic, dancey, shoegaze glory.

Said EP is out at the moment on The Planets’ BANDCAMP and SOUNDCLOUD, so you’ve no excuse to get on board this rocket ship and dig it! As you can see, I am not in any way groovy. I cannot talk hip, and it’s unlikely I’ll twist any melons, man. However, I know good groovy, and The Planets Collide’s unique spin on the likes of Primal Scream and Spacemen 3 is good groovy. For this reason, I bagged myself a few Qs and some great As with Stephen Dunham who is the man that makes those planets collide. Enjoy.

Right then, hello and how are you?

Hi there, I’m very well thank you.

For the uninitiated among us tell us a bit about The Planets Collide?

The Planets Collide is a solo project that I have been developing for the better part of 2 years.  I wanted to try something different than I what I had done in the past, which was mainly traditional Psychedelic and Shoegaze music, which I love. The sound is heavily based around the Organ, Dance rhythms and strange, almost science fiction type soundscapes, with many similarities to my influences but also with my own individual twist. I like to think of it as a merging of Old School Dance and Psychedelia with a modern edge.

You’ve very recently gotten your debut EP out there, how’s the reaction been to it?

So far the reaction seems to have been very positive which I am happy about! The EP was only released about a month ago, so I’m hoping that its full audience is yet to be reached, but so far so good.

Speaking of the EP, you recorded it with Ben Simms from Violet Swells. How’d that come about? How was the recording process?

I have known Ben since High School and we have played in many bands over that time. We both share many of the same influences and have discovered a lot of music together over the years. At the start of the year he asked if I wanted to come down and record a single at his home studio in Hobart, Which is about a two hour drive from Launceston where I live and I happily accepted. Ben is a huge audio wizard and loves to step up his audio gear and the quality of his recordings at every chance he gets, so I think he was excited at the idea of recording someone else’s music  for a change.  I had demo recordings of the four songs that ended up on the EP along with a couple of samples I wanted to use for the single that I recorded at home. After sending the tracks to Ben a few days before the recording session was scheduled he pitched the idea of recording an EP instead. Over the course of two days we worked very hard to get the tracks down. My job obviously was to record the material while Ben handled production. I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted the EP to sound so I recommended Ben to have a listen to a few Spacemen 3 albums along with the classic albums, especially on Screamedelica, which goes into a lot of detail about how the album was recorded. The drums and Bass were recorded first with some parts being looped to both save time and give the tracks that kind of Dance/Electronic feel. Then we recorded the keyboard tracks using both modern synthesisers and a vintage organ which I feel made the recordings sound unique. Next step was Guitars and Percussion followed by adding Samples over the top of the tracks then finally Vocals which we left for last. All in all it was a very creative couple of days and quite a relaxed working environment considering we only had a short amount to finish it. It was a big advantage to be able to record on quality gear and with someone who was interested in bringing my vision to life.

You’ve a very distinct sound, with comparisons being drawn to the likes of Primal Scream and Spacemen 3, are these big influences of yours? Who are some other key influences to you and your music?

Both Primal Scream and Spacemen 3 are huge influences on what I’m doing, but I think you can hear many other bands and genre’s throughout the recording. I’m a big fan of 60s music, The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, The 13th Floor Elevators and the list goes on… Although you may not hear the 60s side of things in my music it has definitely been cemented in my mind since I started listening to that stuff, and it always influences me on whatever I’m working on. Shoegaze/Neo Psychedelic bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and The Brian Jonestown Massacre have inspired me greatly to try and create as big of a wall of sound as possible, along with Broadcast which is pretty much 60s pop songs with a modern production in the middle of outer space. Also modern Dance acts like The Horrors and even early gangster Rap beats. I have a pretty broad taste in music so there’s plenty of other music I could rant on about, but those are some key acts that have inspired me to create this sound.

What’s next on the cards for The Planets Collide? Touring? Working towards an album?

Although I would love to tour this EP I am still in the process of trying to figure out how to play it live, which I think I’m close to achieving. My main goal now is to start working on the next release, which will most likely be a full length album. I have some demo tracks I have been working on and I am in quite a creative mind set at this time which is always helpful, so that’s my first priority. I’m also hoping that I can get a physical release of the EP. It’s just a matter of saving up the funds to do so or finding a label that would be happy to take me on.

It’s safe to say you’re quite psychedelic, is there much of a psychedelia scene around you? Anyone you’d recommend?

There have been quite a few psychedelic acts that have come and gone where I live, however there has never really been a psychedelic scene to speak of. Tasmania is isolated from the rest of Australia so there’s a bit of a lack of new bands coming out and it’s hard to get attendance up at shows, at least in Launceston,  but there are some good people who try hard to change that and I’m hoping that in the future we will see more acts.  In Hobart there’s obviously Violet Swells who are great, The Lizard Johnny and B film and The Cannibalistic Po Howard Band are some other names that come to mind, both from Hobart. Down my way there is Teens of Thailand who I play drums for and The 88s who have since relocated to the mainland.

Outside of music and the band, what makes you tick? Any other passions?

I’m a huge film buff and I have a particularly love for 1970s films, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest etc. I also have a guilty pleasure for watching way too much TV, with The Sopranos being my favourite series. Other interests include reading and audio design which I guess is still musical but is a big passion of mine. I’m returning to school to study audio next year. Another interest being sight-seeing as there are some really cool places on this little island I live on and sometimes I think I should be visiting more of them.

The most important question of all, if you had a pet vulture that was especially cultured, what would you call it?

Ha-ha that’s a hard question, I’m not really sure but I think I would go with a Walter White reference and call it ‘Heisenbird’. Thanks for taking the time to read this interview and I hope you both enjoyed it and found it informative.