Bassist and laptop extraordinaire, Paul Bender, talks about the dynamics of Hiatus Kaiyote. “I’d played with Simon (Mavin) our keys player a bit prior to this,” Bender says. “I met him early on when I moved to Melbourne through a host of random gigs together. Before Melbourne, I was in Miami. I was over there doing a jazz degree being a full jazz nerd,” he says, continuing his explanation of how the group works together. “Our harmony is what unites us as a band; the fact that’s always been there. Everyone has such good ideas all of the time and if you ever feel like you don’t have something to contribute, there’s always someone else with a great idea that we’ll want to work on. For me personally, that’s the most exciting part, just getting in a room together and spending quality time fleshing out some new ideas and trying so many new things. It’s always that first time you try an idea and nail it that’s the most exciting.”
Having said that, the band still began as a vehicle for Palm’s solo songs. “Nai already had a whole bunch of songs she’d written and from there the first process of the band was learning her stuff and finding our own way of interpreting it and fleshing it out,” he explains. “Since the beginning though, we’ve done a lot more collaborative writing and every song has come together in a totally different way. It’s not the kind of project where anyone in the band could ever be replaced; everyone brings something so specific.”
Bender returned to Melbourne (originally from Tasmania) after studying in the land of jazz – the USA. “At the time, I was coming out of school and I knew music was what I wanted to do,” he says. “I wanted to see somewhere else in the world and I also wanted to study and it just made sense to me, with what I was into at the time, to try to get into a US school.. That’s where that music originated. I knew dudes would be really serious about it over there and really onto their shit. I flirted with the idea of going back for a number of years; I made a lot of really good friends over there that are scattered all throughout America. But Melbourne is really happening, there are so many amazing musicians and it’s really inspiring to be a part of something where there are so many awesome things bubbling up everywhere.”
While audiences are drawn in by Palm’s captivating vocals, Hiatus Kaiyote manage to straddle the line between pop appeal and hard bop jazz and while the songs appear initially to be easily digestible, there is a whole load of experimental choices going on in the background. “The fact that we have such an amazing front person that is super charismatic and super talented helps any band reach people,” he says. “Often the front person is people’s way into a project. If we weren’t doing this band – me, Simon and Perrin (Moss) – would be in other bands using all of the same skills and technical aspects but we get to do that in this project. Given that the songs are so strong and the vocals are so strong, it’s a doorway into a larger audience. Nothing was ever a conscious decision, it’s just that Nai has that effect and is that sort of performer. People really seem to like us because people are really drawn to her doing her own thing and we can do some crazy, bullshit behind her and everyone’s totally fine with it. There’s a strong song and a strong vocal and we’re just doing some super weird shit underneath all of that. It’s so great that I feel we can get away with our most bizarre ideas and still have people on board. Just because I like strange musical ideas doesn’t mean I ever want to alienate anyone.”
After a studio reshuffle, the band are planning on getting ready for the musical conference Mecca of SXSW. “The plan after this tour is to set up a new studio space,” he says. “Tawk Tomahawk was largely recorded and mixed in a share house that me, Simon and Perrin were living in with a few other guys which is sadly no more but we’ve found a new headquarters that we need to set up as our studio space and then we’ll get back into working on another record. We’ve also got plans to be overseas next year; we’ve been accepted into SXSW and a few other things are waiting to be confirmed.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
