“The flute, well it’s kind of funny,” says heavily bearded frontman Dave Adams. “We have one guitar [Tim Parry] and he’s the best rhythm guitarist I’ve come across. He’s not lead guitar – the flute kind of acts as the lead guitar, it’s the highest-pitched instrument. And Lauren [Bell, flautist] has a ton of effects, she’s got this pedal she uses. It’s a handy instrument!”
Adams explains that Bell and Parry were two of Lamarama’s founding members, but there have been a few lineup changes since the group came together in 2009. “The band’s had more members than Spinal Tap, but we’re really feeling it at the moment, we’ve finally found the perfect combination,” he says. One recent amendment was a straight fare welcome swap – Madi Weybury left bass duties to rejoin the Woohoo Revue, while the Revue’s bassist Kat Ades has crossed the floor to join the Lamas.
Adams insists the teamwork is efficient. “Well, I’m using the word ‘efficient’ loosely,” he concedes. “We rehearse once a week. We make a big bowl of pasta, buy a slab of beer and just chill out. And I think that’s what keeps the band together – that’s more important than the rehearsal. We’ve really created a family vibe in the band. We’ve never had a tense rehearsal at all. When rehearsals are good fun, the music’s good. That’s what I think.”
Songwriting begins when Adams or Parry come up with a skeleton structure, “a template, if you will,” and then the rest of the band write their own parts. “It’s just when everyone else adds their flavours it becomes the Lama sound,” he says. “I am not capable of writing horn parts. And that way it’s a creative process for all of us, it’s not like two of us write the songs and people turn up to work and read dots. It’s collective but it’s ordered; we build the song up from the ground.”
Adams likes to write lyrics using an improvisational method, keeping lines or turfing them depending on how each rehearsal goes. “I think when you improvise lyrics it comes from a really creative, spontaneous moment, rather than sitting down at a notepad,” he says. “People ask me what a song’s about, and sometimes I know and sometimes I don’t know. When I don’t know, they say, ‘Was it about this?’ and I think, ‘Well, yeah!’ Actually, well said. It’s funny, a lot of the time I’m figuring out what songs are about at the same time as the audience is,” he laughs.
“Sometimes they’re random, but that’s fun because people want to find a pattern. Art’s about thinking, about interpreting what you’re looking at. If you’re looking at a painting and it’s a cow, well then that’s that. But if it’s in space, why is it in space? That’s a very strange thing for me to say. But I think there’s a point there; I think I’ve made a good point,” he chortles.
As for agreeing on the band name, if there was any contention around it would’ve been put to bed when The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne told Parry that he thought it was a brilliant title. Coyne’s quote is on all of Lamarama’s promo material, and why wouldn’t you? While the legend was in Melbourne, Parry happened to meet him and did the gentlemanly thing by walking him to Cherry Bar. On the way, Parry mentioned his own group. “That’s a cool band name!” Coyne enthused. “Can I quote you on that?” the guitarist immediately responded. The answer was a jovial affirmative. That’s a pretty special endorsement.
BY ZÖE RADAS
