The Growl – “I Remember Wanting All The Parts To Be Quite Visceral”

Just when you thought WA couldn’t possibly produce another high quality psychedelic, stoner rock act the likes of Tame Impala and Pond – along comes The Growl from Fremantle with their cracker of a debut album, What Would Christ Do??.

Although all three acts are interconnected through the sharing of various band members, The Growl’s particular brand of backyard blues plays with a much grittier, down in the dirt fibre than Tame Impala or Pond – helping distinguish the band from it’s WA counterparts.

Wanting to know a little more about the band, Music Feeds sent off some questions to The Growl’s driving force, Cameron Avery. Kindly obliging and answering our immature queries, Avery writes about making Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker cry, writing music on the toilet and air cunnilingus.

Music Feeds: Did you know that ‘goin’ the growl’ is a euphemism for oral sex? Was that a factor in settling on the band name The Growl?

Cameron Avery: Haha I found that out after, but some guy at Brisbane airport yelled at us “what’s your band called!?!”, he was going the opposite way on the travellator, after a said “The Growl”, he goes “oh fuck yeah!!” and proceeded to give …air cunnilingus?… Is the only way to describe it, whilst making a “GGRRRRR” sound. Made my day.

MF: The Growl recently released their debut record What Would Christ Do??. How did you come to choose such a provocative album title?

CA: There’s a lot of biblical references on the record, and I’ve always been intrigued by religion as a whole. My dad’s a pastor. So it seemed all to serendipitous when I asked my girlfriend at the time what I should call the record and she said “winner winner chicken dinner”, having no idea that those initials where the same as ‘what would christ do?’ so when I wrote them down and realised, I freaked out. WWCD is something I jest about a fair bit. As in… “ask him, ‘apparently’ he has all the answers.”

MF: What Would Christ Do?? is, at times, instantly accessible but also challenging and substantial. Was the band looking to record an album that would have immediate impact and also the promise of longevity?

CA: I wasn’t really thinking anything when I was writing these songs. I remember wanting all the parts to be quite visceral, but the majority of them were quite primal in conception, wasn’t really looking to do anything.

MF: Can you give a little colour on the band’s current single Liarbird?

CA: That song was always a bit tongue in cheek, still is… I remember joking with Clint, telling him I’d written a 4 chord #1 on the weekend and we were gonna be rich, so whilst it seemed very novel I still felt some conviction because the situation that song arose from was a pretty huge thing in my life.

MF: The music video for the single Liarbird features Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker crying in a boat. What did you do to him?

CA: Gave him my shirt and put him in a boat, he’s a natural.

MF: The Growl’s frontman Cameron Avery drums in Pond, which is partly made up of members from Tame Impala. Why can’t you all just stick to one band?

CA: Everybody writes songs, thus everyone has their own musical project, and why would you get anybody else in your new band. If you had a broken sink and you have a close mate who could fix it for you and has fixed it before, why the fuck would you ask anybody else to do it.

MF: When people hear Tame Impala and Pond they’ll make certain assumptions based on association as to how The Growl sound. But how does The Growl’s music differ from your fellow WA counterparts?

CA: I write the songs in The Growl, Kevin writes the songs for Tame Impala and Nick, Jay or Joe respectively write the songs for POND. Different minds, different ears, different parents, different upbringings, different likes, different dislikes.

MF: Your music has been described as ‘garage’ and ‘backyard’. Did any other areas of the house prove to have an influence of The Growl’s sound?

CA: I wrote ‘douse the lamps’ on the toilet.

MF: What do you think Christ would do when goin’ The Growl?

CA: I dunno if he would, he’d probably be too afraid of getting busted by his dad.

What Would Christ Do?? by The Growl out now. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen.

Watch: The Growl – Liarbird

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