After Michael Badger’s first, and much hyped band, Sparrows fell apart some years ago, he sat down alone in his studio and started writing songs, layering sonic soundscapes over pop songs. Once there was an album’s worth of material written and demoed he put it up on Myspace and told all his muso friends to have a listen, plans were make over a few drunken nights out and Demon Parade was formed.
Music Feeds: What’s the best thing about playing in The Demon Parade?
Michael Badger: Apart from the seedy nights out and substance abuse I enjoy how diverse our musical stylings are. We never have any limitations in what sort of sounds we think we should make. So each time we’re working on something new it’s exciting to have the infinite feeling of having the opportunity of taking a composition in one of many different directions.
MF: You guys supported BJM on their last Australian tour, what was that like? Did you have any cool chats with Anton or the other guys in the band?
MB: Sure, we had plenty of good chats. They are an extremely friendly and welcoming band. We certainly learnt about Anton’s exuberant love for John Lennon and how he’s not so keen on Paul McCartney. It wasn’t the kind of crazy drunken tour that most would have come to expect from watching Dig.
MF: Tell me about the recording of the album?
MB: We’ve recorded the drums at a great Melbourne studio called Hot House in St Kilda. There’s a really great sounding vintage Neve desk and a great concrete stairwell for natural reverb, which gives us a sound that can’t be emulated anywhere else. After the drums were tracked we took all the files back to my studio (Jaya Jaya Studios) and tracked the rest of the instruments there in my own time when it suits me.
Tony Lash comes into the picture for mixing. We’ve not met him in person as he’s based in Portland, Oregon – yet I think we’ve probably sent 1000+ emails back and forward this year conversing over the mixes. It’s the first time we have had someone outside of the band work on the production process and it was a very deliberate decision to do so. Up to this date I have recorded and mixed everything myself, but sometimes you just need some fresh ears to come along and make some decisions because they’ll often have a little more perspective.
We started the initial recording sessions a couple of days before Christmas last year and we’ve just finished up now. It was our choice to take our time on this one and we’ve written a bunch of new songs along the way, which has been of great benefit to the record. Keep an eye out for the album later this year.
MF: Which bands would you most like your music to be compared to in terms of likeness?
MB: I’m a lover of music from all era’s and genre’s so it doesn’t bother me who we’re compared too as long as it’s decent. We’ve recently been compared to some late 80s bands from England like the Stone Roses and their counterparts, but I’m sure that’s probably just due to the photo on the cover of our single.
MF: Why have you decided to make the first single of the new album a free download?
MB: People that don’t want to pay for it will find a way to get it for free either way. You can have options like they get the song, we get their email address so you can stay in touch about shows and future releases etc. It’s an important tool for bands trying to establish a fan base.
MF: You guys are playing on a great line up at Tone this Friday night; do you know much about the other bands that you’re playing with?
MB: I’ve seen Sister Jane many times in Melbourne and I love watching them play. Three of them also play in Belles Will Ring whom we’ve done a number of shows with, so we’ve drunk a lot of beer together. I’ve also seen The Preachers and The Go Roll Your Bones in Melbourne and was pretty impressed so it’s a nice feeling to have the control to be ensured that the quality of music at our single launch will be top notch.
MF: After the single launches, what are your plans in terms of touring?
MB: We are going to finish up a couple of the new tracks we’ve written and recorded at the last minute for the record so we don’t have any immediate plans for another nation wide tour. We did that twice last year and it’s mentally and financially draining. The main objective is to have the completed album mixed and mastered in our hands in the next month or so and then we’ll be looking to get back on the road and promote the crap of out of the album.
MF: Imagine for a moment, you’re as massive as U2 and you can request anything on your rider, would what you guys ask for?
MB: I think I’d like to have my own house on a trailer. It would have my recording studio, my couch, which I prefer to sleep on over my bed, and having my pets on tour would make me feel right at home.
MF: What kind of pets do you have?
MB: I’ve got a dog called Sid as well as a few cats. If you listen closely to our records you can usually hear Sid barking in the background because he never shuts up.
Check out Demon Parade in Sydney this weekend – minus backing vocals from Sid the dog. They’re playing at Tone Friday 17th of June with Sister Jane, The Go Roll Your Bones and The Preachers.
