Fresh off the release of their latest single ‘Fire in the Water’, WA psych rockers Pond will be hitting the Laneway trail this month, taking their wild 2017 Kevin Parker-produced album, The Weather (amongst a heavy arsenal of back-catalogue faves) to stages across the country.
So, ahead of the brain-exploding shows, we asked band members Nick Allbrook and Shiny Joe Ryan to, well, do our job for us quite frankly and interview each other, all in the name of getting to know each other just that little bit better.
As a result of said interviews, what we’ve got here below is an illuminating conversation that spans such diverse topics as yoga, alternate day jobs, Barrys Irish Tea, hair care tips, taxation and Eddie Murphy. It’s a ride.
Shiny Joe Ryan Grills Nick Allbrook
Shiny Joe Ryan: If you had to get a tattoo of a Pond member’s face, whose face would you get and where on your body would you get it?
Nick Allbrook: Probably yourself bro, in the form of a blind drawing, by Jamie, with the squiggly hair and all.
SJR: You stretch and do yoga a lot, do you think it has any actual benefits?
NA: Nah, I just do it to look cool. I’m sure lying in bed watching telly will provide far more virility and longevity and happiness. Don’t wanna wear out your body too quick, you know? That’s the Donald Trump idea, isn’t it? The more you exercise the quicker your cells get tired and die?
SJR: You get to support any act in the world. Who is it? Any particular reason?
NA: Maybe Erykah Badu… she’s fucking HILARIOUS and seems reeeeally chill and wise and I think she’d probably just sweep away my existential concerns with one mystic breath. Plus there’d be great weed. And she’d like the freakier bits of the music. And her baby-daddy 3 Stacks [André 3000] might be there. And then I’d get to watch her play and I’d die and maybe ascend to whatever plane she built.
SJR: If you had to give up music what would be your ideal job, post entertainer?
NA: Shit dude, you’re scaring me. I dunno….academia? Linguistics? Get real deep on that etymology tip. Maybe I’d just go teach up in Jarlmadangah. Honestly, I’d probably run my own dispensary/yoga studio where no pseudo diet-coke spirituality would be peddled against anyone’s will.
SJR: If you get your drivers license, where are you going to take me to repay the years of driving you around?
NA: Ok, now you’re really scaring me. The answer to both of the above questions is: yes, I am a pathetic excuse for an adult, and no, I cannot do anything for myself. Joey, when I finally get my license I’ll drive you all the way to your Grandmammy’s pub in Nenagh and stay sober enough to get you back to your bed in White Gum. Then back to Tip’ again to find your wallet.
Nick Allbrook Grills Shiny Joe Ryan
Nick Allbrook Preferred hot breakfast beverage. What is it? Why is it so great?
Shiny Joe Ryan: Barrys Irish Tea!!!!! It’s a very flavoursome strong tea from Ireland. A single cup in the morning and you’re wide awake and ready for the day.
NA: Could you recommend any hair care treatments for our loopy-locked listeners?
SJR: I keep a bottle of seawater in the bathroom for the days it’s cold and wet or I cant make it to the beach. I apply it every now and again after my shower. You can buy sea salt products but I feel you need the brine from millennia of crustaceans all ground up and you can only get that by going to the ocean with an empty San Pellegrino bottle.
NA: A few words on the British Empire, if you will?
SJR: Gosh, the British Empire has been responsible for a whole lot of atrocities all around the world. Being Irish I’ve read a lot of history about the British in Ireland. I can’t be angry for their actions in the past. Never forget but don’t hold grudges.
NA: Yesterday you had a very strong look on stage, but I’d like to know, in your opinion, what’s your strongest ever look?
SJR: That’s a hard one. I’d say it would have to involve dungarees and my alpaca cape. Always with dungarees.
NA: Any thoughts on the current taxation system in Australia?
SJR: It’s a good system. It may not be perfect but it’s the best we got.
NA: Bonus round. What’s your favourite quote from Eddie Murphy’s Raw or Delirious? (To be performed at our next meeting/next appropriate moment, for my personal enjoyment.)
SJR: “You ever get like sometimes ye get on that toilet and ye shit, that water splash up on yo’ ass? Don’t that make ye mad, right? You know what really make mad is when the shit is halfway out, then go back up in that mothafocka. Why do shit be teasin’ yo’ ass? Just get the fuck out, right?”
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Pond play at Laneway Festival 2018, which kicks off this weekend. The digital deluxe edition of ‘The Weather’ is out now. Grab a copy here.
