{"id":28591,"date":"2015-11-06T08:00:55","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T21:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=28591"},"modified":"2016-03-05T12:40:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-05T01:40:03","slug":"adam-spark-of-birds-of-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2015\/11\/adam-spark-of-birds-of-tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Spark of Birds of Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cThe idea mainly spawned from when we were away a lot over the last couple of years.\u00a0 We always have to introduce ourselves and say here have a listen prior to going in and giving them sampler things and all that stuff. I don\u2019t know, it kind of dawned on us that when you\u2019re doing that sort of stuff how much material you\u2019ve actually got *laughs*\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: Somehow\u00a0Birds of Tokyo\u00a0snuck up on us. In the dozen years since forming in Perth these five unassuming guys have gradually grown – song by song, gig by gig – into Australia\u2019s biggest contemporary rock band.\u00a0They may not yet be household names but their\u00a0songs have been heard in everyone\u2019s home. The group has won multiple ARIA and APRA awards. They\u2019ve co-headlined virtually every important music festival in this country. They\u2019ve had tracks in major TV and film campaigns and even played the AFL Grand Final.\u00a0Even so, for most people Birds of Tokyo have still somehow \u2018flown under the radar\u2019.\u00a0Until now.\u00a0Their new compilation album,\u00a0Playlist<\/em><\/strong>, gathers all these songs (and 10 more) into one undeniable 18-track bundle. \u00a0For all but their most hardcore fans, the\u00a0collection is a revelation. Casual listeners will be surprised to realize that\u00a0they actually already know the words and melodies for most of these tunes.<\/p>\n

We chatted to \u2018Sparky\u2019 as he was introduced, much to the laughs of Adam which was the perfect way to start the interview, he filled us in on the band\u2019s new collection \u2018Playlist\u2019, a look back at these tracks, touring, new music, and much more\u2026<\/p>\n

How did the idea come up for \u2018Playlist\u2019 and why was now the right time to put this out?<\/strong>
\nI think a number of reasons, I think first of all I don\u2019t know in the near future where records are going and if these opportunities are going to exist anymore, so that sort of seemed like the time to try and at least get a moment out like that that at least made sense to us before that opportunity disappears. The idea mainly spawned from when we were away a lot over the last couple of years. We always have to introduce ourselves and say here have a listen prior to going in and giving them sampler things and all that stuff. I don\u2019t know, it kind of dawned on us that when you\u2019re doing that sort of stuff how much material you\u2019ve actually got *laughs* and coinciding with that we feel like with all the CD\u2019s going away we thought why not before we take another step musically, we\u2019re sort of working on this big record at the moment it seemed like the right time to say \u2018here\u2019s the end of this phase\u2019 or whatever, here\u2019s what we\u2019ve done to date, it\u2019s kind of going to change a bit from here maybe, so yeah\u2026<\/p>\n

What was the process like putting this package together?<\/strong>
\nIt was pretty easy, man.\u00a0 We tried to make it almost like a set list for like a show or a festival or something, and like what do we like, what do we know reacts with people live and all this sort of stuff, so we built it kind of like a show and then changed the order around, clumped songs together by their certain sort of times or whatever.<\/p>\n

What was it like looking back at some of these tracks and essentially working backwards on the growth and evolution of the band, did you sort of feel that when you put it in order?<\/strong>
\nYeah totally and it\u2019s funny because when you put that stuff together it\u2019s like shit, it gives you a real sense of how different the band sounded over *laughs* the time we\u2019ve been doing it, it\u2019s like does that really belong on a record with that thing? It sounds kind of weird\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

When I was listening and you have \u2018Silhouettic\u2019 and then \u2018Anchor\u2019 it really feels like a different band\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah totally but you know it\u2019s a nice little pre cursor to what we\u2019re working on at the moment, I guess it\u2019s kind of our thing that we\u2019ve grown to really love about the work that we do, we don\u2019t always love our old work it\u2019s cool of course, but that\u2019s one of the things that drives us, see how far we can take this vehicle left and right and see what we can get away with and we get to explore our whims and desires and all that. It\u2019s very motivating for us to not stay in one place.<\/p>\n

Did you stop to look back at some of the songs and think \u2018shit, we\u2019re pretty awesome\u2019 actually?<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Oh all the time\u2026 I don\u2019t know man, we don\u2019t really listen to that stuff to be honest, I don\u2019t know, the more you do it the more you start to realise we don\u2019t know what we\u2019re doing but we\u2019ve been able to pull it off for a long time now *laughs* it\u2019s like ugh\u2026 no one\u2019s noticed\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

When you go back and look at the singles, do you in fact have a favourite?<\/strong>
\nUm\u2026 not really\u2026 actually there\u2019s one on there that I\u2019ve never really doubted and I\u2019ve never had a bad moment with and it\u2019s one called \u2018Circles\u2019, everything else you have a bit of an up and down with but that one for me never really waivered, and I don\u2019t know why, it\u2019s not an exceptionally interesting song or anything but it\u2019s just something really timeless and beautiful about it for me anyway.<\/p>\n

Does doing something like this stir the band up and for thoughts of new material for an album soon, if so when do you think we might expect something?<\/strong>
\nI was literally just talking about it with my label boss two seconds ago before you rang *laughs* I\u2019d really like to get in the studio at the start of next year, we\u2019ve been sort of working on this large, large body of work for a year or two now, writing and writing and writing and we did an EP earlier this year which kind of pulled some songs out of the body of work to do that. It\u2019s just kind of getting in the spot where the songs are right and they\u2019re getting close now, so I\u2019d expect hopefully over the next month we can start getting our demos together and sending them out and seeing how we can actually pull it off because it\u2019s a big sweeping epic this one, it\u2019s a bigger bite to try and chew off that the last lot of things we did. Large is what we like to do and large is what we\u2019re going for, largest thing we\u2019ve ever done is wat we\u2019re going for on this one, so how far can you take the ridiculousness and the epicness. *laughs*<\/p>\n

Touring wise you\u2019re gearing up for a big summer, is this going to be essentially a \u2018playlist\u2019 tour of all the hits?<\/strong>
\nNo not really, being a lot of festivals it\u2019s just a matter of sort of playing ones you know have a good vibe live I suppose, they\u2019re not your shows, I think invariably there\u2019s always going to be the big single sort of tracks in that, but there\u2019s some on there that say aren\u2019t on that record for example that definitely a live thing because they\u2019re a bit rockier and more energetic kind of ones.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also playing one of the nights at Taronga Zoo\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah we\u2019re going to try something different with that, we did this thing a few years ago called \u2018Broken Strings\u2019 it was like this orchestral kind of thing, and this time around we\u2019re going to do a thing I\u2019ve jokingly called \u2018Broken Wires\u2019 which is sort of a play on that idea with the view of doing a big version of it later next year. So it\u2019s not going to be a normal \u2018Birds\u2019 set, that one\u2019s gonna be pretty beautiful I think.<\/p>\n

So in the ten years or so of being in the band, you have your playlist, but let\u2019s look at highlights, has there been a moment in your time together that stands out above all others?<\/strong>
\nYeah I mean every now and then you\u2019ll catch yourself playing some crazy sort of show or something, it could be the AFL Grand Final, that was pretty nuts, or playing a festival in Northern California at a big festival and you\u2019re catching yourself going \u2018shit, look where I am, there\u2019s 20,000 people here, how the hell do they know us?\u2019 I think for me it\u2019s moments like that, there\u2019s highlights playing Splendour a couple of years ago, and I think it was one of the first times we played \u2018Lanterns\u2019 and just the energy and the vibe was completely surreal and overwhelming and there\u2019s footage of it where you see the guys on stage just turn around, crack up and say \u2018what the fuck is happening?\u2019 *laughs* Those things for me are the real highlights because you find yourself in these really hyper, unreal kind of moments.<\/p>\n

Other side of that, what for you has been the most notable change within the way the band works over those ten years?<\/strong>
\nI think it\u2019s sort of figuring out how we work best and what everyone does best and respects that. Not everybody is an all in five like song writing type person sort of thing, so a couple of us do that, a couple of us are much better at planning stuff for live shows and all those sorts of things and what we\u2019re doing for production, you know, all the boring stuff like that. As a bigger part of it it\u2019s more about learning everyone\u2019s personalities and knowing when not to tread on people\u2019s toes and argue and try to avoid rubbing people the wrong way because everyone\u2019s got such different personalities in the group so I think as we sort of go through and learn what everyone does best and let them do it, that\u2019s sort of been one of the biggest learning curves I think, and we still don\u2019t have that right, I think we\u2019re 30% of the way there. *laughs*<\/p>\n

Lastly, let\u2019s look ahead to the future, so grab your crystal ball, finish this sentence for me, in 2016, Birds of Tokyo will\u2026<\/strong>
\nRelease a record and try and get back on the road in Australia and tour heaps, there\u2019s so many places we want to do and we haven\u2019t had a big tour for a long time here, so that\u2019s my 2016 anyway\u2026<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/span><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Australia<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong> Ian Kenny, Adam Spark, Glenn Sarangapany, Ian Berney, Adam Weston<\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Playlist \u2013 (EMI Music)<\/p>\n

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Website:<\/strong>\u00a0 http:\/\/www.birdsoftokyo.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n