Sand Pebbles
By Bruce Laird

The back-story of the Sand Pebbles is as colourful as the band’s music. Hanging out with Jeff Bridges in Los Angeles, pulling down screamers at the MCG, wandering through the forests with a mind full of fly agaric mushrooms, chewing the fat with surviving members of the Small Faces, writing scripts for television soap operas, even attending school with the enfant terrible of Internet libertarianism, Julian Assange - it all contributes to the total aesthetic experience that is the Sand Pebbles. Like a novel you can’t put down, there always seems to be another intriguing page in the Sand Pebbles story to explore. 

It’s been two years since the last Sand Pebbles record, the A Thousand Wild Flowers compilation released at the instigation of Galaxie 500 and Luna protagonist Dean Wareham, and three years since the last Sand Pebbles studio album, Ceduna. In that time, the Sand Pebbles have found a new drummer, swapped jobs, given up vices and added to the members’ progeny. “I’ve had two kids, written a novel, gone through a lot of emotions … a lot of stuff’s happened,” bass player Chris Hollow says.

Having relocated to a surf beach near Ceduna on the west coast of South Australia for the band’s previous record, the Sand Pebbles opted for a more conventional location for Dark Magic. “Most of it came about through two sessions we did at Atlantis,” guitarist Ben Michael says. “It’s a really beautiful studio - maybe not to look at, but it’s got beautiful old analogue equipment.”

For most of the band, recording in a larger studio wasn’t particularly a significant event. “We’ve recorded on digital before, but I don’t think we’ve recorded to tape,” observes Hollow. “None of us were nervous in the big studio at the time, but [drummer] Wesley [Holland] – who was 19 at the time – was shitting himself!” Hollow says. “Funnily enough, the first song we did was Blue Eyes in Black and White, and he was really nervous on that song because it was the first time he’d recorded in a studio, but on the last song, Spring Time, he was really loose - but on the record, Spring Time is the first song, and Blue Eyes is the last,” Hollow says.

Sand Pebbles albums have a tendency to sound like composite pieces, rather than a disparate collection of songs, and Dark Magic is no exception. According to the band, however, any thematic musical consistency is subconscious at best.  “We did the launch for the last album at the Toff a couple of years ago, and two of the songs on the new album are on that record, so we’ve had some of the songs for a while,” Michael says. “We had about five or six songs written going into the first session, and when you’ve got five or songs written, it’s time to think ‘time to start’, and the rest will take care of itself,” says Hollow.

The title of the album is taken from a track on the record, though could equally have been chosen as a statement on the music itself - not that Michael and Hollow necessarily agree. “Quite a few of the songs have a dark edge,” muses Michael. “And there’s quite a bit of magic on there,” adds Hollow. “I suppose we didn’t really name the album because of a theme or anything. There’s more a touch of folk on the record, so maybe it picks up on that.”

What isn’t subconscious is the demographic spread of the members of the Sand Pebbles’ membership. With the arrival of Holland on drums, it was quickly realised that the Sand Pebbles had members born in the 50s (Andrew Tanner), 60s (Ben Michael), 70s (Chris Hollow), 80s (Tor Larsen) and 90s (Holland). “I can say for me that because there’s all these other responsibilities, music is a really important part of my life - probably even more so,” Michael says. “And everyone’s at a completely different stage in their life, which I think is a really good thing,”

Holland’s ‘passion and drive’ led the band to benefiting from the mixing services of Tim Holmes (Death In Vegas) and Will Caruthers (Spaceman 3, Spiritualized), when he found himself with the opportunity to play both some Sand Pebbles music, which found immediate favour. “That was Wes’ great contribution to the record, getting those guys to do the mixes - and the mixes they came up with were fantastic, just found something we wouldn’t have,” Hollow says.

The contribution from Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips cements the relationship between the duo and the Sand Pebbles that began a few years ago when Hollow sent them a copy of the band’s second record, Ghost Transmissions.  So when Wareham agreed to bring his Galaxie 500 celebratory tour to Australia, the Sand Pebbles was his first choice as support band. “He’s been involved for a couple of years, and he’s never let us down,” Hollow says. “We’re big Galaxie 500 and Luna fans, and he released those records when that sound wasn’t in vogue. And you go back and listen to them now, and they still hold up just as well.”

It was via a posting on Wareham’s blog last year that the latest curious Sand Pebbles fact leaked out when Wareham revealed that Hollow had attended the same high school as Julian Assange. “Julian and I are the same age, were in the same class,” Hollow explains. “He was just as mysterious and enigmatic then. He was big into the Lord of the Rings. Whenever he felt put upon by other students he would yell, ‘Philistines! You’re all Philistines!’ It made it doubly funny having to go to the school library to look up what it meant,” Hollow laughs.

Sand Pebbles launch their new album at the Northcote Social Club on Saturday September 24. Dark Magic is out now through Dot Dash/Remote Control.

SAND PEBBLES tread bold new territory with their latest release Dark Magic. Bassist CHRISTMAS HOLLOW and Guitar noodler BEN MICHAEL X tell SAMSON MCDOUGALL they’ll be saving their crappy songs for their solo records.

Sand Pebbles are living proof of the healthy state of music in Victoria. They represent a strata of musicians who hold down career-type jobs and dedicate a portion of their free time to the band. That’s not unusual in itself; what is unusual is that they’ve been doing it for about 12 years now and have just released album number five. That’s healthy output by many career-bands’ standards, yet the Sand Pebbles have managed to keep it steadily rolling through the love of creating alone.

            In their latest release Dark Magic, Sand Pebbles enter new songwriting territory. Known mainly for pulsing psychedelic jams, this album sees the band stride ably into more folk-inspired terrain. It’s nothing to freak out about if you are a fan of their mind benders, there’s enough of their ‘usual’ sound on the record to ease the transition. But Dark Magic shows experimentation with new sonic thrust, vocal dynamics, and relationships and complexities between guitars.

            The band are one of the only around to have members’ ages spanning four decades. It’s a strange dynamic, and odd that they found one another at all, yet it grants the five-piece authority over the entire history of rock’n’roll as direct inspiration. With all five active as songwriters, I was curious as to how they can manage to bring it together at all. “The thing that ties us together is a sense of humour really,” says Bassist and self-professed ‘boss’ of the outfit Chris Hollow, “and the music but when we get together it’s always very funny.”

            “Chris and I will be the loudest at expressing our opinions,” says guitarist Ben Michael X, “but someone like AT [Andrew Tanner, guitar/vocals] who’s the wise old silver fox, he just kinda hangs back and ends up getting his own way. Everyone only probably writes one or two decent songs a year. Seriously, all these singer/songwriters who want you to buy ten songs about them breaking up with their girlfriend, fuck that! You end up with two great songs and eight shit ones. You’re better off with five songwriters and you get the best of what they’ve got… We’ll save all the crappy ones for our solo records.”

            Putting me on the spot, Hollow asks which song I like best from the release. Scrambling, I tread the diplomatic route and suggest the folky elements as a point of difference from their previous works. I also, thankfully, point out album closer and exploratory dreamscape Blue Eyes In Black & White, for which Michael X and Hollow claim partial pen duties. “Tor [Larsen, guitar/high vocal parts] went to Scotland and did the Highland Way,” explains Michael X of the folkier elements, “which is a walk across Scotland and what 500-years-ago Scottish youth did to become men. While he was doing that he met lots of freaky people living in huts in the Scottish highlands and just got into folk roots. So a lot of his lyrics on this record are traditional folk songs. Long Long Ago, I’m pretty sure is a 17^th century folk song.”

            Larsen’s vocals find new legs on this release. As a one-in-a-million shot coupling for Tanner’s voice, Larsen steps out of the shadows on Dark Magic and up into shared lead duties. One of the results of this is single Occupied Europe (Take Me Across The Water), in which Larsen’s singing defies his age, experience and even gender. At a recent performance in which Tanner was unable to play, Larsen stepped into full-blown singing duties for the duration and did not miss a beat. After the show I asked whether he’d found it difficult and he said, “I could tell you that I struggled, but really it was just a lot of fun”. This takes nothing from Tanner’s chops, as follow up to the aforementioned single Another Way To Love reinforces – all dulcet harmonies and building guitars – but Larsen’s exploration of his talents is allowing the band a breadth of freedom to delve into new wells of sonic inspiration.

            “The thing about Tor is that he’s just unafraid to be pure, he has that quality,” says Michael X. Hollow adds: “And it made those songs completely different. Most of those songs that night were absolute Andrew staples, so it was like being in a different band. It comes very naturally to him.”

            Sand Pebbles had the honour to be asked to play the Stephen Walker benefit show earlier this year alongside Dirty Three, Dave Graney, Gareth Liddiard and more at the Forum. As long-time fans of Walker’s Triple R radio show Skull Cave, the event touched upon what it means to be part of the music community. “We were fans of Triple R before we were musicians, our goal was never to be on Triple M or Triple J,” says Hollow. “It’s a real thrill. When we’re being played [on the station] everyone still texts each other, it’s still a real buzz.”

            “Being a music fan, I grew up listening to and loving the Skull Cave, it really informed me,” continues Michael X. “It was the first place I heard the Velvets when I was a teenager and the Stooges and all that kind of shit. When we put out Ghost Transmissions I remember being in a shitty mood at home… I got in the car to go out and get some takeaway and [Walker] played Black Sun Ensemble. It was just one of those great moments in music when you go ‘fuck I’ve listened to this station all my life and it’s turned me on to all these songs that inspired me to write these long jammy kinds of songs’ and then to hear it on that station, I was pumping the air.”

            This aversion to the mainstream and passion for music has led the band into a running association with Galaxie 500 and Luna main-man Dean Wareham, which will culminate in Sand Pebbles supporting Wareham in his upcoming tour of Sydney and Melbourne. For Sand Pebbles, to be acknowledged by an artist they admire, be it Stephen Walker, Dave Graney (who offers a fitting passage on Sand Pebbles in his memoir 1001 Australian Nights) or Wareham, far outweighs the prospect of any commercial success.

            “I look at 20-year-olds now in their Nirvana tops and think ‘fuck dudes, grunge fucked music! It fucking ruined it and you are a dead-shit bogan for liking that shit’,” says Michael X. “I’ll go on the record as saying that Nirvana are fuckin’ bogans. There was Luna and Galaxie 500 playing these wonderful, great rock’n’roll songs with so much more beauty and depth.”

            “As an artist, he’s never let us down,” adds Hollow. “He didn’t let us down in the ‘90s and it was all grunge, he still played music that wasn’t fashionable at the time.”

            “If he says ‘do you want me to play guitar on your record’ or ‘do you want me to help put your record out overseas’, that’s like wow,” continues Michael X. “Would you want some businessman liking you or would you want some musician who you’ve grown up respecting liking your records? Like rather than a commercial radio cowboy [hat] wearing cock face or a great musician that you love. It’s no fucking contest.”

The Ghost, Stephen Walker, emotes for Sand Pebbles Dark Magic Northcote S.C. launch

Get Cereal’s Magda and Denis chat to band Sand Pebbles about their new album ‘Dark Magic’, TV based formation and run-in with Meredith Music Festival, among other treats.

http://syn.org.au/program/get-cereal/episode/audio/2011/09/19/getting-neighbourly-%E2%80%98sand-pebbles%E2%80%99/5494

SYN Summit

Ceduna

(Sensory Projects)

Just about every middle class kid with a Lonely Planet guide, a thesaurus of hackneyed eastern philosophical musings and a pair of a designer hessian pants has claimed to have had a transcendental moment. Transcendental, in this context, is often used synonymously (but erroneously) with enlightening. A genuine transcendental moment is said to occur when the witness achieves a higher plane of consciousness, possibly due to the surrounding cultural and environmental conditions, and most likely with the aid of some mind altering substance of valuable potency. But when the drugs wear off, so usually does the moment, and, unless sent spiralling into the waiting arms of a cult with a penchant for liberal sexual activities and micro-managed financial practices, the witness is left with little more than a hazy memory of something that seemed more enjoyable than mundane, everyday existence.

There are plenty of transcendental musical moments to be had without embarking on a journey of self-discovery. Indeed, the liner credits to the new Sand Pebbles record, Ceduna, convey the band’s thanks “to everyone who transcendental with us”. The Sand Pebbles understand the power of a transcendental, psychedelic experience – not in the sense of bright ink blots, purple granny glasses and festering Grateful Dead t-shirts, but in the sense of a moment when you can close your eyes, listen to the music and wait for it to interact with your senses and take you to a different cognitive place. Sure, you don’t stay there forever – but if it was perennial, it’d never be any fun going there.

Ceduna was recorded proximate to the town of the same name, located on the south-eastern coast fringe of South Australia, referred to popularly as the Great Australian Bight. As an artistic statement, Ceduna is a product of its geographical environment. It’s sparse, remote and laconic, an album that you can listen to anywhere, anytime, and feel just that little bit more relaxed, a bit more aware and a helluva lot more in touch. The colours of the album are immediately recounted and illustrated with the opening track Red, orange, purple and blue – it’s bright, but a bit dark on the inside, light but really deep, man, if only you know where to look. Wild Season, in contrast, is a celebration of surf, sand and the beauty of the pop song, played out eight miles high into the psychedelic musical atmosphere. The perfectly crafted harmonies that characterise Short term memory loss are as compelling as David Crosby’s charismatic grin after imbibing some of LA’s finest mescaline (later on, Tina Louise recounts tales of acid fuelled juvenile pranks that would amuse Crosby’s drug-battered brain). The literary inspiration of Tennessee runs a distant second to the haunting, beach bummed television feel of the tune itself and Purple Flower is a love song that gives folk a sparkling mauve tinge. And then there’s the intergalactic brilliance of Future Proofed, a song that both typifies and contradicts western society’s inherently flawed quest to protect itself against the perils of the future, without acknowledging that we’re all only living in the moment, and it’s only this moment that we can deal with.

In Silver Comet the Sand Pebbles take a sharp left back down the glistening, spaced out, surf pop that only few bands even comprehend the existence of, before the final song, Scenic Railway, unrolls slowly into a lazy fifteen minute journey out of the haze, and back into what passes for normality. Like the early morning recovery session with a couple of cigar sized doobies, things stumble back into reality after the wild night spent in wild psychedelic heaven.

And while the Sand Pebbles’ journey is at an end, and the transcendental moments are over, you can’t help but feel you’re all the better for it. Ceduna doesn’t solve world poverty, re-plant old growth rainforests, bring peace to the Middle East, or even eradicate the influence of the mind-numbingly moronic public relations industry from our daily existence. But it does give you plenty of moments that transcend all that shit – and that’s what quality psychedelic music should do.

PATRICK EMERY