The boats :: Story
And so it began...a jam on a cool autumn night in May 2003, between two old friends and two prospective drummers. Paul Guseli (Front of Van) turned up with his custom vintage drum kit and less than 15 minutes into the jam, Jona Byron (The Dirty Royals, The Waiting Place) and Nick Conolly (Miasma, The Daze, The Waiting Place) knew that this was the birth of something special.
The next 6 months saw the band work on improvisational material, combining structured songs with spontaneous jams. During this time, The boats recorded various rehearsal sessions to tape, including some amazing moments in the beautiful Olinda hills...some of these moments were compiled into a 2003 demos EP.
The boats played their first show at Good Morning Captain in early 2004, with long improvisational jams that captured the ears and curiosity of many punters. The live gigs continued, followed by radio interviews. But it was the Museum show with Seascapes of the Interior & Chris Cobilis (The Tigers) that developed the band's reputation as a new, unique and dynamic force. This paved their way for higher profile shows including a packed mini-EP giveaway gig with Black Cab at The Tote, at which one punter aptly described them as "...the band who should have written the soundtrack to Surf Nazis Must Die".
After 2004 the boats went into hiatus for a year and regrouped in 2005, and the magic was still there, even after so long apart. Overdubs for their overdue debut album (that begun in 2004) were finished and the band returned to the live scene again. In 2006 between balancing their own projects, the boats managed to compile a few album tracks and two live rehearsal tracks recorded in May 2006, to make the EP 'Perennial Love'. Released as a short run through Big Rig Records. It was a chance to promote the band again and prepare listeners for what was to come. The boats had a packed out EP launch at the Empress Hotel in Oct ‘06, with support from The Spheres, and some generous airplay on PBS and RRR FM (especially the show Delivery), and they also played a grand show with Lions Light, The Spheres and Guns of St Sebastian at Loop Bar electundra sessions in Oct, and won over a crowd at Rubys Lounge in Belgrave as part of a benefit concert the week before.
In this auspicious new year the boats have played an instrumental night called 'The Drawing of Sound', organised by Zac Keiler (instrumentalist and label owner of Dreamland Recordings), with some other great local acts including Cam Butler, Three Month Sunset and Retail Fireworks. An Internet radio site called New Found Frequency recorded the concert, and Jona was interviewed about the progress of the band and their plans.
The boats also recently played up a storm to at Spoon Bar as part of the Sydney Rd, Brunswick Music Festival.
The boats are an atmospheric, dynamic and a beautifully improvised instrumental experience, creating sonic sketches of looped guitars, bass and drums... conjuring up moments of Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, The Necks, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Ennio Morricone, Set Fire to Flames, Dirty Three...while at the same time remaining truly unique in their delivery. Often being described as surf-rock, post-rock and even 'the new jazz'. The boats deliver their debut effort 'Los Musicos Perdidos' in 2007.
Album Press Release
The boats – Los Musicos Perdidos - 2007
Imagine you're walking through a dark forest, that the city has been left behind in ashes, that your journey has only just begun and everything looks like charcoal and smoky light. Even the trees bend sideways to let the sun shine through after your dark ride through cascading storms and dog trail nights…this is the music of the boats.
The boats have emerged with an emotive album of material that represents the birth of a very strange and beautiful kind. 'Los Musicos Perdidos' was recorded to analog tape over two weekends in 2004 at Intrepid Studios; a small studio in the rainforest of Olinda (just outside of Melbourne). The result is exactly that ... two weekends of eclectic, instrumental music.
For the next year or so the boats went into a hiatus, each to their own, things to resolve, lives to live. After regrouping in 2005, the album was finished with some beautiful overdub additions from Rae Howell (The Sunrwae Ensemble) and Alistair Watts. The boats debut album is the valorous sound of a band captured in the first stages of their evolution. The boats deliver their debut effort 'Los Musicos Perdidos' in 2007.
The boats talk about their 2006 EP 'Perennial Love' (excerpt from the liner notes...Sep. 2006)
So we've been in hiatus for a while now...and through our synchronized trials and tribulations, we've learnt much about a thing or two...one thing is to keep playing music no matter what state the world is in, especially when it feels as if your brain and heart have been mashed into a fine paste... Anyway, these recordings are a taste of our album originally recorded live in Olinda over two weekends in 2004, and finished with the odd overdub in the last year...it's raw, it's analog and that's just the way we like it. We've also included 2 rehearsal tracks recorded live to mini disc in May '06. Listen in a dim room, preferably with some tobacco and red wine.