A New Christs Resurrection
Drum Media magazine - Sydney, 8.4.97
An article by Dave Lornie
It's been a long time - eight years actually - since the New Christs released an album, so news of their latest release is most welcome. The album is Lower Yourself and Rob Younger got on the blower to talk about it.
"It's typical of us," he says. "Maybe it's because I write a lot of the stuff. I don't know. But the general essence of everything I've been involved in, for better or worse, is kind of the same. I see Radio Birdman as quite similar too."He sees this as a natural creation process, evolving out of a sort of musical consensus.
"I'm not really a dictatorial type. I don't go in there and say 'This has got to be like this' and all that sort of shit."Rob explains that the album's title is
"a little ambiguous, maybe a little witty to some. I guess it could be another way of saying: 'Get Down'. Whatever. I can see three or four connotations."Although a couple of the album's songs have been around for a while, Rob explains that on the whole it is
"untried material that we knocked out in the studio. We recorded about 16 songs and only about two have ever been played live so it's really fresh in that sense." he adds reflectively: "Sometimes it's not good to do an album when you haven't road-tested the songs, but it remains to be seen I suppose."Rob needn't worry as the songs are classic New Christs and should please anyone who's into this style of music - and aren't we all?
The album has been released on Citadel, a label rob has close ties to, and it is an association he is most happy with.
"Well, it's run by my best friend (John Needham) so what can I possibly say?" he laughs, adding: "I love being on Citadel. I've been involved with the distribution of certain other labels and mostly they just fuck you around, to be blunt about it."The band itself has undergone quite a few personnel changes over the years although Rob has high hopes for the current line-up.
"We've been on and off the road for ages - fucking around, never really coming to the point," he says of the New Christs' previous incarnations. "Maybe we will this time. It's a whole different line-up. The old band was stopped in its tracks. After touring Europe we fell apart the other time. So this band's going over there and hopefully will not repeat the same mistakes."Rob has traditionally recruited band members through word of mouth, the latest line-up being no exception with the new members being "just friends, through the grapevine really".
"We don't place ads or anything," adding laughlingly about longtime drummer Peter Kelly: "We've still got Kelly - fatalitiscally."The New Christs haven't played live for about a year and and Rob sees the band as being a fresh entity when they go out on the road again.
"If people wanted to consider it like a new band and the album as a debut release, I wouldn't mind. They can take it how they want."