White Birds and Lemons - Issue 4

Written by Molly McCarthy

Since forming in 2005, White Birds and Lemons have played to ever-growing crowds in venues throughout Auckland; their live performances an electrifying combination of raw vocals and rich, rambling guitar solos. And this talent hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2007 alone, White Birds and Lemons were nominated for a Bnet award, played at the opening of New Zealand Fashion Week and were included in the 2008 Big Day Out line-up. The band’s unique blend of blues and folk rock sets them apart from Devonport veterans The Veils, The Checks and The Electric Confectionaires. One hot December afternoon Molly McCarthy from MORPH met with drummer Rob Dickens to discuss what’s on the cards for this quirkily named band.

White Birds and Lemons have been together for around two years now - what would you say has changed about the band during that time?
I think the main thing is that we’ve matured and we’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with playing music together and playing music as a whole. We’ve gotten better musically and also gotten a lot better at writing songs – well that’s in my opinion anyway. We’re more comfortable with ourselves and writing in the practice room.

I’ve noticed that your new songs are quite different to some of your earlier work such as ‘Mr Black’  - was that a conscious change of style?
We just write what we write and it just happened that different songs came out when we went to write so we just went with that. I like the new direction and new songs a lot better than the old songs.
I think a lot of that was also how we are learning more to work with each other and emphasise on what someone else is doing. Just to have the whole band working together as a whole rather than people trying to do their own things.
You listen to different things and you get influenced – not to say that you try and copy anything, it’s just you can’t help but let your influences change the way you write. That’s the main thing - just progression.

You’ve got your “mini-album” out now – are there any plans for a maxi-album?
I know stuff always takes longer in this industry – well I now know that – than you want it to. We want to get it out by the end of next year – chances are it probably won’t be out until the next year – but next year’s our goal.
 
Is there such a phenomenon as the ‘Devonport Sound’ that people talk about?
I get quite annoyed with that. I think that there’s a backlash in some areas where people disregard you straight away because you’re a Devonport band. To say that there’s a Devonport sound is ridiculous because think how different The Veils are to The Checks to the (Electric) Confectionaires to us. Half of Frontline came out of Devonport – that’s a completely different thing. I think we’re just bands that have come out of the same area. A few of us came from a similar background but I think the sound that has come out is definitely quite varied and different.

What has been the best thing about being a part of White Birds and Lemons?
Just writing music and hearing something you’ve created – for me that’s the most rewarding thing. I’ve taken time off Uni now to do music full time more or less. I really enjoy playing live and I’m enjoying playing live better these days seeing as I can drum now. For me it’s just creating something. Especially when you’ve recorded that and made a really nice recording. Then hearing it back and hearing the whole thing, that’s where it kicks in.

What have been the best opportunities you’ve been given as a result of being in the White Birds and Lemons?
Being able to focus on music. We’ve got lots of plans to travel next year and we are definitely going to get over to England and the US at some point next year. That’s just come from music and I’m really happy that that’s come along, it’s a pretty good opportunity. Otherwise I’d be doing something completely different - I’d be back at Uni, straight into a 9-5.

Do you think you’ll be received well in the UK and US?
We’re planning to do just a couple of gigs, not really planning to move there in the short term. In the long term we have a vision of getting over to the US depending on what happens in the near future and the not so near future. I think that you just write what you write and it just happens. I guess that the new stuff we’ve written is, in a way, more commercial. Not in a bad way or anything but it’s probably safe to say. I think that it’s more likely that we’ll get a better reception now.

You’ve done a few shows outside of Auckland, have you noticed anything different between Auckland audiences and other New Zealand audiences?
Hamilton crowds are definitely a bit different but then again every show is different and every venue’s different. We’ve played a few semi-rough shows - we had a Hamilton gig where this dude was dancing with no shirt on at the front and people were freaking out and then he got completely naked while we were playing and he was dancing around. I don’t think that would happen many places here (in Auckland), not at our gigs anyway.
The times we’ve been down to Wellington I’ve really enjoyed it. I think that the way that they go and watch music there is probably slightly different. I think it’s more open to listening rather than “these guys are cool”.

So 2007 has been quite a big year for the White Birds and Lemons – what with a Bnet nomination, the release of your debut mini album and being announced amongst the bands for the 2008 Big Day Out line up. If you’d been told that when you first started out – would you have believed that?
Because we’d seen that stuff like that was possible and not too unrealistic by our friends The Checks and the Electric Confectionaires – both having played at Big Day Out - it sort of seemed that if you just did it right then you could get those kind of things. Of course playing at Big Day Out was one of my big goals and it’s really awesome that that’s come through. I’m really happy about it but again I would have been disappointed if we couldn’t push ourselves to the level where we’re good enough to be on that line up. But I’m really really happy.  

Big Day Out has a history of bands putting on quite a show. One thing that comes to mind is front man Jaisi Sheehan’s white skin suit when the Electric Confectionaires played in 2006. Have you guys got any spandex in mind?
I don’t know about the costumes, but we plan on getting a lot of new material together for Big Day Out, it should be a pretty big day for us. Basically just trying to make that the best show we’ve done so far. Full stop. Musically and with the songs we play but not so much with the costumes…

What has been your best show so far?
I really enjoyed this one show we played with the Mint Chicks, it was an all ages show just after the NZ Music Awards. Everyone got so into it and we had our first crowd surfer. The thing I most enjoyed about that show actually was the crowd was jumping around but on the very front row, pushed against the front was this one girl who was just not into it. She just wasn’t enjoying it - looking so bored, with her arms crossed. I was looking over every now and then to check out if she’d picked up but she wasn’t impressed. It was just really funny, amongst this mass of people.

And what do you see for the future of White Birds and Lemons, apart from going overseas?
Who knows? We’ll put an album out next year hopefully and just give it a shot. We’ve just got this manager from Australia and he’s helping us out a lot. I think we’ll maybe get over to Australia as well. Play it as it comes.

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