Click photo to enlarge
Salmonella Dub, with Andrew Penman at left. Photo supplied.
Salmonella Dub are reinvented and reinvigorated on
their new album, Freak Controller. Guitarist, band
manager and self-professed freak-controller Andrew Penman talks
to Laura McQuillan, of NZPA.
Since the departure of frontman Tiki Taane in 2007,
Salmonella Dub has journeyed back to its "core roots" and
original line-up, guitarist and vocalist Andrew Penman says.
"It's made us all step up a bit more, whereas maybe in the
past we were resting on our laurels a bit, letting Tiki take
that front-person role," Penman says.
"It was a great journey at the time but we got quite involved
in radio mixes and other bits and pieces which can be a
little bit limited in the creative process."
The band, of Penman, guitarist Pete Wood, bassist Mark Tyler
and drummer David Deakins, this week released their new album
Freak Controller.
Of the album's name - a follow up to June's Freak
Local EP - Penman says he wants to leave the meaning
open-ended, but it may be a play on words.
"Being a self-managed band and needing a lot of management
while playing and being within the band, from time to time I
get called a control freak.
"And my reply is 'na, I'm a freak controller'."
The main point of difference with Freak Controller was
the collaboration with other artists - including Whirimako
Black, The Mighty Asterix, Paddy Free, Ants and MC Mana -
while the album was influenced by the need to play live shows
due to the downturn in retail music sales, Penman says.
"One of our main motivators in this album was to reinvent
ourselves and reinvent a set of material for the live stage."
Despite changes in the music market, Salmonella Dub still
sells "platinum or more than platinum" in Australia and New
Zealand, Penman says.
"The way it's affected us is it's limited our ability to
invest in markets overseas, whereas five or six years ago, 10
years ago, we were heading to Europe a lot, and other
places."
While the future holds more shows in the United Kingdom and
Europe, the band is currently focusing "on home and what we
know", Penman says.
"There's a huge market for touring Australia which we've
built over the years and in that process introduced a lot of
New Zealand acts to that market as well.
"We decided after a few trips that we'd rather take our mates
as support. It started with taking Pitch Black and
Shapeshifter and Fat Freddy's and Cornerstone Roots, Kora,"
Penman says.
"The point of difference is Australia is a constant touring
circuit ... whereas New Zealand, it's almost like you have to
reinvent the wheel each time you go out."
The band will play PHAT and New Year's Eve party Music
Mountain Matakana next month and take time out in January,
before Homegrown and an anticipated national tour in February
and March.
And they're already looking forward to their next round of
recording.
"Given the way things are going in the marketplace at the
moment it's better to just keep churning stuff out and not be
so precious about and not be so focused on the commerciality
of it."
