After the news of the bands split, Keeley had a chat to front man Jon Stapleton about the new direction the members are headed in, the exciting projects still to come and the Perth acts you should keep an eye on. Here we have Jon from Wooly Mammoth who is going to have a chat to us about their upcoming gig this Friday, I guess the big question is - Why is Wooly Mammoth Hanging up the boots?
I guess we’ve been playing together for almost three years now, over time we have all kind of gone in different musical directions, sounds a bit cliche but I think Christian has got more into his disco and R&B style, Josh is studying Jazz now and Eyresy is just going to be an engineer. We’ve been doing it for a while and we reached a point where we can go out on our own terms and still be really good friends instead of doing it longer than we all wanted to. I suppose it gave those of us still doing music an opportunity to go and do something else. What direction do you think you will head into? My plan at the moment is to start releasing music under my own name. I still plan on doing it with a band, I’m not sure exactly what i’ll call that but I think at this stage what I’m planning on is Jon Stapleton and the somethings. It feels strange to be playing with a bunch of musicians but be presented as just my name but I think thats because im so used to playing in a band. Yeah I think that’s it, we can always put out a suggestion for people to comment on some names for Jon Stapleton and the somethings. Yeah let me know ideas! I mean i’ve got a couple but im going to keep them under my hat I guess. What direction do you think that will go in, what influences are you inspired by? I’ve written about 10 songs so far and they’re all pretty different, but the first thing I did was write a couple of my favourite artists on the board. For me they are people that like - the band can have a real sonic power and be experimental but for me it really comes down to the quality of the songs and how honest they are. Probably the people I’m looking to most are Gang of Youths, Didirri - I really like Angie McMahon as well I think she is really honest. And then at the same time I don’t think i’ll ever be able to get away from growing up with Chet Faker and King Krule so I guess I’m looking to solo artists that I really admire and then to bands that have a bit of a vision with what the songs are about. Is this going to be more of a keys based project or do you plan to round it out with a band? Yeah it is definitely going to be a band sound, I think one of the advantages you would know with playing solo or under your own name is I’m looking forward to being able to maybe release a few songs that are just acoustic or just piano but the premise of the project will be full band. I’ve always heard the songs that I write with arrangements behind them. It will be cool to be able to do that and have the final say over all that stuff. That is going to be exciting having that complete creative control. Can you tell us a little bit more about what Chris, Josh and Eyresy are going to be up to. Josh is studying Jazz now at WAAPA, he made a decision that he didn’t want to study contemporary anymore he was looking for the best way to keep improving as a drummer and find a place he could really sink his teeth into music. He has been listening to a lot of Jazz and loved it back in highschool, he auditioned and now he’s a semester into Jazz and loving it and I think it really suits him as well because he’s a really clever guy and knows time inside out. Christian and Josh are still playing with Grace Armstrong, another great Perth artist. They really love playing with her. Christian is about to start up a new project which is he is pretty excited for, that is kind if a disco/funk/R&B kind of project so he has a lot of surprises under his hat for that one. That is really going to suit him, I think he is going to go well in that. Yeah well boy can play the guitar that’s for sure. He’s having fun being able to have creative control and being able to design the sound. It’s been wicked watching him sink his teeth into that. What are the chances of Wooly doing a reunion show next year? Aww high - Laughs Yeah like I said we are all still really good mates, we’re going to Splendour together in July so there’s no doubt for us we will continue being friends. I think for us we are all really stoked we had the honesty to share that we were considering moving on from this project. That sort of put us in the position to be able to move the next couple of steps forward and be happy that we were moving on. We got to do it on our own terms rather than get down the line and be annoyed at each other. Because of that I don’t think we will rule out playing again in the next couple of years, I think we’ve just to leave it long enough so people don’t turn around and go oh you guys think you’re breaking up and here you are again playing two weeks later you know. That’s good to hear because we can’t make it which we are pretty devo about. You have Mal de Mer and Airline food supporting friday who Toastys has been following for a while now, besides these guys who are your other favourite Perth artists we should keep an eye on? We were hoping to get Kat Wilson on the lineup but that fell through, she’s an amazing Perth artist, I have so much respect for her and her songwriting and her guitar playing ability. I’m really looking forward to hearing a longer release from Butter. It’s hard to say who else, I always make sure to give ups to Grace Armstrong where I can because she’s rad and a lovely person too. One of my cheeky picks for one of the next Perth bands to blow up could be Homebrand. They actually have a member who is the younger brother of our drummer, Josh Wright little connection there. But I think they are a pretty switched on bunch of boys and I think they’re starting to make some waves. It’s hard to narrow it down, even making the gig guide every week im blown away by the Perth bands I discover. Yeah it’s a pretty tough scene to crack through. Whenever people ask me about the Perth scene when im over east I remember once I said - I feel like if you can make it in Perth you can make it anywhere - and the person turned around and said don’t they say that about New York and I sort of said yeah but there’s so many good bands in Perth so if you can stand out here and become the cream of the crop in Perth chances are everyone else is going to love you because chances are you’re pretty damn good I reckon. Yeah I think that’s a pretty good way to look at it, I think Perth has one of the best music scenes in Australia. Yeah i think so too. Well make sure you get down to the Rosemount this Friday the 24th and give Wooly Mammoth the send off they deserve and watch this space because we will make sure to let you know when the guys new projects are underway. Yeah looking forward to all of the above should be a good time! Grab your tickets for Friday here
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