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Jimmy Dowling: Plain talkin' man

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On Wouldn’t Mind, the opening track, Jimmy’s relaxed vocals sit atop a melancholic waltz played on acoustic guitar, mandolin and upright bass. Here, as with most of his songs, the lyrics take stock of some almost imperceptive detail of life, drawing attention to it in the most unpretentious way. Jimmy's nimble wordplay highlights that oft-unexpressed vulnerability felt between two people in a relationship:

So I caught your eyes holding alibis
And showing me what’s inside.
Well I wouldn’t mind if they let me find
A few things they’d rather hide.

This perceptivity is also evident on Biscuit Tins, with Jimmy wondering why he bothers to keep old treasures locked away:

Old biscuit tins, with trinkets and things.
Little relics of mine, like small silent friends,
That’s where their journey ends, in old biscuit tins.

Each song is pared to the bone, like a Tom Waits dirge or a scarcely-accompanied folk ballad – unaffected in both vocal and instrumental delivery.

Jimmy’s persona is similarly down-to-earth; onstage he stands, feet glued to the floor, guitar in hand, like a beatnik poet in old suit jacket and beret.
The album contains 15 delightfully simple stories, from the idealism of being out at sea on a fishing trawler to enduring the miserable cold of a Canadian winter.

There's a few love songs; the occasional call for redemption. Jimmy makes light of a broken heart, having been sucked in and spat out by a Mermaid With Legs: one of those “young princesses who are just about everywhere”.

Despite its undeniable folk qualities, the album has definite jazz and blues overtones. Jimmy played trumpet in his early 20s and at times his voice is reminiscent of a raspy Chet Baker.

The instrumentation here is simple: acoustic guitar, upright bass, mandolin, the occasional trumpet and piano. A tap dancer even joins in on one song and now and then a drummer beats out a rhythm on a cereal box.

As a whole, the album might have benefited from a little more dynamic range from song to song. However, the honesty and consistency of the songwriting more than compensates for this, not to mention the relaxed musicianship, and lyrics that at times verge on the brilliant. It is the musical equivalent of a lazy day spent sitting on the front verandah, or at the end of a jetty with fishing rod in hand, reflecting on life’s riddles.

Having cut his musical teeth playing around the acoustic scene in Toronto, Jimmy now resides in Melbourne where he gigs regularly. He plans to release another album soon through independent label Spice Rack Records.

Don't miss a chance to catch him live. You never know when he might return to the bitter winters of Canada, never to be seen here again.

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Antescene: new way to get a fair gig?

...continued from front page

I caught up with Chris, the one-time star of high profile English indie band Art Brut, and the far less famous but no less interesting Cate at the Brunswick Green, and our loose-jointed and far ranging conversation touched on polkadot rabbits, rural gigs, warehouses, noisy neighbors, tampon sculpture, underage shows and sealing wax. Read on if you dare.

PH: Chris, did you come up with the idea of Antescene?

CC: I can't claim the idea of doing things in warehouses, but even though I'm DIY, I've always been a believer in branding, because that's what people are used to. You can be DIY and [still] have a strong sense of identity and a strong image presence. People associate with it. I don't have a multi-million dollar brand budget. A name and a label with a font and a look is always a good way of doing things.
But the intention is to let anyone do it wherever they want. When I left England there was a woman who took [Antescene] over, and did an event in London after I left. A few [other] people in Australia have already shown interest.
But then they say to me "What can I do?" ...it's not like there's a membership pack or something!

PH: It sounds like something that comes from the anarchist school of thought.

CC: I would never describe myself as an anarchist. I like things to be a little bit controlled. Again, coming back to the marketing thing, I understand that to play against the big boys, sometimes you have to act a little bit like them.

PH: How do you deal with protecting the brand from abuse? What's to stop a promoter from putting on a gig, calling it "Antescene" then ripping off the musicians in the usual way?

CC: The issue hasn't arisen yet. Firstly, at this moment people say, "How do I go about putting something on in my town?" And I say, "Well, you go about doing it your own way". You get a general impression in speaking to people of what they are like, but of course you can't always be correct and you can't always stop someone from just taking it...it's a hard one.
I would like to think that, if it became a bigger thing, then we might be able to help people through Arts funding. It is still a fluid, fresh and growing idea, so it's not really something we've had to address yet.

CL: One thing we were talking about was the idea of doing it in rural areas, so that you literally use people's housing...

CC:...there's been a few offers already...

CL: ...there is quite a lot of interest. It's not a new idea. There's other people that do it. But it's a small thing.

PH: Deborah Conway talked to an APRA group earlier this year about the house party concept...

CL: ...where you pass the hat around or something... For people that are in a smaller act, such as a solo or duo, so it also gives them accommodation. That's one way of challenging the idea of someone involved being ripped off - there's a trust when you are using people's homes, you are using alternative spaces that are not licensed, they're not regulated, they're not made by people who are making a profit...

PH: So you are side-stepping the normal system completely?

CL: Very much so. One of the secondary benefits that I've been mindful of as a punter is underage and all-age gigs. So many people have said to us or others we know, when you go to a gig, "Oh, there's no underage news, there's nothing." We've actually found there's quite a lot.

CC: I've actually found there's a lot not very well attended!

CL: Either not very well attended or they are all on the same night! There's really a lack of centralised [information] so that you can say "This is on this month, and next month there's that." At one time of the week when [Chris organised a gig], there were two other all-age gigs on on the same night. Then there was nothing for another three weeks!

CC: I think the Melbourne all-age gig scene, in terms of numbers, is fairly healthy. But there is this whole issue with alchohol, and the timing of [gigs]. If you have no alchohol, then adults generally don't turn up (which is a little bit of a sad reflection but that's a whole other issue). Put it on too late and the kids don't turn up. So if you've got no alchohol and it's on late, no-one really comes apart from the hard-core fans.
By doing it in "non-venue" venues, we're operating slightly on the fringes of legality. [We're] a bit vague about things – there's always certain work-arounds. But we are focussing on the music, and getting people in, and hopefully everyone having a good time in whatever way they see fit. We haven't had any police problems yet, but if it happened, I don't know...

CL: Well, that said, I mean, just two venues in Brunswick in the last six months have had to close due to noise problems. They were both forefront for all ages or alternative gigs or spoken word, all that sort of genre...there was Spoon and what was the other one?

CC: Cloud City

CC: No, Spoon wasn't shut down for noise

CC: But there've been lots of venues that were...Exile on Smith Street, that's not in a residential area – well it is but you know...

CL: Rob Roy, Empress...

PH: I had an interesting experience doing a cover gig in Fitzroy. We set up in an outdoor semi-public place. I did one snare hit to see how it sounded. Within two minutes a resident had turned up and was already threatening to call the police. Which she then did.

CC: Apparently when Robbie Williams was rehearsing in the Adelaide Arena, or whatever it is, people complained about the noise to the extent that they actually said, "If we get any more complaints we'll have to cancel the gigs." This is a stadium for God's sake!

Spun Rivals, an Antescene performer

CL: We had the same thing at Swinburne Uni. We had a band playing, and we had residents complaining. This is a lunchtime band from 12 to 12.30! This is half an hour in the middle of the day!

PH: Because of the publicity, residents know they have the power to shut anything down.

CC: It's a side issue, but at the same time I did read the summary [of an article claiming] that police are going to be given powers to shut down venues pretty much on the spot, which, especially in Melbourne...

CL: Was it a state law?

CC: I don't know. It's such a cultural capital. There's a tendency of areas with a real cultural vibe...people gravitate towards them, then they settle down a bit, then they complain abut things, and forget that the whole reason they moved there in the first place was for that vibrancy and they destroy it by...

CL: ...same as St Kilda.

CC: Unless people are there banging the floor until 5 am...

PH: Unfortunately, they go and see it with a real estate agent on Sunday afternoon.

CL: Yeah, that's it.

PH: Back to Antescene. Is it all based on trust? Is it like the early Manchester music scene, all done on a handshake?

CC: Yes. The first event we ran in London was very busy, and we let some people combine something that they were doing with what we were doing, literally on the night. They abused that a little bit. It got a little bit hard to handle. There are times when it can get a little bit close to the edge but that's the nature of doing things like that.
The first few we did here in Irene's, which has a very restricted thing with regards to time, you have to have everything over by midnight at the latest. This next one is going to be a lot less constrained.

PH: This is the market gig?

CC: Yes. It'll start at five...unfortunately when you get alchohol and drugs involved...I'm not encouraging them but they will be there...you get to the point where it's sometimes hard to reason with people. Things start happening which are hard to control. That's why I always try to maintain this slight element of control and a level head, because you do have to keep an eye on things, especially when you are doing things slightly on the fringes of legality – you don't want it to not have a chance of happening again.

PH: Is the market an outdoor or an indoor event?

CL: Both. It's got an indoor space. I haven't had a chance to see it. It's got a backyard, has it?

CC: It's an old warehouse. It looks pretty much like an old railway warehouse. It's a big old kind of shed. People live there. And they have a back yard.
We just felt like adding...there's quite a healthy 'zine culture and sort of amateur craft kind of scene.

PH: It seems like there's a sort of natural marriage here between alternative music and other kinds of alternivity.

CL: There's a really big alternative zine and craft scene at the moment...

PH: And zines cross over with other types of craft activity? That physical making?

CL: Very much so. It's the creativity of coming out with a product. When you use the term craft, a lot of people sort go "Oh, doilies and macrame". And you say, "Well, no, I actually make..." - I have my own craft business called Polkadot Rabbit. I actually make things from recycled products, reusing things that already exist, like [making] wallets from cassette tapes and things like that.

PH: Which is an extension of what craft has always done, using scraps and rags...

CL: Exactly. Also, there's quite a big sub-culture of creativity, and in terms of a chance for expression, and all the things that people seek from music, it's perhaps given a greater license. People say, "Oh, I wrote a song". But if you said to someone, "I made a bag or a dress" people say "Ooh, that's nice".
But also the "craft scene" engenders a lot of those creative opportunities for people to gather, to share ideas, bounce off each other, feed off each other. I put in for funding from the City of Melbourne to run some workshops next year for women with depression to do crafting, because they are a targeted group who weren't accessing conventional mental health services like drop-in centres. Craft can be a vehicle as well as some fun and creativity but also an opportunity for social connectedness. It's a chance for people to get together and hang out. Often musicians will do that, they'll sit together and jam and that sort of stuff.

CC: Quite often they are similar people. Or even sometimes the same people!

CL: [Craft] is not as gendered as people think. Often people think of women sitting round knitting, [but] it extends past that.

PH: The zine culture is, if anything, boy-heavy, isn't it?

CC: I think there's an equal amount [in Melbourne] actually. Maybe in this day and age it's a bit different.

CL: Perhaps women's experience of zines is a bit different to men, because they are more likely to write about personal things...their own health or [psychology] whereas men are more likely to make commentaries on polotics or music or whatever.

PH: So women's zines are more like concrete blogs or whatever.

CL: Yes. And there is also a sort of sub-culture now of crafting which is more political. You've got people doing cross-stitches with political messages. You've got people making craft out of tampons. There's this whole big sort of scene, which is slow to take off in Australia but I think it'll develop a lot more.

CC: My first intention with the Antescene stuff was to tie it in a bit with alternative politics. But I met with a surprising amount of difficulty. A lot of activists only want to go to gigs of bands that are explicitly political (even if their songs aren't particularly content-heavy). And then the other way round, a lot of casual gig goers were put off by people hammering things too much. So I was trying to combine the two but getting those two very traditional sorts of boundary groups to meet in the middle was so difficult and so hard trying to convince people..

PH: It's a difficult balance because they are actually looking for two completely different things. One one side they are looking for some sort of musical expression of a set of ideologies and values, and on the other side, art and entertainment, and they really don't go together.

CC: I'm attempting to open both groups up to different people, because they tend to stick with their own. But it's hard. I think I will do it to a lesser extent...if political groups want to have pamphlets or zines or magazines or whatever then they are welcome, and just encourage the cross-pollination.

PH: I notice you have associated Antescene gigs with broadly acceptable causes such as Friends Of The Earth. Is that an integral part of the Antescene idea as far as you're concerned?

CC: Well, as I say, it was. We did one in the UK with Friends Of The Earth and we did one in Australia with Friends Of The Earth. In Australia [FOE is] a very co-op kind of an organisation. In the UK it's really quite corporate – they have offices, marketing departments etcetera etcetera. The one in London was a lot more successful, and they got a lot more out of it. They actually said to me "It was really successful, we'd like to do it again, we got a lot of people interested" [...] With the one here, without wanting to be too critical, they were more casual about it.

CL: They rocked up with a table and literature, but there was no reason why people going to see a gig would go over to the table.

CC: Sometimes you need a little...

CL: ...a bit of push. I was at a carnival called Winterfest where I had a stall. I was actually giving away food [for] donations, with the proceeds going to Lort Smith Animal Hospital. If you give people an incentive to come over, you can engage with them.

CC: It's interesting to see how the same organisation in two countries works differently.

PH: Coming back to the musicians, what kind of comments have you had from participating musicians? How has it gone for them in terms of audience, money and so on?

CC: Financially (probably the easy one to start with) [in Australian gigs] you would usually have to pay for sound men. So, if someone gives you $50 here, the sound man comes up and says, "I'll take that thanks."
With our events, no-one has to pay for anything, apart from their own transport.

PH: How are those costs paid for?

CC: I do the sound! It's a co-op idea. If [the band wants] their own sound man, that's their own lookout. The door is shared between everybody – everyone has a go at doing the door. When it comes to the end of the night, everything gets split, there are no costs. My costs are very minimal because I've done minimal printed advertising and I have a place that does it very cheap, you're looking at maybe $20 maximum. So generally, even at the smaller events we run here, bands will walk out with at least $50 which is pretty good for bands on a small level in Melbourne. In financial terms they are usually pretty happy.

PH: So they also understand that no-one else is making a big profit.

CC: Everyone makes the same. In terms of artistic satisfaction, obviously the people who are on first get slightly less satisfaction. As hard as you try, Melbourne crowds like to come out a bit later. But generally everybody has had a good time and enjoyed it because it's relaxed, it's laid back, people aren't feeling that struggle of having promoted their hearts out of it, aren't feeling that struggle of having to satisfy people with requirements and expectations.[Everyone helps] each other out, we just facilitate it, as it were. The ones in London, the ones in Melbourne, everyone's enjoyed it, even the people who have been on first and played to ten people have enjoyed it. Generally the crowds are more open-minded as well.

PH: Anyone who's played a few gigs in Melbourne knows that ten people isn't that bad!

CC: Exactly. Especially at half past five in the afternoon! Having gone to so-called "big gigs" and seen crowds not much bigger, it's made me happier with the crowds we get.

PH: Do you try to control the number of bands getting up so there is a reasonable split at the end of the night?

CC: For that and also for my own sanity, generally I try to keep it to four, five maximum. The last gig I did, I collaborated with the head musician of the night. It got a little out of control because friends kept turning up. This one has been more focused from the start about what the line up will be and how many there will be. We've got a bit more time as well, we'll be starting about five. So I think for everyone's equipment and sanity and setting up, cutting sets short, things like that, four or five is a good number.

PH: How do you go about publicising the event?

CC: For the last few, Cate and I did a lot of legwork with posters.

CL: Posters, myspace, Facebook, email list...

CC: The traditional (these days) outlets. Word of mouth has been working fairly well.

PH: Did you get a feel for who came from what source? Were most people friends of the bands?

CL: Not always.

PH: A few people off the street?

CC: It's been growing, I must admit. I think the first two were the warm-up. This one, I've had a lot more reaction from people. We've spread the net a little wider. Also the bands this time round, and the people whose venue it is, are actually being a lot more proactive than any of the people involved previously – they've really embraced that it's a collaborative thing.

PH: So like the rest of it, it's a community, co-operative deal with publicity. Do the bands actually help with that at all?

CC: These flyers are by one of the bands.

PH: This is quite an elaborate small flyer with spot colour.

CC: And Femur have actually told me that they are going to make handmade posters. So everyone's quite enthusiastic. This line-up has come together very nicely. Everyone involved is [saying] "What can we do to help" ...We're getting the message out there to other people, but the people involved are also being very good-spirited.

Femur

CL: I think they are generally supportive of the idea. It's not just a chance to play or a chance to see a band. It's a chance to participate in something...

PH: Entry level bands in Melbourne are pretty keen to get a gig. How do you filter that out? I imagine that there are more than five bands who'd want to play on the night?

CC: There's an element of personal taste, I will say that! Secondly, my principle has always been to have one or two bands that have a bit of a following, then you can offset that with people who don't. For example, Femur are a bunch of kids who, if you looked at their myspace page which seems to be a general measure of success (although it's really irrelevant)...if you look at their numbers, if they do mean anything they are pretty low...but they are a nice bunch of kids, they're being really helpful, they're being really supportive, so we hope that Bang! Bang! Aids!...it'll even out somewhere in the middle. And because they're younger kids, some of their fans who couldn't normally come to one of their gigs might come in.

Bang! Bang! Aids! take the "eat the mic" advice to heart...

PH: So there's some concept of balancing the sets...

CC: Yes. Hopefully, we're working towards that sort of establishment where [punters] know there'll be a certain kind of quality anyway, it doesn't matter who's playing. That takes a little while to establish. So it's almost irrelevant who's playing. But that's a little way off.

PH: Do you have people coming in with demos?

CC: I've been sending a lot of mailouts through the press and myspace and email lists for venues, and I've had a lot of bands slightly misinterpreting my call for venues and asking if they can play, so there's a fairly long list of people who want to play! I have to be honest and say "We're actually looking for venues at the moment, but when we have a nice solid line of venues we will be back in touch." I've been organising an event with a different organisation. There's was someone who approached me [for an Antescene gig] who wasn't very suitable, but he was very suited to that. So there's no harm in signing up, as it were.

PH: I notice one of your artists for the forthcoming gig is Dane Certificate?

CC: We saw him supporting Liam Finn and really liked him. I wanted him to play our next night, and I noticed he had a similar thing booked at Irene's, and I said "How about we just combine the two" and I think being the sort of person who isn't that strong or keen on organisational stuff, he said OK. That was where it got a little bit confusing, cause we took an already-existing line up...also he was a good ally because...his day job is to do the poster runs round Fitzroy and Collingwood.

PH: What would you say is your key message or goal?

CC: The general idea of Antescene is "anything goes (that doesn't upset people)". Also we are looking for venues. We want to take the idea – not necessarily us doing it, but the idea – round the country. So anyone anywhere with any kind of space, we're interested in hearing from you.

After our show on the 20th of October we really want to push the idea out of Melbourne and into other places.

PH: Are you wanting to keep that parallel thing going with the crafts and zines?

CL: Preferably. It's important for people in other areas because there is such an interest.

CC: Any political groups who want to join in are more than welcome!

PH: Like the Liberals?

CL: I don't think they would be interested somehow. Those young Liberals are more into suit and tie gigs.

CC: I have never had any preconceptions or images of how things should be. I'll meet people, and if they seem the right person for the thing, I wouldn't rule them out. You get a feeling about people. Some you write off when you meet them, but sometimes you get the wrong impressions about people. Through my past in bands, I've met people who everyone labels [a certain way]. Then you meet them and you think, "They're nothing like that!" They are actually quite decent people. Politicians are a different ball-game because they are very experienced at pretending, but ... I'm just saying that everyone is welcome to express an interest.

The next Antescene gig is a combined craft fair and gigfest on the 20th October, 38 Stafford St Abbotsford (off Hoddle Street) from 5pm. Look at antescene.com for more information , also polkadotrabbit.com for crafty goodness.

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