Necks - The Wondrous Trio

To be precise, we've been playing together for 28 years. The basic principles were established right away. Not much has really changed, except perhaps for a gradual evolution that would be hard to put into words. I think one of the most telling changes has been on the technological side. We're certainly recording our albums differently than we did 25 years ago, but I think that's true for pretty much any band that's been together this long. Maybe one thing that sets us apart from others is that we always try to record most of our studio albums in real-time.

When we're in the studio we try to gather all the material and then sift through it over a period of several weeks. We're not restricted to just piano, double bass and drums. The only limit I can think of is that special feeling a concert can convey live. Although, on the other hand, we've found that a great concert doesn't necessarily make a great live record. Sometimes you really just have to be there to experience it.

We're essentially an acoustic trio and everything starts from that foundation. We're very careful and selective about our collaborations, and fortunately, so far, they've all been very rewarding experiences.

During your live shows, the audience reacts in different ways: some almost fall into a trance, a sort of deep relaxation, others seem to experience an ecstatic joy, I've even seen people cry and a couple walk out furious. What kind of emotions have you encountered on your tours? Do you think audiences receive your music differently in different countries?

I wasn't aware that some people cried. That's rather surprising to me, I don't find our music particularly emotional. In any case, what I've learned in all my years working as a professional musician is that music is open to as many interpretations as there are listeners. I also hadn't noticed that some people left furious. Oh well, either way, you can't please everyone. It's better to just let the rest of the audience enjoy the show. To be honest, I haven't noticed much difference between audiences depending on the venue. When the audience connects with our music, it doesn't matter where they are or where they're from.

I can't deny we've earned something of a reputation for being “unclassifiable”. That can cause a bit of trouble, not just for journalists but for us too, although either way I think the lack of a label is definitely a good thing. Some journalists have compared us to the Keith Jarrett Trio, EST and Dirty Three. While I have deep respect for those groups, I think that's an example of lazy journalism.

Actually, I think Australia is less open to innovation, with less focus on categories. Perhaps one thing you need to understand about Australian culture is that it's hard to reach “critical mass”, given our isolation and small population. There are so many incredible things happening culturally, but it's very hard to group them into movements or trends. The Necks definitely couldn't have come from anywhere else. And the lack of pressure in Australia (even more so a quarter of a century ago) was exactly what the Necks needed at the start of our creative process.

We're proud of all our albums and no single one is fully representative. My advice would be to try listening to one, and then maybe another. Among my favourites are “Aquatic”, “Hanging Gardens”, “Silent Night”, “Aether”, “Silverwater” and “Open“. But again, we're very proud of all of them, and I humbly feel they've all stood the test of time.

The label we recorded for early on was very slow to pay us. In the end, they paid us everything we were owed, which is still far more than we ever got from other labels we've worked with. Either way, we figured it would be better to have control over our own band, and I'm glad we set up FoM. We've only ever released Necks material through it, partly because it's much simpler that way. All costs and profits are split three ways. So there are no plans to sign other bands, even though there are plenty of interesting groups out there.

We certainly weren't “literally” the first, but the arrival of the CD format was definitely a fortunate moment for us. By that point, we'd already established the principles of our improvisation in a fairly long format, so we hadn't even really considered recording our material. The CD flipped our original idea on its head, because it gave us the chance to record hour-long pieces without interruption. As for where online technology is taking the music business, it's honestly a bit disheartening. I just finished reading “Free Ride: How the Internet is Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back” by Robert Levine, and it's dispiriting to see how things have been taken out of the hands of their creators. Personally I don't like downloading, legal or otherwise, but I'm probably in the minority there. As for the Necks, we're lucky to have a loyal fan base who wouldn't dream of not paying for our music. We're fortunate that our CDs sell reasonably well for a band at our level. But who knows how many people have never paid for our music. Either way, as for online technology, we'll soon be offering digital downloads for all our albums.

Even though we think the CD is a great format and we like the sound, all three of us also love vinyl. We felt we were ready for the challenge of writing two pieces of music that could capture the essence of the Necks in about 20 minutes, instead of an hour. I'm not sure we would have been ready before 2011, we were caught up in other creative processes. We also had fun creating two separate pieces divided by a gap that could last a few seconds or several weeks, and that gap had to involve a physical action too (like getting up to flip the record) as a way of bridging that span of time.

When we started playing together, we thought the best way to do justice to our music was to play among ourselves, privately. Personally, I felt it was important for our music that we had it clear in our minds that we would never play the Necks' music publicly. For me, live is always the original concept of the Necks, that model, that foundation we can always refer back to, but I'd be cautious about saying it's our best form. I feel very comfortable in a recording studio, and I'm very proud of what we've done with the studio albums.