by Angela Chiew Being the bass player for two of Melbourne’s most high profile and most experimental pop and rock bands, has made the life of Stephanie Ashworth is very busy these days. Fresh from a tour supporting the Superjesus with Sandpit, she is in the middle of a tour as the new bass player with Something For Kate. But she somehow managed to give me 20 minutes of her time to tell me about Sandpit’s debut album On Second Thought and their upcoming national tour. Sandpit fans were bitterly disappointed a few weeks ago when the Ashworth, vocalist Brendan Webb and drummer Greg Wales didn’t show up to play their support set for Pollyanna at the Royal. But surely bad luck can not plague our city two gigs in a row and besides, there was a legitimate excuse for the last time: “We actually had a really bad car accident on the way back. So we did The Superjesus show and went home. Sorry about that.” With the sounds of Sandpit being relatively new to my ears, Ashworth seemed to be refreshened by an interview in which she could discuss the new album without it being analysed in comparison to their past releases (Lessons In Posture EP, and Tyranny of Creeps EP). Nor did she have to defend their decision to break their indie-rock mould (that’s been created by touring with the likes of Pavement, The Posies, Boss Hogg and You Am I) and supporting The Superjesus on their national tour.

We did about 38 shows with them and so that was really extensive and fun and good and a bit strange for us,” says Ashworth of the recent Superjesus tour. “We aren’t your straight-down-the-line kind of radio band. It’s a bit strange if you tour with The Superjesus - being the band that they are. But we decided to do it because it was a case of ‘not preaching to the converted’. And we’ve done every other indie rock tour there is - Pavement ... So we thought let’s tour with a rock band.”

So how was it, trying to “convert the masses”?

“It was really good. People really got into it and I was really surprised. When you are opening up every night for a band like The Superjesus, it’s not a good idea to play very intense melancholy songs in a semi stadium situation. It’s not conducive to what the crowd want to hear and you have to be considerate to what the audience will be atone to. Not so much to dominate everything you play but there’s a point where you can’t be crossing that line. When you’re playing a regional show in a scary town you don’t want to do some really bizarre art ballad. You kind of change things for the vibe of the night. So for that whole tour, which only just finished, we tried more of the heavier numbers because that’s what people wanted to hear.”

Song titles from On Second Thought like latest single Along the Moors, Metamorphosis and Crepe Paper Fortress had me expecting a perhaps more morbid, atmospheric, possibly Church-esque sound. And surprised to hear they have been pigeon-holed in the indie-rock category, I found myself hearing more moody pop, than anything else.

“I can’t deny that we’re pop,” agrees Ashworth. “We pretend we’re not but we are. It’s pop and we’re a pop band ... we’re just not a very straight forward pop band. There are a lot of bizarre timings and strange rhythms and it’s a bit dischordant and there are elements of classic indie-rock and elements of heavy things and really sparse stuff as well.” Considering the lyrical content of the songs, I was expecting to hear the vocals feature a little more prominently in the mixing. “That’s interesting because every journalist I have spoken to so far has said “My god the vocals are so up front this time - that’s great”. [Webb]’s gaining more confidence vocally and the latest single “Greater Expectations” we actually sat in on the mastering and the vocals are really loud, and he was just like cringing. But I think he’s accepting it, he’s dealing with it. He’s workshopping.” Speaking of Webb, I’ve heard some interesting tales about his on-stage presence. In some cases, perhaps his lack thereof. But Ashworth was quick to explain. “He’s an insanely shy person. Which often gets misinterpreted as arrogance. Which is very sad for him because he’s very, very shy and very, very quiet. And I think the whole stage experience for him is quite odd.” Well he is the front man. “But he actually doesn’t consider himself a vocalist at all. I kind of talked him into it when we were forming the band: “C’mon you can do it. I’ve heard you.” And he’s turned out to be a really fantastic vocalist. Particularly on the recorded stuff. Live, he’s kind of so concerned with making sure his guitar sounds right that the vocals do tend to suffer for that. Every time I look at him when we’re on stage he’s looking at his guitar and having a pretty good time. So I wouldn’t call him a shoegazer. I’d just say that he gets pretty into what he is doing guitar wise. Sometimes he even forgets to sing! He’s one of those people who doesn’t like to assume anything. He’s very, very modest almost to the point of absolute awkwardness.” For those of you who saw Sandpit play with The Superjesus on a few weeks ago, they will be well worth checking out again. They kept this tour in mind and will be coming down with a new set list, featuring mainly material from the new album. “We kept some of it just so when we do our own album tour that we could just be feeling a bit fresher about things - playing songs live. There are a few songs we only played live once or twice.” Sandpit play at Adelaide Uni on Saturday May 2 with fur, Rash, Bzark and Flat Stanley. Sandpit’s debut album, On Second Thought is out now on Fellaheen Records through Shock.