crow interview

... gettin playful after all this time

by steve phillips
article written in january 1998
published in "sadness is in the sky magazine" issue 5


Sydney band CROW are today way beyond pigeon-holing. Their new LP “Play With Love” is a further installment of dark lumbering moments, poignant lyricism, and in the same vein as The Bad Seeds and The Tindersticks, they create songs of love and life gone bad. Steve Phillips spoke to Peter Fenton about writing and recording the new album, which has seen Crow take on a somewhat new sound. “I’d bought myself a piano around the time I started to try and get the songs together for the record. I knew that Peter(Archer) was leaving and I suppose I do have a fascination with the piano. I find it an incredibly simple instrument which is somehow quite merciless to you. For this record it would have been really easy to get in a string section and kind of syrupy violins, but I wanted to keep it really f*#king simple.” And there is a simplicity to “Play With Love”, and a feeling that Peter and Crow have produced a record of musically less intense songs this time around.

I’ve got to say that this record was an immensely enjoyable experience. I mean the studio was good, we were all firing, and Paul McKercher who made it was cute and punky in his own inevitable way, shop-lifting incorrigibly from shops in South Yarra! But it was a great record to make and it’s funny that people get at this kind of heavy, doomy take on our music ‘cause I’ve got to tell you, it’s a blast to make. Wow, that sounded like something The Divinyls would say!
Certainly there is a sense that Crow appeal to a more high brow ‘rock’ audience. But their struggle for recognition as great songwriters has not necessarily helped them become better understood by all. Although, it has afforded them some opportunities.
When you have the opportunity to make a record with a decent budget and you can afford to do it in Melbourne and become obsessive about it, and then you’ve got half a dozen songs together, I think maybe a little fear comes into it, so you fight fear with being a bit cocky. (Which) reminds me of that great show we did down at The Punter’s Club(Melbourne) where I’d literally just walked on stage and somebody yelled out “here we go, same old cock sure Peter Fenton!
It’s interesting what people perceive you as. I’ve never thought I was cock sure at all”.
Given the charisma which Peter apparently displays so frequently, I asked him about his newest venture, acting. “Fate and opportunity knocked on my door one day and said “would you like to do this film version of an Andrew McGhan novel called ‘Praise’?”. I play the character of a kind of a funny guy. Not funny, but a guy who is vaguely the outsider, he doesn’t do much. He drinks and smokes and he has asthma and has sex problems and various other things. I thought I could just turn up to work and just stand in front of the camera and trod out dialogue, but in actual fact it consumes you emotionally, which shocked me a little. I didn’t realize that that’s what I was in for, so my perception of the actor has grown immensely.
For now though, Peter is shifting his attention back to Crow, who are soon to begin a tour to promote the release of “Play With Love”. As for the detractors who may chose to question the delivery of his craft lyrically, Peter sums it up; “I am disappointed that I can’t write clear songs of emotional clarity, but I say “fuck it. I’m not going to apologize for it”. What I’m doing works for me, and Jim (Wolf) and Richard (Andrews) and Michael (Christie), so invariably I hope it works for the listener.

Crow’s excellent new LP ‘Play With Love’ is available through BMG. For an interview at length see "Sadness Is In The Sky" issue 5. To find out how to get hold of it press HERE for instructions on ordering.