-Interview- (1/11/24)
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? Who thought of the name "The Convention Killers" and is there any meaning behind it?
The band was formed when Graham had a relationship split and rented from Jim and his wife. Graham is a fan of Indie rock and Jim is a metal fan. Over the years our sound has progressed as Jim’s guitar skills are excellent and so Graham intentionally does less and less on guitar and is more lyrics, vocal and technical while Jim looks after the full guitar sound (electric, acoustic, bass). Over the almost 4 years we let the songs determine the sound, and that’s been affected by our other musical projects. Graham came up with the name before he met Jim. This was to sound more like a band rather than individual. It was also aimed to not lock down any genre but that it can be an experimental project.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
A good time.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
Varied and experimental. We let each song determine the sound so there’s no fixed, set in stone identity.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
Arctic Monkeys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the White Stripes if they got back together.
5. How has Covid affected what you do?
We could create more.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Indie Rock?
Some really good stuff out there but then it can also feel like a lot of it is becoming over-produced pop. We’re trying to still maintain a level of rawness in what we do.
7. What's the current music scene like there in Australia?
Growing. I think there’s a lot of music being created everywhere nowadays. There are still quite a few small venues that support up and coming artists.
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
Pretty poor.
9. What's next for The Convention Killers?
We have a large album coming soon called Light and Dark. It almost has three parts, traditional/ fun rock in various styles to begin the album, then a middle part of acoustic/ pulled back songs, and then it ends on some very heavy songs both topically and musically. It could have been two albums, a Light and a Dark album, or potentially 3 EPs, but we thought why not push it out as one.
