IN Birds of Tokyo

 
Before skinny leg jeans and sailor tats became laissez faire, “indie” meant independent.

With no record label to its name, Birds of Tokyo worked hard to secure its place as one of Australia’s top touring acts.

Right now the five-piece is touring their fourth record, ‘March Fires’, around Australia.

We spoke to keyboardist and newest member, Glenn Sarangapany during the Perth leg of the band’s national tour.

Was there conscious thinking behind the shift in sound on this album?

There was never an idea to change sounds just for the sake of changing sounds, but we did have a lot of discussions about what we wanted the album to say.

I think art is about having a conversation or expressing a feeling. And real human feelings are very complicated.

Sometimes we take pride in being lost. Sometimes we cherish being lonely. It was an amazing challenge to try to capture that mess of emotions in a song!

We had to expand our musical palate well beyond our comfort zones.

What’s the dynamic like between you guys?

We’re at that slightly creepy level of closeness. I reckon any one in the band could pick what I was going to order off a menu. And I mean a three-course meal with drinks and desert.

We live in separate states so our time apart is spent quite far apart. But our together time can involve sharing undies. Yuck.

You guys are known for putting on an intense live show. What can audiences expect this time round?

We’ve been working very hard on our live show. It’s sounding big and it’s looking big. We want people to come to a gig and experience something that is uniquely Birds. Something they can’t get anywhere else.

A lot of you have said goodbye to your hometown of Perth, where are you now and how is the place treating you?

Kenny is in Melbourne. Westy is in Brisbane. And Sparky, Berney and I are team Sydney.

I’m digging Sydney. Turns out I live in the same suburb as Leo Sayer. What a neighborhood! I haven’t seen him out and about yet.

Band comps and Australian Idol make it seem like becoming a professional touring musician is an accessible dream for young artists. What’s your perspective on this?

Everyone should follow whatever path they want to take but I do think that shows like that focus more on entertaining viewers rather than artist development.

There’s a bit of Pretty Woman syndrome going on. Not every prostitute with a heart of gold is going to end up marrying Richard Gere. But it’s nice to have the dream I guess.

What do you like to do when you’re not touring?

I’ve just started playing golf. It’s so addictive. So far I’ve only been to the driving range and even that’s been great fun. Our bass player Berney is going to take me out for my first game on a course when we get home after this run.

This album had roots in France, LA and Australia – are there plans to break into any international markets?

We’re always trying to reach a wider audience. It would be nice to get back to the states some time this year. We enjoyed our time there and met some great people. The idea of doing a long tour in the US is really appealing right now.

Rumour has it that when you booked your first sold out tour everyone bought a house, is this true?

Hah! I wish! When I went away for the first sold out tour, I had to beg the education department to give me a month off from teaching kids how to play Sweet Child of Mine on guitar.

I wonder where these rumours came from. It would be great if we bought a house and lived in it together like The Monkees. Ah the hi-jinks we would get up to...

Our mag is mostly read by people in their thirties. Any advice for them?

Anyone born in the early 80’s knows everything that they need to know about life. If you can “stop, collaborate and listen” and you know which turtle is a party dude, there is very little advice anyone can give you.

‘March Fires’ is available at all good record stores.