Thanks so much to Peter Loveday for the interview! I wrote about Tiny Town some weeks ago and then I was able to get in touch with Peter and I was very lucky that he was up to answer all my questions (which as you know are many!). I didn’t know much about Tiny Town but have liked what I have heard and I am very happy to know now more details about them!
++ Hi Peter! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? I notice that you live these days in Barcelona and play music there. Any upcoming news regarding your music?
Yes, I’m about to release a new album recorded last year, THROUGH THE MIRROR, a limited edition CD and book of illustrations and lyrics in English and Spanish. This is the first album since ROADSIDE BALLADS, in 2013, not counting the collaboration with David McClymont (ex Orange Juice) last year, BORROWED LANDSCAPES. I will be playing launch gigs, mostly in Barcelona, in May and June. Also scheduled early June is the recording of another album with my habitual collaborators, Sarah Davison and Naomi Wedman.
++ And how did you end up in Barcelona? From what I understand Tiny Town moved from Brisbane to London, did you move from London to Barcelona? What do you like to your new city?
Well, Barcelona just fell into place for me, but this is not a recent move. Tiny Town ground to a halt in London in the late 1980s. We’d been there since 82. I got itchy feet and planned to be in Barcelona for a month, but as you can see, I never left. This was back in 1989. After a month here, I had a job, a place to live and had also met my wife, Gina. Barcelona has changed immensely since then but is still my favourite city and home.
++ And have you learned Catalan? Spanish? Do you make music in these languages?
I’m not a good language learner, though I speak Spanish and a little Catalan, which I understand completely, as our kids speak Catalan at home. From time to time I’ve thought about and even tried to write songs in Spanish, but usually don’t get very far. Maybe I should try harder, but when I try, the voice doesn’t seem to be mine. When you speak another language, your identity shifts somehow. To some extent you lose control of language, of the subtleties and nuances. I keep telling myself that I’ll do it one day, write songs in Spanish or Catalan. It’s good to have a challenge up ahead.
++ As you know I did this piece on the band and learned a thing or two, but would love to know more about Tiny Town. So let’s start from the very beginning, what are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?
We had a piano at home. My mother sometimes played in the evenings and we’d stand around it singing songs. I loved to sit at the piano and daydream, to experiment with sounds and made up chords. I had piano lessons for a while but it was all theory, discipline and even threats, knuckle rapping and that kind of thing, so I quickly gave that up. Then I started to teach myself guitar. My brother had one. Also, with elder brothers, there were records in the house, singles and albums of the time; the Who, the Animals, the Young Rascals …. I was seriously into the Monkees and loved the TV show. Maybe I thought a life in music would be like that. As it turns out, it’s quite different. However, writing and playing songs is one of the things I like most to do. As a teenager I listened to the music that was at hand; CSNY, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Creedance, the Faces, some Dylan.
++ Was Tiny Town your first band or had you been in other bands before that?
I have seen names like The Supports, The See Bees, Birds of Tin and Mute 44, care telling me a bit about them and if there are recordings by them? In the late 70s in Brisbane there were a lot of bands around. It was social thing to do. Just about everyone was in a band (exaggeration!). Bands played at house parties. The Supports started as a cover band playing things that were new and exciting at the time. The singer, Leigh Bradshaw worked as a DJ at the university radio station, 4ZZZ, so had access to all the new releases. Towards the end of that frantic but brief time, I started to write songs of my own and to sing. Birds of Tin was a prolific three-piece. Songs from this band were included in a number of cassette compilations of the time. We released a 4-track cassette SAME BOTH SIDES, and yes, the same four songs on both sides. It was a nod to one of the first UK bands to release an independent record, THE DESPERATE BICYCLES. Their first single had the same song on both sides, as it was cheaper that way. Jeff Titley, the Supports drummer was in London by then and playing with the Desperate Bicycles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Desperate_Bicycles Anyway, this recording by BIRDS OF TIN, was re-released in October last year by the Brisbane label LCMR. https://lcmr.bigcartel.com It’s a 7″ four-song vinyl now with a screen-printed reproduction of the original poster that came with the cassette. The other bands you mention produced rehearsal or live recordings only, except for Antic Frantic, which also released a four-track cassette.
++ I read that you were in Antic Frantic, which would become Tiny Town, how did this band sound like? Are there any recordings?
Antic Frantic was a mixed bag, sound-wise. Jeff Titley was visiting Brisbane at the time. He had a song or two as did Leigh Bradshaw, and as did I. We were feeling our way, I guess, working on songs together. I went to see the Birthday Party and also the Laughing Clowns (Ed Kuepper from the Brisbane band, The Saints). Antic Frantic generally sounded fast and somewhat wild, in a timid kind of way.
++ Where were you from originally, Brisbane?
I was from Toowoomba, a small city inland, up in the hills. I moved to Brisbane to go to university and was soon swimming in the late seventies Brisbane music scene. It was a lot of fun and quite a creative atmosphere to be in.
++ How was your city at the time? Were there any bands that you liked? What were the good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?
Well to tell the truth, there wasn’t much going on in Toowoomba at the time. Toowoomba was a just a big country town. I knew a couple of people who played the guitar in pubs, but there weren’t any venues as such, or bands that I knew of. The youth of Toowoomba spent their evenings driving up and down the main street, looking for action. There were one or two record shops. Back then you could go to a record shop and ask to listen to a record in one of their special listening booths. Quaint. Brisbane, however, was much more exciting, with a fertile music scene and an import record store, “Rocking Horse”. There were a few venues, mostly in pubs, and we also used to play in church halls, people’s houses, wherever we could really.
++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
We met at a party, no doubt. Rob, the bass player was the only one in the band who could actually play an instrument. The rest of us just made it up as we went along because we wanted to be in a band.
++ So just to get this clear, Tiny Town started in London as such or did Antic Frantic moved to London and then changed names?
Yes, basically, Antic Frantic moved to London and became Tiny Town.
++ What’s the story behind the name Tiny Town?
Well, I guess coming from Toowoomba or Brisbane and finding yourself in London had something to do with it, you know, small fish, great big enormous big bewildering pond. Also some kind of reference to the all-midget western movie “The Terror of Tiny Town”. I don’t know what we were thinking at the time, to be honest. It’s not easy for four people to decide things.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
We lived in Hackney, mostly in squats, and rehearsed in rooms that were also, or had also been squats. It was quite normal in those days. These rehearsal rooms were dark and dank, smelling of sweat, spilt beer, and mould. We worked away hard, always coming up with new material. I usually came along with a song idea, and we’d work it up into something.
++ You were around at a time in Australia, and later in the UK, where there was quite a scene independent pop bands. Why do you think that happened at that time? Did you feel part of a scene?
Yes, definitely felt part of the scene. It was stimulating. In Brisbane it was liberating to discover that you could write songs in your own way, you didn’t need to be a guitar hero. Forget guitar solos. You could even record and release songs independently. Suddenly the floodgates were opened and new ideas, new ways of doing things gushed into the world. I imagine it was related to economic situation, politics, culture in general. London was a bit later on and a much harder scene to break into. So, we navigated through various sub-scenes.
++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?
From the start we weren’t rock at all. It was some kind of hybrid. I liked bands like Pere Ubu, the Pop Group, the Slits, the Fall, Elvis Costello, … and then of course the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Television, … the list goes on and on.
++ Most of your releases came out on the Elastic label. I was wondering if it was you behind the label? Or who was running it?
Yes, it was us. It seemed to be such hard work getting on and staying on a label. We made our own label. It was easier. But of course you don’t have the same backup or the contacts, the people out there hustling for you. We kind of fell down in that department.
++ The first release by the band was a flexi released in 1983 with two songs “Back to the Bow” and “Big Fish” was this a self-release? And why release a flexi? Was it because of the price? Was it a promotion sort of release?
A bit of both. It was cheap, and it was a promotional thing. We already had the idea of including it in an edition of the fanzine Distant Violins.
++ That same year you released a tape with the same two songs of the flexi, and two more. I was wondering if this was a demo tape, or was it a proper release?
Any tapes from that time were purely promotional. We sent them out here, there and everywhere with whatever new songs we had going at the time.
++ A year later you put out a fab 7″ with “Drop by Drop” and “Know Better”. The sleeve doesn’t have much information, so I was wondering who designed the sleeve, if it was yourself, and also where were the songs recorded?
The sleeve was designed and printed by me, with the help of the other band members. I screen-printed them in the living room in London. The shapes on the cover are supposed to be raindrops, but they look more like shards of glass as I was using torn bits of paper for a stencil. I have always made the band and gig posters and designed the sleeves. This single “Drop by Drop” was recorded in the now fashionable Shoreditch, in London. In Wave studios. I love the violin in these recordings, courtesy of Caroline Bush.
++ Then another 7″ came out with “Living Out of Living” and “Queue Up”. I notice now that you had a picture sleeve this time. Where was those trees photograph taken? And how was working with Colin Bloxsom? Was it your first time working with him as a producer?
At some stage for some reason I decided to have some singing lessons, so I went along to a voice teacher who was very much in fashion at the time, Tona de Brett. She had given lessons to many well-known singers of the time, including Johnny Rotten, Ozzy Osborne, Adam Ant, Linda McCartney, and Joe Strummer. I must have seen an ad in the NME. Anyway, she lived in a nice house in Highgate, I think it was, lovely house, a posh neighbourhood. I took the photos of the bare winter trees on the way to her house. Very striking in high contrast black and white. I used the same photo on the album cover of LITTLE TIN GOD. Working with Colin was always a delight. Colin had recorded Birds of Tin in Brisbane and then the first two Tiny Town singles. Colin is very down-to-earth. Lovely guy, but don’t get him started on anecdotes.
++ Then came your album “Little Tin God”! How was recording the album? Much different to the singles? Did you enjoy it more?
Recording an album is a big project and takes time. Singles are recorded in a day. For an album, there are a lot more decisions or choices to be made. This album was recorded in the middle of winter in a studio in Brixton called Cold Storage. It had been, in fact, a large cold room in a warehouse complex. The studio itself had quite a history and was filled with interesting instruments, like a clavinet, an electric clavichord. The machines were 16-track tape machines, of course. We worked with the engineer, Ben Young. It was quite intense spending night after night in the studio and then driving home at three or four in the morning through deserted snow-covered, eerie London.
++ For the album you even included Caroline Bush to play violin and Cameron Allan to play bass (who was the founder of Regular Records), what do you think they added to the band?
It’s a different Cameron Alan. Cameron came over with us from Brisbane. We met Caroline in London and she played with us on the album and also live. She’s such an inventive violinist. I love the long string sections and violin parts she played. She could conjure up whole landscapes or slice you up into little pieces with that violin.
++ Perhaps my favourite song by the band is “Inside Fire” and I was wondering if you could tell me what’s the story behind this song? What inspired it?
Cold, bleak London of the mid-eighties, living in a squat on a public housing estate, or in an abandoned house with no bathroom, … nothing like that matters if the coals are aglow within, your inside fire. Also, up in Toowoomba, where I grew up, it could get cold in winter. When my mother said “I’m going to light the inside fire” you knew that warmth and comfort were on the way.
++ Your last release came on a different label, Very Mouth. Can you tell me a bit about them and how did you end up working with this label?
At the time we were playing regularly at a venue in Kings Cross, the Pindar of Wakefield. There we became friends with other bands we sometimes coincided with. Very Mouth was a small label run by one of these bands. They were nice people. We like them and they like us and offered to put out an EP of ours.
++ If you were to choose your favourite Tiny Town song, which one would that be and why?
I don’t know. We moved through material rather quickly, always on to the next new song. I haven’t listened to any of these recordings in a long time except for Living Out of Living. That’s a fun song. Very much about living in London at the time, trying to make a living from temp jobs, ironing and cleaning houses, with this nagging delusion of making a living from music.
++ You contributed “Queue Up” to a compilation called “Distant Violins Number 12”, I see many good bands on this comp, but I’m a bit unfamiliar with Distant Violins, who were they?
Yes, Distant Violins (issue #8) also included the first Tiny Town recording, a flexi-disc, Back to the Bow. It was a fanzine written and produced by David Nichols. He was about 15 or 16 at the time, or so it seemed. David wrote a book about the Go-Betweens and an extensive book on Australian bands, “Dig, Australian Rock and Pop Music, 1960-85”.
++ Are there any unreleased songs by the band? Or everything recorded was released?
Yes, a have a number of rehearsal recordings and a couple of studio recordings on cassette.
++ What about gigs? Did you play many?
We gigged quite a lot, in or around London, and occasionally further afield.
++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
One night at the Pindar of Wakefield, the Go-Betweens were supporting us for a change. There were about ten people in the audience, two of who were BBC DJ John Peel and his producer, John Walters. John Peel played our singles occasionally on his show.
++ And were there any bad ones?
After one of these gigs at the Pindar, we loaded all our gear into the shared Citroen Diane that we had. This is a French car of very simple construction, with a two-cylinder “engine” and a canvas roof. Being inside is a bit like travelling in a washing machine. The car was shared among five friends –I wouldn’t recommend doing this– it was quite old but mostly reliable. However, this night it had a flat battery, so once all the gear was in it we push started it and had it idling in the street there while we chatted and said our goodbyes, etc. Then everybody happily trotted off to the underground or bus stop to go home, each thinking the one of the others had driven the car home. It wasn’t until midday the next day, after a number of phone calls, that we realised that the car had been left there in Kings Cross with all our gear in it and the engine running. Imagining the worst I ran to the nearest underground and back to Kings Cross, to find the car and all the gear was still there where we had left it. Someone had gone to the trouble of turning off the engine. Maybe they thought it was a trap of some kind. Sometime later I lost all the gear anyway, when the front door of the flat was kicked in half on New Year’s Eve.
++ When and why did Tiny Town stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards? Did you end up returning to Australia?
After the losing all our equipment and the wear and tear of the years, we wound down. I was in London for a time longer then moved to Barcelona. I did very little music then for a long time, until about 2001.
++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?
No, not that I know of. We all live in different countries now.
++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?
Not at all. We are all into different things.
++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?
Some radio and press in the UK and Australia; NME, Sounds, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone, etc. At that time Australian bands in London were exotic. There were the Birthday Party (Nick Cave), Moodists, Triffids, Go-Betweens, etc.
++ What about from fanzines?
Yeah, there was one called “Another Spark” in Cambridge, written by Chris Heath. He went on to write a biography of the Pet Shop Boys.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
We were doing it because we enjoyed it. When you are in a band, working on songs together, the highlights are the moments of magic when everything seems to fall into place. The best performances are inevitably in the rehearsal room or someone’s living room. It’s a personal thing. Performing live is never quite the same usually. I guess the biggest highlight for the band was being in London during that time and being part of the scene there.
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
The usual things; movies, books, art, travel, … I like drawing and painting.
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
You must be kidding after all of these questions I’ve answered!
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Listen
Tiny Town – Inside Fire
