Interview + Album Feature | Darren Sylvester
On world building, dreaming and make believe in this kitchen sink drama
Tempo speaks with Darren Sylvester about wanting the whole project to arrive in a visual language, the influence of songs that are super specific about banal things and how a stolen computer and hard drive slowed down making his latest album Hollywood High School.
Hello Darren, firstly, congratulations on your new album, Hollywood High School your fourth full length and a welcome return. In your own words summed up perfectly it’s described as, ‘a power pop kitchen sink drama of a record’. How does it feel to have it out in the world?
Thank you, and yes, out and about at last. Obviously feels great and with relief as you second guess yourself when doing it on alone – is anything any good and why go on, etc, however now that it is I say to anyone tinkering on a project, get it out, clear the decks and start again. It feels great.
The album was written, performed, recorded and mixed by yourself in Coburg with 12 tracks in just 34 minutes with this way of working harking back to the same way you did on your debut in 2009. Along with the audio you have also made six unique fun video clips to accompany half the album. How long has Hollywood High School been in the pipeline for and who makes that many video clips for one album? Outrageous!
My previous two records I had production handled mostly by James Cecil – great Melbourne producer/musician and friend. Well, he moved to Macedon and was no longer a 5-minute ride away so felt it was time to step up and produce myself again. I’d sat and tinkered at the desk and been on his shoulder for so many months it was time.
Time wise it’s been on and off for 3 years, it was started, changed, deleted –
actually it’s just come back to me, our house got robbed at one stage a bit over 3 years ago and they stole the computer and hard drive with the album that had started, and the only thing I had from it was demos on my phone, so yeah, about 3 years ago it started all over again.
And for some reason, as I was producing it, I made the rule I’ll play everything as well – the last LP, Touch a Tombstone, had a range of people play on it, just for something different this time and to do as I did on the debut, I’d do the whole thing for better or worse but you can get lost in the candy coated promises of plug-ins at times ….
Now that it’s out, I should have probably nixed the final months of finessing mixes as that was kinda useless as mastering changed the sound so much for the better. David Walker at Stepford Mastering made it glue together and has given it a rockier, heavier and more solid sound than what I presented to him, Take Your Life has great guitar sounds.
For the videos, I teach painting at VCA two days a week and one of my students Natasha Jol, mentioned about wanting to try styling and I knew I wanted to make videos over the summer so asked if she wanted to do casting and all the looks and clothes, and it’s a fantastic result. I knew I wanted a high school hallway look that I built in my studio and we shot all videos in there and made some rules like only 4 hours to film a video, and then I’d do the edit the next day, otherwise you can tinker on these forever.
I love the album cover with a band of people who then appear in the videos as their own protagonists.
When making the album I was thinking about videos constantly and what they’d look like, I manifested them – the Magic Spell video is pretty much what was in my mind when recording.
I’m interested in the importance of the ‘kitchen sink drama’ theme for you and if it’s based on personal experience or perhaps a reference to the British cultural movement of the late 1950s/early 1960s to do with film, theatre and literature?
The kitchen sink drama narrative was to create visually on the cover this cast of characters that when making the videos each person could go off and tell their own story. I had that idea from the start – that the album would be called Hollywood High School, there’d a bunch of people on the cover, and these people would then tell the story of the album through pop videos.
My aim was to do videos for all 12 songs as a complete package, however in January I was offered a new exhibition to do for September so had to stop and now I’m in full time art making mode.
I like songs that are super specific about banal things so, Mom and Dad I Never Said I Wanted to Dance, is a performer on stage about to do a monologue but instead blasts her parents about never wanting to even be there, or Dead for the Dentist is about falling for your best friends partner, a dentist.
It’s been a good while since your last release, around eight years since so I’m sure it must be a bit of a big deal to be back with something fresh! Can you give us a snapshot of what you have been up to since Touch a Tombstone?
Lots of exhibitions, in 2019 I had a survey show at the NGV, Carve a Future, Devour Everything, Become Something, and generally, a solo show every year, which takes about 6-7 months to make. The reason why that ticks over more than music is there’s a deadline for exhibitions with a show date, so you work to that, music drifts… I also love recording, so there’s so many different versions and styles of the songs, and to find a great sequence to the album you have to make concessions, the song ‘You’ve Been Around’ about a couple arguing at a restaurant had drums all over it but in sequencing the LP needed a break so it’s just bass now.
Aside from music you are a practicing visual artist working across a wide range of disciplines including staged, prop-built photographs, sculptures, and installations with your last show Party up on Skull Rock happening at Neon Parc late last year. How do you balance all your creative output and does music often need to take a backseat with all your commitments?
I love making things, If I’m working on an art exhibition I plan in a home studio (which is a spare bedroom) and do the making in a Brunswick studio – but this home studio doubles as the music studio so it becomes a thing to do when not art inspired, or downtime between shows –
its wanting to do something creatively every day and music to me is so much about world building, dreaming and make believe, it’s a great way to spend your days.
It wasn’t long ago that I interviewed Jarrod of Lost Animal and discussed your excellence in photography for the cover art on both his records, and I am aware of the other iconic work you have done for June Jones, Geoffrey O’Connor, Totally Mild, and Jessica Says. I recently watched Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis (2022) which gave me such an appreciation for the art of the album cover. Have you seen it? I am also wondering how long you have been interested in it and if you are open to doing more apart from your own work?
Love that movie and any behind the scenes cover stories, I’ll hit play on it right away. Interesting thing is I just photographed new shots of Geoffrey O’Connor for his upcoming album, and they turned out so good. Most of these artists I do the graphic design for as well, and I enjoy the world building for them, the two Totally Mild albums were a great example of that.
I don’t do it as much anymore, I fell into it because I used to work part time doing graphic design for the Centre for Contemporary Photography like 15 years ago – I started designing my own exhibition catalogues and I was someone who knew how to get vinyl into production and use Indesign, I rarely do this kind of work anymore for just being too busy – life gets busy.
The last time I saw you live many years ago, you were playing solo with backing tracks, and I am wondering if this will be your approach now or do you have a band joining you to pull off all the parts? Speaking of which, are there any shows coming to celebrate the release of Hollywood High School?
No shows, just videos, that’s the plan. For my other albums I’d have the LP out and then start making videos as an afterthought,
this time I wanted the whole project to arrive in a visual language.
Also, I haven’t played a show since covid, and when we came out of that, I lost the desire to play live. I used to be nervous and anxious before shows but afterwards it was such an adrenalin rush, live music felt like a test to myself – I would somehow like to try it again. We had a great 4-piece with me, James Cecil, Biddy Connor and JoJo Petrina.
Finally, who are your favourite local Melbourne bands at the moment and who would you like to see interviewed for Tempo?
I saw they were playing again recently which is really exciting to me as melodically and album wise Milk Teddy are one of my all-time Melbourne faves. Time Catches Up with Milk Teddy is a stone cold classic.