Crowded House are considered trailblazers of Australian music, releasing six studio albums and a rarities collection between 1986 and 2010. Now, on the 30th anniversary of the band’s formation, their full catalogue has been reissued. Meticulously compiled by Neil Finn and audio archivist Jeremy Ansell, each album comes with a bonus disc containing a wealth of previously unreleased material – over 100 tracks to satiate the appetite of the most ardent fan. To coincide with the re-releases we’re featuring an interview with Neil Finn talking about the ‘imminent’ release of the band’s ‘difficult second album’, Temple Of Low Men. Sean Sennett caught up with Finn in the bar of The Crest Hotel in June 1988.
Since the demise of the legendary Spit Enz nearly four years ago, guitarist and songwriter Neil Finn has gone on to achieve remarkable success. Forming the Mullanes immediately after the Enz folded, Finn worked hard writing new material and producing demos before finally flying to Los Angeles, New York and London in the hope of securing a record deal.
A few months later, the band landed a worldwide contract with Capitol. The group then boarded a plane to record in Los Angeles, changing their name to Crowded House.
Their self-titled album became a dream debut for Crowded House: five singles and phenomenal sales not only in Australia, but across Europe and America as well.
Next month will mark the release of the band’s second album. After initially giving it the title The Mediocre Second Album, the band later settled on the somewhat more optimistic Temple of Low Men.
“We started it in Melbourne, we finished the actual recording in Los Angeles, then we mixed it in New York so we sort of went on a journey eastward,” explains Finn.
Finn believes the first single released from the album, the acoustic-oriented ‘Better Be Home Soon’, is hardly indicative of what fans should expect.
“It’s probably the least representative track on the album, in a way, because it’s the straightest. It’s the one that people got to know last year through the live gigs. We thought it was almost like one off the last album, so we’ll stick it out now.
“The album in general is probably a lot darker that that song. Not gloomy at all—the playing is quite spirited—but some of them are…well I suppose even that one’s not all beer and skittles either. The album’s more melodic and less rock. I think it’s a more interesting record. There are more extremes in every way.
“In some cases it’s more sparse than the last record. We’ve done a couple of songs in the three-piece format with orchestration, but with the rhythm being all acoustic with Paul on brushes and snare drum and just a simple bass. That’s all that propels a couple of songs.
“There are songs that are more complicated than on the first album too. We’re not going to go out and do a Yes on anybody or anything like that. But it’s good to stretch out a little bit in instrumentation.
“We used Mitchel Froom again on production. He’s pretty cheap going because he only drinks tea!”
Contrary to strong rumours in the press, elder brother Tim didn’t perform a duet on the album.
“There were a lot of rumours around,” smiles Neil, “none of which were true. Tim actually did almost the whole album, doing backing vocals with Paul. I’m going over to play on Tim’s record pretty soon. We’re building up to doing a record together. He’s definitely got the motivation and I think that’s half the battle with songwriting. I’ve heard a couple of his demos and they sound really good.”
Despite writing some of the most memorable songs of the eighties, Finn hardly regards himself as a prolific writer.
“I’d like to be,” he laments. “I have plenty of ideas, but I don’t finish much. Every year, I complete about ten or twelve songs. I’d like to think that the ones I write are of a reasonable standard.
“I think I could churn out a lot more if I just applied the craft to it. Inspiration is still ninety per cent of the songs, even if it’s only ten per cent of the workload. You just wait around for that; there’s no laws.”
With initially only an album’s worth of material behind them and not wanting to be overly reliant on Split Enz material, the band found themselves including some surprise cover versions in their live show.
“It was a case of having to really,” muses Neil. “We found ourselves playing one or two. We liked them so we’d play them live. We never learned any of them properly. I don’t even know the lyrics to most of them. Now we even do ‘Whole Lotta Love’, both acoustically and as heavy as we can off the cuff. We did it once and really enjoyed it so we decided to do it again. And I only know half the lyrics to that one.”
Regardless of Crowded House’s large-scale success, Finn hasn’t closed his mind to obvious problems in the Australian music industry.
“It’s my impression here that radio has taken a bit of a turn for the worse. In Sydney, people seem to be complaining about it and I noticed it too. Like up here with FM104, people seem to be going for the classic rock format. They’re playing a lot of older hits and that seems pretty negative.
“I also believe—though I could be wrong—that, in the main, major record companies haven’t signed up anybody for the last two years.”
With Temple of Low Men being released worldwide in early July, the immediate future for Crowded house is hectic, with several weeks in Europe during July, a full Australian tour in August, and dates in America at the end of the year.
“That’s as long as somebody doesn’t decide to chuck it in in the meantime,” Finn adds ominously. “You never know with this band.”
