Interview with Terracotta Pigeons

"The wicked witch of the West had her winged monkey's...I have my Terracotta Pigeons" – by Mel in Toronto

Terracotta Pigeons from Darwin, Australia will bring their alternative rock music that lends its influences from bands like Tool, Alice in Chains, Primus, or Soundgarden, to Toronto's NXNE festival this June. At its core, Terracotta Pigeons is drummer and vocalist Steven Smith's solo project. "I started Terracotta Pigeons as a means for me to express my musical ideas with total creative freedom. I'm a drummer first and foremost but I wanted to explore and discover my playing styles on other instruments, and play around with vocals a little more," Steve says.

Terracotta Pigeons started as a ‘band' in May 2008 in Vancouver. The current line-up with Jarrod Ross on bass and Glen Forner on guitar has been together for over a year.

The music comes first for Steve: "When I'm writing music I try to think of the emotion I want to attach to it. I almost always have the music before the lyrics. Most of the music on this first album is pretty angsty, I don't think it was intentional but at the time I was feeling very negative about some of my lifestyle choices. I used that as a starting point and it seemed to work for me lyrically."

In October 2009, Terracotta Pigeon released their debut album. People who listen carefully to the bass line in the title track EVER-FOREVER-NEVER will hear undertones by Muse. "Lyrically I wanted it to have a hypnotic intensity, like a panic attack coming on. I wrote it as an interpretation of the uncertainties of life and possibly the fear of death," Steve says. PINS & NEEDLES "was inspired by the addictions I recognize myself and others in my peer group have shared over the years. When I wrote the lyrics I had begun to change certain aspects of my life and wanted to get out of the groundhog day scenario I felt I was trapped in. This song is about me kind of looking from the other side," Steve says.

The uneasy feeling of ANOTHER DIMENSION is "inspired by a guy in my home town of Darwin who you'll see walking the streets at strange hours of the night," Steve explains. "He's not homeless but an insomniac, he's been walking those streets for as long as I can remember. Got me thinking about that kind of existence and what it does to the mind."

The song A LETTER FROM THEM lets us learn a lesson about a story from down under: "there was a story here in Australia about an 80-something year old man, who received a letter from his football club where he had been a member and supporter for many years. They sent him this letter more or less asking if he could leave money in his will for the club when he dies. He was naturally very offended and upset that they would make such a request and in the end told them to get fucked more or less. The story inspired the song, which has essentially to do with the perceived value of a person by those in power. It had an interesting relevance at the time as well, with the global financial crisis taking hold and people losing there jobs left right and center. It seems we're all disposable."

Catch Terracotta Pigeons during NXNE in Toronto on June 17 and 19, 2010. Check out the gig tracker on the left for more info.

In your own words – ONE on ONE with Mel and Steve

Mel:  Could you please tell us about the music scene in Darwin, Australia?

Steve:  The city is a loooong way from anywhere else, we're isolated really.  But it's a tropical city which is fucking hot for most of the year, a constant 33 degrees with 90% humidity, and it makes for some interesting music. Like most small towns there is an underground metal scene which has had a bit of a revival in the last couple of years. There are a lot of singer songwriters, a bit of Gypsy jazz, some electronica, blues, rock, pretty much what you find in most places. But we are starved for venues. It's a real shame because the talent is there and the ideas are a plenty, but ever since I can remember there has always been a lack of places to for those musicians to play. The whole city runs on tourism and the many bars and clubs in the city use cover bands to help make their profits. The venues run live entertainment seven nights a week and there are some great players in those venues but you have to be pretty convincing to get your band in there if you're not playing what the people want to hear. And that's the real problem, the crowds who frequent those venues are stuck in a fucking time warp when it comes to music. It's a complicated relationship between venue and punter, and I don't think it's going to change in a hurry. It may be hard to get original acts into those commercial venues but the scene still flourishes regardless. Bands put on there own gigs and it makes for a more interesting and intimate scene anyway. There are more and more bands from Darwin starting to get out and play at some major festivals around the country and that is pulling people's attention to our city. Good things come from Darwin!
 
Mel:     In June, you will bring your music to Canada to participate in NXNE. Have you been to Canada before? What are your expectations for the festival?

Steve:  Canada is a market I'm really interested in.  I actually debuted Terracotta Pigeons in Vancouver in 2008. The first live show we ever did was for the New Music West festival in Vancouver, we played 2 shows and then flew back to Australia to open for Wolfmother. Unfortunately our experience at NMW wasn't that fantastic and I came away from it a little broke and a little disheartened. In all fairness I think it was half the way that festival was run and half my own lack of preparation to make an impact. NXNE is a much better and bigger festival and I'm much more prepared for this trip. Also, when you're spending as much as I am to travel to perform at an event that could do a lot for you, or do nothing for you at all, it helps to know that you are supported by the organizers. The staff at NXNE have been very helpful and understanding and that makes me feel a lot more comfortable about investing the money and effort to get there. My main goal from this trip will be to meet people who can help me book shows and introduce me to the Canada and US touring scene. I would like to be able to come back and tour on a more regular basis and I see this as an opportunity to show the industry that I'm serious. 
 
Mel:  What would you like to achieve with your music?
                                                                                                                Steve:  I write all kinds of stuff and over the past couple of years I have been working on a plan to write music for publishing under my "Mammoth Moth Productions" banner. As far as Terracotta Pigeons is concerned, I have songs written for the next couple of albums and my plan at this stage is to aim for an album a year. I recorded the current album entirely myself with my own equipment so there is a lot of freedom with that. And while I won't necessarily do the next one the same way, I know that I can if I want to, and I'm not so restricted by time and budget. I'm just going to keep releasing material and building the fan base, I would love to do more touring and have that eventually be a self sustainable thing. I would like to find a good publicist to help me promote the band and get us to that next level. It can be very expensive but I think if you're serious about making it in this industry you can't just rely on all the free social media and word of mouth stuff.  So it will be interesting to see when the time comes, what difference that approach makes.
 
Mel:  Which artist would you like to record a song with and why?
                                                                                                                  Steve:  Zack de la Rocha.  I can picture myself and the man laying down some banging beats. Maybe just drums and vocals - one track, maybe I'll send him something...yeeeeaaahhhh... 
  
June 15, 2010 by Mel in Toronto [Melanie Schade]

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Terracotta Pigeons Tickets may be available at TicketScene