Ball Park Music are heading to town to support their brand new album ‘Puddinghead’. We chatted to guitarist Dean Hanson about the five piece’s latest musical offering.
Where did the name ‘Puddinghead’ come from?
The name Puddinghead, it’s an old Shakespearean insult that I think Sam analyzed when he was in High School studying English. He used it in a song that we’ve actually recorded, but it didn’t end up making the cut for the album. That song was called ‘Puddinghead’ and I think when we first heard the song we just found the word really interesting and we asked Sam, “Where did that come from?”
Then when we heard it was an insult, well the word seems a bit silly, but the more we said it and the more we heard it, it started to become interesting and cool. We were joking around one day and saying “Wouldn;t it be funny if you had a huge hit with a song called ‘Puddinghead’ and in ten years time, if our career had just escalated and we were looking at each other and thinking “Holy Shit! ‘Puddinghead’ really just took off!”
It tied in a lot with us deciding to record the album ourselves and hoping we didn’t stuff in up.
Your journey’s been quite a roller coaster in the last few years since the band first took off, but it’s been highlighted that this is an album where you’ve been able to take some time off to record it. Is it nice to have that moment of pause and clarity to make a record?
Absolutely, we felt like we needed the second record to come out pretty quickly. I think with the musical climate at the moment it’s pretty hard to keep your fans engaged and if you disappear after your first record comes out, after you’ve had some radio play, if you disappear for a year or 18 months there is going to be something new that’s going to pop up and grab their attention.
We did those albums quite quickly and it went pretty well for us. So we could afford to spend about 18 months away from putting out a record. This will still be our third record in a three year period.
Where did you go to write and record the album?
We rented a house in Brisbane, we’re all from Brisbane so it was pretty close to where we all live. It was a little way out so the noise of us making music didn’t annoy people. We had that house for none months, we had a lease on it and pretty much spent every waking moment there.
It was a vast contrast to our last record where we spent 15 days in the studio. It was twelve tracks. This one we spent nine months and it’s eleven tracks so it was a completely different process, it was awesome.
Usually when you get more time you start to see more of an evolution in the life of a track, it starts one place then will move somewhere else.
Totally, but it’s filled with self doubt as well, which is a good thing when you’re making a record. You can have that time to live with what you’ve made. Then maybe you realise that maybe it needs to change. You might live with a song for six months and think its perfect and then you decide to add things, it gives you time to make changes.
Your coming to play at The Astor in April, do you like that venue?
We played there with Boy and Bear and we had to leave and fly out right after our show but we remember what a beautiful theatre it is. We can’t wait to get over there and play.
Ball Park Music play The Astor on Thursday 24th April, get tickets here.
Graeme Watson
