Crystal Thomas
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Interview With Crystal Thomas By Chris 22/1/09
Crystal Thomas is a great Australian singer songwriter and with her band Flowers Of Evil she is on fire.
With much deserve attention & praise in the local Melbourne street press.
It was time she was featured on here.Her self titled debut album is a solid album and worth seeking out.
So read on and you know what to do next.
1. Are you happy with how the album turned out?
Yes I’m proud of it. We spend a lot of time, care & attention to
detail with this album. It took us quite a long time to make, we
proceeded carefully, deliberately and slowly. Everyone involved really
poured a lot of themselves into the album so it was quite an emotional
trip!
2. What was the inspiration for this album?
There is no particular topic or grand theme for this album as such
although I guess it tends to visit the darker recesses of the heart on
quite a lot of the tracks and if it’s not plunging into the depths of
passion and wreckless abandon it takes a trip to a doctors waiting
room (Pretty Pink Clouds) and enters the mind of a lonely farmer who
takes advantage of his pretty young neighbour ( Little Blue Flowers).
3. What inspires you when writing music?
I find music is a way of working out confusing and conflicting
emotions and situations that life throws me. It’s a way to work out
how I feel about things I see and feel that I can’t necassarily
articulate to people around me. When crafted into song there are
certain things that resonate for people that wouldn’t maybe carry the
same weight if you were to, for example just turn to someone on the
bus and say “oh how disturbing, did you hear what that couple behind
us were saying!” …
4. How has radio helped with your music?
Local Melbourne radio has been very supportive, it’s really helped to
get our music out there and get the ball rolling in regards to
industry support and acknowledgement.
5. What is it like being an independ artist in Australia?
Very expensive! I could go on but that kinda captures it really!
6. How did the recording of the album go?
It was a process that built upon itself.. It started out as a possible
EP and as we went we gathered people, creativity and intention.. it
turned into recording an album. Matt Walker, who produced the album
had a strong vision for the songs and was very dedicated to making the
album sound and feel very lush.
7. How have you been affected with venues hiring DJ’s instead of live music?
It has certainly reduced oportunities for bands to play and persue a
career. It seems to have also contributed to it being less and less
likely to come out if it having made any money.. usually it costs to
put on a night at a venue.
8. How has the street press and the local media taken to your album?
I have found it incredibly reassuring that the local Melbourne media
seem to genuinly love the album. It helps also to keep the momentum of
the band moving forward when you get good live reviews and coverage.
9. What do you hope the album will do for your music career?
I guess in a way it’s like a business card.. through hiring a
publicist for the launch we have got a copy of the album to hundreds
of ‘industry types’ who will hopefully listen to it and at least
recognise that we are a part of the musical landscape. We’ve gained
good reviews, airplay and taken music to the next level with this
album. We now have a manager and are looking at recording another
album this year to follow up on this one.
10. What has the response been like to your music?
Generally very posative, we seem to have achieved making a record that
is artistically and sonically of a high quality, I am very happy with
how our music is being recieved.
11. Who have you enjoyed palying with the most?
I’d have to say, one of the most rewarding and nourishing experiences
of late was playing at a festival called ‘Freakscene’ that Magic Dirt
organised. I really admire Adalita (of Magic Dirt) I think she is a
great role model for us female front people navigating our way through
the crazy world of music.
12. How did you get into music?
Well the ‘getting into’ in terms of decideing it’s what I wanted to do
happened early on but actually figuring out how it all works has taken
quite some time! I started by going to jam nights in Sydney where I
grew up when I was 16 or so and from there spent years finding other
muso’s and recording and writing to get to this point.
13. What don’t you like about the music industry?
Many, many things. Most things. Shall I just say that the things I DO
like are writing songs, co-writing and collaborating with other
creativly inspiring people, band cameraderie, performing (nothing
compares to it on a good night) and of course the actual act of
recording is a lot of fun. Everything else is a necassary evil of
choosing to persue a music ‘career’.
