Q & A with Brittle’s Geoff Slingsby

In less than a week, Brittle will unleash their debut EP The Owls, a project that the band are preparing to give away for free! Today I caught up with the band’s drummer Geoff Slingsby to chat about his band’s generosity, their massive three-month tour, and more.

Brittle’s an interesting band name. Where did that come from?
We started off as teenagers in high school, and we just started out playing covers and stuff like that. And my mum booked us a gig at the local ampitheatre, and we didn’t have a same. So it was just really spontaneous. We were first called Brittle FX, but then we changed it just to Brittle because of other band names like NO FX and Def FX, stuff like that. We changed it to Brittle and then we just stuck with that. We liked it and it’s a bit different.

You’re about to release your new EP The Owls. Was it as much fun to make as it is to listen to?
Yeah, it was amazing. We had a really good experience because we worked with a well-known producer called Mark Opitz. It was a lot of fun because he was showing us a lot of different skills and stuff that he had, and he was sharing a lot of stories with us from working with people like Michael Hutchence from INXS, Rose Tattoo, stuff like that.

I was reading over the names of some of the bands he’s worked with. Was it a little intimidating getting in the studio with him, knowing all of those big names he’s produced?
Yeah, it was a bit intimidating because we’d never worked with a producer before. So we didn’t really know what to expect. We were like sponges. We just listened to every thing he said and we just did it.

You’re preparing to give the EP away as a free digital download, which is an extraordinary step. Why did you decide to be so generous with your music?
Well, one way or another people are going to like it. It takes one person to put it up on the net and they can get it for free anyway. But also it’s good to give something for free as well. We talked about it a lot with each other and we thought to get some really good fans if we just start giving away stuff for free, then they’ll be more likely to come to a show because they’ll know the songs. Rather than having to download it and worry about paying for it, this is a lot quicker and a lot more available.
You’ll be supporting the EP’s release with a massive three-month tour. Have you got any reservations about being on the road for so long?
Oh no way. We love getting on the road and touring. It’s more like we’re really looking forward to it. Playing a different show at a different venue every night at a different town, it’s always heaps of fun to us. And a lot of inspiration for our songs comes from that as well. We kind of look at it as the band 24/7 when we’re on the road, that’s just how it is.

What is it about being on stage that you love so much?
I love it when the crowd gets really into it, and we have really good interaction with the crowd. You see people singing words to your songs or just like going nuts. We sort of feed off that kind of vibe, so it’s good.

What do you think you’ll miss most when you’re on the road?
Probably my dogs. I’ve got two dogs and I love them to bits. Probably that and my girlfriend.

Do you have any strategies for staying sane with so much travel time?
Not really! We’ll break it up a bit, because we have a few days in our home town of Ballina, so we get to sort of hang out with our family for a bit. We’ll probably just go fishing and do some relaxing things.

Have a nice little holiday!
Yeah, especially while we’re in Melbourne, because in Melbourne we don’t really have too many friends around and stuff like that, so it’s a good chance to have a bit of a holiday.

I hear that you’ve been making some headway overseas too. Can you tell me about that?
Yeah. We’ve got our stuff uploaded on a website in The States called Friends or Enemies, it’s for a lot of really die-hard fans. They really like bands and music. And over the last few month we’ve been creating a bit of a buzz on there, talking to fans and stuff and stuff overseas. We’re planning to do an EP tour over in the States, hopefully around March we want to head over there, tour the CD there and also try to get to South by Southwest. We’re going to hopefully go over for ten weeks.

After you wrap up this tour, what’s next for Brittle?
Not so much after this tour. We’re still going to play some spot shows here and there, but it sort of just depends what comes our way. If another band asks us to tour with them or something like that before the end of the year, then I’d say we’ll jump on board. We just love being on the road, and we really want to just keep touring and keep familiar with the venues and stuff, and the people that go to the venues. We just keep going back and they know who we are.

The Owls is available for free download from the Brittle website from June 14. You can see Brittle play the following shows over the next few months.

25 June 2010 – Trash @ Caseys Hotel, Hawthorn (18+)
26 June 2010 – Revellers Bar, Melbourne (18+)
8 July 2010 – Snitch @ Club 299, Brisbane (18+)
9 July 2010 – Hard Rock Café, Gold Coast (18+)
10 July 2010 – Bon Amici, Toowoomba (18+)
11 July 2010 – The Hive, Brisbane (All Ages)
15 July 2010 – Kyogle Memorial Hall, Kyogle (All Ages)
16 July 2010 – Southern Cross School, Ballina (All Ages)
17 July 2010 – Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay (18+)
22 July 2010 – Grand Hotel, Wollongong (18+)
23 July 2010 – Ivanhoe Hotel, Manly (18+)
29 July 2010 – Bended Elbow, Geelong (18+)
30 July 2010 – POW @ Mynt Lounge, Werribee (18+)
31 July 2010 – Cherry Bar, Melbourne (18+)
1 August 2010 – Spanish Club, FitzroyAll Ages)
4 August 2010 – Irish Murphy’s, Launceston (18+)
5 August 2010 – The Central, Devonport (18+)
6 August 2010 – Republic Bar, Hobart (18+)
7 August 2010 – Maginty’s, Burnie (18+)
12 August 2010 – Karova Lounge, Ballarat (18+)
13 August 2010 – Louisiana Tavern, Elizabeth (18+)
14 August 2010 – Edinburgh Castle, Adelaide (18+)

Image used with permission from AAA Entertainment