Go west young man

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

Liam Finn might have been born in Australia but he doesn't remember much of the place from his younger years. He left when was 9, after all. And he's seeing a whole new side now as a 21-year-old. Roads, mainly. Then pub stages. Then roads again.

His band betchadupa have been based in Melbourne for the past couple of months. That city is his birthplace and the city where his father Neil and Uncle Tim based much of their careers before returning to Auckland.

The band have clocked up some major van kilometres, especially with one regular residency in the Victorian capital and another up the road in Sydney.

"And last week we went from Sydney to Adelaide in one go, a 16-hour drive to do another show, then a 10-hour drive to Geelong to do another show. We kind of got really [expletive] so we are not doing that again."

Stuffed they might be, but they're happy the hard work is paying off, it seems, especially with their second album Aiming for Your Head finally about to emerge after its recording was completed in April.

Finn seems heartened that the band have reached a level in Australia where they're playing their own headline gigs and have earned a following through sheer hard work. A diverse audience it is, too. Finn says they're getting punters from across the rock spectrum, ranging from alternative types to "mainstream bogan rock guys" and beyond.

"Everybody is kind of looking at each other going, 'What are they doing here?' "

There's a genre-busting feel, too, on the new album. It's a hefty, adventurous piece of work - a leap forward from the bratty, folky, precocious The Alphabetchadupa which debuted in the New Zealand charts at No 2 and went on to sell a healthy gold status (7500 copies) locally.

Recorded mostly with veteran producer Nick Launay (INXS, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Midnight Oil, silverchair), Aiming is the first fruit of the band departing New Zealand's Flying Nun label, on which they started, and signing to Aussie label Liberation.

It's also, says Finn, a product of being an older, wiser, better, road-tested band.

"We know what we like a lot more, and know what we do.

"We did a tour around New Zealand at the end of last year specifically to test the songs and sort them out, and that what was really good for this record. We did this really quickly because we were well-rehearsed and we knew what we wanted to do. I think that comes through, as well.

"It's far more energetic than the last record. The last one, I think we were a bit stoned, or something. The last one just seems a bit sleepy now when I listen to it. When I was writing the songs on this record, I was sort of fighting against the last record in a sense that I thought the songs were about a minute too long and a bit dragging and slow, and this one went the other way. They were all really short songs and made them faster."

And louder. With Launay came the use of some guitars and amps which had seen service by the likes of Midnight Oil in the Oz rock wars.

"We destroyed a few of their things, unfortunately. But it was worth it for the rock."

The album comes with hints of everything from the Finn legacy, to the likes of former Flying Nun stablemates such as the Chills, to - on Who's Coming Through the Window - the Swingers.

"Yeah, I've heard people make comments about the chorus with the high singing kind of Phil Judd-like kind of vocal. I guess we are quite influenced by the early Split Enz days. When we were 16, 17, 18 we were listening to the first few Split Enz records and just really digging the arrangements and the craziness and the melodies and stuff. I think it was quite natural for that to probably come through but it was never, 'Let's write a Swingers song or a Split Enz song'."

However, the family connection shifts from the theoretical to the practical on a couple of tracks, with Neil Finn guesting on piano and harmonium.

"I couldn't keep him away, actually. He was around and he offered his services and we would have been silly not to, really.

"Because there were a few songs that really leant themselves to having something a bit more colourful. And we really didn't have much time to do overdubs.

"I kind of had a few ideas for things but knew that Dad would be able to come in and probably just do them in 10 seconds. It was kind of more of a spur-of-the-moment thing."

But Finn says betchadupa is becoming less of a question of the band as a vehicle for his songs.

"It is getting a lot more collaborative and the other guys in the band have come into their own as songwriters. Chris is writing heaps more than he did on the last record. And stuff that he is writing is really uniquely him.

"He doesn't sleep very much, so he sits in his room and writes these chord sequences, then about 50 guitar lines for every chord sequence and sifts through it and finds the hook because - he's pretty messed up, he writes crazy stuff. Well, he's not a messed-up guy but he writes crazy stuff."

Now it's time for the band to find an even higher gear with an album to consolidate the groundwork they've done across the Tasman. They'd like to head Up Over in the next 12 months, possibly to base themselves in Britain and the United States long enough to make an impression after earlier fleeting visits.

Right now, Finn says betchadupa are happy to be young men in a band gathering its own momentum, and staying sane while doing it.

"We're all good mates and we take comfort in each other. And no one's really freaked out, yet. We are all living in the same house and it's been good. But it is definitely going to wear thin after a while.

"There is something about being in Melbourne and being somewhere bigger that is really stimulating. It feels like there is a lot going on so you have to strive to be noticed. It's really a lucky thing for anyone doing anything creative. It's good to be kicked up the ass and it makes you work hard."

LOWDOWN

WHO: betchadupa, Auckland-born band of Liam Finn (vocals, guitar), Matt Eccles (drums), Joe Bramley (bass), Chris Garland (guitar)

FORMED: 1997

AVERAGE AGE NOW: 21

NEW ALBUM Aiming for Your Head, out October 4

TOUR: Jet Set Bar, Christchurch, Thu October 7; Bar Bodega, Wellington, Fri October 8; Kings Arms, Auckland, Sat October 9.

TRIVIA: The band is now signed to Liberation Music, the label owned by Michael Gudinski, the man who in the late 70s signed Split Enz to his Mushroom label. He sold Mushroom in 1998.