Conway Savage has an impressive musical resume - at one time or another tinkling the ivories with the cream of Australia's independent scene. Graney, Salmon, Forster, McComb etc. For over a decade he's been a fast member of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. In his down time he's also released a handful of solo records - the latest being Wrong Man's Hands, a short, quiet contemplative album, on his own Beheaded label.

It was the day winter fell when Conway turned up to my place. He was shivering - his suit (the well known Bad Seeds look) wasn't keeping the chill out. Wrong Man's Hands was recorded during a 40 degree Melbourne summer heatwave but it was the perfect soundtrack for this rainswept day. I was a little nervous - every interview I'd read of Conway's was pretty terse. One sentence answers. I was thinking I was going to have to ask 140 questions. But, it wasn't a hardship. He proved to be a man of carefully chosen words. Add to that the slow country cousin drawl and plenty of pregnant pauses and I saw why his interviews read as being so taut.

What's the significance of the album title - Wrong Man's Hands?
This record is basically all my music but in a way it could be conceived as a covers record. There are two cover songs and outside poetry used. And it was thinking, 'if these songs should fall into the wrong man's hands...'

It's a very contemplative, reflective, autumnal record...
I'm not getting any younger. I'm kind of always written that way. Always been attracted to sad shit. Willie Nelson and that, even when I was really young. It has no drums. So that means it can float by a lot. The reason I like a lot of my stuff, a lot of people might dislike it for the same reason. Like I don't think it would sound particularly good on radio. That's alright though.

You don't often have an artist who admits their stuff wouldn't sound good on radio.
Perhaps those really late, late night ones would give it a run.

Love songs and dedications for lonelyhearts?
Maybe.

The record lends itself to cinema scapes but I hear you're not interested in that kind of thing?
Yeah, you know, the one thing you hate is fuckin' some old rock 'n' roller suddenly finding himself dabbling in abstract fuckin' sounds when his whole history has been putting out meat and potatoes rock 'n' roll. Sounds pretty awful. So I don't aim to be working in film music 'cos I think it's an incredibly hard profession and I find it hard enough just writing songs. But my music has that feel. I always write them with a song melody on piano and the words come later. It's basis is it's melody.

Was having no drums a conscious choice or a limitation of the studio you were recording in?

We just knew we'd fill out the gaps with bits of percussion. That's all it needed. A bit of tambourine, a bit of stumbling around tripping over a guitar at one stage.

It's not a record for handclaps.

No, I love the old handclaps on records but not for this one.

Wrong Man's Hands seems to have been recorded it like some old blues guy - you've rocked up to a room atop a pub, they've switched the tape on, you've put down your songs, gone down for a few drinks and you've got a record?
An old blue nosed guy. Well, those are the facts. When we found out this friend had an 8-track thing set up above the pub it really suited our ideas to get this stuff down in a very relaxed fashion. But I don't like this old blues angle - all we did is record a record very cheaply. And the blues don't own that. The Bad Seeds have just done a blues song done for Win Wenders blues film, you know that Scorsese thing. We did 'I'm So Glad'.

At 26 minutes it's a short record. CDs can go for 75+ minutes. A lot of people, including the Bad Seeds, take up the challenge of filling that time. Was it a conscious choice to make this a short, sharp statement?
It's a long, short record. In this day and age it's alright 28 minutes isn't it? I think this record sounds a lot longer than 28 minutes. Maybe it could've done with two more songs but I didn't have them. Stiff cheddar. Having said that I don't think there's anything missing on the record. If I had of listened to it back and it sounded incomplete I would've record some more. But I think it sits together really well.

Do you edit yourself harshly?
Not harshly but I edit myself.

Does the music come musch easier to you than the words?
Yeah, but I just don't have the same work ethic with writing. I don't write everyday. But I try and do some work on the piano everyday. Yeah, but words do come a bit harder.

You play in the Bad Seeds with a guy who seems to shit words out.
(Laughing) Yeah, we've just finished our new record this last month. It's turned out to be a double album. He has a good problem with words, yes.

Does it frustrate you?
No, no. Once I have to start doing I just apply myself and come up with something. An arrangement I like. I know how hard writers actually work. I know how hard Nick does. I'm much more interested in playing the piano all day than with my quill. But that's not to say that's why I'm using three old Irish poems that I found. It wasn't like 'oh, phew, I don't have to write words now'.

Well tell us about that - you use a James Stephens poem and a couple of James Joyce ones too.
Yeah, I had to help him out on one of them. Chucked a few words out, retitled it, added a few of mine. You know - helpful stuff. I shouldn't be too flippant. I don't need his estate to be too upset. With the James Stephens one I used 'Tanist' I had the music for that and it just fitted so fuckin' well. And it just became a little theme I had to explore.

What did these poems say that you wanted to communicate?
They just had really keen observations on some really good themes like beauty, evil, anger and pain. And a lot of celebration in them too. All those things I'm really interested in exploring.

You came across this Irish poetry book on tour with Nick Cave.
I was just browsing to find a big book to keep me out of the barroom.

When I think of a Nick Cave tour bus I see all these besuited guys trying to outdo each other with their archaic tomes of literature.
Yes, yes. Nick runs Bible classes at the back. 'Everybody got their poetry books today? Great.'

I dare say it's funny because it's true.
No, we have a wide range of material to browse through on the Bad Seeds bus. I just can't tell you about it.

Yeah, I bet play station gets a belting. What is the Savage family background? Irish?
I don't know. I haven't been that interested in finding out.

Why's that?
I was just never really interested

Why do you think that would be?
Some people have other interests.

You grew up in country Victoria?
I grew up in various country towns in Victoria. Fish Creek, Kyabram, Terang and Marlo.

Does the first song off the record 'Marlo' have anything to do with the town?
In a very weird way that would only be known by myself. It's not a tribute to Marlo or anything like that.

These towns you grew up in are quite disparate.
We moved around. We had hotels. When I finished form six I came to Melbourne to further my education.

Obviously you're quite comfortable in the hotel environment. I can't imagine what growing up in a Fish Creek hotel would be like?
We didn't own the Fishy pub. We got into hotels after that. You never been to the Fishy pub? I know stories from some of those pubs that would make your hair turn white overnight. No, it was fantastic to grow up in. I was a very popular boy around town.

Are these things you would tap into when writing lyrics?
Yeah, I think it's all part and parcel of what you write. All your histories, all your various histories. And various people that you know. My writing certainly doesn't get too concrete in its subject. I demand it of myself to be like that. Things aren't black and white especially in music.

What made you revisit the Bad Seeds track 'Bring it On'?
I kind of wonder myself too. I guess I was just fooling around with the structure one day when I was working at things. I took it along to Amanda and Robert and played it for them. They sadly shook their heads and smiled and I was thought was fairly positive - not a 'yes' or a 'no'. I just kept working on it. There was something about the sinewy piano line that I really liked and I wanted to keep that kind of movement on the cd. You forget that Nick did it and it became a nice, musical part of the album. I was pretty worried about it cos I didn't know how Nick would take it. But I recorded it and bashed it off to Nick and asked him if he had objections. But he didn't so then I got quite confident about putting it out. I wouldn't have put it out if Nick hadn't liked it. It's his song. I was really pleased with it.

What did you feel you could bring to it that hadn't been in the original version?
The way the Seeds record is we dashed it off in the studio. But, as often happens, once you start touring a song it begins to grow and change a bit again. I just found myself enjoying the song more and more playing it live and it worked its way in there.

What about 'The Cross' - another song written by someone else (The Stream) that you'd produced. What did you think you could bring to that track that wasn't in the original?
When I first heard the song I was producing the Stream's album You, My Friend and they recorded it with a whole lot of Greek musicians. I really, really liked the song. I started doing a version at a few of the shows I'd been doing on this tour overseas. I was really hammering it out on piano and people were actually headbanging to it. But for some strange reason on the first day of recording I did this completely other version. It was a long song and I could hardly breathe. So it ended up being a version of a version of another version.

You've been quoted before as saying 'I must concentrate on putting out a few more things myself rather than helping out some other loser's'…
Well, with the Bad Seeds we get together and record and we get together and we do a tour. Then everyone in the band, except for a certain lazy bass player in Western Australia, does other stuff. You'd have to. We don't tour forever, we don't record forever.

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