Dave Graney, a well-known conundrum himself, describes you as a very mysterious man.
Well, it takes one to know one. I don't think I'm a particularly mysterious man but my music could be a bit mysterious at times.

In the past 12 months you've been everywhere in terms of production work and playing on other artist's records including Paul Kelly, Dave Graney, Sodastream and a host of other local artists. How does it feel to be the man of the moment?
I tell you it's good because I've certainly spent many years not being the man of the moment so I'm really enjoying having those opportunities.

What are other artists looking for when they employ you on their records?
I think maybe the sound of my records brings them in in the first place but ultimately they end up making a record that sounds like them. Sometimes it's almost like they need a witness or something. It's hard to say what it is because most of the people I work with have a really strong musical vision and they've got a really strong personal sound already. I don't think they really look for me to impose my sound on them. I suppose part of it is the technical thing of getting something they feel is an honest kind of sound and part of it is just having someone there to see it all go down.

Do you feel your own music has got a similar strong identity?
I think it does because I've been doing it a long time so I feel like I've got particular sounds I use that are distinctive. But by the same token my sounds have changed a fair bit over time so it's hard to pin down exactly what it is. What I've been trying to get at with my music is an ideal meeting point of pop music and a more experimental approach to putting sounds together. It's one of those endless tasks where I've never hit the nail on the head but there's been times when I've come close to it.

Your songs seem to be quite classically structured with an experimental underbelly.
I reckon that is very true with some of the songs - they start out of guitar and vocal melodies so, in that sense, they're simple enough songs and through the recording process they get bent out of shape a bit. But there's other songs on the EP called 'Parismatic' and 'Chinese Bride No.9' and they're fairly experimental in the sense that they've started off as some cut up bits of sound and they've sort of evolved into pieces. They don't have any formal beginning as songs as such - they're snippets of different ideas all chucked together. But what I've been trying to get at with my music is an ideal meeting point of pop music and a more experimental approach to putting sounds together. It's one of those endless tasks where I've never hit the nail on the head but there's been times when I've come close to it.

As a songwriter it seems your songs are very personal rather than character based. How much of your work is confessional?
Some of it's quite confessional but some of it to me is also quite abstract and twice removed from anything I've personally experienced. I've got this really weird thing where I write a song and I don't really know what it's about and then a year and a half later something will happen that is really well described by the song. It's a bizarre kind of thing. I don't really know how else to describe it but there's a prophetic element in there that seems to get generated when I don't actually know what I was singing about. That keeps me interested. I'm always keen to see what the hell it is I'm singing about.

You're not afraid to explore the subconscious.
No, for me, that's where all the good stuff happens. If I sit down and think I'm going to write a song about a relationship I had once it's just going to be crap. The things only get interesting, honest and real when there are subconscious elements coming into it. There's a whole bunch of songs I wrote a few years ago that were on the Holiday in Spain and Halo LPs that were about death and were quite sad. That was just before a whole bunch of people I knew started dropping off. It was a weird time when I looked back on that music and felt it was about the stuff that happened afterwards.

So what's your fascination with sex and death on the Love on the Vine EP?
It's not like I've set out to write about those things exactly but that's often what things boil back down to. If you include relationship material in the definition of sex then it pretty much covers the whole gamut of human experience. It's not been an intentional thing but those seem to be the themes I'm working with at the moment.

Why do you think your music has achieved a broader appeal in the last few years?
Because I stick a pop song at the beginning of every album. Also with my music you need to listen to it quite a lot before it reaches it's full effect. It's not an instant gratification. So maybe it has taken four or five albums for people to appreciate what I'm trying to do or sink in. I've always written pop songs but on the first couple of albums the production values were pretty low-fi so it wasn't getting national radio play and all that stuff makes a big difference. I guess it was a bit more out there than some of the stuff I'm doing now.

So you think of sex in terms of the old Buddist adage that a part of you dies when you achieve orgasm?
I dare say that's true. I know the French word for orgasm means 'little death'. I'm one of these irritating people that doesn't like to pin things down. I'm into the Dao which is the name that can't speak it's own name side of things. To me it's all an exploration of things I don't understand and I kind of like that.

You've also been described as an 'old soul'.
Maybe so. Look it may be true. Sometimes I definitely feel like an old soul sometimes but I dare say a lot of people do at different times in their lives. I guess I'm not making flat out rock 'n' roll and people tend to associate anything that's quieter and a bit introspective as older people's music. I've got to say this because it's been at me for the last six months. I had this terrible moment when I was watching TV and this Coke ad came on and the music to it was actually this quite catchy, grand, indie-rock piece of music. It's obviously been written for the purposes of Coca-Cola and at that moment I felt like I had to say good-bye to something that I really loved which is indie-rock, loud guitars, fast, melodic rock. To me now I can't look at it and say that it's exciting or new or fresh anymore cos it's what they use to sell cars now. I wish it wasn't the case but I have to look elsewhere to find that new feeling. I can't get it from guitar rock the way it's been developed and the way it's been commercialised. So it almost forces you into these stranger musical corners if you want to feel like you're doing anything original. Maybe that's a good thing but it means that people then think you're old and weird and sentimental.

Do you feel there is anything in your music that distinguishes you as being Australian - or having an Australian sensibility?
I think there is but I don't know what it is. I know I don't sing in a particularly Aussie accent so that rules that one out. But I'd like to think the landscape is soaking into my soul as I get older and that must come out in the music. It would be something that's under the surface. It's not an obviously Okker style of music.

You're often compared to Badly Drawn Boy. How do you feel about that?
I don't know - I'm not so into that guy. We supported him in Perth and he spent the whole time swearing and throwing cigarette butts at ducks in the pond and being an obnoxious prick. I know he's written some nice songs but to me it's not particularly exciting what he does.

Is 'prog' a dirty word for you?
Yes it is especially because a few people have been accusing me of being 'prog' lately. But it goes two ways doesn't it? I've had this thing for a while where I really want to see people do guitar solos because it's like for the last five years it's been uncool to do a guitar solo unless you're in a big stadium rock band. That to me, again, is really boring if everyone has the same attitude to it. It was actually really nice that there was that phase of minimalism and people were doing really simple things but three years down the track and it's kinda like 'someone actually risk looking a bit uncool and do a fuckin' guitar solo because it's fun'. You listen to an AC/DC song and there's nothing wrong with an AC/DC guitar solo. On the flipside of that I'm quite happy to look like a dick and have a go rather than being too scared of looking uncool. But then again the worst excesses of prog are definitely something to avoid.

Have you ever written a Christmas song?
Yes. It was a really early version of that song 'The Monkeys Back'. But I changed the words so it was Christmas and sent it to this radio station in Holland that puts out a Christmas compilation every year. So I have done a Christmas song but it's only ever come out in Holland.

Have you thought about taking your talents overseas?
Yes, I have. I'm keen for someone to put my cds out overseas - people like it over there but no labels really jumped up and said 'yes, we love it - we want to put it out'. It's a little frustrating. It's made me think, like, before your question of 'how Australian is it?' I've never thought it was particularly Australian but because of the reaction of people overseas I think maybe it is. Either that or it just isn't very good. Or both.

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©2003 Christopher Hollow