The end has been on the cards for some time with the band winding down their live shows to the barest minimum. But the real shame is the split is largely due to indifference. A farewell single ‘My Generation Landslide’ has been released to flag the occasion with Melbourne being treated to two good-bye shows.

So Ron the band is dead but have they died pretty?
Hmmm, I don’t know. I suppose we should have split a few years ago. We were just too lazy to do it though.

So what’s brought on the split now?
We were preparing to do another album actually. Brett and I recorded about twenty odd songs just in our studio but when it got to hunting around for a publishing deal and the whole rigmarole it was too much at this point in time. Rather than do that we thought let’s pull the plug on the whole thing and call it quits. Sales have been down with each passing album so I don’t know if anyone would’ve been interested in releasing another one.

The split puts added weight onto the final single ‘My Generation Landslide’
‘My Generation Landslide’ was going to be a single if there were to be another album. It took on a different slant once we’d called it quits. But we wanted to release it just as some sort of closure for us and as a gift for the fans that are still following the band.

How do you think it goes as a final statement? One lyric sticks out - "I know what it's like to feel old/I know what it's like to be told".
I think it’s fine. I wrote the lyrics quickly in the studio. I ripped off two of my favourite songs by two of my favourite bands – "My Generation" by the Who and Alice Cooper’s "Generation Landslide". I just put the two of them together. It’s a nice end to the career I think.

So are the demos going to be coming out in any way, shape or form? Have you got any plans for a Ron S. Peno solo career?
There was talk of a solo thing from me but whether that eventuates or not is another thing. I liked the idea for while and then went ‘is anybody really interested?’ There some really good, quite powerful songs there and whether I take those and use them for a solo thing we’ll have to wait and see. I’m going to re-locate to Melbourne after this tour because I love it so much - a great big, soft spot for Melbourne. So maybe I’ll meet some people, other creative types and maybe something will come of it, I don’t know.

The one constant in Died Pretty’s career is your songwriting partnership with Brett Myers. Is going your separate ways now like a messy divorce?
It’s still very comfortable when we get together. It’s not like a chore. We still have a great deal of fun songwriting. But I did notice that he wanted to go off and do more electronic experimental stuff. I’m still of the old school of pop song writing – verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus sort of thing. I wanted to hark back to the older sound of Died Pretty with less stuff that was featured on Using My Gills as a Roadmapeven though I love that album immensely. I wanted to go back to the old ways of not too many addition noises and bleeps in the background happening.

The last two records Everydaydream and Using My Gills as a Roadmap polarised the fan base. There is a lot of vehemence about the later stuff.
They were two records that Brett and I got together and did using weird sounds. It was just something that we wanted to do; that we needed to do for ourselves. To keep it interesting and keep the passion. A few people took to it but not as many as we thought would like it. Sales-wise they didn’t sell at all. But it’s happened the way it’s happened. You can’t dwell on those things. We’re not doing anything off those two records on this last tour. Pre-those two albums are what people want to hear so it’s just all old stuff.

That’s a surprise considering how reticient you’ve been in the past about playing old material…
That was when I was going through my ‘I-don’t-want-to-play-any-old-stuff’ period. Every time we released a new album I wasn’t interested in old stuff. But I think this being the final shows to go out and just play songs off the last two albums might be a bit much. Our audience didn’t wholly accept them so it’d be really bad to go out and do the songs that people weren’t into 100%. Most people will be turning up to hear old stuff.

It might be the ultimate Died Pretty statement.
I actually wanted to do a batch of cover versions for our final tour. That was a very silly idea of mine that lasted about five seconds but it was worth saying anyhow. The main thing is to have fun. Hopefully a few people turn up and enjoy themselves. It’s closure for the band and to say goodbye to the people who are still buying and listening to our music.

How do you feel about Died Pretty being tagged as Australia’s most underrated band?
We were given opportunities through Sony and a shot at mainstream success and overseas success that never eventuated for us through no fault of our own. It’s just we’ve been kicked in the teeth a few times during our career trying to climb a ladder of sorts. A band like Died Pretty is better off sticking to the blue highways rather than the main roads. We gave the main roads a shot but we’re more comfortable on the blue highways.

^{Earlier Ron}

So that’s the way you look back on the career?
Yeah, basically. We gave the mainstream thing a shot. The whole Sony thing which was fun, exciting and an adventure. There was lots of money around but basically I don’t think they could market us that well. We never really played that game too well doing in-store appearances and going on TV shows that we didn’t want to go on. But we had fun there. We went overseas, we recorded a couple of albums, and toured the world. I’ve met wonderful people, made lots of friends, written what I think are lovely songs. Great songs that I’m very proud of.

So do you feel that Died Pretty has received its due credit and kudos?
From what I’ve read – yeah. I’m not leaving this with any bitter and twisted feelings. We’ve just had a great time and it was time to pull the plug on it. We had a couple shots at the big time that didn’t work for us so we were always happy to trundle along, coast along release records. We’ve had a good innings.

Any plans to make this a Last Waltz style extravaganza with plenty of special guests?
Oh, God no. Our old keyboard player Frank (Brunetti) is going to be djing at the Prince of Wales and that’ll be sort of bizarre. We don’t have any plans for anybody to get up. We’ll do it ourselves I think.

So will ‘Mirror Blues’ get a run?
We didn’t rehearse it at all and it’s not in the reserve list, it’s not in the encore. That may come out as a very last, ‘ok let’s just do it’ type thing. I was wanting to do it at rehearsal and was asking, ‘if it comes to the crunch can we go out and just play this bloody 12-minute song?’ And everybody was like ‘we can do it, we don’t need to rehearse it.’ It’s been nightmarish trying to get a list together.

Looking back on the career what is your favourite Died Pretty album?
I love Using My Gills as a Roadmap – I think that’s a brilliant album. But everyone seems to think Doughboy Hollow is the Died Pretty album.

How would you like Died Pretty to be remembered?
As a very real, passionate band that played wonderful songs. I think we’ve been pretty true with our music. I don’t really know, Chris. For God’s sake make something up on my behalf.

Back in the early 00s I started a column for Rhythms magazine called 'Welcome Strangers: Rare Stories of Great Australian Albums'. I wanted to celebrate the wealth of great Australian records, with the great stories attached, that I felt had been forgotten. Things like the Daddy Cool's Teenage Heaven, the Sports' Play Dylan (and Donovan) EP, the Masters Apprentices Vol. 2 EP, the Loved Ones' Magic Box, the Triffids' Born Sandy Devotional and the final two Moodists EPs. I'd also done interviews for three more - Ed Kuepper on Everybody's Got To, producer Ross Wilson on the Johnnys' Grown Up Wrong and Brett Myers on Died Pretty's Every Brilliant Eye (with plans for more including the Easybeats' 1968 Vigil LP, the Scientists' Blood Red River, Autohaze, the Bee Gees and the Church).

The reason I chose Every Brilliant Eye was because Died Pretty had, at that time, just released a record called Everydaydream. A record that wasn't getting much attention and a lot of long term fans of the band made no bones they hankered for the 'old Died Pretty'. And what struck me about Every Brilliant Eye was that it got much the same reaction when it was released back in 1990. It was the first album the band had done without the Rob Younger producing, it didn't have the classic 'Citadel sound' which they'd helped define and it was in a style that pointed the way for the later success they had with things like Doughboy Hollow. Also Every Brilliant Eye, like the other records I was focusing on, was the most underrated of Died Pretty's canon ... well, until Using My Gills as a Roadmap and Everydaydream. Needless to say, I got distracted and I never finished those three articles. Still, I haven't given up hope, those albums aren't going anywhere and they certainly haven't been re-evaluated by anyone else. No question I'll get back to them.

Brett Myers, who's approach to guitar playing, keyboards and songwriting I admire greatly, was very kind to delve back into the Every Brilliant Eye period. Also following this is another inteview with Brett, from 2001, about the Everydaydream album.

How did the album title Every Brilliant Eye come about? Someone into reading Yeats?
The title was basically (John) Hoey's idea. It came from a crime novel he was reading at the time, I think it was by Loren D. Estleman, whose title was a quote from Yeats.

Every Brilliant Eye is perceived to be an underrated album in the Died Pretty canon. Why do you think this is?
It's release comes between the Free Dirt and Lost phase, and Doughboy Hollow and it tends to get overshadowed by those records. It was also the first album we made with a reasonable budge - we had just signed to Beggars Banquet in the UK. And it was the first album with a producer other than Rob Younger. The change in sound really divided a lot of people. The shock of us not sounding like what perceived as the Oz indie style had worn off a bit by the time Doughboy Hollow had come out - which was good - and gave that record a bit more of a chance. It was a transitional period for us in a lot of other ways too. We had two new members on this record (Hoey and Steve Clark) which was bound to change the style somehow, and we were at a stage where we were sort of losing some of our traditional alternative audience and seemed to be gaining a new more mainstream one.

What made you decide to record the album in Hollywood?
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, really it was because the producer - Jeff Eyrich - lived in LA and wanted to produce the album there. We thought it was great - six weeks in US! We were literally staying one block from Hollywood Boulevard and there was a umm...a large collection of life's rich tapestry on display. The funny thing is the Church were staying right next door in a neighbouring apartment block - they were making Gold Afternoon Fix at the time and we would sometimes see them when we were both leaving for the studio in the mornings - 'Morning Ralph', 'Morning Fred'.

Can you tell us what those sessions were like? Was recording in an American studio completely different from the way you’d done things here in Australia?
The recording process was completely different, but not really because we were in America but because were recording with someone who worked so completely differently from Rob Younger. Jeff Eyrich was a real LA guy. He used to come into the session each morning with his hair still wet from surfing. He and the engineer ate nothing but health food from special organic stores, and each session usually finished around 6.00 or 7.00pm. But we weren't complaining, we just used to hang out in LA every night - some did a lot more hanging out than others though - and I think this screwed up some of the performances on the record. There were also a lot of session people involved, including drummers, which Eyrich insisted on.

You're obviously a band of music fans – did you indulge in some music sightseeing when in California or meet some heroes?
Oh yeah. Just the usual, Sunset Strip haunts like the Rainbow Room, the Whisky etc. Saw lots of bands, my favourite was Public Enemy at the Greek Theatre...you know - Neil Diamond - Hot August Night. It was a pretty wild night, the stretch limos were backed up for miles outside the venue. Every major rapper in LA seemed to be there - and on stage at some time during the show. Ice Cube, Big Daddy Kane etc. The SIW's had their real submachine guns, there were about a dozen black Muslims on stage as well, just standing around all looking like Malcolm X. This was in 1989 so it wasn't really yet that rap crossover period and I was definitely one of the few white faces in the audience. I had to go alone, everyone had 'something else to do' that night. When I got home some of the PE crew were in the lift, turns out they were all staying there. It was also at the height of the LA metal hair-bands and there were some tragic sights walking around. Shopping at Ralph's on Sunset any time after 9.00pm was a real experience. The backcover shot of the band incidentally, is taken on the mezzanine of an old building in the heart of Hollywood Boulevard. There was another great shot taken by the same photographer in downtown LA in front of the amazing mural. I think Festival here used it as a poster for the album.

Brett Myers Bizarre Fact: During the European tour that preceded our time in America, we did about a dozen dates with Sky Saxon (of the 60s band the Seeds), who had some band called the "Sunlight Slayers", I think, at the time. He was this sort of tragic/comic figure - obviously still pretty "affected" from the 60s. The keyboard player in the band was Mars Bonfire from Steppenwolf. Working with him was the inspiration for one of the songs on Every Brilliant Eye - but I let you guess which one.

How long did it take to record?
About six weeks all up - including a week of rehearsals with Jeff before we started.

Approximately how much did it cost to record?
I really don't know the exact amount. A lot. About ten times what we spent on Lost. and about half of what we spent on Trace.

What's your favourite song off the album and why?
Maybe 'From the Dark'. It was an old stage favourite from the Free Dirt days and I was glad to see it finally recorded.

How did ‘Whitlam Square’ come about?
We spent almost all of that year ('89) overseas touring. About five months in Europe all up and about a month in the US. Then we started on the east coast in New York and stopped in LA. We began recording almost immediately. I didn't have a large stock of songs and I started writing and rehearsing with the band whenever I could get the chance. The first time the band played that song was in a barn in a place called Maastricht in Holland where we staying during a week off and we were able to get some rehearsal time . It was just one of those nice three chord sorta strum-along things. When we got to LA, Jeff introduced us to the role of the 'proactive' producer. This is in stark contrast to Rob who never suggested - to my memory - any change in structure to anything we ever did. Anyway, Jeff started to re-arrange the song into a much more dramatic sort of pop-epic. I remember the first time he said to us "yeah, all of you just stop playing in the middle of the song. It'll be really cool"- we just thought he was mad. Ahh...the innocence of youth. Of course we became much more amenable to that sort of thing in our ensuing 'pop' phase - just look at Doughboy Hollow or Trace. Some of those songs are arranged to within an inch of their life. Of course the trick is not making them sound like that.

‘Whitlam Square’ is the only track to make it to the OutoftheUnknown best of … why was that? Was ‘Every Brilliant Eye’ conceived as more of a full album as opposed to obvious singles?
No, it's just that competition was tough for space on the best of album and - as is the way with most of these things - it was a consensus decision. Also Every Brilliant Eye wasn't exactly bursting with obvious singles, but the selection process behind it was exactly the same as we used to make Doughboy - select the best dozen or so songs we had, and them record them.

Did you want to rip off the Byrds/Searchers on ‘True Fools Fall’?
Look - if that riffs patented then there are a about a million songwriters that should be lining up to get sued. You know I was going through a funny phase at that period. Some of my - then - current influences had very little to do with each other. I basically wanted to make a record that saw the Bad Seeds, circa: Your Funeral - My Trial, going head to head with something like Springesteen's Tunnel of Love with, a large dollop of The Gun Club thrown in for good measure. And, coincidentally, LA seemed the perfect place to do that.

Can you remember what the idea and inspirations were at the time of writing and recording? As in what was going on around you that you know had some bearing on the record?
Musically, pretty much those I just mentioned but I know Ron was very influenced by a lot of the LA street-life he saw going on around him. That's why in many ways it's quite a dark album.

Do you know how much the initial batch of albums that were signed by the band are going for these days in record trading? Have you heard of a high price?
No and no but I remember sitting in the back of the Tarago on the way to Melbourne or somewhere signing endless copies, we got a bit bored and started writing obscenities on them to amuse ourselves I'm not sure if Festival let any of these slip through.

What’s your favourite Died Pretty record & why?
Well, if you asked Ron that question I'm sure he would always say "the last one", but I don't really have a favourite. But I would say it's definitely not Doughboy - just because I was kind of over exposed to it for a long time. If pressed probably Using My Gills as a Road Map.

© 2002 Christopher Hollow

The other night my girlfriend was enjoying Madonna's latest album, Music. When it was over the next cd automatically started up. Died Pretty's Everydaydream. It wasn't long before a revelation occurred - both records have a definite link, a similar feel and aesthetic: psychedelic pop done with sparse electronica. As you take in tracks from Everydaydream it's not hard to imagine the Material Girl wailing away. It brought to mind a very rich concept: Madonna sings the songs of Ron Peno and Brett Myers.
Now if you want some proof of the Madonna theory check out the wonderfully melodic 'Brighter Ideas', 'Here Comes the Night' and 'That Look Before'. The last song would go to the top of the world charts with the Madonna publicity machine behind it. She's definitely got her ghosts and she's no doubt seen 'that look before'. This wild theory works the other way too - the wigged-out Peno doing 'I Deserve It' (as Dean & Britta would later do on their 2003 L'Avventura LP) or 'Nobody's Perfect' or 'Amazing'. It's so crazy it just might work.
The difference between Music and Everydaydream is in the lyrics. Madonna's don't stand up under too much scrutiny. It's shiny, good looking, great feeling music without too much substance. All hooks without the heart. If there's one thing Died Pretty has in abundance is heart.
Everydaydream has a different feel from the band's past work due only to the use of electronica. The experimental tendencies shown on their last effort Using My Gills as a Roadmap are apparent and the best tracks still retain the trademark sense of melody ala Lost and Doughboy Hollow.
Peno's vocals are more intimate than ever before and he sings well. Brett Myers proves he is Australia's most tasteful instrumentalist and arranger. The opener 'Misunderstood' is a straight up acoustic driven track as is the rhythm guitar driven 'Burning Mad'. What makes the album feel so different is they're surrounded by things like the New Orderesque 'The Evening Shadows', the synth madness of 'Special Way' and all those Madonna hits in the waiting.

The songs off Everydaydream could work well in a rave chill out room ... are you tempted to do 'Call Me Sir' at a rave?
Ahh..... I don't know if that really would be appreciated by that kind of crowd. The new stuff seems a lot more different to people who are perhaps used to our old material but to a rave crowd a think it would still be just 'rock'.

You've mentioned that Everydaydream is more a Ron Peno record. How so?
Well, almost all the songs were written from the ground up with Ron, which is different than how we would normally do it. Usually I bring in pieces that are 90% finished, musically. Also he took a lot more active roll in the arrangment and recording.

What do you feel is your biggest achievement on the record?
Pushing the sound in a new direction again. Getting inspiration from new sources, surprising people who listen to it.

A lot of your die hard fans don’t like the fizz and bubble direction. Do you find yourself batting off people who want to hear more 'Winterland', 'Stoneage Cinderella', 'Stops n Starts' style music?
Well, myself and the rest of the band would love to play more older material but Ron is really against it. He normally just wants to go out and play the new album - whatever that is at at the time - and doesn't want to know about any early stuff. We usually sort it out and manage to get a few older songs in, but I personally would like to play more. In Ron's defence, are there really that many people who want to hear that stuff? Not that we don't still love it but not matter which direction you take you are still going to have detractors, so we figure at least do something that we really love ourselves. I just hope that if we keep it new and fresh for ourselves that it will transalte a lot better than always purposefully trying to recreate some past glory. It's a difficult balance and it would be very easy to turn into a parody of yourself and end up some like some lame caberet version of your original ideas.

I’ve got a theory concerning the similarities between the two latest Died Pretty and Madonna (Music) albums – pop psychedelia done with sparse electronica. How do you think Madonna would go singing 'Brighter Ideas', 'That Look Before' or even 'Here Comes the Night'? There's no doubt they could be huge pop hits.
Great idea! I have to say 'Music' and 'Ray of Light' were great songs.

There’s famous footage of Dylan going hand movement mad on the Rolling Thunder tour. But, at the Corner Hotel, Ron definitely takes his hands to another level. How often does he take you by surprise?
The short answer is yes. We are never sure what is going to transpire in the course of a show.

You’re using a lot more acoustic guitar these days … are you trying to get that Keith Richards 'Jumpin’ Jack Flash'/'Street Fighting Man' sound?
It's strange you should mention those tracks because I tried to use the same method to record the acoustic. That is using a cheap tapedeck as a microphone. I just don't like those 'lush' acoustic sounds and when I use my cheap boombox it sounds nice and LoFi, just the sound I want. I definitely wanted the guitar to sound different on these records. Because the guitar was so prominent on many of the other albums. I almost wanted the guitar to 'disappear’ on the last couple. I ended up using mainly acoustic guitar on just about everything, with just a little bit of electric thrown in for good measure. Most of the interesting noises are made by the keyboards which we sort of treated as a guitar by using lots of effects, cheap pedals mainly, to alter the sound. I did use the electric guitar sometimes just a ‘noise maker’ in the background to give the songs some texture.

Where do Died Pretty fit into the scheme of things these days? Some would say too alternative for mainstream/too commercial for the alternative crowd?
At the risk of sounding a little cliched, its not something we spend a lot of time thinking about.

Can we look forward to you doing a solo album and what, exactly, would that entail?
Yes, I do want to do a solo album. Probably instrumental. I not really sure of the exact direction. I probably do it all myself.

Your backing vocals have got that great ragged Keith Richards feel. I'm surprised you don't use it more on the new record.
Oh well, there is only one singer in this band you see...

What other music is lighting your fire at the moment?
Tortise, Fuxa, Mouse on Mars, Aphex Twin, Steve Malkmus, Dr Otagon, Funkadelic, Maurizio.

Have you done much producing?/Is that something that would interest you?
I have produced a bunch of stuff in the late 80's and early 90's but I really don't enjoy the experience that much. I think I get too involved and feel responsible for everything that transpires - my therapist says that this can be cured. But on balance I think I'll leave it to the experts.

Why didn’t the best of include Mirror Blues? A crime ...
At the end of the day it was a consideration of space more than anything else. We would've had to drop about three other songs to fit it in. And I honestly don't know which ones they would have been. Also, its a great song but, of all the material from that period, it's the one we feel probably most removed from.

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©2002, 2001Christopher Hollow