Ash Naylor, Dave Shaw. Dom Mariani and Julian Matthews are The Stems in 2024. Craig MacLean photo @shot.by.mac.
It’s called anticipation. You’re in a band. You’ve re-convened after a very long lay-off. The line-up’s now well-rehearsed, fed and watered, and it’s the lull before the storm that will be the first day of your 40th anniveresary tour.
Rock and roll is more waiting than playing. Dom Mariani knows it well. He’s on the line from a hotel in Melbourne where The Stems are poised to undertake their first Australian tour this week in five years (thanks COVID) before taking off on a sweep through Spain and Italy.
Oh no. There’s a brief coughing fit. It's from Dom’s end.
“You all right?”
Craig MacLean photo @shot.by.mac.
He is and it's momentary. Dom’s coming in crystal clear and sounding in fine fettle.
Phew. There's a sneaking sense of relief that it isn't me after a very shitty winter. Given the flu-ridden Australian winter we’ve all been enduring - one where people have been habitually dropping like underwear in a post-Paris Olympics Games Athletes Village - the last thing you want to hear is that the band’s leader is on the fritz.
So we press on.
“Yeah, we've been here for the last three or four days just rehearsing. Finished up today.”
We should be bracing for a Greatest Hits set?
“Yeah, a little bit of that. Playing a bit more off the ‘Heads Up’ album. The new single as well and a couple of covers that we've done over the years. And maybe something new. We like to change it up a bit.”
The Stems have been changing things up since 1984 when they emerged from the World’s Most Isolated Capital City (that’d be Perth) as a ’60s-influenced but fully formed pop rock and roll band
They made the leap into touring the distant Eastern States of Australia on the back of a coupla killer singles on the esteemed Citadel Records label. It was quickly evident that this was a killer pop-rock band in paisley clothes. The only things sharper than their winkle-picker boots were the hooks in their songs.
“Pigeon-holed? Yeah, back in those days, we used to get it,” recalls Dom.
“If someone was going to be dismissive of the band, they’d say: ‘Oh, they're just a revivalist band’, but I think as time's gone by, no-one really cares anymore. It's just whatever music you want to play. It's all music, you know, it's rock and roll.”
&
The Stems didn’t last long in their original life. Not by contemporary standards. Those two singles were followed by an EP on Citadel and then the “At First Sight Violets Are Blue” LP on White Label (a Mushroom spin-off.) The collated works confirmed their greatness but by ’87 they were gone, a victim of internal friction and the tyranny of travel.
A disillusioned Dom laid low for a couple of years before re-surfacing in the very pop The Someloves. His next main musical squeeze was the power-pop par excellence DM3, which he maintained while juggling family and a successful career as an architect. His ‘70s rifferama-psych band, Datura4, shuddered to life in 2015 and five albums later remains a going concern.
DM3.
The Stems reformed in 2003 and pumped out the aforementioned and formidable “Heads Up” album in 2007. They’ve been around intermittently since, with OGs Mariani, Julian Matthews (bass) and drummer Dave Shaw the core, joined by guitarists Davey Lane and now his successor Ashley Naylor.
So rehearsals are done. Was there much dust on the engine and is it hard to jump out of one band into another?
“Switching back into The Stems is probably the easiest of all of them, really. Those songs are almost tattooed in back of my head.
“Once we do a run-through…we get the guys in the room…it just comes together really quickly. There might be a few rough patches here and there to start with, but once we've got that run-through done, the second time is much better and the third time we’ve pretty much nailed it.
“We have a groove. There's a vibe between the guys that comes together very quickly.”
Last time live, supporting Radio Birdman in 20129. Murray Bennett photo.
If there’s some extra spring in the step it’s because The Stems have a new single online (and on vinyl) called “Falling From the Sky”. It’s a glorious tremolo-splashed fuzz-fest that uncoils into an earwig. It’s also long by Stems standards. Is that a Datura4 influence?
“Well, it's a song I had sitting there and I thought, ‘This is good for The Stems for when we get back playing again’. This was after 2019 before the COVID thing and we had plans to do more touring.”
Mariani says that it found its way into Datura4 sets “but we do it totally different and it's even longer”.
Presented to his Stems bandmates, it took a different direction. With bandmates spread over the country, the parts were recorded remotely, but you’d hardly know it.
Also at the merch stand this tour will be another live Stems LP, “The Stems Official Live Recording”, and it’s thoroughly worth your time and/or hard-earned. It’s from a 2007 gig in Adelaide where The Stems were supported by local band The Garden Path.
“That's one of those happy accidents, really. I got this thumb drive from Vic, the guy from The Garden Path. He contacted me saying, ‘Oh, look, I recorded my band and the sound guy recorded you guys as well. And then it just sat in the drawer for so long.
“I'm always pretty critical of live recordings because they can be rough and you can say some stupid things in between songs. But we played it back and we were pleasantly surprised.
“Not knowing that we're being recorded, the band's really firing and just loose and doing stuff. Whereas if we knew it was being recorded or we'd organised it that way, we'd probably be more self-conscious about it, trying to play the right notes, you know.”
Rock and roll sure has changed since The Stems were starting out. Rock and roll that was once a force is a somewhat muted influence and Dom is no fan of the new production line of TV shows manufacturing pop icons.
“It's great that there are bands still doing it (rock and roll). It's not as visible as it used to be. You don't see much of it in the mainstream anymore. Not that it ever was real mainstream when we were (originally) around.
“There are still bands doing it (but) it's just a shame that It's not given a go amongst all the other rubbish that's that they're pumping out these days.
“I think I think the whole music scene in general has just been kidnapped by the wrong people.
“I just like what I like and I look for the stuff that I like. If I can find a new band that's doing what I like, well that’s great.”
Have you found any lately?
“It took a little while for me to get into them, but I like The Lemon Twigs. I know they're into the Todd Rundgren thing and I thought they're a little bit too prog pop. They’re hitting their straps now and they're closer to The Raspberries.
“There's a band up in the Sunshine Coast in Queensland called Emu. I don't know if you've heard of those guys but they're great. They're putting out that stoner rock thing, but to me they're more like late ‘60s early or early ‘70s Cream meets Mountain.
“Hard rock and heavy blues, with good riffs and a good guitar player. They’re a three-piece band and they've got a new album coming out.
“I like to discover new bands for sure, but I listen to a lot of old stuff most of the time.”
Like most of us of a certain vintage.
Vintage Stems promo photo.
I venture that the Stems have seen their own personnel changes down the years, with original drummer Gary Chambers and the late Richard Lane notable ex-members. When does a band that’s the sum of its parts become the original band in name only?
“It's a very good question. I often question that myself when I see bands that are still doing it and there's one member left.
“I wouldn't be interested in going to see a band that lost, say, the prime guitar player or the songwriter. I don't mind if they change lead singers sometimes. That can work. As long as the main driver is still involved, I think that's okay.
“You want to go and see the main driver, the main songwriter, if he's the guitar player in the band or if he's a lead singer or whatever, there's got to be something there that relates back to the classic lineup or the classic band.”
Discussion ensues involving the final era Pretty Things with Phil May and Dick Taylor. (They were fantastic.) The reformed Dictators are mentioned, with new singer Keith Roth replacing Handsome Dick Manitoba. Datura4 supported them in Spain and Mariani’s verdict is positive.
But back to The Stems and what does the relative newcomer and gifted jack-of-all-trades, Ash Naylor (late of The Church), bring to the band?
“Well, Ash is a great musician. He's into the music as well. So that's very important, obviously. He comes from the same influences that we do. And he's a great singer and great guitarist. He's got everything we need. And he loves the band.
“I've known Ash for a long time, actually. And when it came time to find another member, we thought we'll see if Ash is interested. And he was really, I guess, taken a back that we asked him and he’s been a great, great inclusion. Just like Davey Lane (was) as well, because they're cut from the same cloth.
“Ash brings the harmony and the jangle. He's very well versed in The Beatles and glam rock. Davey’s the same but probably a little bit influenced by on the modern side of things. He’s bit younger.”
Europe beckons after Australia but the tour is just Spain and Italy. Why?
“Probably the best places to go at the moment,” Mariani says.
“Spain is always fantastic. Italy's pretty good as well. And we used to put like a couple of French and German dates in there, but we just don't have the time to do it.”
Based on your last run with Datura4, has much changed touring Europe, post-COVID?
“Not really, it's just more fun.”
We could all do with a little of that. Catch your own at The Stems’ shows.
The Stems
40th Anniversary Australian Tour
AUG
+ The Prize
23 - Theatre Royal, Castlemaine. VIC
+ The Prize
24 – Corner Hotel, Melbourne
+ Romana Ashton & The Reeds
25 – The Gov, Adelaide
+ Ups & Downs
30 – Mansfield Tavern, Brisbane
+ New Christs
31 – Manning Bar, Sydney
SOLD OUT!
SEP
+ The Rhinehearts
+ Vancool
5 – Freo Social, Fremantle
SOLD OUT!
Tickets here
