We caught up with Baked Beans frontman Matt Blach when they were in town for the Sydney leg of their Babble album tour.

There was a real buzz around The Lady Hampshire on Saturday night as people crammed in to check out Flightless Records’ latest signees, Bakeds Beans. Outside of the DJ playing back-to-back tracks from other bands on the label (at least they know their market), the evening was perfectly primed for the Melbournians to make their interstate debut.

Delivering a tight set that featured a collage of interesting rhythms and grooves, howling vocals, and plenty of shredding by organist Mitch Rice, punters demanded more as the five-piece left the sweaty confines of the stage – and by stage we mean carpeted corner area – which is testament to our appetite for hooky tracks that offer a diversion from mainstream indie-rock.

With the group continuing two more Melbourne legs of their tour remaining at the Barwon Club (info here) and The Curtain (info here), it’s fair to say the group have laid solid foundations up north that will see Sydneysiders welcoming them back next time. We just hope it’s not too long.

Check out our interview with singer/guitarist Matt Blach below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxe8mQdhW0E

Tell us about ‘Babble’. Other than the ‘bb’, what’s the story behind the title?

The story behind Babble originally came from lyric related jumbled jargon/mumbles or ‘what are you babbling on about mate?’ Was glad to work in a triple ‘b’ threat as a bonus.

There’s a lot of different flavours on Babble, from classic rock, 70’s psych, freakbeat and so on. What sort of stuff were you listening to when you wrote the record?

[We] never really particularly lock into any genre of music, I think that has a slight reflection on the album in some way. We all share each other’s large taste in genres.

The warble of the Hammond is one of the nicest features of the BB sound I think. What attracted you to the hammond? How important is it to BB overall vibe?

The Hammond, look out, that’s all Mitch’s part, ‘lil fire fingers’ has always had a nice Hammond and Leslie and it is a huge drive to our sound and vibe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb0g83Ol4to

I often think that drummers make really good writers of music, as they are such good listeners. Do you think your experience playing drums has affected the way you write tunes?

Drumming is a huge part to my songwriting, a lot of the songs were written from a beat, more so than guitar I think. But it’s all very collaborative, and improvised.

Have you found getting out from behind the kit somewhat liberating (bit dramatic)? But, you know, is it nice to have your ‘voice’ heard?

Getting out from the kit is scary, I like hiding behind cymbals in the shadows, but slowly getting used to this microphone thing. Lach’s such a great drummer so it’s feels no different.

Obviously you have a long history with Flightless, with The Murlocs. But did you guys feel any pressure when you signed as a new act?

We were very pleased and felt privileged to join Flightless, it’s a great group of family & friends that all work extremely well and productively. Big loves.

Is there a communal vibe going on with all the Flightless artists? Like, can you pop your head in next door and borrow some sugar from the Gizz guys? Do ORB give you a buzz when they need a hand moving house? Or are you all too busy to working on your own stuff to hang out?

There’s a big communal vibe there, like I said it’s a family of friends really chopping each other out in any way or form that’s artistic. Haha yeah we lend each other gear etc, have dinners but have all just been friends for ages growing up in the same area of Geelong. I guess that’s where it all links together, but yeah everyone is very busy in a great way.

What is coming up for BB for the rest of 2018?

Rest of ’18 we are finishing this tour. Then play Gizzfest in December in Melbourne. Got some more shows to be announced and back in to record another LP that we have almost finished writing.