FULL FLOWER MOON BAND
- 4 hours ago
- 11 min read
Words: Keeley Thompson
Images: James Latter (@jvmeslatter) & Bodhi Bailey (@bodhi__bailey)
The Machine never sleeps, though it's never worked a day in its life.
Its owner wears only white, carrying a confidence that comes from never worrying about stains. Fat, oily fingers choke beneath signet rings. Their eyes are yellow at the edges and red through the middle. The lifestyle should've killed them years ago, but money’s a hell of a substitute for mortality.
The less interested I become in participating in the machine, the more I admire the idea of Ned Kelly. Not the murder nor the violence - just the swagger. A proletariat martyr forever enshrined as an idealised version of the common man pushing back on power-sickened authority figures (or some shit like that).
I'm not alone in wanting rebellion without consequence. Nobody wants their eulogy to read “they were punctual and always followed instructions”.
My acts of insurgency are considerably less historic and altruistic. Refusing to let someone merge because they should've thought ahead, replying "as per my last email" to a real estate agent, crossing the road without looking both ways.
Or, listening to Full Flower Moon Band.
Roguish, romantic and rough, their music has ego, but not entitlement, balancing big-dick bravado with vulnerability, and mischief with meaning. It’s red lipstick styled with a rifle. Less interested in the answer, and more the adventure, their songs are a glowing neon sign on a desolate pub - a call to the creature that knows the night owes it something.
The group likely doesn't require introduction, but their music demands one. Full Flower Moon Band is Kate Dillon, Marli Smales, Luke Hanson, Christian Driscoll and Caleb Widener. Together, they soundtrack the delicious chaos that appears when you stop asking for permission.
KEELEY: How have you been?
KATE: Really good. I've been doing my favourite thing, which is finishing songs and recording them.
KEELEY: So, you're working on more music?
KATE: Yeah, you have to start the minute the last one ends to stay in the game - especially if you're doing a tour or something. We did the European tour, which was huge, but in Australia, people are asking where the new stuff is, even though we’ve been busy the whole time. So, the minute something stops, you just start the next record.
In Brisbane, we could play a show and then go to Lucky Duck Cafe the next morning and someone would ask when our next gig is.
KEELEY: History will be made, and the “NY-LA” manifesto fulfilled at The Tivoli on the 18th of July. How are you feeling about the show?
KATE: I think the whole Diesel Forever album was some sort of manifestation.
So much on that record are things I hadn't experienced yet, but I thought would be cool if it happened. And now it's all happening. I’ve started calling it a legacy show because it's at The Tivoli - it's really special for us to be able to announce playing there.
We've played The Princess Theatre a few times, which still felt really, really huge, but The Tivoli is just that little bit extra capacity and it's a longer standing venue. It’s a Brisbane icon for venues.
Obviously, we have the song New York to LA that says, “if everyone buys a ticket, we could play The Tivoli.” I wrote that as an artist who'd never even played the Outpost Bar, you know? It was the venue that, in my mind, was the most iconic I could think of in Brisbane. That was the venue I’d written about when I thought of us “making it,” which makes it so special for us to play at.
It’s really beautiful because it's part of Open Season, and it was the organisers who said, “we'd love to be the people that get you to The Tivoli.”
(WITNESS HISTORY AT THE TIVOLI - 18TH JULY. TICKETS HERE)
KEELEY: I wanted to chat about Megaflower. Making albums feels like a bit of a dying art in the music industry. Was Megaflower (and Megaflower Deluxe) a by-product of just wanting to make an album in the first place, or do you think that your music has shaped the desire/need to focus so heavily on albums?
KATE: I think if we're in a different genre, it wouldn't be such a big part of my concept of writing.
Growing up as a rock fan, albums are kind of built into the fandom. Singular tracks aren’t really the focus. That's all kind of in my DNA as a rock fan, and so it feels married to think of writing that way.
For the deluxe, that does feel a bit more modern. My take on it was that we're at a level where we can do something like a deluxe, but I wanted to make a statement with it by releasing it as a single vinyl. There were so many songs that got cut from Megaflower. For the deluxe, I really took this “more is more” attitude where I knew not everyone would buy it or care about it, because it wasn’t part of an album campaign.
I always want to keep the energy going - giving and not just taking from the scene.
But it was a lot. It was a lot to make a whole second vinyl just be like, “take it or leave it.” Behind the scenes, that was a lot of music to get done.
KEELEY: I love Smoking off the Deluxe. It’s a cheeky little tune.
KATE: Yeah, there's a lot going on.
As much as I'm saying it's about giving, it's also like, “hey, I did my best and thanks for listening.” It's not the kind of album that I'd expect a reviewer to do a deep dive in - it's definitely a time and place thing.
To be honest, I don't think I'd do a deluxe again. But it was a statement, I guess. A philosophical statement.
KEELEY: A statement of defiance against the mainstream media and the “tik-tokificiation” of the music industry.
KEELEY: You've mentioned in other interviews that when you're focusing on music production or being a rock star, you choose the latter. For the rest of the band, how does that choice impact their roles? Does it give them more freedom?
KATE: I lean on them so much as a board of opinion and I think they would always choose the rock star option too.
A big thing is that we are now able to hire people to fill in the production and admin gaps, so we can stay focused on the music. We have enough of a profile that we can have people help us make a record, like Ali or Tony who mixed Megaflower.
KEELEY: In what ways would you say that not having to focus on production has improved your freedom to do things?
KATE: It's always a time thing.
I would never put out a song that felt like it was going to waste people's time or that didn't have the proper treatment or duty of care. I take rock and roll very seriously, and I really respect the listener. I'm so grateful to a listener who is stepping into the Full Flower Moon Band world.
When I can focus on the songs and not the microphones, or the editing, it gets done faster, and everyone wins.
When you track your own vocals, for example, all you're doing is fighting demons. It's just you versus you. All you can focus on is “was the take good? Was the mic right? Was the volume correct? Did I need a pop filter?”
Getting rid of all that basically halves the time required for us to get to the rock and roll bit.
It’s the same with tracking the instruments, too, but it’s a luxury we haven’t always had. I know what it would look like if we didn't have those support people, and I'm so grateful for them.
KEELEY: There's three guitars in Full Flower Moon Band. That has the very real potential of becoming very noisy and all consuming. How do you manage that not happening? Because while your sound is very full, I wouldn't at any point call it noise rock.
KATE: It sort of changes depending on the album.
Diesel Forever, I'd say, does have a pretty solid sound wave, and I curated it mostly during post-production. I’d go in and arrange where the guitars were sitting and whose ideas were working best in which part.
With Megaflower, we had a plan. We learned about pre-production, and the shorthand between players was quicker, so it became more obvious whose part was whose.
You're always being informed from your previous work, so we'd been able to call back to things in previous albums and songs for a point of reference.
If you're ever in a studio with Full Flower, you’ll hear us talking about ‘chugs’, ‘drones’ or ‘stabs’ for our guitars. That’s part of a shorthand that has developed over time, where we all know what we are talking about.
KEELEY: I was listening to ‘Cowboy’ the other day and I'm 98% sure I heard a lasso. Is that correct?
KATE: Yeah, there's quite a few samples in there. My friend Adib Parker did some production on that and he's a real wizard with that kind of thing. He has this ability to be like “I know the sound you need.”
I'm pretty sure it's foot stomps, lassos, and every now and then you'll hear a chain or something.
I used to try and sample the sound of a gun cocking, but now I just do it on the guitar.
KEELEY: Who do you think would be the lasso player out of the group?
KATE: Luke.
Firstly, he'd probably be able to get it in time, somehow. Secondly, I think he can probably do it. He can throw knives.
KEELEY: I agree, I think he’s got it in him.
KEELEY: You have Babyshakes as a persona on stage. Does everyone else have one?
KATE: Not a name for it.
I'd say that it’s a real strength that everyone else in the band can show up as themselves. If you meet them on stage or off stage, there's not too much of a gap.
Maybe they have their own internal version, but no, no one has another name.
I think it's a necessary act for me alone. I've been thinking about this recently actually. I used to say Babyshakes is a way for me to say whatever I want, and a songwriting tool to feel like there's distance between myself and the lyricist.
But, I had this revelation that it's also a way for music listeners to be reminded that it's all art. As much as you could take a lot of earnest and a lot of truth from my songwriting, which I hope you do, it's also a nod to the fact that we're all playing dress-ups and we're all here putting on a show.
Even when I'm a punter at a rock show, I'm putting on a little bit of a face. The act of being in this world can be as light-hearted as you want it to be. I hope Babyshakes can remind people that you don't have to take it that seriously.
KEELEY: I think your freedom on stage has a bit of a knock-on effect. I’ve seen it in the crowd at Full Flower shows, where that energy kind of bleeds into the crowd. Everyone's own little version of Babyshakes comes out.
KEELEY: When you go on stage, are you still very much in the driver's seat in terms of what happens or is it so second nature to you now that it kind of takes over?
KATE: Both.
I'm in the driver's seat, and that allows me to do a show, but Babyshakes is the craft.
Because I've had so much stage time now, I’ve learnt the balance a bit better. I think it's a good thing to be able to switch off the thinking part of your brain, but it is in no way completely uninhibited. You can have no inhibitions but also be in complete control.
I think that's the line that people get confused by when they watch our shows, because it's not like I'm making things up for the first time ever, but I'm also not thinking. I often get asked if it’s rehearsed, and it absolutely isn’t.
It’s showmanship, right?
Showmanship is a beautiful mix of control and feeding off the room. That's exactly what Babyshakes' persona is. You're not going to get the same show every night, but I'm also not disassociating.
I know I'm not because in the early years, there was a level of disassociation - of not being able to control my energy. Now that I have had more stage time, I absolutely feel comfortable to connect, to let loose, to curate the energy, but it’s never in a conceited way.
KEELEY: Absolutely. It’s a very vintage rockstar energy, minus the problematic bits. Do you think what comes out of Babyshakes on stage is informed by what you’d want to see?
KATE: Totally, totally. It's definitely in service to the audience.
I think for myself earlier in my career, it was sometimes more self-serving. Now it's more because I want you to have a good time, and that makes me have a good time.
It's not a therapy session for me anymore.
KEELEY: You're one of the poster children for Brisbane’s music scene, at least in my world. Has there ever been a moment that has really surprised you with the level of response or appreciation that you got?
KATE: Yeah, we did a West Side single tour, and it was the first song to come out since Diesel Forever, which I would classify as our “breakthrough album”.
I remember the start of West Side and seeing that people were anticipating the song and were ready to sing along with it.
It had been a long time since I had put out a new track, and it represented a whole new era for the band. With new songs, there is always a risk that people won’t like it.
It was a goosebump moment to be playing something I was a bit nervous about, and I'd taken a risk on, and the audience not only enjoying it, but singing it back to me.
That was the very beginning of the Megaflower era, and from that point on, we kind of got more accustomed to people already being prepared for the gig. I was grateful to perform to people ready and excited for new sounds, and for change.
KEELEY: What is your favourite song to play live and your favourite song in general?
KATE: I think one of my best written songs is Hurt Nobody. Not because it's necessarily complicated or smart, or even that deep, but in any live show, if the energy has dropped, when we play Hurt Nobody, it comes back up, and I think that's the sign of a very well-written and well-arranged song.
It's kind of my fall back track - if I've taken a risk in the set list, or if it's a really tough show, it's the band’s safe place.
KEELEY: You've mentioned you're recording new music - can we know anything about it or is it a big secret for now?
KATE: Not a total secret! I'm just working on it and looking forward to doing it all over again and hopefully it gets received the same way as Megaflower, because that would be absolutely beautiful.
But either way I'm not going anywhere.
A beautiful thing that's built into Full Flower Moon Band is that there will always be a new thing in the works. I will play something new at The Tivoli show, which is a really exciting way to see how it lands and feels. I mean, you couldn't ask for a more loving crowd.
Something about this new era feels really good - every touchstone that could cause stress has been totally chill. We're playing The Tivoli. The tickets are a great price. The lineup's amazing. The support and the team around it are awesome. The poster looks good. I’m happy with the new set list for the night.
KEELEY: Maybe the new era for Full Flower Moon Band is peace?
KATE: I guess I've made it.
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