THE BASS EDITION

Sydney-based alt-rockers Lo-Tel recently released their sparkling follow-up to their hugely successful 2000 debut, Planet of the Stereos. The album - The Lost Thing - sees the band taking several giant leaps forward churning out some very savvy playing, killer lyrics and even more importantly, deadly hook laden songs. Curiously, it was almost the record that never was. You see during 2000 and 2001, Lo-tel toured the life out of Stereos, especially in the wake of the album’s hit single, "Teenager of the Year". And they did long tours that included a 30-dater with Superjesus as well as weird bills like a triple headliner with Taxiride and Train!

The long and winding road took its toll on the band, as the trio learned they weren’t necessarily the most compatible people. It was almost enough to have singer/songwriter/guitarist Luke Hanigan thinking about other forms of (more) gainful employment. "It was a long process in the making of this album" reveals Lo-Tel bassist Dave Lumsdaine. "Luke suffered some writer’s block and wanted to find a new way of writing because he didn’t really want to write the same kind of stuff as the first record. So it took a while for him to find his way again and we spent about 18 months on just writing and demoing the record. Luke would write all the songs then come to me with an idea or a whole song completed and since I have recording gear at home, we’d expand on it further and then finally demo it. A lot of the songs on this record were demoed up to three or four times".

As Hanigan’s song-writing mojo started to return he also decided to regroup a new line-up for Lo-Tel’s second coming. While the bassist stayed on, some changes had to be made. Paul Wheeler (ex Primary) was brought in on drums, and Matt "Gizmo" Lovell, who’d worked on recent hits from Silverchair (Diorama) and Something for Kate (Echolalia), signed on as co-producer, working alongside Hanigan and Lumsdaine.

Lumsdaine later let the band know that a friend’s house in remote Spring Valley, an hour west of Gosford was empty. So the band – plus Lovell – moved in, turned the house into a studio, and the music started to flow.

Amidst all the turmoil the band also had endured what turned out to be a rather eventful one-night stand at a rural Victorian town of Wonthaggi, where they returned for an encore only to find that most of their gear had been swiped by an over-eager crowd. "We had played and had gone down alright" muses Lumsdaine. "So we walked off after doing our gig and they wanted us to do more, but we didn’t know anymore songs to play. So while they were waiting for us to come back on they ripped off all our guitar leads, pedals and really anything that was onstage at the time. The only thing we ever recovered later on was a guitar capo! Then we also nearly got beaten up later in the same town. I don’t think it had anything to do with our gig but we were walking the street and a bunch of guys just wanted to beat us up".

Speaking of gear Lumsdaine opted for a fairly simple set-up in the studio when it came to tracking the album. "In the studio [and live] I mainly used a 1971 Fender P-Bass and Ampeg SVT with a Quad box" he explains. "But during the recording sessions I ended up using a Sansamp which we DI-ed as well as I also put it through the Ampeg. The Sansamp was just amazing to use and the sounds you get are great. It impressed me so much that live now rather than having a bass amp, all I’m using is the Sansamp that goes through the monitors and that’s about it".

For Lumsdaine, the bass guitar wasn’t his first choice of instrument. Actually how he came to be Lo-Tel’s four-stringer is a story worthy for Lumsdaine himself to explain: "I don’t really consider myself a bass player. For what it’s worth, I was already an engineer and producer and when I became involved with Luke about seven years ago we spent about two years putting together a bunch of demos which became the first record. After we finished the demos he mentioned to me that he was going to need a band and asked if I’ll be interested in playing bass. He convinced me to take up the bass so I took him up on the offer and here I am today. I only previously had played guitar in some high school and garage bands but dropped that to take up the engineering and producing side of things".

When it comes to wholly reproducing The Lost Thing’s big orchestral sounds live, the band have supplemented their touring line-up with the addition of two keyboardists. "When we play live" begins Lumsdaine. "We’ve added a full-time keyboard player who can do most of the orchestral and the string parts along with a percussionist who also plays keyboards. So between the two they cover everything that’s heard on the record. And we’ve also got another guitar player to help further fill out the sound".

Article by Joe Matera