A Quick Chat with Clean Beast

What are the origins of Clean Beast? Where did it start?

A Music Therapist I was seeing said to me: “you should write a song.”
I replied: “There’s nothing there…” Later that evening those words formed the first line of the first song by Clean Beast. I was going to be sensible and play Covers - actually earn some money but everyone kept asking me to write songs, so, like an idiot, I kept writing songs.

Tell us a bit about ‘Tragedy’. What does it mean to you?

It begins with Pumpkin Soup.
I’d just finished making some late on a Sunday evening when my housemate popped through the door, and what started as a conversation about the tragedy in yet another housemate’s relationship, spiralled into one about our helplessness in the face of global conflict.

The track follows the inner dialogue of a soldier caught up in a war he doesn’t understand or agree with. I imagine there are many such people in war - deeply conflicted but sworn to do their duty. It’s analogous to life in general.

Musically it’s as close as I get to Punk: no Frills, no solos, no fade-outs. It bursts into your consciousness, gets the job done and leaves.

Are there any inspirations you look to beyond music when writing or performing?

Whatever’s getting on my goat. It could be the news, a social trend, or something gnawing at the edges of my mind - whatever needs exorcising.

Name the five songs that have informed your songwriting more than any others.

King Crimson – Epitaph
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
Editors - You Don’t Know Love
Nick Cave - Red Right Hand
Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight

What Australian artists are you listening to at the moment?

Roles, Kite Vendor, Double Happiness, Preshrunk, The Living End, Peter Sculthorpe, Nigel Westlake, September 87.

How do you hope your music might impact listeners?

Just before answering these questions, I was listening to a podcast on Existential Depression. It struck a chord. God is dead, demoralisation is rampant and identity is in doubt on every level. I believe History will see this period as a great transition, possibly the greatest in the Human story and I’m contributing to the soundtrack.