A Quick Chat with Gareth Paul

"Make No Mistake" is your latest single. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this track and the story it aims to convey?

This track is about the need to go out and let loose on the town, even when you are exhausted at the end of the week, and you know you should be resting up instead.  It’s the feeling I got when I first heard ‘Flawless’ by George Michael, although not much of a pop fan myself, I really appreciated the energy the track conveyed where you couldn’t help yourself from wanting to groove.  

Over the years I worked a bunch of different 9-5’s, and whether I was stuck at some desk watching the clock, or dead on my feet working on a building site, the need to cut loose at the end of the week was a vibe I wanted to capture.  

Your debut album, ‘Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso’, blends rock, funk, and storytelling. How do these elements come together in "Make No Mistake," and what makes this track stand out?

Out of all the tracks on the album, I definitely think this one blends rock and funk the most. As cliche as it might sound, I really do have a love for a lot of different genres of music. With a solid driving blues/rock riff through the verses, and a staggering 3 note bass line moving up the neck for the chorus, it allowed me to sing the chorus offbeat from the bass line and compress a lot of words into a tight part. My hope is that this in turn creates high energy, and just when you think you are grasping it all, why not stop the lot and slap the crap out of your bass? It sounds cool, and it is really fucking fun to play!! Kurt’s guitar part then comes ripping over the top of it all and the good times just keep rolling. 

I always thought the lyrics were pretty simplistic in their description about working hard, seeing the city lights, and just throwing caution to the wind to go out and have a good time. The final line of the song, “what’s calling you back home?”  is intended to be the punchline to it all. At the end of all the good times, and letting loose, you will find your way into bed one way or another - defeated and tired…but happy!!!  

You've been inspired by bass legends like Les Claypool, Sting, Charles Mingus, Cliff Burton, and Jaco Pastorius. How have these influences shaped your playing style and musical approach?

When I was 12, I moved into a new house in Canberra. Across the road lived a young guy who was actively playing in the Canberra music scene at the time and doing cool 8-track recordings.  He was a super creative bass player/singer, and I was fascinated to see how the bass could be used, rather than some background instrument. He started lending me a whole bunch of albums to listen to and I took a lot of notice of different styles of how a bass could be used. From listening to Les Claypool slapping and chords, to Sting’s crazy fretless bass and songwriting on The Police albums, I felt the need to learn how to get those sounds. So I learnt how to slap, how to thumb a bit, how to use a few chords, but most importantly……how to play bass and sing at the same time.  

Can you share a bit about your journey in the Canberra music scene over the past 30 years? How has the scene evolved, and what keeps you coming back to it?

In the early 90’s I joined my brother’s band because they needed a bass player.  It was really fun, we were playing bars and parties, doing covers of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, as well as writing and creating our own music. I learned pretty quickly that writing with four other people is a difficult process, but I took a lot from it.  I also found cover music great as it kept me playing and learning new things, but just felt the need to create and perform my own music.  I left that band just before I turned 17 and concentrated really hard on developing my style. 

The Canberra music scene was pretty healthy growing up, with loads of local live music to go see from bands like Alchemist, Three, Pod People, Empee, Tree Trunk. The old ANU refectory was also still in play back then, and it wouldn’t be unusual for bands like Rollins, Public Enemy, Nirvana, Beastie Boys, The Tea Party to come through town on their way from Sydney to Melbourne, or vice versa, to play a set, then just disappear. Without getting too nostalgic, I’ve got to say I do miss the old ANU, and all that sticky carpet that smelt of cigarettes and Melbourne Bitter.  

A few years of concentrating on my own stuff I started back in a 3-piece originals band sharing the songwriting with the guitarist. Things were just starting to gain traction, but I decided it was time to move on and spent the next 10 years living in Sydney and Melbourne.  It had been a rough time for me whilst away, and I hadn’t really played much bass in that time, but I was still writing bits here and there, and coming up with the occasional bass line.  When I moved back to Canberra, I hooked up with some old friends who were still playing, and one thing they all seemed to be doing was playing this quarterly 90’s music night run by Shenanigans Entertainment. It was a 30 minute cover set of a 90’s band across two stages, so you’d go watch a band do Alice and Chains, then go to the other stage and watch Guns ‘N Roses, then back again to watch Tool. These folks had each been playing their chosen instrument for a long time now, so their covers were pretty damn impressive. 

An opening came up to play in the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band and I thought, why the hell not!!  The Chili’s covers really blew out the rust in my playing, and I stayed for the next 5 years until I felt the pull to go and concentrate on my own writing and producing again.

I’ve known so many of the talented people in the Canberra scene for so long now, and many are almost life-long friends, so I’ll always be involved in the scene in one way or another.  

Your music blends rock and funk with intricate storytelling. How do you approach songwriting, and what role does the bass play in your creative process?

Each song is completely self-indulgent and is about my journey. I walked a pretty rough path at times growing up, and these stories are cathartic for me. The creative process is different every time. Some of the bass lines on this album I’ve carried around for years, some are written around the lyrics. I always knew the subject matter of the album; it was just going about putting it down articulately and cohesively. Doing your own album and saying exactly what you want to say is a super fun process. If any of you out there have the means to do this in your life, I would highly recommend it!  

It certainly wasn’t a one-way street with my friends; it was them sometimes coming in and painting over the top of what I had, other times, they would take my bass and vocals away and come back with a completely different take on a song. You learn that there are a lot of different ways a song can evolve. 

"Make No Mistake" is part of your debut album. How does this track fit within the broader narrative of the album, and what themes or messages do you explore throughout the record?

I could write an essay on how this theme came about! But in short, the album ‘Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso’ is about three stages of transition and tells a story about people in my life, events that have happened, and finding myself again. Each song on the album falls into one of these themes; Make No Mistake is running off the theme of purgatory.  

As a bass player and vocalist, how do you balance these roles in your performances and recordings, especially in a track like "Make No Mistake"?

Very carefully! With this project being a studio album only for the moment, it would have been really easy for me to record a big-arse ripping bass line, then record a 100 vocal tracks over it. This is fine until the day you get called up to start gigging the album. If there is a crazy bass line part like the break bit in “Make no Mistake”, you can bet I am definitely not singing as well. Always in the back of my mind was, whatever I am doing in the studio, I need to be able to perform live as well. Keeping the balance of these roles was incredibly important. I practiced heaps before going anywhere near the studio. 

I would love to tour this album, as I think it would be an incredible experience and would be interesting to see how the songs develop overtime. For now, though, this remains a studio project, but you never know what may happen down the road.