original
press release
February ‘96 saw a
change in Strawpeople personnel. Mark Tierney
decided to leave the musical partnership that
began with Paul Casserly almost ten years
previously. Casserly had already begun writing
new material with Victoria Kelly
-
who
for a short time was to be the new Strawpeople
vocalist. It was a fruitful experience but
Kelly’s intended plan to enrol in an American
School for Aspiring Film soundtrack composers
meant that a new singer had to be found,
”Luckily” says Casserly, “Fiona
(McDonald) had just finished a project and was
looking for something to get her teeth into
before embarking on her solo career”
. The
pair began writing in the sweltering heat of an
Auckland February. After stints in Casserly’s
lounge and in McDonald’s spare room, ‘VICARIOUS’
was born. Long nights and long weekends of
recording ensued at the Lab Studios in the
rundown back streets of Newton, Auckland. Vocal
and string sessions followed at Airforce
Studios. The album was mixed at 301 in Sydney in
the last week of June.
As with previous
Strawpeople albums ‘VICARIOUS’ features some top
local musical talent; Victoria Kelly not only
cowrote two of the tracks -
she also arranged the string quintet brought in
for three of the tracks even while she worked on
her first feature film score (The Ugly).
Long-time Strawpeople associate Greg Johnson
co-wrote “Boxers” and played trumpet on
“Somebody Else” and “Gypsies”, Headless Chicken
Chris Matthews added guitar to “Spoiler” and
“Inject Me”.
Second Child guitarist and Lab Engineer Chris
Van De Geer also plugged in his Gibson (“Inject
Me”), double bassist Steve Harrop can be heard
on the Jungle/Ballad “Somebody Else” while
Stellar and Greg Johnson Band Drummer Andrew
McLaren hits the cymbals and hats for much of
the album.
Unlike previous
Strawpeople albums ‘VICARIOUS’ doesn’t feature
any cover—versions
—
something that was almost a feature of previous
albums. “I think it was important to get past
the cover—thing, initially we did it to get
exposure, and in all fairness it did the trick
but after the success of “Juice”, “Trick with a
Knife” (a top 40 hit in Australia) and “Sweet
Disorder”, we finally realised that our own
songs were doing better than the covers.”
and
icons for audio
& video
