The Veils’ frontman gives us a track-by-track insight into the band’s just-released new album, Total Depravity.
Photo: Supplied
This is part of a regular series called Verse Chorus Verse which sees local artists break down the stories behind their music. For more, click here.
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Axolotl
I find listening to people play Axolotl on the radio, and hearing them react is hilarious – some really don’t know what’s going on in it! The evangelical preacher turning into an endangered Mexican salamander; what’s not to love about that? I thought it was a pretty funny premise for a song.
My first toy when I was a kid was a Platypus. It has the bill of a duck on the body of a beaver, I guess you would say. It’s a mammal but it lays eggs. It’s a real anomaly. I really loved Platypus’s when I was a kid and my mum used to have pet Axolotl’s as well and they are a similar anomaly… I sort of like these creatures that are referred to as mistakes of God.
I loved Bill Hicks when I was at school. There was this great bit about creationists and them saying that fossils of dinosaurs are just a way of God testing the faith of mankind, and Hicks joked about God being a sort of prankster out in the desert, burying dinosaur bones to fool everybody. That image stuck with me as well. I like the idea of God making mistakes and in some way there are some things that are just an anomaly. So the beginning of the song is that idea, I guess.
A Bit On The Side
This has some sexy guitar in it. It’s actually a layered, really hideous keyboard sound, which you can’t hear because it’s buried underneath the guitar. The proper guitar is on the top, but when we tried to take the horrible sound out, it just sounded shit. It turned out that together they make this very sexy sound.
Low Lays the Devil
This involves a sort of dancing devil and some public school initiation rituals. It’s probably one of the oldest songs on the record and it’s got a really great drum thing, too.
King of Chrome
This is a song about an enigmatic, possibly sociopathic truck driver. Enjoy.
Swimming with the Crocodiles
This was originally a full band song that we then messed around with later. I obsessively draw crocodiles; they’re not very good but I have drawn hundreds of them and they have been on my mind a long time. The doodles might have something to do with the song as well.
Here Come the Dead
This is a rowdy little number. I actually don’t think about it being about zombies; it’s sort of about the end of the world, when the dead rise again. I thought it was quite funny. I liked having L. Ron Hubbard and Steve McQueen and some good characters in it.
In The Blood
I actually wrote three songs called In The Blood and this is the one we used. They are all totally different songs. I find this one puts me in a very strange mental state. “Now papa’s turning out the lights so you’ll never love another” - that’s a dark little line.
Iodine and Iron
Iodine and Iron is probably the oldest song on the record. It’s got a really nice mixture, I think, of the band and the processed string sounds and things. It’s probably one of my favorites on the record, actually.
House of Spirits
I’ve lived in the same flat in London since I was 16. I’ve been there a long time and there are a lot of people that have lived there too. I’ve written most of our records in there and I have this old piano that’s fallen through the floor a few times. It’s a strange place with a lot of things that the walls could say if they were to speak. It’s sort of a song about that.
Do Your Bones Glow at Night?
This is a sinister little song. I don’t know if there’s a sort of strange narrator in it or if he’s the good guy or the villain. I think maybe he is both, but more likely the villain. The choruses in this song are sung by some friends of ours and a girl named Church, who was a Freddie Mercury impersonator in Los Angeles for a while, as well as a solo artist. She does a great job in the chorus, I think. This is the only chorus that I have not sung in a Veils song as well.
In The Nightfall
This one was recorded at David Lynch’s house a few years ago. We sort of intentionally made the synth a very Laura Palm-ery sound and again very sinister. It’s a love song really, but it’s sung as a sort of “I think he’s waiting outside in the bushes outside your house” love song. But it’s still quite sweet in its own way.
Total Depravity
This is the title track off the record. It’s an angry little beast. It seemed like a good way to go out with a bit of venom.
Total Depravity is out now.