All India Radio are a Melbourne electronic-rock four-piece that have so far created a history that most bands would kill for.
They have released four albums, their last album ‘Echo Other’ was critically acclaimed right around the world, they are signed to legendary U.S. label, Minty Fresh, have had an ARIA nomination and their music has featured in television shows and films such as the U.S. smash-hit ‘One Tree Hill’, Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’, ‘Bondi Resuce’, ‘Canal Road’ and even ‘Big Brother’.
I recently caught up with guitarist and songwriter, Martin Kennedy and asked him how different is it to write music for a soundtrack? ‘The main difference in writing for the screen is that you have to do it quickly and efficiently. You can’t spend months getting anal over the guitar EQ! But this can actually be a very liberating experience and often music written for film & TV evolves into songs for our albums and visa versa. The SBS TV series Passionate Apprentices had a lot of specifically written music that went on to become the basis of tracks on the new album.’
The new album that he refers to is ‘Fall’ the follow up to ‘Echo Other’. The first things fans will notice with ‘Fall’ is the female vocals provided by newcomer, Leona Prue. How did she come to join the fold? ‘I deliberately wanted to add vocals to the lineup and it really came from an urge to try something different. But I wanted to add a completely new element without radically changing the mood of the music. When I heard Leona’s voice I knew she’d be perfect.’
So what else can fans expect to hear on ‘Fall’? ‘Well I hope they will hear a lot of the same elements that they might’ve enjoyed on previous albums – the atmospheric soundscapes and moody sort of stuff, but also now with vocals giving the music a lot more emotional impact and focus.’
Where to now for All India Radio? ‘We’re doing a collaboration with Steve Kilbey from The Church. He has been a fan of All India Radio for a few years now and completely out of the blue he asked if we’d be interested in writing some music for him to sing on. I’ve been a Church fan since the early 1980’s so it was a huge honour to be asked! It’s at the mixing stage and should be out by the end of this year.’
‘Fall’ is out now and available from JB Hi-Fi, most independent music stores and through the band’s website www.allindiaradio.com.au.