THE GIZZARDS

Around The Bend

With a cult following around Perth and beyond for their circuit bent jams, The Gizzards launch their second album Man Probes The Universe at the Velvet Lounge this Friday, December 9, with support from Adem K’s Tape Recorders, Ermine Coat’s Alex Griffin and Chimp. Main Gizzard Chad Jane talks to MATTHEW HOGAN.

Best known for his main concern of the last 11 years in Burgers Of Beef, and also in Burton Cool Suit and The Little White Lies, Chad Jane also busies himself with the “circuit bent swamp pop” of The Gizzards.
Jane says he was after an outlet where he could just get weird. “Writing songs in a democratic band like Burgers Of Beef is a fantastic process,” he says. “Everybody chimes in with ideas and I am always amazed at the different directions my bare song ideas go when we all work on them together. Sometimes I have ideas for songs or parts that venture into strange, unusual and occasionally tasteless musical territory. It’s times like this that cooler heads usually prevail and my more extreme ideas are weeded out. This is where The Gizzards comes in.”
In 2005, Jane began recording his songs with an emphasis on Casio, Big Muff and Turbo Rat. “I briefly ran with the idea of creating a made-up band of cowboys and saying that they were The Gizzards,” he says. “I was going to conduct interviews as them and everything but just got over it eventually. Towards the end of recording my first Gizzards album I was reading about The Flaming Lips. I was trying to find out how they made some of the weird and beautiful electronic noises on their albums and that’s how I stumbled across circuit bending. I became fascinated with the idea that you could take a children’s toy or keyboard and modify it to make a totally original sound that no one else can replicate.”
Jane explains circuit bending as electronically modifying a sound producing circuit so that it makes different sounds to what was originally intended. “In order to start bending there is a little bit of a learning curve and you need to invest in some basic electronics tools including a soldering iron,” he offers. “Also even though not strictly necessary, a little bit of electronics theory knowledge is very useful. There is a wealth of information on the internet about it for anyone interested in giving it a shot.”
He says he goes for particular types of keyboards and toys that have large electronic components as they are easier to modify. “Many newer toys use micro circuit board mounted components that are just too small to work with,” Jane explains. “Sometimes you just never know what you are going to get ‘til you open the target up though, but this just adds to the adventure.”
Speaking of adventure, Man Probes The Universe is the second part of the The Doctor & The Robot Trilogy. Following on from 2007’s I’m Just A Man With A Tool In My Hand, its creator says the narrative “focuses mainly on the doctor as he struggles to come to terms with being separated from his friend”.
Perhaps it will make more sense onstage. “When I perform live as The Gizzards I use an array of circuit bent toys and a bent Casio, boost backing tracks off a battered Nintendo DS and play a guitar made out of an old Nintendo,” Jane says. “I wear a cape and perform as if I were a one man stadium rock show complete with epic poses and sublime gurning. It is quite the spectacle.”