More than three decades after Crowded House's acclaimed self-titled debut effort, the band is ushering in a new era with a reincarnated line-up and new album.
Formed in Melbourne in 1985 out the ashes of New Zealand's Split Enz by Neil Finn, Paul Hester and Nick Seymour, the new line-up of Crowded House features Neil (lead singer and main songwriter), Nick (bassist), long-time friend and close collaborator Mitchell Froom – the producer and keyboardist featured on the group's first three albums – and Neil's sons Liam (guitar and vocals) and Elroy (drums).Liam, who was just two years old when Crowded House began says: "All the line-ups of Crowded House have been wonderful. I mean, I grew up just idealising these guys.
"So to get to be part of it and to really zone in on some of the nuances that I've always really loved about the early records has been a really big passion for me."
The group's seventh studio album 'Dreamers Are Waiting' (released on Friday) represents the first new Crowded House music in a decade. Initial live recording sessions in LA were cut short due to COVID-19 lockdowns, with the album then finished remotely via Dropbox.
With his own series of acclaimed albums under his belt, Liam says: "It was kind of incredibly risky but an amazing way to work because we could all be in our home studios and work in Dropbox on the same song at the same time.
"You'd open up a song and Mitchell would have done 12 keyboard parts, and then you'd open it up again and Neil had muted 99 per cent of those 12 keyboard parts and kept this one real gem.
"So it was quite a funny experience, but I think really positive because we had these building blocks of live band performances. And it was always the plan with this record to really capture the sound of the five of us in a room and do it like a good old-fashioned band does – playing together, not relying as much on overdubbing and trying to get our stuff worked out initially."
Reflecting on Neil's description of 'Dreamers Are Waiting' being an "outgoing record", Liam adds: "We went into this process with Dad being very set on making something that would be really fun to play live.
"He was very conscious of making sure that we had a vision for it, and I think that in some ways it has a connection to Crowded House in the sense that the first albums are really fun, energetic listens."
Neil's surprise addition to the most recent line-up of rock legends Fleetwood Mac in 2018 inspired his decision to revive his own classic band in a new way. "After Dad's experience of being in Fleetwood Mac and realising that there's something amazing about being in and having a band that has that sort of legacy, maybe he hadn't realised or appreciated how much Crowded House meant to people," Liam explains.
"And for him to want to do it again would be reinvigorating it and a way forward to add to the legacy and not just be playing the old songs.
"And it feels like a real band for obvious reasons [because] it's not like we've just joined a random band of people that we haven't known our whole lives.
"The things that are really interesting about it is that it feels really fresh and new like being in a new band, but everybody is so comfortable with each other and really respects each other and each other's opinion, so there is a real wonderful momentum and fearlessness that you can ride together."
After completing a successful tour of New Zealand earlier this year, the band are looking forward to heading across the ditch to perform to Australian audiences at the end of the year.
"Our next port of call will be Australia and it is going to be amazing, because obviously for Crowded House as a band that's where it started, and Australia's probably the country that appreciates and loves Crowded House more than anywhere in the world. We can’t wait."
'Dreamers Are Waiting' is available now. Crowded House Live From The Island Aotearoa New Zealand (filmed in March 2021) will be streamed on eMusic Live 12 June at 6pm and 8pm EST.
