Gold Coast-based breaks/ trip-hop act Tijuana Cartel go to great lengths to find new sounds and recording techniques to bring out the best in their music.
Their new album, the enigmatically titled ‘24 Bit Guitar Orchestra’, was partly recorded on a mountaintop in Bali. Band member Paul George, speaking from Brisbane airport on the way to Perth for shows, was happy to tell us a bit about that experience. “I was living in Bali for a few months,” he recalls.
“We heard on the grapevine that there was a guy that had sort of a makeshift studio on a mountain at the back of Bali. So we took all our gear up there and did a lot of recording. He had these traditional Balinese and Polynesian instruments, and we used them throughout. There’s actually quite a lot of them of them on the album.”
Being in such an exotic and unusual locale apparently unleashed a great spark of creativity for the band, and it resulted in an album full of many different colours, flavours and textures. “Yeah it did,” he confirms. “It was fun, the studio itself was outdoors, and we just sort of did it as we felt like it. It was really good to do that, just feel creative, like we were playing outdoors under the stars.”
Because the album was recorded in different locations and the band had a fairly relaxed approach to writing and recording it, ‘24 Bit Guitar Orchestra’ ended up taking a while to complete and release. “It’s taken probably two years of work, really,” he reveals. “It’s hard to say, but two years overall of doing it.”
Subsequent to the album’s release, the band have big ambitions for themselves as a band, beyond simply releasing the record and touring. “We’re looking at doing our own outdoor festival,” Paul says. “One that we really enjoy playing at, with similar kind of acts, with a similar kind of ideas. We’re looking at doing that, at this stage, probably next year.
“And then we’ve got a really ambitious idea to do kind of a rock opera; an Alice In Wonderland type of thing. So all that’s going on – maybe we’re biting off more than we can chew, but that’s kinda half the fun, yeah?”
However, before they start to fulfil those hefty ambitions, the band has a rather extensive Australian tour to attend to first, including trips to some more off-the-beaten track centres across the country. Paul is very happy to be heading out on the road once again. “We can’t wait to get into it, we’re excited to play all the new songs, this is our first run at it, George says.
“Generally we’re in very good spirits. We’re getting to a few places we’ve never been to before. Places like Wollongong, and we’re going to Port Headland, which is where we’re going tomorrow. So it’s good to see a bit more of Australia than we normally do, and get our music out more.”
And speaking of getting their music out more, the band will not be limiting their touring endeavours to our own country – they will be heading overseas to play at some stage in 2015. “It looks like we’re going to get back to Europe and America,” Paul states. “Probably a month in each. We’re starting to go okay over there, so we want to get over there and keep going back.
“We’re starting to get some festivals over there and we’ve got some interest from a management team over there, which we’re chasing. We’ve got enough [support] over there to get over there and make it worthwhile.”
Written by Rod Whitfield
'24 Bit Guitar Orchestra’ is available now.
Tijuana Cartel Tour Dates
Thu 4 Sep - Mojos (Fremantle)Fri 5 Sep - Settlers Tavern (Margaret River)
Sat 6 Sep - Capitol (Perth)
Sun 7 Sep - Indi Bar (Scarborough)
Fri 12 Sep - The Howler (Melbourne)
Sat 13 Sep - Westernport Hotel (San Remo)
Fri 19 Sep - Republic Bar (Hobart)
Thu 25 Sep - Oxford Arts Factory (Sydney)
Fri 26 Sep - Cambridge Hotel (Newcastle)
Sat 27 Sep - Anita Small Room (Wollongong)
Sat 4 Oct - Beetle Bar (Brisbane)
Sat 8 Nov - Verrierdale Hall (Sunshine Coast)
Sat 29 Nov - Queenscliff Music Festival
Wed 31 Dec - Buddha Bar (Byron Bay)
