Highway of love
If you listen to everything that emerges from the Tame Impala/ Pond family, the launch of Spinning Top Records is set to give your ears a thorough workout.
Since launching last month, the label has released three albums and announced that plenty more are on the way.
Jay Watson, aka Gum, had been sitting on his debut solo album, Delorean Highway, for years and he now has the chance to finally release it.
Among the 10 psychedelic pop songs is a cover of the Genesis hit Misunderstanding.
A key member of both Tame Impala and Pond, Watson says he was drawn by the songs' infectious melody and wanted to rework it.
"I would never cover Prince or Michael Jackson or Hendrix because it's already killer, not that a Phil Collins song isn't killer but it was a dorky unrequited love ballad and I figured I could just destroy it, and put effects over it," he says.
A labour of love, Delorean Highway is largely solo in every sense of the word.
While locals Carl Properjohn from French Rockets and Lloyd Stowe from the Silents lent their talents, Watson used the creation of the album as a learning experience.
"I'm really happy with it. I went from liking it to hating it but now I kind of like it again because it's been so long," he says.
"It was pretty much a way to teaching myself how to record and mix stuff myself because I learnt a lot."
Busy with his day jobs as drummer/guitarist in Pond and keyboardist in Tame Impala until year's end, Watson is hoping he'll get a chance to tour his solo project in 2015.
"I want to wait until I have the time and resources, instead of just having dudes with guitars playing it like a garage band, I want to just make something of it," he says.
"Like when you see Spiritualized, there's like 10 dudes and there's horns and strings and lights."
With Pond gearing up to release their sixth album later in the year, Watson hints that they will also lift their live game.
"For years we just rocked up in our trackie pants and just strummed away," he says.
"If our band was what we actually wanted it to be, it would be like a Michael Jackson show, we just don't have the talent or the money for it."
