title: COG

URL: http://www.australianmusic.asn.au/mag/summer2002/cog.html

date: Summer 2002

writer: James O'Toole

Cog are a 3 piece alternative rock band who are unafraid to experiment. Melody, power and sweeping changes are found throughout their material and they are pushing the boundaries with their complex, moody, atmospheric rock. Cog are a band who require repeated listening to be fully appreciated, such is the depth of their material. James O'Toole spoke with vocalist and guitarist Flynn Gower during a break in Cog's gruelling tour schedule.

O'Toole: Can you tell us about your guitar setup? What kind of amp and cabinet do you use? What effects do you use live?

Gower: I play through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. It's a tremoverb actually. I don't use the built-in tremolo effect but it does have reverb on it, which I don't think the standard Dual Rectifier does. I have two cabs, which I run mono but I split on either side of the stage. I have a Soldano on my side and a Marshall on the other side.

That developed from the fact I came from a five piece band before Cog, The Hanging Tree. There were two guitars so there were big guitar sounds coming from either side of the stage. When I was left on my own in a three piece the idea was to try and replicate the sound of a two guitar band.

I play a Les Paul standard, that's my first guitar and I just bought my second guitar, which is another Les Paul but it's like a Les Paul double cutaway. On the floor I have a channel changer for the amplifier, then a Sovtek Big Muff, I think it is the first one that came out, then I have a Boss DD3, then a DOD Filter Envelope, a Boss Super Phaser and a Vox Wah.

O'Toole: It’s interesting setup. Your live sound is versatile and works well.

Gower: Yeah I like the distortion, the Mesa has a huge distortion as is, but then I punch the Muff over the Mesa. I know there are bits that sound really fat and people are thinking that's it, that's as far as it goes, but then I step on that and it just throws this whole layer of bottom end and fuzz into it which makes it twice as fat as it was. I like the fact I can go even further, they think the limit's been reached and then it goes over!

O'Toole: Your song structures are quite intricate and some of the songs are quite lengthy, have the songs come about as a result of jamming as a band?

Gower: Well Lucius (Borich, Cog drummer) plays guitar too. So we both write stuff at home and we just bring it in. Obviously it's a bit different now Luke's in the band and he's contributing bass lines and whatnot. With the Just Visiting EP, there was very little jamming. I suppose the jamming comes afterward, you know? It was more a case of come up with a few pieces then get together and look at them, work on them and explore all the different variations and possibilities and then pick one. Then move on to the next piece.

O'Toole: You've played a lot of gigs up and down the east coast. Do you find it difficult to hold down jobs and tour at the same time?

Gower: Yeah, extremely difficult. I do building during the day, but I work for a really top bloke who has been extremely lenient with my hours. As the band has progressed I am lucky if I am there one day of the week. I think we would be the busiest band in the country at the moment as far as playing live consistently.

I know that over the last year and a half we have averaged over 1000 kms a week, every week. I know there are bands who go out on the road and then have a three month break, but we haven't done that, we have just been going solidly the whole time. But we're in a good position and if we can just grit our teeth and hold out a bit longer we'll start getting some money and we can give the day jobs a miss.

O'Toole: So what sort of goals have you now set for the band?

Gower: The goal at the moment is to try our best to get overseas around March, whilst continuing the writing. In an ideal world by the middle of next year we'd like to have an album finished, whether that means we just have the material or we've actually recorded it. That's kind of a loose goal.

Any affair that you conduct in your life, whether you play music or not, whatever path you choose I think for the most part the people who make it so to speak are the people who just stick in there. The rest eventually drop off and they're the last people left standing. There might have been a lot of people out there who could have done it a lot better than them but they didn't have the guts and the staying power.