title: Cog (flynn for the long haul)

date: May 2005

magazine: Xpress Magazine

URL: http://www.xpressmag.com.au/archives/2005/05/cog_flynn_for_t.php

writer: unknown

Cog (flynn for the long haul)

Sydney trio Cog is in town next weekend as part of their first national headlining tour, performing six shows including the Crusty Demons Tenth Anniversary event on Saturday, May 21, at Kwinana's Quit Motorplex. Clutching a masterpiece of a debut album and a live reputation built on power and emotion, BRETT LADHAMS speaks with front man Flynn Gower about getting things right the first time. See Tour Trails for details of the shows.

Not having the current crop of brilliant material in their possession at the time, Cog prophetically dubbed their original pair of EPs, released in February and September '02, Just Visiting Parts 1&2. A stir was caused and from the outset it was obvious that this trio consisting of Gower brothers, Flynn on guitar/vocals and Luke on bass, with Lucius Borich on drums, had a grand vision for their main act. The New Normal is the result, an unashamedly Australian album oozing individuality, confidence and seemingly blank-cheque production and packaging. While independent they remain, Cog mused locally but in every other sense acted globally in the production of this album.

"Yeah, we knew exactly what we wanted," begins Gower on the planning stage of The New Normal. "We actually created a prototype album long before we went over to the States to record. We demoed and recorded every track at a friends studio here in Sydney, so in essence you could sit down and listen to the album before we'd even recorded it."

From here the band put their minds to the future and where Cog's appeal may lie, deciding that the best bet for the international interest they were sure the album would attract, would be to record in the US with a big name producer. "From day one we had the track listing worked out and the demos were really quite good, so when we gave them to Sylvia Massy [System Of A Down, Tool, R.E.M] she had an unbelievably clear idea of what we were trying to achieve.

Sonically, the demos weren't up to scratch and that was the main reason for recording with Sylvia, and in America, to try and achieve an international sound. We have really been aiming toward the US since day one. We had an international release in mind since the day we sat down and began work on this thing. Having said that, it's quite a difficult thing to achieve in a successful way, but I think we will get it, for different reasons. I think the Seppos will really like it and I think the Brits will too.

"We are an independent band that's signed with a label in Sydney, but the deal we had with Sylvia was surprisingly cheap. Basically we had the option over in the States and another recording option here in Australia, and the price was virtually the same, including the travel over there and back. So it wasn't as expensive as some people may assume. But with the packaging we did go to town on that, like with the digipak, braille embossing and things like that, it adds more to the base price but we just thought fuck it. Luckily, our label went with us," he adds.

The decision was the right one, with the sonic quality on The New Normal being wonderfully deep and textured, revealing fresh elements even after multiple listens. What the world may struggle with, however, is the thick Australian vocals of Gower, realised on a few occasions as spoken word and, unfortunately, being something that has posed problems for Australian artists in the past. "I actually think it will have the opposite effect, I think it will be one of the things that sets it apart from other albums in the same or similar genre. When I listen to American music I think that if I were an American I'd be bored shitless. It's like carbon copies of the same thing over and over again. And I'd be waiting for something new, hoping that there was something different out there. Hopefully a lot of people overseas will get a chance to hear it and be exposed to it, and if they want it they can buy it and even come to see us play.

"We're happy with the way we've done it too. We always thought it was fucked the way large record companies release an album in a jewel case, then three or four months down the track when sales are dropping off, they release a digipak of essentially the same album.

So that basically, the people that already have the album miss out on the extra stuff, so they go out and buy it again. We thought we would do the opposite and reward the people that jumped in first so they get the good stuff. I think we're at the point now where we've already sold 10,000, so from here on in it's only to be released in a jewel case."

It's hard to talk of Cog without mentioning the live reputation that precedes both next week's visit to our shores but also international ones later in the year. "Oh we'll be going overseas for sure," confirms Gower. "I'm not exactly sure when but we don't want to be in the position where we've released an album here, then two years later we're touring it in some other part of the world while our minds and our hearts are involved in other music that is more current for us.

"What's really exciting for us right now, is to be playing to an audience where the majority of them have never seen us play live.

Because most of the shows we've done have sort of been preaching to the converted if you will. There's still new heads coming in with the new album and especially with the a bit of Triple J support, but the majority of the audience have been there for a long time and they know where Cog's at and what to expect from a Cog show. Whereas people over your side have no idea what to expect and that's quite exciting from our point of view."