As the temperatures continue to sizzle along in true summer-style, so do the annual summer festival roll-calls with some of the best electronic and rock acts on offer included to make our summer all the more bearable. One band more often on the roster, than off are Sydney electro disco punk scruffs, Gerling. ITM’s Semone Maksimovic managed to get a few words from the band’s token Canadian Burke Reid to talk about the band’s much anticipated return to the upcoming BDO roster and the new album which has had them missing in action for the last year.

After the band’s last Australian festival appearance at the first Come Together festival, they’ve been visibly absent from any further festival bills, as they headed over to the states, to chip away at their top-secret forth studio album, aptly-titled ‘4’. Changing studios after many long, strong years at their Redfern studio, looking for a different direction and new inspirations to take them over and give them some fresh perspective, rather than making the mistake that a lot of bands do when they find a winning formula and releasing a ‘BadBlood!!!’ #2.

“I think with every album we’ve approached, we’ve tried hard not to go back into the studio and repeat whatever we’d just done. This time around, it went much quicker, we set up a little studio space and for four months we wrote and tried not to get influenced too much by what was currently happening on the scene, or our past work. So it was good, we just let it all happen naturally at the end of the day, it was kind of an unconscious effort to change and find a new direction” explains a thoughtful Reid of the band’s working formula.

“Changing studios definitely helped us find what we were looking for a lot sooner, I must say. As soon as we’d settled into the new one, we were able to shake off the feeling of what we’d done for the last few years and move on as we needed too. Sometimes you need the permission to go on and do something else that you wouldn’t do anywhere else” he observes.

The change was made and with it came a new and more matured direction for Gerling, as they decided to go back to basics for the new album. Ditching their much-loved fuzzy, electro punk sound, for something more like you would have heard on their first recordings, a sound based much more of guitar tones and drum sounds.

“I guess we felt like going for a more honest sound, without masking it with lots of crazy effects, like we got into with the last two albums. So we worked really hard at getting good guitar and drum sounds, this time round, so it was a much more simple approach than we’ve taken in the past” Burke expresses about the band’s new sound “We’re psyched about the results, generally just thrilled to bits about it. It’s much more reflective of our first album, it’s not really dance music as such, it’s more groove-based.”

To achieve the more honest sound they also chose to head to LA, to work with a producer that has a trained ear for the finer effect-less guitar and drum sounds, who shared their creative vision, Ethan Johns, whose previous work has included Ryan Adams amongst others. “He got a demo of tracks that were going to be on the album and he was really excited about it and we quite liked the way we were going to approach it with him, stripping back even further effects, by going back to using an analog 16-track.”

The further change in sound, switching back to analog was a decision the band had set in the plan for a while. Wanting to go back to the old school, fiddly way of doing things the way they did on their first recordings, thus giving them a stronger control over the sound. “After the last two albums, we thought we’d ditch the computer and take this one in a new direction and it was cool doing it the old way again, we had to work a lot harder to get the results we were after” shares Reid.

With Gerling returning to the national BDO tour this year, will it be likely the guys will have an encore Lilypad special appearance again? What is it that they have up their sleeve to surprise us all with and get us in the festival mood so early in the day? New outfits? A return to uniforms? New animal costumes? Imposters? All I can say is that with Gerling’s past festival appearances, we all know it’ll be something we’re likely to remember.

“We’re looking forward to getting back out on the festival circuit. The festival crowds have always been really supportive and a lot of fun, on the Big Day Out tour especially. I think by the time we’ve usually gotten onstage everyone has crammed in and been happy to get into it and join in, so hopefully they’ll be ready to cram in front of the main stage a bit earlier for us this year. At the moment we’re just figuring out what songs we’re going to fit in with all of this new material and how we’re going to approach the shows. So we’re still in the creative stages of planning for the tour – but you can bet we’ll come up with something really good to get people into the festive mood of the day!”

Look out for Gerling’s new single ‘Turning The Screws’, which has been made available via download only, along with ‘Good Timing’ in time for their festival appearances, to give you the first taste of what’s to come from their forth studio effort, 4 (due for release later this year).

Catch Gerling as they continue on the Big Day Out tour, shooting through a capital city near you to do what they do best… rock the festival!

Thu Jan 26 – Big Day Out, Sydney
Sun Jan 29 – Big Day Out, Melbourne
Fri Feb 3 – Big Day Out, Adelaide
Sun Feb 5 – Big Day Out, Perth