“Wow, I didn’t realise we were headlining this festival. I wonder if we’re on at midnight for the countdown – that would be cool!”

These words are from Lamb’s Andy Barlow when discussing their set at the upcoming Peats Ridge Festival happening right here in Sydney, Australia. Coming to Australia wasn’t a tough decision for Barlow and songwriter/vocalist Lou Rhodes ; they loved the idea of a festival that was sustainable, placed importance upon environmental concerns and was not so commercially promoted. Not to mention the chance to go diving and touring in the good weather. The only thing left to decide was which track would be played up to the new year’s countdown, which would be the first song of 2010; upon discussion, Gorecki, followed by Gabriel were the standout choices.

Apart from the obvious allure of the great Australian weather, both Lou and Andy jumped at the opportunity to play at the Peats Ridge Festival. But coming all this way, it was also a good idea to do a couple of side shows, so Brisbane and Melbourne also get the chance to see Lamb in all their glory.

What should festival-goers expect? Their show will be a mix of live instrumentation, Lou’s beautiful voice, and programming God and master drummer Andy setting the beat. “For our live show we’ve tweaked the songs, stripped out bits, toughened up bits, made it sound fresh; we’ve remixed nearly all the tracks.”

This led to further discussion about future projects and releases. Andy Barlow had an announcement of his own; his nearly-complete solo album will be released next year. He mentions, “…when there’s a song with no lyrics, you can really dream with the arrangements, strange time signatures and the like.”

Not that much of his or Lou’s music has been planned or structured. “When Lamb first started out, there was no discussion as to what music we wanted to make, it just happened. And in the past, making something for a record label never worked. Not having a label is what makes it so great now, we’re just playing cause we wanna play. Not selling anything, not doing anything. Just doing stuff because we want to now.”

Andy also announced that there will be a live concert DVD in early 2010, with footage captured from a show earlier this year in London. So for those unlucky enough to miss out on seeing Lamb play live, they’ll be able to enjoy them fresh and remixed right in their own living room.

For those not so in touch with Lamb’s past, the Manchester, UK duo had an almost overnight explosion of popularity, which was bolstered especially with timeless tracks Gorecki and Gabriel. Speaking about these phenomenal tracks specifically, it got Andy posing one of his favourite questions: “I sometimes wonder how many people would have conceived to the track Gabriel.”

This got us talking about the future of trip hop and the Bristol sound. Andy doesn’t like the term ‘trip hop’, as it has led to constant Portishead comparisons, but he does mention that the 90s were an exciting time for making music.

“The last 5 years haven’t been that exciting, heart-based powerful music, and there are few bands who are delivering that.” Although Andy also found it interesting that dubstep seems to be reviving the trip-hop vibe, and many of those who delivered the early-mid 90s UK sound, such as Massive Attack and even The Prodigy, are adopting it. “Our first album especially sounds more kind of dubstep than trip-hop and that’s 10 years before dubstep even existed, a good musician friend of mine even mentioned it to me. It fast minimal, spikey drums, with vocals.”

One thing that impressed Andy is just how many new fans they’ve acquired without any effort or advertising; Gabriel clocked up over 2 million hits in 6 months of being on YouTube. Along with Rhodes, he has trouble even remembering how Gorecki or Gabriel were even made, stating that they can’t remember how they did the sounds, but remembered the vocals and have no idea how they got to the finished product.

Not having released anything new since 2005, the live DVD will certainly be a treat for fans, and Andy’s solo album a creative masterpiece. But what about the chances of a new album from Lamb itself? “I think it would be much easier to access that nectar as there are no commercial pressures.”

Sadly, there are no plans for a release anytime soon; here’s hoping Lamb’s tour of Australia will spark some magical inspiration that takes them back to the studio.

Lamb tour dates:

Wed 30th Dec – Prince Bandroom, Melbourne
Thur 31st Dec – Pets Ridge Festival, Sydney
Sun 3rd Jan – The Tivoli, Brisbane