The Galvatrons: 'We Are A Cinematic, Uplifting Rock And Roll Band'

The Galvatrons: 'We Are A Cinematic, Uplifting Rock And Roll Band'


From the very first time The Galvatrons performed live on a stage in their hometown of Melbourne, Australia last year, they immediately looked and sounded like it was meant to be. Within months of that first show, at the tail end of that same year – 2007 - The Galvatrons found themselves performing in front of 10,000 people at the annual Meredith Music Festival. That night, they sent the crowd and local critics into a tail spin. It led some to call The Galvatrons, the synth-rock act one needed to watch in 2008, and as predicted, The Galvatrons have already had a huge 2008. Highlights have included a buzz-stealing gig at this year’s Big Day Out festival, a national Australian tour, plus showcase shows in London, winning over the UK industry and fans a like. In June of this year, they also performed at Hyde Park as one of the opening acts on the final UK concert by The Police.


Their debut EP, released earlier this year, and spearheaded by an anthemic, instantly classic track called When We Were Kids, has met with much success and seen the band’s profile rise even more considerably. As 2009 approaches, The Galvatrons are set to release their debut album and poised to take on the rest of the world. It won’t be long before those outside of Australia and the UK will also be singing the praises of this talented young band. Though The Galvatrons are here to put some fun back into rock, there’s also a serious level of musical nous at work with their hook-laden productions. To cap off a successful year, The Galvatrons will also be ringing in 2009 in style when they play one of Australia’s most prestigious events, the Pyramid Rock Festival at Philip Island. Joe Matera recently ventured into The Galvatrons’ world to speak to singer/songwriter/guitarist Johnny Galvatron and bass player Condor for this interview for Ultimate-Guitar.

UG: Though the band were signed after only four gigs and had been together in a short time, you had already spent time prior, doing session work and writing songs for other acts, DJs and pop acts?

Johnny: Yeah that was where I really learned all about keyboards in relation to this band. And in regards to getting synths to work with guitars, and synths to work with song arrangements, and getting electronic bass to work with guitars, which is really important to us as a band. And it helped me immensely to hone my songwriting craft. It was a pretty good job for a kid just out of high school, and getting these gigs writing songs for DJs and pop acts. Aside from being really good to me in a creative sense, it was also good in a business sense as it got to show me how it all works. Usually, when you’re in high school and you’re in a rock band, you tend to see getting signed as the end product of what you are, wanting to achieve. But the closer you get to finally achieving that goal, and you finally get that record deal, you realize it’s not the end. It is just the beginning.

Condor: A lot of people tend go to music courses and learn about this and that…

Johnny: Like I did at one stage, but I learned nothing. I learned zero, zero, zero. So I dropped out. I just decided to gig and learn things that way.

Condor: And that’s a great way to learn because if you’re in a band and you know how to book a gig, it is going to be way more of a learning curve than it is sitting in a class room all day.

Johnny: I think what I have learned about the music industry from having gone this path early on, is that if you have a good idea and you work hard on it, it will come to fruition. And obviously the band also needs to hone its craft and have all the right elements in place musically as well.


"We’re a very different kind of band."
When We Were Kids is very ‘80s sounding even the central keyboard riff is Van Halen-esque, Jump era sounding. Obviously you’re heavily influenced by ‘80s music and culture in general. What provided the impetus for you to pursue this musical direction?

Johnny: It comes from when I was writing for other artists especially for this one rock band that was very keyboard oriented. After I had done that, I was looking for a new direction and so I was heading down a Radiohead kind of path as I used to write very extravagant classical type, orchestral dark rock and roll. But I realized I wasn’t really that angry. Things were really good with my life and my family. So I wanted to move down the road of stuff that was more me and more honest and which really affected me. Later on, somebody gave a copy of the 1986 animated film called The Transformers, which was my favorite movie as a kid and had the best soundtrack ever. And it made me realize that I wanted to go down that sci-fi, triumphant, mega electronic rock route. So this band is a lot more inspired by soundtracks than specific bands in general. And it is a very visual band too. And usually the first time people hear our music, they tend to have a mental image of what a film clip should be for it. So we are a very cinematic, uplifting rock and roll band.

The EP was produced by Lindsay Gravina and mixed by Tim Palmer (David Bowie, Pearl Jam, U2, The Cure). What did Tim bring to the process?

Condor: He was the real hero of the project.

Johnny: We weren’t happy how it [the recording] initially turned out until Tim worked on it. Prior to that, the songs seemed stale. I mean it was recorded and engineered well, and some songs didn’t change from their demoed original structure and form aside from added guitars. But it was the way Tim approached the vocals, the way he lifted the guitars in the mix and the way he brought up the electronics more prominently into the picture that really made the songs they are today. The mix we had done with Lindsay was very rock based and not really us. But that wasn’t Lindsay’s fault in any way. The record company wanted it to be more rock based for the Australian audience. But the original demos were extremely electronic, with very ‘80s produced live cymbals and electronic drums straight down the line. I had written the first four songs for The Galvatrons and had recorded them as demos in a studio with Josh Abrahams, who as you know, is an Australian dance producer. [Not to be confused with Josh Abraham, the US music producer who worked with Limp Bizkit and Staind] And I used all my “Eruption” settings on my POD as I love those saturated POD sounds. Yet when it took it overseas, they all said, ‘what happened to all the electronica of the demos?’ They told us we had lost our little edge. So Tim brought all those elements back into the picture, like the synth bass lines and electronic drums.

You initially were brought to the attention of international and local labels through your My Space page?

Condor: That is how things happen these days for bands. There is no two ways about it. And we’re one of a handful of bands in the past few years that have got a big hype and exposure from the internet and in particularly MySpace. I think it’s the easiest way to communicate with your fans directly. It’s great that we can do a show and the very next day, fans will write in and say ‘it was a sweet show last night’. It makes things more personal. It’s like writing something to your favorite band and when they respond, you’ll be stoked.

One of your early supporters and fans was Justin Hawkins from The Darkness and because of that association, some people are lumping you into the same category?

Condor: Yeah we’ve been called “Darkness clones”. But you know, if we could actually play like that I’ll be stoked.

Johnny: We’re a very different kind of band. I think when you’ve got a band that people either love or hate, it is great because you become a band that can polarize people. And I think that is great. Otherwise, you’ll never achieve any success in what you want to do.

In June of this year you performed as opening act for The Police at Hyde Park in London. I heard that after The Galvatrons had performed their set, they were evicted from their dressing room because apparently you guys were singing Metallica songs too loudly next to Sting’s room?

Condor: Yeah we were in our dressing room after having just performed our set and KT Tunstall had just gone stage to play her set. And since I am a big metal fan, we started singing Metallica songs and going crazy. Then suddenly there was this knock on the door. And the door opened and this guy informed us, ‘you guys have to go as you’re being too loud’. And we said, ‘we’re not doing anything wrong, we’re in our band room having a bit of a fun sing-a-long’. And the guy said, ‘The Police have complained’. And we said, ‘The Police? You mean the cops right?’ ‘No’ he replied, ‘I mean Sting and the boys!’

Johnny: So they took our laminates off us and escorted us out of the venue and booted us out. But we’ve been lucky to have been playing large stages but at that time, that was by far, until our recent Def Leppard and Cheap Trick Australian tour support, the biggest stage we had played.


"I wanted to move down the road of stuff that was more me and more honest and which really affected me."
I just want to discuss the gear you used for EP and what you’re currently using live?

Johnny: Well I have just bought a new rig recently. I’ve got a couple of Gibson Explorers and I have got this new “mirror” Explorer. It was funny you know, we were shooting our film clip for When We Were Kids which features a lot of lasers and I had ordered just another black and white Explorer for the shoot but they sent me this “mirror” one instead. And when I looked at it for the first time upon opening of the case, I went ‘they’ve sent me the wrong one...but hey this one is awesome’. And so I kept it and used it for the clip. And we had lasers shooting from it and all and it was great. And I just bought a new TC Electronic G-system multi-effects pedal. I couldn’t find any pedals that could give me the type of distortion that I was getting from my POD. And the TC was the only one that I liked. So I will end up running a loop from my TC Electronic unit through to the POD. That way I can just select a loop and on the TC you can choose the distortion and so I have it running through my effects board and out into a Marshall Vintage Modern amp. On the When We Were Kids EP, I used an Echo Park Line 6 pedal, a Boss DS-1 Distortion and that same Marshall amp. And that was the sound.

Condor: I used and use an Ampeg and Gibson Thunderbird. At the moment I’m looking at maybe also getting a Schecter bass as a couple months ago we did some recordings and I used one and it seemed to sit really well with the live drums, digital bass and guitar.

You have a fully fledged debut album scheduled for release in early 2009?

Johnny: We’re finishing the mixing of the album in February and then we head out on a national tour. Prior to the album, February will see the release of our next single called Cassandra.

Any plans for a US jaunt next year?

Johnny: Well Seymour Stein came to see us play at Splendor In The Grass recently and was very impressed and so has become a big fan. Hopefully something will come from that next year.

Interview by Joe Matera
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