Interview: Pete Kilroy from Hey Geronimo

They’ve been all over Australia, relentlessly playing shows with songs that not even their fans know. Last Friday Brisbane-based alt-pop heroes Hey Geronimo finally released their highly anticipated debut album, ‘Crashing Into The Sun’. We caught up with frontman Pete Kilroy to talk about the process behind the album and the importance of bacon and eggs for breakfast.

What happened to the band and the creative process when half of Hey Geronimo moved to Sydney?

It’s sort of a long winded story I guess, but the band has gone through quite a lot of line up changes over the last few years. It’s kind of just become settled in the last 12 months and that’s what’s been able to make the record possible. Myself, Ross, and Tony used to be in a band together, and again we had some line up changes. Greg and Andrew leaving – Andrew’s now our manager and Greg, we’re still friends with Greg and we do some co-writing with him but, uhh Bing (Bill Bingley) had just joined the band, and now the last sort of dire piece of the puzzle was a keyboard player that we were really happy with!

It was really funny, me and Andrew were at a pub one night and he said “who would be your ideal keyboard player?”, I was like, “Pluto Jonze or James Maslow, either/or, they’re both amazing”. And then within 10 minutes Pluto walked past and said “hey dudes”, and we hadn’t seen him in like six months. It’s like, “oh, hi” and I looked at Andrew and was like “that’s a sign!”. So we asked him soon after if he wanted to join and he did and all of a sudden…yeah, it’s kind of cool. Feel a bit spoilt actually!

Have you got any celebrations planned for the album’s release?

Well we’re sort of nervous but we’re happy with the way it turned out, as we spent a lot of time on it. It’s sort of out of our hands now, I guess. Like, once it got mastered and once we were happy with the art, like there’s not really anything else you can do.

A lot of artists feel there’s kind of never a point when an album feels finished, you just run out of time. In saying that, are you happy with the end result?

We literally like, “ah, there’s one note in one song, in one chord strum” that I kind of wish we could change. But I look at it objectively and I’m like, if that’s my only problem with the album that’s a great result!

Where did you find inspiration for the album?

Umm, once Bing came on the team it sort of shaped it a bit because he wrote a couple of songs for it and we realised that all songs, and just kind of how the art was inspired too actually. All our songs kinds of have like this “ah, yeah that’s a bit of fun” but then you look slightly below the surface you realise that “hang on, those people taking selfies are about to be killed by that giant exploding fire ball and yet they don’t care”. So that’s kind of the theme of the record. Like, “ah yeah that’s kind of cool” and then listen to the lyrics and go “wait a minute, that’s not quite right”…so that’s kind of the underlying meaning.

Would you say it’s kind of like a theme of oblivion?

I think its kind of almost like [that]…yeah, it’s hard to articulate. Again, the only way I can really explain it is that things aren’t entirely what they seem. Like Lazer Gun Show‘s a good like oh this is a good pop song and it’s about the world being destroyed by nuclear war, you know what I mean?

It’s one of those things where you’re singing along to it and then it sort of dawns on you and you go, “oh, right, bit of a downer”. So once we finished we all looked back at the tunes and went oh we sort of subconsciously done that for the vast majority of the album, so that’s kind of where it ended up.

You directed the clip for Boredom, how did you go directing 25 bands from Brisbane?

It was a nightmare, to be honest. Yeah, look, it was weird because they’re all musicians and the whole thing is I hoped everyone would turn up. One band who I will not mention said they were coming and they didn’t turn up which almost f*cked us, but didn’t. If one or two more hadn’t turned up, it would have actually stuffed the entire thing. So, it was an interesting one because I thought I told everyone earlier that it was going to take an hour…it didn’t take an hour!

I think we did five of six takes and it got to the point at the end, where by you could see everyone rounding up the shits. The beer had run out, and everyone’s sort of looking at their watches, and we sort of said we have to do this last take, we have to nail this because otherwise everyone’s going to want to go home and we won’t have actually gotten the clip. So thank God we nailed it on that last take. It couldn’t have been more stressful, it was horrifying because of how stressful it was!

It shows that you support the local music scene a lot! What’s your opinion on the new lockout laws and how do you think they’ll affect the live music scene here (Brisbane)?

Ah, it’s, I just…I almost feel hopeless about it just because obviously I live in Sydney and what happens here is kind of like – it makes you think “oh well, this is such a f*ck up. At least no one will do it anywhere else. That’s the one positive”. And then Brisbane’s like “we’re gonna do it…but worse”. It’s kinda like, what the f*ck are you even thinking? It just doesn’t make any sense. Like the last thing Brisbane needs is that. Oh, look there’s no more violence on the street – yeah, because there isn’t anyone on the street, obviously!

And no one’s making money, and no one’s playing shows…

Well I live in Kings Cross so I’ve seen it first hand. I’ve seen it really obviously and it’s kind of just like… I’m sort of hoping that… Like everyone else, all the gambling, and the alcohol – they all have a lobby to get their way. So I’m hoping that maybe like, you know, the ‘Keep Sydney Open’ and those type of things, like if those sort of lobbies can just keep a bit of noise, we [might] get change. I don’t know, I think it’s sort of borderline corruption too the way their like “we’re looking after you, except if you want to go to the casino”.

It’s kind of really dodgy as well and that’s what pisses me off the most about it, the way people, the way politicians are so sanctimonious and like “we’re trying to look after you”, when really they’re looking after their mates which is a bit average…

It’s ridiculous! Well, on a positive note, you’ve got an album tour coming up. I’m a bit of a foodie myself, can you tell us what your favourite foods are to eat on tour?

Umm, to be honest I think food is super boring but on tour is the time when you get to eat bacon and eggs every morning, which is something! And I get this…I’m a bit of a creature of habit so I get the same thing every single time. I get just a big breakfast with scrambled eggs. Someone’s asked me this before, and the best bacon and eggs as far as quality and value being put into the frame is the Yeronga Bakery in Brisbane.

I’ve had bacon and eggs all over Australia and it’s where you get a good, classic, well-cooked big breakfast and coffee for $11.90. You can’t beat it. Yeah, so it is boring but touring is all about bacon and eggs for me. When you’re at home you’re not eating bacon and eggs on a classic Wednesday morning. It is nice to get out.

And earlier this year you gets did 10 gigs in one day around Sydney and you made a film of it. Do you have anything crazy planned for this tour, any films?

Ah, not necessarily. That was just kind of, let’s say, something ridiculous! We did it and it was kind of like running a marathon. We’re proud that we did it but I don’t think we would want to do it again. Again, it was pretty wild! The fact that I could still sing at the end of it was kind of bazaar. I don’t know how that even happened…

Did it all go to plan?

Yeah, it did – ah, we were an hour behind schedule after 15 minutes because we rocked up to Secret Garden [Festival] and no one had set up the stage. So, a part from the start which was a complete balls up, the rest of it was really fun. We took a big bus with a bunch of competition winners along and they all had a great time, and we had a great time, and every one there was having a good time. The liquor was flowing, and it progressively got messier and messier, and by the end we were all best friends!

I actually saw one of the people that came on the tour the other day. They hit me up at the pub and went “Pete! How’s it going?”. We made a couple of friends which was fun, but for this upcoming tour…we have haven’t been to Adelaide in years. We haven’t played a proper show anywhere except for Brisbane in ages.

We’re really just looking forward to going to those places and the other thing to consider it that because we’ve never put out an album, like the shows that we have been playing, they’re all new songs to everybody. They’re like, “Oh, song number four! Can I hear that somewhere?” and I’m like, “Nup”. It’s going to be nice for them to actually be able to go out and like, either have already heard the songs or they can go and hear them after. It’s basically a small thing. It’ll be pretty cool!

That’ll be awesome. Yeah, I saw your gig at The Foundry in Brisbane a few months back. It was so much fun! And the dance moves that you pulled off at the end there…

Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Burning Down The House! Yeah, we try to tone back the sort of party vibe but then at the same time we want the shows to be fun because that’s why we all got together in the first place.

Well, thank you so much Pete! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I don’t think so. I just think with the record we’re just really happy with how it turned out. There wasn’t any weird like, “Sh*t, we’ve got to have it finished! It’s next month!”. There wasn’t any rushing. When it was finished we were like, “is it finished?” We were like, “yeah”. Was it you before that said records aren’t finished…

Yeah, you kind of just run out of time.

Yeah, see we didn’t. We were like happy with the way…we were like, “are you happy? ‘Yeah, I’m happy”. “Do you want to change anything? Nope”. So, yeah that’s where we ended up with it. We hope every one can get in on it!

Read our review of Hey Geronimo’s debut album ‘Crashing Into The Sun’ HERE

Hey Geronimo ‘Crashing Into The Sun’ Album Tour

FRI 15 JULY
Rocket Bar, Adelaide
SAT 16 JULY
The Curtain, Carlton
SAT 30 JULY
Newtown Social Club
FRI 5 AUGUST
Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane

Get Tickets HERE