Sure we’ve heard about you before, but we think it’s time for Tone Deaf to get to know you a little better. Slip in to something comfortable while we put on some music, pour us a couple of drinks and turn the lights down low.
Who are you and what do you do in your act?
My names Billy Gardner and I play guitar and sing and write most of the songs in my band, The Living Eyes.
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
My dad has all the good ones at his house, but I do have Rock ‘n’ Roll Diary by Lou Reed and about half a dozen good Joy Division records of his, including an early Warsaw one. I haven’t stolen any of these, the way I see it I’m just permanently borrowing them haha.
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees
‘Home taping is killing the music business’ was the catch-cry of the record industry in the 1970s, but it managed to survive until now. What do you think is the difference between mates taping copies of friend’s records back in the 80s and 90s and file sharing now?
I think the difference is that people would go to a bit of effort to tape a vinyl or copy a tape which makes it sort of worthwhile, but today people just bring their iPods or memory sticks to peoples house’ and suddenly have another 3000 songs to listen to. But they will never listen to all of them, so I think it is a little crazy
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What was the first gig you went to? Where was it and what was the venue?
The first gig I went to was The Frowning Clouds at The Potato Shed in Drysdale around 2007 I think.
What’s your favourite site to download music from and do you ever pay for it? Can we find any of your releases there?
The only way I ever download music from is by typing the artist and album name in google, followed by ‘blog’. I can get most albums that way, but I try to download as little music as possible, I’d rather buy it on record.
What artist made you want to pick up an instrument and/or sing?
I can’t pick out one individual band, but the Rolling Stones had a big influence on me when iIbegan playing guitar.
Have you ever been arrested?
Negative
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
Not really.
What’s been your most outrageous rider request?
We don’t request riders, we just get them most venues we play at. We usually get 4 drinks each but sometimes we get more than that, or unlimited drinks, which is good.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
It would probably have to be Mick Bower from The Master’s Apprentices because he is such a great songwriter.
Right, let’s get really intimate. Tell us what releases you have that we can listen to with the lights down low, or even better, where we can see you play in person next.
We’re playing at the SYN FM presents THE FREE KICK FINAL this Sunday, May 22nd, The Tote – 67-71 Johnston Street, Collingwood
Doors – 5.00pm
$10.00 on the door (proceeds go to Reclink)
We’re also playing with I, A Man, Rain Party,Red Rockets of Borneo and Royal Chant. We’ve been trying to put out a 7” for a while and it’s now in the process, so hopefully that will be available in the next month or two. We have some songs on our face book page to that you can listen to, and our next gig is at Bar Open on the 2nd of June with Bad Aches and Chook Race for their split cassette launch.
