Calling All Cars

Calling All Cars
Jeremy Williams

Melbourne trio Calling All Cars have currently got their work cut out for them. With the promotional trail for their superb sophomore LP “Dancing With A Dead” dominating their schedule, the trio have locked themselves away in the rehearsal room at Prahran’s Revolver for a little peace and quiet – that is until we at BBM interrupt their tour practice for a quick chat. With their coffee cups already running low, the timing couldn’t be better and the boys (brothers Haydn and James Ing and their pail Adam Montgomery) state “we could easily do with another one”.

With the instruments put out of the way, seats are grabbed and it becomes clear that lead singer Haydn acts on the whole as the band’s spokesman, but there are regular interjections from both James and Adam. With the boys having wasted little time following up 2010’s “Hold, Hold, Fire”, it is seemingly obvious that they did not fall in to the trap of the difficult second album. The three boys nod in agreement as Haydn explains, “this was just a natural progression. We knew what worked from the first one. We also knew about how things worked from the first.”

Rather than wasting time dwelling on their debut release, the boys set to work writing their follow up almost immediately. Using their debut as a learning point rather than stumbling block, Adam explains that album number two has “more dynamics”, with James stating “I don’t think we really thought about what the reviews said. I don’t think we need to make an album these people will like.”

In essence, the trio are not closed to external influence and admit that on a subconscious level feedback may have an impact, but when it came to writing and recording, they tried to reassess their own sound in their own terms. By spending so long out on the road, notably supporting everyone from Green Day to Queens of the Stone Age, they found that the live forum was the perfect place to whittle away to wheat from the chaff. Once they were able to decipher which songs worked and which didn’t, it had an impact upon what they wished to bring to album number two. With the boys about to head back out on the road once again, they realise that this tour will no doubt have a similar impact upon their current material.