Interview - Bluebottle Kiss With a mouthful of toast and at least one eye firmly fixed by the events unfolding from the television screen, lead singer Jamie Hutchings of Bluebottle Kiss is taking a break in-between recording the band's forthcoming album.

Despite a nervous disposition threatening to debilitate my ability to speak - let alone string a coherent sentence together - I manage to clear my throat and make my introductions. For those without an introduction, Bluebottle Kiss is that rare breed of band who happen to frequent the music scene occasionally - intense, dynamic, brutal, and definitely unpredictable. Having returned from a recent tour of the States that seriously tested the nerve of this Sydney-based four-piece, much creativity was derived from the near fatal disasters that were unfolding before their very eyes. New songs - Prussian Blue; Gangster Land; and soon-to-be-released Ounce of Your Cruelty is testament to an invigorating experience but also depicts the frustrations boiling beneath the surface of what proved to be a difficult time. "We came through the whole American experience amazingly considering the vagrant like existence we put ourselves through during a period of four months," explains Jamie Hutchings whilst finishing that last piece of toast and looking for an alternative answer from Ben Fletcher (guitars), Richard Coneliano (drums), and recent recruit Ben Grounds (bass) who are all seated in the spacious rehearsal room we are situated in. "Nothing within the band has changed too much," he continues. "Ben's hair still looks the best; Richard is the only guy with more than two dollars in his wallet; and I'm still the enemy, We needed a break from each other, but it did solder us together in strange ways." During this trawl through America, not only did Bluebottle Kiss suffer the humiliation of having to headline several venues with band's supporting who were destined for the nearest local bar, but also the debacle that unfolded regarding the record company who instigated their very presence in America. However, the whole USA experience wasn't a complete disaster due to a few allocated time-slots that allowed for new songs to be recorded. "We did two separate recording sessions," comments Jamie, "one in LA in a very ROCK, big budget studio which was a little more arduous in some respects due to the amount of technology at our fingertips. An alien environment but it was an eye-opener - Rod Stewart's lyric sheets were faxed in advanced as he was in the next day at Royaltone...very interesting. The second session was over two nights in Seattle with Jack Endino (Nirvana) - rather live, raw, and spontaneous. Jack's a fantastic engineer with very real sounds. The whole experience, in hindsight, is very hard to summarise in any way. We lived in a car; most of our possessions were stolen in Mexico; the police moved us on several times; and we met strange people and performed with some awful bands." Enter the fray Sugar Shack Records who identified the immense potential of the band that will be transmitted to a wider audience with the sublime, Ounce of Your Cruelty - the forthcoming single and debut UK release for Bluebottle Kiss. If comparisons are to be drawn then Ounce of Your Cruelty is reminiscent of the Go-Betweens finer moments, except with a heavier emphasis placed on guitars and sounding like a more subtle version of Radiohead had they continued in similar fashion to The Bends. This, of course, is great disservice to Bluebottle Kiss - genuine innovators in their own right and clearly residing in a world where the fashion stakes are of no importance judging by the honest intensity of past and present recordings. "Ounce of Your Cruelty is a rather pretty track by nature," says Jamie. "The sounds are languid and therefore softer compared to our previous songs. Everyone in the band thought it was an accessible song so there was no struggle there." Was it a conscious decision to produce a more radio-friendly song with Ounce of Your Cruelty? "I hope not," is the immediate response. "I didn't write the song with radio in mind because I am yet to do that. In fact, I don't think I ever will. I was listening to a Go-Betweens compilation at the time so I was going for that warm, dreamy kind of feel." With its warm guitar sounds and subtle use of keys, Ounce of Your Cruelty is the perfect introduction for Bluebottle Kiss to make their mark on an unsuspecting audience. "It's exciting to have songs being played a long way from where you are but we're totally open to it in terms of the reaction from a different audience. We try not to have too many expectations as far as the single is concerned. I can't really be objective about how other people will respond because I'm too close to the songs myself." (Ounce of Your Cruelty will be released 4 February 2002 on Sugar Shack Records) Nathan Haines (Sugarshack Records) Oct 2001