IT'S all too easy for bands to fall into the trap of sounding remarkably like their influences.
Producing a sound similar to someone else is one thing that Sydney blues outfit The Mess Hall tries its best to avoid.
``We're kind of trying our best not to sound like anything else,'' drummer Cec Condon said.
``During the recording of our album, anything that we thought sounded a bit similar to anything else, we scrapped.'' Despite taking such a strict approach to their music, Condon and frontman Jed Kurzel managed to complete recording of the album in only two weeks.
Notes From A Ceiling was released on Monday and is being followed by a brief tour which brings the band to the Cambridge Hotel tomorrow night with support from Whirlwind Heat. An album has been on the horizon for years.
Although an independent album was released a couple of years ago, the band didn't officially release anything until 2003 with the EP Feeling Sideways. Back then Kurzel was still performing with original drummer AJ. After the departure of AJ, Kurzel was left scouting for a replacement and found it in Condon, who also plays with Brisbane four-piece The Tremors. For Condon, shifting from playing with three members to just one has been an interesting and enjoyable experience.
``It was kind of strange at the start but we blend really well,'' Condon said.
``It's really liberating to play in a two-piece as a drummer because you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as we're rocking together.'' The Mess Hall played Big Day Out this year and plans to do more dates after this tour.
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