BERNARD FANNING DOUBLES OUTPUT FROM NEW STUDIO
“Pretty awesomely wanky,” is how ex-Powderfinger frontman, Bernard Fanning, affectionately describes concept albums. Funny, because he just released a consecutive pair of his own — Civil Dusk and Brutal Dawn.
Where did this wanky concept idea come from? While Fanning was responsible for the material, you could easily pin the largesse on two more culprits — prog-loving producer Nick Didia, and manager and Dew Process label boss Paul Pittico.
“He’s really into prog; Genesis, Yes and all that pretty complicated, mid-to-late ’70s music,” Fanning said of Didia. “I’m pretty new to that. I like the absurdity of it; the pure indulgence and ridiculousness. To be honest, I think I prefer prog now! It’s funnier if you don’t take it too seriously. That’s part of why punk came along I guess because it was being taken so seriously.”
It’s rare for a label to suggest that an artist release two albums in under six months. Over saturation, lack of marketing build up, slotting it in with other releases, all the reasons why — King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard aside — the minimum gap between releases is typically a year. Plus, what if the first one’s no good? It’s too late to pull back the horses; they’ve already bolted. When Fanning flew the idea of a new solo album past Pittico, and Pittico said, ‘why not do two?’ There was no way he was going to turn that down. “When the head of the label says that, you just jump on that chance,” said Didia.
To be clear, there’s not much prog rock on either of these albums. Still, considering both have similarly dystopian, planet-laden covers with sun cycle-related titles, they’re ‘pretty awesomely wanky’ in exactly that prog kind of way.
DADDY’S NEW STUDIO
Fanning doesn’t take himself too seriously these days, anyway. Since returning to Byron Bay after a year in Madrid, he’s essentially a house husband who’s day job is writing and recording songs. “I just go all day until the kids get home from school,” said Fanning, who loves his routine. “I’m just going to write as many songs as I f**king can. That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I would be more than happy to never go on tour again if
