Interview/Articles -
Bassett, Darrell, 1996, 'Powder Monkeys - Steady as she blows', Inpress Magazine.
Few people will not have heard of the Powder Monkeys. If previous reputation had failed to call attention to the band at their inception in early 1991, then the five years since of flat-knacker, in-your-face rock-n-roll that they've been belting out is hard to miss. Tim Hemensley, John Nolan and Timmy Jack Ray, the Powder Monkeys in toto, have criss-crossed
the nation in that time, giving it to anyone who'll listen and creating so much anticipation for product that despite Smashed on a Knee having failed to completely captured their sound, it was received ecstatically. Their new disc Time Wounds All Heels, is much closer to the mark and already it's generated enough interest to have the blokes thinking of the US..
Tim Hemensley has been pretty busy since the album came out supporting it up and down the east coast and also supporting US garage rockers Dead Moon "and in the upcoming months, hopefully, we'll be going to America at some point. That's the one we're really looking forward to" thanks to some generous people with money in America".
"We signed a deal with an American label (American Recordings) and we'll have the opportunity to do a couple of albums with that label and do a tour to support the current album. I don't know when Time Wounds All Heels will come out in the States, some point soon but maybe they'll even hold it back until we tour, I don't really know."
    Both John and Tim have toured Europe as part of Bored! but neither have been outside this country with The Powder Monkeys so a new chapter is unfolding for the band. Not that Tim sees it as 'the big break' or something along that line, more of an opportunity to play to more people.
"While there's certain types of underground music which have gone pretty mainstream, I still think the music we play is pretty much an underground concern because it's just too raw for the kids to swallow. Whenever we play to an under age crowd it doesn't really go down to well. I wouldn't imagine that we're a band that has a huge amount of commercial
viability. Thank Christ! And I think that all getting overseas will allow us to do is play to more people, like the people who come and see us here. Just more people I guess."
    The band are renowned for their gut level rock-n-roll, a way of playing that hits your body as well as your head, and without too fancy additions, or cosmetic stylistics. What you see is what you get. The simple and direct approach.
"I've always seen it being that way and I think it's always been that way live. It's taken its cue from a number of different things. It was a less stripped down band when we started a two guitar band, that didn't last terribly long but that was the original idea for it. I've always written songs on the bass. They've always been kind of simple songs, basic chord
changes and whatever. It's always been pretty gut level, it's never been meant to be anything too pompous.
"There's always been a downbeat feel to the songs of The Powder Monkeys, the first album particularly, and this album as well actually. It's all pretty down beat kind of stuff, none of it is really happy, happy kind of stuff. But for me there's a lot of humour in there which a lot of people don't really get. I've always written the same way since God right through to now. For me, I like lyrics that are intelligent but kind of simple, that are personal, that actually mean something to whoever's written the lyric. I'm not into throwaway bullshit.
"I think they're the best lyrics, when people write from their hear, it's always a better lyric than when they're writing from their wallet."
    The Powder Monkeys have not been without their detractors and a few have crossed swords with the band, but then what's so new about that? It's not like it's their first band, and Tim and John have certainly seen a few casualties along their journeys to the present. The band are coming through, ready or not.
"That's our attitude and it's an attitude that has caused a lot of problems and a lot of promoters and people that book gigs around the country have always found us a little difficult to work with. I don't think we are. I don't think there's too much worry about with us. But John and I have been playing for a real long time and this band's been together for four and half years or so now. You get tired of all the bullshit after a while you know, and you've got to say exactly what you feel because,
well, you just can't have it any other way.
"You've just got to say where you stand, particularly when it comes to humping a band all around the fucking country and getting to gigs and it's meant to be some deal or whatever and things where someone's been a bit shifty, and you can only shrug your shoulders so many times. But it's never going to be a bed of roses Music related stuff is always going
to be problematic, it's inevitable."

Ferguson, Simone, 1996, 'Monkey business', Beat Magazine (Melbourne.).
When I spoke to Timmy Jack, he told me that although he had heard the album on DAT, he still hadn't received a copy of the CD. He was still wondering how the mastering had gone, but after the feedback he'd got from people who do have the CD, he was pretty confident that it sounded great.
 "I think it's easily the best thing we've done so far, but there's always room for improvement. Most bands will record something and say, 'that sounds great, but it could be a bit better, or that bit's kind of out of whack.' There are bit's I'd like to fix up, but you can't be too picky or you could be there forever."
 There have been reports that Time Wounds All Heels is the "essential and definitive" Powder Monkeys, but Timmy Jack is reluctant to agree with these sentiments.
 "I suppose it is, at the moment. I've heard that quite a lot about a few bands, so I tend not to listen to raves like that. They tend to make something sound a lot flashier that it may be, when it could be laid out a lot simpler. I think the album captures the spirit and the feelings that we've all had over the last year and a half. All the songs are reflections of shit that's happened to us, and to Tim (Hemensley) especially."
 The CD is raw, riotous and full of energy, and listening to it, I couldn't help but think that it sounded a lot like Motorhead.
 "That's sort of the sound we aim to get, like a truck grinding down from sixth to second gear in the shortest amount of space possible. You know, like a real grindy, heavy, loud sound and Motorhead are early pioneers of that. We and Motorhead, but that sound was the guideline of the kind of sound we like to play with and like to produce when we play live as well as when we record."
 "We were all happy with album in the respect that it's probably our live sound captured the best that we've ever recorded it. The first record we did just sounded a bit controlled, like someone had their finger on a button and was ready to tone it down as soon as it got out of control, which is definitely not what we are live. Usually, it's very uncontrolled live - we just go for a great, big wall of music. Not noise, but music. We do have some sense of control, but basically, we like to thump it up and pump it out."
 Time Wounds All Heels actually contains Timmy Jack's singing and song writing debut, Ten Minds. Is this going to be a new direction the band will be taking in the future?
 "Well, because we used Chris Thompson to produce the album, and he was pretty busy, we had a bit of a schedule we had to work to. We didn't have quite enough songs ... well, we probably had enough songs but perhaps some of them we weren't totally happy with. So I said, 'Well, I've got a song that's pretty easy.' But that was in the last two weeks before we went into the studio of record it. It was just easier to have me sing it rather than have me try to show Tim how to sing it. Anyway, if it works out, we might see how it goes. I don't really like the idea of two singers in a three-piece and I'm not a prolific songwriter. Tim seems to feed them out quite readily so I think I might leave it up to him."
 So, what's in store for the future for the Powder Monkeys?
 "Well, we're doing some promotion and touring, just running around carrying on. We won't be recording for a while. I think we'll just concentrate on getting this CD known, then in about June, we're going to America to tour for a while. We're constantly writing and toying with songs, so when we feel that Time Wounds All Heels is getting a bit stale, then we'll start to kick back and think about doing something new. But until then, this is taking up our time."

Lovatt, Paul, 1995, 'Powder Monkeys - Power junkies', Inpress Magazine.
One of Melbourne's seminal hard rock outfits Powder Monkeys have been out of the punter's ear of late. Having recorded their long awaited second album back in May at the ABC's Southbank studios, main Monkey Tim took time out overseas for a few months before returning in August. The new album Time Wounds All Heels has been scheduled for release in February, meanwhile the three piece has delivered a pre Christmas sonic taster in the form of a new single entitled The Supernova That Never Quits.
Over a year since the Straight Until Morning EP, the Monkeys' last release, the band had been somewhat quiet. Hemensley explains: "Basically I went overseas for a couple of months earlier this year after we finished recording the second album ... it wasn't meant to delay things ... we were hoping to get the album out by December, but with Christmas upon us we've decided to delay it until February to avoid the Christmas rush."
    The band have again recently recorded a few tracks for Triple J which may also see release in some form later next year.
"We've just recorded some tracks for Triple J 'live at the wireless' again, that should be interesting, I don't know when they're actually going to play it, but it should be good."
    The Powder Monkeys' recording ethic of putting everything down live as much as possible even saw most of the vocals for the new studio album hit the tapes 'live', the album, now rescheduled for release in February was recorded in two days.
"We slapped the whole thing down live in two days, a few bits were dropped in after, where the initial vocal or guitar was a bit dodgy or whatever, but generally most of it went down live." Hemensley himself has a long and diverse background in independent music. Still only 24, he played in his first band Royal Flush at 10. I briefly broached Hemensley for his opinion on the silverchair syndrome. "I started playing in fact when I was ten, the band Royal Flush was my first band. I mean, as you know, then, we didn't have the advantages of silverchair.
    Hemensley adds: "It's the reverse of the silverchair situation, these kids are praised for their age and the novelty has worked for them but the bands that I was in when I was a child, it worked in reverse ... you know the pubs would find out that we were this age and they wouldn't book us anymore and then you get a few morally persuasive journos onto the under-age thing ... the whole focus was different ... I think it's inevitable that this issue will crop up again and again and again."
    Powder Monkeys themselves are negotiating signing with a larger label for their US releases, their typically hard rock approach being recognized for it's sheer energy and rawness and eclectic absorption of some of hard rock's classic influences. "Sure Motorhead is the obvious one, it's a fairly standard three-piece hard rock thing, ZZ Top is in there, though probably not as obvious ... but we just don't sit around and listen to Motorhead ... though I listen to a lot of pretty noisy anti-social music."

Scadden, Chris, 1996, 'Powder Monkeys', Forte Magazine.
1996 has been a year mixed with satisfaction and frustration for Melbourne's rawest rock and roll band, the Powder Monkeys. In what should have been a year for the band to spread its flaming rock and roll to a wider audience, it quickly became another case of a deserving band being let down by factors beyond its control. Tim Hemensley, the band's singer and bass player, spoke to Forte as the Powder Monkeys prepared to end 1996 on a high note...
"We've just spent the last few months playing around the little dives in Melbourne, where we've played throughout our existence." A long way from the Powder Monkeys opening shows for 1996, playing first for Wayne Kramer and Radio Birdman before a beyond capacity crowd at the Palace. Rather than being overshadowed by the headliners, the band pumped out an awesome set of the aggressive rock that saw them described as 'the best live band on the face of the planet'.
    In February, the band released its second album Time Wounds All Heels a record that successfully captured the ragged energy of the Powder Monkeys live sound that previous releases had been unable to find.
Tim explained. "The way that Time Wounds All Heels was recorded would be the way we'll always record in the future and probably always should have. Just playing live with a minimum of overdubs and a minimum of electrickery. We're a very basic sort of band that shouldn't really lend itself to too much studio noodling."
    Fuelled by this new album, the band was set to sign to American Recordings, U.S. producer Rick Rubin's private label, in a deal that would have seen an international release for Time Wounds All Heels and the opportunity for overseas touring throughout 1996. However, for the usual financial reasons, American Recordings couldn't live up to its promises and the Powder Monkeys spent several infuriating months waiting for a confirmation which never came.
     Naturally disappointed by the outcome, the band is looking forward to its upcoming live shows and continuing the Powder Monkeys into its seventh year in 1997. The Meredith Music Festival is a show that the band has a particular fondness for. "We've played a few of the big festivals like the Big Day Out and they are very officious and security conscious. There's just too many rules to stop people having a good time. Meredith is the complete opposite of that. They treat the people with respect by not plying on the excess regulations. I think the people really respect it themselves and treat the place with respect. It's always a good time had by all."

Slevison, Damien, 1996, 'Powder Monkeys', Hot Metal Magazine
With a brand new album, a US tour record deal and imminent overseas tours on the upcoming agenda, Melbourne's Powder Monkeys are definitely going places fast...

Johnny Cash, Slayer, Powder Monkeys. Something doesn't quite fit. Powder who? Hmm.  OK, so this Melbourne trio might still seem somewhat out of place in the company of a million selling country legend and one of the world's biggest metal acts, but it looks like you better get used to it. Just a few weeks back the Powder Monkeys ended months of speculation by signing an exclusive three-album licensing deal with Rick Rubin's American Records. So there you go, Cash (the man in black), Slayer (the blackest men), the Black Crowes. Hmm, welcome to the label, guys. The deal also guarantees them a US tour, hopefully in the early months of 1996, and for bassist Tim Hemensley, the deal provides a great deal of satisfaction, even if he is taking it in his stride.
"Oh yeah, it's amazing. We're really stoked. I suppose the negotiations have been going on for that long it's not like we're flipping out or anything, but it's obviously a huge step for the band," he says.
"For a start it's fantastic for Dogmeat [the band's longstanding label], and from our point of view it's excellent to get that recognition after people were saying to us for ages that we've gotta move on, 'You won't get anywhere staying with Dogmeat', that kind of thing. It's just a real 'up yours' to those critics. It's terribly cliched but it's a bit of the old 'stick to your guns and be patient scenario," he explains.
    The new album Time Wounds All Heels was recorded in a whirlwind session with highly credentialled producer Chris Thompson at the ABC's Southbank Studios in August. Most of the album's 11 tracks were recorded live in one inspired day of recording. Hemensley says the band and Thompson struck up a positive working relationship at a JJJ Live at the Wireless session a few years back, leaving the Powder Monkeys in no doubt who was going to record their follow-up album to 1994's acclaimed debut Smashed on a Knee. In the interim, Thompson and the band also recorded a couple of tracks for the band's most recent Straight Until Morning EP.
"The JJJ session we did and the songs we did for the EP convinced us to use Chris providing he was available. He's just a real professional," Tim enthuses.
"He comes from a background of working with bands like The Birthday Party, The Boys Next Door and The Scientists, so he pretty much knows and understands the area we're coming from, he was into everything we came up with," he adds.
    Indeed, the new record is a raw-as-guts behemoth. Furthermore, it consistently packs the punch that was somewhat lacking in its predecessor Smashed on a Knee. While the said record admittedly included acknowledged classics like Atomic Resolution, it was also just as obvious that the recording quality didn't do justice to the songs. According to Hemensley the project was always doomed to be a struggle.
"Looking back we just shouldn't have gone into the studio at that stage. We had only played about five or so gigs and we were still sorting a lot of the basics out.
"Basically we were terribly underprepared to record an album. I mean, it took two years because we fucked around with so much, and in the end it became pretty much a side project. A lot of those are still key songs in our set, like we're not embarrassed about them or anything but I'm still very disappointed with the way that record turned out."
    Not so Time Wounds All Heels. Hemensley, and his partners in crime John Nolan (guitars) and Timmy Jack Ray (Drums), couldn't be happier with the results on the new album. Songs like Turns to Hate and 2,000 Sins (Timmy Jack Ray's songwriting/vocal debut (Ten Minds?)) sock you in the ribs with the power of a Tyson left, while still possessing the dirt-under-your-nails toughness of the previous album. Maybe it's raw as opposed to tough.
Hemensley agrees. "It took me a while to get into just because it is so fucken raw and fast, but I'm really into it now. I'd love to put a vinyl copy on the old stereo and blow off a few cobwebs," he laughs.
"I think it's a really well produced and clear sounding raw - if that makes any sense."
Sure it does.

Tauschke, Steve, 1994, 'High powered', Beat Magazine (Melb.).
In the swing of Metallica's "Garage Days" covers EP, the next Powder Monkeys record is set to be "not very produced". And that's fine by the trio's multiplying legion of fans who, by the way, have until the end of this week to see their fave act before it records said album then takes an extended two month hiatus. Steve Tauschke speaks briefly with frontman Tim Hemensley...
Beat: On stage last week you half-questioned why people get so upset during Powder Monkeys shows. Why do you think they get upset?
Tim : "It happens sometimes, I don't really understand it. I think that maybe people are a little hypersensitive when we play because they have a preconception that we are going to be offensive or something so they're already out to take things I say the wrong way, I don't really give a shit, I mean if people are that precious, it's their fault."

Beat: You're a fairly confrontational proposition anyway?
Tim : "Well, only on stage. People are welcome to talk to me after the gig or whatever. (laughs)

Beat: I meant the music, everything, the whole package.
Tim : "Oh certainly. And I think that's the best way a band like us should be. There's no point playing aggressive sort of music if you're not going to present it in that way.

Beat: You began the show the other night with a song, is it 'Turns To Hate'?
Tim : "Yeah, yeah."

Beat: Have that and a bunch of the newer songs already been recorded for an album?
Tim : "We have recorded for an album a couple times, once for a Triple J session and once for the start of this new album that we're doing. But I think we're going to have to listen to those recordings a second time around I think we're probably going to record the whole thing in a
the next couple of weeks just because we want to go in and record the whole thing in a couple of days. And now that we've got enough songs to make up a whole album I think it would be better just to record the whole thing from scratch."

Beat: Give them a couple of trial runs and then bash them out?
Tim : "Yeah, we're going to record it pretty much live. I guess we'll just write songs up as a set and play them through as a set.

Beat: I enjoyed the raw production standards on last year's album and the EP too. I suppose the band cannot avoid those standards again if you'll be recording virtually live
Tim : For sure I think it will be a lot like the EP ("Straight Until Morning"). I mean its the same person, Chris Thompson, recording us and it will be the same studio. I don't know if it will be the same room but we're happiest with the EP so far in terms of something sounding like we sound rather than just being a good recording."
 "We've experienced a lot of problems doing the last (album), just having these huge expectations and just overestimating ourselves I guess. We went in there and found out we probably didn't know as much as we thought we did to start with and maybe the studio didn't come up to scratch with what we wanted anyway. There are a lot of weird noises all through that record which are not the band at all - they're just bleeps from the control room!"

Beat: Will there be any harp on the forthcoming record?
Tim : "No."
Beat: Have you phased it out or was your harp player just not available?
Tim : "Well, Jed sort of... left the band I guess. It was more of a case that the band had gone in a different direction anyway. I don't think there's so much of the boogie or pub rock kind of thing that perhaps there was on the first one. In our set these days its more of a down-the-line high energy sort of thing. I sort of felt we had that side of things for about three years and now we've moved onto something even more stripped down."

Beat: Is that description based on this new bracket of songs?
Tim : "Yeah, yeah, the new set which is pretty much what we played the other night, or some of it."

Beat: Do all your creative juices, so to speak, go into writing songs or do you divert them into other things?
Tim : "I mean that's not all my creative juices cos I don't write that many songs (laughs). It's a bit of an effort sometimes and it doesn't get easier as the years get on to write songs I don't think. But I guess in terms of music or whatever I don't really write songs with anything else in mind except the Powder Monkeys. Like if I have songs, it will always be done as a Powder Monkeys song rather than save it for a solo album or give it to another band or something like that."

Beat: What would you do if one morning you awoke to discover that you had lost the ability to write songs and play bass, etc?
Tim : "God, I don't know. I experienced all of those things recently
(laughs) the feeling anyway. I don't really know, I'd have to find something else to do like tap-dance or get into modern wheelchair racing."

Beat: Hang out in the park and feed the gulls.
Tim : "Yeah. Plant bird seed!"

Beat: Well, you've played everywhere, from the Meredith Festival to the
Big Day Out to Sandown Park to on the back of a truck at a bikie BBQ. What's coming up short term?
Tim : "Well we're only playing for the next two weeks and then I'm going away on a holiday for about two months and then we're gonna get back and the album will come out and we'll sort of start playing again."