Melbourne, Australia's ROCKET SCIENCE are amongst the wildest of the new breed of garage rockers, so it's fitting that Whisperin' & Hollerin' caught up with their singer/ organist/ live wire frontman ROMAN TUCKER at London's most famous den of rock'n'roll iniquity, the Columbia Hotel as our heroes made a stopover in the capital during a UK tour with fellow Aussies The Vines.
W&H dial Roman's room number with a degree of trepidation, fully understanding that most rock'n'roll people are not exactly good at mornings. This doesn't prove to be a problem, however...
"Hello," answers a slightly raggy voice.
Hi, Roman, this is W&H...we haven't, er, got you out of bed or anything, have we?
"Heh, heh, no mate, because I haven't been to bed, actually. That was a good night last night..."
Ah yes, you played Brixton Academy with The Vines last night. How did it go and have the UK audiences been receptive to you?
"Yeah, it's been very good fun," replies Roman, his voice understandably rather thick.
"There were so many people last night at the Brixton Academy. It's like a little city in that place, with all the little trees and the decor inside. That place must be 500 years old..."
He trails off a little, before regaining his stride...
"Yeah, but we got a few cheers and these shows have all been very good. Our first time in the UK was the dates we did with Supergrass last October, but the crowds we've had with The Vines are closer to the crowds I've experienced at Australian Festivals. They go mental. The smaller pubs we've played here bring a different crowd...it's the hard-core rock dudes there."
Very astutely observed, sir. Judging by the cover of your recent "Run Like A Gun" EP (which features Roman skewered under the weight of his massive Yamaha organ - fnarr!) and your reputation for chaotic gigs, though, I wondered: are you inspired to try and be the wildest band on the planet?
"Not really, it's more trying to be the wildest band of the MOMENT," states Roman, quite clearly.
"But y'know, it's not a competition. We are the loudest band on earth at present," he says, quite casually.
"The picture on the EP cover was taken at the Australian Falls Festival and it was not a pleasurable experience, believe me. The organ collapsed on me and hurt like fuckin' crazy. It's happened a couple of times, actually. Jesus! No, I don't do it as a gimmick. I'd be dead long ago if it happened every night!"
Nonetheless, Roman, you have a meaty garage rock sound, you make videos dressed as dodgy airline pilots and are renowned for going mental onstage. Are there lengths you WOULDN'T go to in pursuit of rock'n'roll excellence?
"Hmmm, yeah. I wouldn't chew up maggots or whatever," says Roman, not entirely unreasonably.
"I mean, there are lengths/ boundaries everyone has to impose. Surely everyone has some kind of moral ground?"
Actually, I'm not sure I want to pursue this line of questioning much further. Let's change the subject a little. You use the theremin quite a lot, don't you? Like on the track "Copycat" from the EP. Do you actually incorporate that live?
"Oh yeah, I do use it live," confirms Roman.
"It's a very theatrical instrument, the theremin. You couldn't use it if you were a shoegazing band, it's far too extroverted. I mean, it's cool live because it looks like magic - you wave your arms around and kind of conduct it, you don't touch it."
"It's actually a really exciting, ancient instrument," Roman enthuses.
"It pre-dates electronica. You do sorta control it, but it's really difficult, because you're picking out the notes, so I personally find it hard to control. People have no idea how it works, though. One girl came backstage and accused us of using backing tapes!"
The "Run Like A Gun" EP, though, is just a taste of the forthcoming ROCKET SCIENCE album - actually their third, but the first due to be released widely in Europe. Will the album expand on the EP's sound, Roman? There won't be (gulp!) any slow songs on there, will there?
"Well, it's all rock'n'roll stuff, but it's a progression from the EP," replies Roman.
"It's all about us getting to know each other musically and there is a lot more detail and depth in there. The EP's a fantastic rock'n'roll EP and we're such freaks for the whole garage sound and experience and the EP's a perfect encapsulation of that spirit."
Going back to the whole ROCKET SCIENCE live extravaganza for a moment, do you feel limited by having to play the organ onstage? Would you rather just leap into the crowd and go crazy?
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"At times, yeah," he muses.
"But I do just that sometimes anyway. I do leave the keyboard and leave my troubles behind me. But Rocket Science bring this juxtaposition between unleashing and control. There really is this feeling that it's all about to go off the rails at any time, which keeps it exciting. Besides, pushing the boundaries is important...it keeps you alive and moving artistically."
This writer also loves the energy of many of the new breed of "garage" rockers, but there is also a valid line of thinking that this kind of hi-octane garage punk has already been done (and well) many times before. How do Rocket Science respond to that idea?
"Well, 'retro's an evil word," says Roman with some feeling.
"But then, some people in bands do emulate only rigid sections of their record collections. I don't see us like that. What we do is an amalgamation of our collective psyche. I mean, there's a lot of stuff happened since 1968 and we do try to incoporate more than just garage and psych-rock."
Nonetheless, I imagine Rocket Science use a lot of vintage equipment. Judging by the fuzzboxes I hear on record, I imagine Paul (Maybury - guitarist) uses old FX?
"No, it's all samples," says Roman, laughing uproariously.
"Seriously, yeah, we do like old gear. My keyboard's a 1979 Yamaha and it's great. It's a piece of something you can manipulate. That's what I love about vintage stuff. The only downside is you really can get a bit anally-retentive about it...y'now, you get into "My pedal's better than your pedal, nyah!!" if you're not careful..."
Meanwhile, Roman, everyone's personal environment is important. How big a deal has the local Melbourne scene been in shaping the sound of Rocket Science?
"Yeah, well the thing about Melbourne that's good is that there's a love for venues and it's very community based. We have community radio and great live music, so it kinda looks after itself."
Sounds healthy...
"Yeah, it is mostly," Roman continues.
"You can create what you want and there's a place for it to be nurtured. It's a tough pub circuit, though, " he says warily, echoing words I've recently heard from Robert Forster.
"Yeah, there is a legacy of tough rock'n'roll in Australia. They want real shotgun stuff, so it's pretty intense, not so glamourised and very real."
Right. Actually, I've read elsewhere that your pre-Rocket Science outfit The Martians had a pretty wild reputation themselves. Is it true that members of the band would strip off mid-show?
"Our drummer was known to," says Roman candidly.
"I was prepared for it because I knew of his reputation, but then at one show I look around and - lo and behold - I see his penis flopped on the drum stool. It was a very...intense moment," he says, choosing his words carefully.
"After that it got out of control. The drummer and bassist started to have competitions over who could strip first. That kinda detracts from it when I'm getting all intense about the songs I was writing and trying to play really well, as you can probably imagine."
Yeah, vividly. Listen Roman, our time's slipping away, but before we sign off I have to ask: with all this lunacy surrounding the band, do you attract a quintessential type of crazy fan?
"Oh yeah, we get intense people alright," says Roman without any hesitation.
"I definitely attract weirdos. I'm a strange fellow and I'm too tall at 6ft 4" to sometimes avoid things. To go back to what I was saying about the organ - sometimes it's good to have it there. Having something of a massive density to put between myself and the crowd to stop them getting to me is a good thing!"
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