First of all, who are Sounds From The Bridge?
Ric: Three guys – Dom, Pachi and myself. We started off playing covers together, gigging around Sydney!
Pachi: Even though it was a great way to learn the craft, our hearts were in writing original songs.
Dom: So it's the three of us. Pachi on vocals, Ric on bass, and myself on keyboards. Guitar and drums have always been somewhat transient contributions.
How do you write together?
Pachi: I should say from the start, I can’t play an instrument to save my life, so the initial ideas come from Ric and Dom.
Dom: Normally Ric and myself jam ideas around.
Ric: Yeh, and when we think we have something worth pursuing, we throw it over to Pachi. He’d then come up with the vocal magic.
Pachi: From my side it's not so much of a 'throw' as a 'collaborative discussion' of what's working and what are the avenues for taking it further.
Dom: And then once Pachi has come back with a vocal creative, we all get together again and arrange it accordingly, like, “Hey, we need a bridge here," or "we need more of a build up here,” and such.
Ric: So it really is a full artistic collaborative.
How did Nuclear Sun come about?
Ric: Nuclear Sun was our first exploration into a guitar-less sound. We started bringing in some great sound effects to accomodate the space. We focused a lot on the ambient quality of the sound.
Dom: Yeah, it was kind of an experiment that worked. We then felt encouraged to explore more.
Ric: Nuclear Sun was the first on that journey.
Dom: One of the sound effects in the song is called ‘Nuclear Sun’, and we all thought, what a great name. So we challenged Pachi to write the lyric on this.
Pachi: In Australia, at the time, there was talk about the ozone layer dissolving right above us. The sun in Australia is lethal, so it is a subject I knew first hand.
Ric: It's a powerful and continually relevant message.
Pachi: The song really speaks of how short-term profiteers manipulate the planet and its forces in arrogant disregard for the greater consequences – how it affects others in the longer term. The lyrics speak for themselves . . . the video even more!
Where was Nuclear Sun recorded?
Dom: At Ric’s house :)
Where did you get the music video done?
Dom: At Pachi’s house :D
Pachi: There’s this great 3D software called Blender. It’s totally free and right-up-there with stuff Pixar and Disney do. I only scratched the surface with this piece, but it was great fun doing it. From the initial concept to the final render there were enough years to raise a small child (laughs).
Ric: Yeh, you’ve gotta love what you do!
Pachi: And just like with lyrics, I love suggestion and innuendo, so I was able to explore that poetry in the graphic animation as well. It’s great ‘cos if you need a prop to illustrate an idea, you just create it – eg. the 'Duck & Cover ' turtle shell.