So, one day Kram was roasting some tomatoes for his girlfriend (that’s not a euphemism). He turned on the stove, put the tomatoes in a pan and…
‘I promptly jumped on a plane and went to Adelaide. Then I got a phone call at my soundcheck saying the house is almost on fire. I had literally left those tomatoes on all day. I just have to realize that I’m a really bad multitasker when it comes to everything but music.’
Musically though, Kram – the singing drummer for perennial Aussie rockers Spiderbait – is all about dabbling in a little of everything. Recently, releasing his first solo project, he settled on an amazingly simple and absolutely brilliant album concept – the Mix Tape. As an album, Kram’s Mix Tape showcases the breadth of his talents, as he switches up between genres and musically multitasks with no casualties (at least as far as we know the studio is still standing).
‘I really only had two preconceived ideas about the album I wanted to make. One was I wanted to play all the instruments myself and the other was to make the style really varied. With just me, the added bit of attraction was to see how it would go playing it all myself, whether it was a country song or funk or rock ‘n roll or punk rock, whatever the hell it was, just how that side of my own head would come out,’ explains Kram.
‘I tried not to over think things because sometimes it can be counterproductive to good music, particularly if you are a really good live performer where that’s your whole bag. I’ve sang and played and said things live that I don’t remember, then I’ll see it back on YouTube or a video and think “fuck, that was pretty good.‒
The album speaks to Kram’s forte as a live performer. Tracks switch up between genres and energies, but each carries the weight of a veteran performer lost in his craft and creating something new. In fact, Kram was so feeling the musical love that during his time in the studio, he created enough material in waiting to have a Mix Tape #2 in the works.
According to Kram, there may very well be a #2, 3 and 4 because the mix tape is ‘a concept musically that I could probably pursue for the rest of my life because it helps me to write better, constantly changing it all the time.’
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Kram’s still trying to work out how to roast tomatoes.
Megan Smith
