Five Things with Jon ‘Cogsy’ Coghill, Powderfinger
November 20, 2009Powderfinger found a vitality and wide-eyed enthusiasm for new album *Golden Rule *that had been lost somewhere in their 20-year timeline. By Julia Gaw
Powderfinger managed to get back to basics and enjoy being a band again.
“Having fun and enjoying each other’s company was more important than writing really good songs. Last time, Dream Days was a difficult process because we were out of our comfort zone (recording in LA) and weren’t getting along as well as we usually do. We had these ideas of how it was going to end up. People will hear that we’re happy and having a good time.”
Golden Rule is one of their most self-assured efforts, because they took a very open-ended view of its creation.
“We would go into the studio not knowing what was going to happen. We were open to where things were going. It gave us this feeling of ease – saying ‘hey, let’s see what experiments are going to evolve’.”
Powderfinger resist the ‘rockstar’ personality – they were found busking the streets of Byron Bay earlier this year.
“Fashion and music play on people’s insecurities. We avoid it because we can feel it’s affecting us; we get anxious and say ‘oh, we’re not cool at the moment. We should be doing this, or that.’ The busking and everything helps us to remember we are just a band and having fun. That’s more important than being cool.”
Despite the cliché, this album represents a band coming full circle.
“I reckon it has gone back to what it was like in the beginning, where we say, ‘it’s an experiment, let’s have fun’. It felt like what we were doing in the beginning; we weren’t experts all of a sudden. Sometimes we get caught up in thinking our opinions mean so much, which is bullshit.”
Coghill knows Powderfinger won’t last forever.
“We’ve talked about when it might end; we’re open to what happens. We’re at an age where we’re thinking, ‘do we want to keep doing this for another 20 years?’ We’re going to finish this album run and reassess what we want. Music is like a second language – hard to give up.”
Golden Rule is available November 13 via Universal.
Visit: powderfinger.com
