A QUICK DOZEN with MICHAEL BRIGANTE, ATTONBITUS
A QUICK DOZEN with MICHAEL BRIGANTE, ATTONBITUS
By Shane Pinnegar
Michael Brigante, singer/guitarist of Adelaide art-rock trio Attonbitus, took time out to throw down a Quick Dozen for us. They released their latest single recently, Next Time Around, and have their debut album David Street releasing on 27 July.
Next Time Around was written by Brigante while he was out on the street busking at 10pm on a busy Saturday night in Adelaide…
“Sometimes when I busk, and don’t always play already made tracks, but improvise and attempt to write something new. When busking you tend to [have a lot] of people watching so it usually works as a perfect opportunity to write a song.”
The genesis of Attonbitus took place inside the halls and rehearsal rooms of the Conservatorium of Music at Adelaide University, where the three members of the band were studying. They quickly bonded stylistically and began to create using their own unique pallet of sounds.
1. Tell us a little about your latest release. Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material that only diehard fans might pick up on?
The song meaning is interpretable; you can take from it what you like. One interpretation I give is in looking at the common issues we encounter; like when a friend gives you the cold shoulder. The song is about coming to the realization that if somebody is not forthcoming and telling you why they’re rejecting communication, then they’re not worth your time.
On the other hand, the double meaning of this song is making mention to being disaffected by the war on information; the recognition that it’s not about what is true anymore but who says it first and who is the first to call out on something they disagree with. It feels like today we live in a time where anybody can validate the sad delusions with confirmation bias they obtain from the Internet. In a way, the Internet can spin misleading information faster than the truth, because, with actual fakes, you need to be a bit of a stickler and get into the details looking for references a rational method.
2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a
musician?
I was drunk and high and thought to myself, I want to get away with this while still being admired… Just kidding! I was one day hanging out with my mate Biron and he was describing to me the course he was standing at the University of Adelaide. And I thought to myself when I was a student and travelling home to school on the bus, I used to always daydream about playing and singing on a stage amongst around a crowd bouncing and swinging about.
3. Who would be your main five musical influences?
The Beatles
The Doors
Radiohead
Tool
Rage Against the Machine
4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be?
Thom York
5. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before?
Folk reggae psychedelic grunge rock.
6. What’s the best thing about being a musician?
Getting to be loose and reckless and blaming it on being a musician – pfft, just kidding! It’s the music; Writing and listening to music and most importantly; JAMMING!!! Playing music with your mates is the best part of it.
7. When the band is all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?
Alex is the first to cook; Shivon is the first to get the drinks, and I’m the first to get out the acoustic.
8. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?
Farmer on a small sustainable commune; Ohh, and a Janitor
9. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep, or you would like to be able to “do over”?
Our first single launch was a good turn out, but I was still a novice at releasing a single. But mistakes are learned from, so there be no need to do over, I learned from them.
10. If you were made the ruler of the world, what would your first orders be?
First major protocol: to ensure every country’s economic markets are made sustainable, create a zero waste management initiative, create a renewable energy workers transfer incentive so all people working in the crude oil industry do not lose their jobs and are give free training for sustainable energy maintenance and construction. Increase funding for research into bio organism waste consumption; ensure safety measures from any biological disaster. Increase research for biodegradable substitutes for plastic. Create jobs by incentivising paid work for clean earth initiatives. Increase research and funding for mental health; increase funding and training for psychotherapys specialising in personality disorders. Create a denuclearisation and anti-AI weaponry protocol. Increase funding for CERN in order to obtain methods and practices in terraforming. I could go on. [Editor – you have my vote]
11. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?
St Pepper’s Lonely Hearts by The Beatles. I think conceptually that album is incredible and always gives me mad tingles. I would have loved to see the production of A Day In The Life, and would have loved to see what The Beatles were like in the studio. Also, I’ve got quite a passion for recording and mixing myself and I would have loved to see some of Gorge Martin’s methods with mixing on tape.
12. What, for you, is the meaning of life??
Wow, this magazine doesn’t kid around! The meaning of life for me is “anything depressing is also funny if you add a laugh track”. For more elaboration, anything in a day that could go wrong or be a major inconvenience will always objectively have a funny perspective. Just look at the Big Lebowski, if he can pull through all those huge inconveniences and if you can laugh at the absurdity of how shit life can get, then you know it’s never all that bad. I think the meaning of life ultimately for me is to look forward to being old and making sure you wrinkle around the eyes, that way, when you look at yourself in the mirror you know you have lived most of your life genuinely laughing and smiling.
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Category: Interviews