* Rain On Tin - 2004
*'Hamper' Candle Compilation - 2006
'Look For The Good' & 'Misery Loves Company'
Album Tracks - Real Audio
*Flashlight from 'Rain On Tin'
*Hardin Your Heart from 'Rain On Tin'
Visit The Small Knives website at www.thesmallknives.com
The Small Knives have a Myspace page at www.myspace.com/thesmallknives
'Rain On Tin' Release Information
Melbourne duo The Small Knives (formerly Friendly Injun) have delivered simply an astonishing debut album in ‘Rain On Tin’. Combining the songwriting genius of Leo Mullins (vocals, guitar) and Philip Romeril (vocals, organ, guitar), ‘Rain On Tin’ delivers an album full of subtle, understated downbeat pop songs with unforgettable melodies. Proof the art of good songwriting is not lost, this album has class written all over it. If reference points are your guide, than put the album up there with Ryan Adam’ s ‘Heartbreaker’ and Gillian Welch’s ‘Time (The Revelator)’.
There are so many highlights on this album, with track after track revealing more layers each listen. Gentle harmonies guide the listener all the way through the album. The aching beauty of the opener ‘Internal Fireworks’ sets the tone and flow perfectly. Live favourite ‘Flashlight’ invokes childhood memories with its gently sung vocals and soothing acoustic guitar. Inescapable yearning is evident all through ‘Little Bit’. The ultra catchy ‘Hardin Your Heart’ is laden with harmonica, literally forms the heart of the album. Heartache and pain comes to the surface on the mournful ‘Damaged’.
Over the past couple of years The Small Knives have impressed audiences with their live show and have supported the likes of Evan Dando, Art Of Fighting and Songs: Ohia. Both Leo and Phil are formerly from 2 Litre Dolby and have been performing for over a decade. ‘Rain On Tin’ has been a couple of years in the making and was recorded at the beach at Blairgowrie, VIC by Marcus Barczak. Guests on the album include Marty Brown on drums (Art Of Fighting), Trent Walter (viola) and Barry Turnbull (pedal steel). Like all good records you can’t help but be moved by the revelation that is ‘Rain On Tin’.
The Small Knives 'Rain On Tin' Recording Notes
We started recording “Rain on Tin” in October 2002. We spent a week in Blairgowrie at a friends beach house. Marcus Barczak engineered the album and hired some great old equipment to use for the recording. What we thought would be a reasonably easy trip ended up being a week of really long days and nights (plus a lot of headaches). Things just didn’t seem to go the way we’d planned and unfortunately on our return to Melbourne we realised that some takes had not turned out the way we had wanted. At this stage we had spent all our money and the following 12 months were spent raising funds and trying to fit in days to right the wrongs. It wasn’t until Marty Brown from the Art of Fighting offered his services and added some great drum tracks that we started to feel excited about the record again. We also added Barry Turnbull playing pedal steel and Trent Walter playing viola to finish the record off. Finally by January 2004 it was mixed, mastered and ready to go. Here's a little info on some of the tracks:
Flashlight
Flashlight is about playing the game spotlight (the word flashlight sounded better) at the beach with my family and getting lost. There are a few songs on this record that are about memory, family and time and the way those thing keep recurring in your life no matter how much you feel you have moved away from those things.
Split
Split is about thinking that you have forgotten someone and then something small reminds you of that person and it just kind of catches you out.
Internal Fireworks
Another song about family. We recorded a demo of this one at my house. It was all tracked in 2 hours and most of the original takes were reused for the album version except for Leo’s vocals and guitar. I remember when we first recorded it and we toured to Sydney and insisted all our friends listen to it. We were pretty proud of how it turned out.
Bob’s Blues
Phil and I were sitting round the kitchen table singing tunes when my sister came home and she was pretty depressed. Phil had just told me a story about talking to a friend of ours father, and he said how’s it going and Phil said “Bob I’m just trying to get by”. We wrote the song on the spot and I guess it’s a lullaby for my sister, to say keep going and a hats of to Bob for his fine attitude.
'Look For The Good' & 'Misery Loves Company'
Album Tracks - Real Audio
*Flashlight from 'Rain On Tin'
*Hardin Your Heart from 'Rain On Tin'
Visit The Small Knives website at www.thesmallknives.com
The Small Knives have a Myspace page at www.myspace.com/thesmallknives
'Rain On Tin' Release Information
Melbourne duo The Small Knives (formerly Friendly Injun) have delivered simply an astonishing debut album in ‘Rain On Tin’. Combining the songwriting genius of Leo Mullins (vocals, guitar) and Philip Romeril (vocals, organ, guitar), ‘Rain On Tin’ delivers an album full of subtle, understated downbeat pop songs with unforgettable melodies. Proof the art of good songwriting is not lost, this album has class written all over it. If reference points are your guide, than put the album up there with Ryan Adam’ s ‘Heartbreaker’ and Gillian Welch’s ‘Time (The Revelator)’.
There are so many highlights on this album, with track after track revealing more layers each listen. Gentle harmonies guide the listener all the way through the album. The aching beauty of the opener ‘Internal Fireworks’ sets the tone and flow perfectly. Live favourite ‘Flashlight’ invokes childhood memories with its gently sung vocals and soothing acoustic guitar. Inescapable yearning is evident all through ‘Little Bit’. The ultra catchy ‘Hardin Your Heart’ is laden with harmonica, literally forms the heart of the album. Heartache and pain comes to the surface on the mournful ‘Damaged’.
Over the past couple of years The Small Knives have impressed audiences with their live show and have supported the likes of Evan Dando, Art Of Fighting and Songs: Ohia. Both Leo and Phil are formerly from 2 Litre Dolby and have been performing for over a decade. ‘Rain On Tin’ has been a couple of years in the making and was recorded at the beach at Blairgowrie, VIC by Marcus Barczak. Guests on the album include Marty Brown on drums (Art Of Fighting), Trent Walter (viola) and Barry Turnbull (pedal steel). Like all good records you can’t help but be moved by the revelation that is ‘Rain On Tin’.
The Small Knives 'Rain On Tin' Recording Notes
We started recording “Rain on Tin” in October 2002. We spent a week in Blairgowrie at a friends beach house. Marcus Barczak engineered the album and hired some great old equipment to use for the recording. What we thought would be a reasonably easy trip ended up being a week of really long days and nights (plus a lot of headaches). Things just didn’t seem to go the way we’d planned and unfortunately on our return to Melbourne we realised that some takes had not turned out the way we had wanted. At this stage we had spent all our money and the following 12 months were spent raising funds and trying to fit in days to right the wrongs. It wasn’t until Marty Brown from the Art of Fighting offered his services and added some great drum tracks that we started to feel excited about the record again. We also added Barry Turnbull playing pedal steel and Trent Walter playing viola to finish the record off. Finally by January 2004 it was mixed, mastered and ready to go. Here's a little info on some of the tracks:
Flashlight
Flashlight is about playing the game spotlight (the word flashlight sounded better) at the beach with my family and getting lost. There are a few songs on this record that are about memory, family and time and the way those thing keep recurring in your life no matter how much you feel you have moved away from those things.
Split
Split is about thinking that you have forgotten someone and then something small reminds you of that person and it just kind of catches you out.
Internal Fireworks
Another song about family. We recorded a demo of this one at my house. It was all tracked in 2 hours and most of the original takes were reused for the album version except for Leo’s vocals and guitar. I remember when we first recorded it and we toured to Sydney and insisted all our friends listen to it. We were pretty proud of how it turned out.
Bob’s Blues
Phil and I were sitting round the kitchen table singing tunes when my sister came home and she was pretty depressed. Phil had just told me a story about talking to a friend of ours father, and he said how’s it going and Phil said “Bob I’m just trying to get by”. We wrote the song on the spot and I guess it’s a lullaby for my sister, to say keep going and a hats of to Bob for his fine attitude.