CityMag had a pint with Adelaide rockers Placement to chat about Adelaide’s scene and got some exclusive info about their upcoming album – including its name.
Placement is a band that wouldn’t exist if a live music venue didn’t exist.
“That’s how we met,” guitarist Alex Dearman tells CityMag.
It was in 2019, and vocalist and guitarist Malia Wearn had just played a gig at the Exeter before walking to the Golden Wattle on Pirie Street to see a friend’s band play.
“Alex was there and we met and were like ‘hey, we should start a band’ and then we went from there,” Malia says.
“You turned around, I was talking about Radiohead or something and you said ‘I like Radiohead’ and now we’ve been besties for five years,” Alex says.
Saxophonist Stu Patterson, bassist Kim Roberts and drummer Giuseppe Caporaso join Malia and Alex to make the noise rock band Placement.
Giuseppe, Malia and Alex meet with CityMag over a pint at the Exeter and tell us that although they started playing together as Placement in 2020, they all have fond memories of live pub rock.
“When I first started playing drums at like 17 I remember Punk Ass Kids on Wednesday nights [at Rocket Bar] would go off, I remember Exeter beer garden was a more frequent occurrence too,” Giuseppe says.
But Giuseppe says the value of live music venues extends beyond just being a meeting place for musicians.
“Imagine from a punter’s perspective, how many other places in Adelaide have that sort of scene you would find at the Cranker or something like that,” he says.
You might like
“It’s a place where you can find other people like yourself as well.”
“For some people it’s like their church,” Malia adds. “Church is just about a community that supports you.”
Malia says playing a home venue is extra special for them as an Adelaide band.
“You’re more likely to know the soundcheck and you’re going to know the venue and you’re playing with your friends,” she says.
“It’s a really lovely music scene at the moment where everyone’s really supportive of each other so all that adds to the niceness.”
Alex says while Adelaide crowds are smaller, they’re really passionate.
“People aren’t just there to have a drink and you’re the background music, I feel like in Adelaide there’s people that really love music” he says.
“After an Adelaide show we’re always like, ‘man, that was a riot!”
As well as home shows, Placement has toured the eastern states and knows how important live shows are for developing their craft.
“Being a musician is like being a comedian,” Malia says.
“You can’t really develop your craft if you don’t have that audience and you don’t have those live shows and they’re different in every state, on every stage.
“Audiences in Brisbane are so different to audiences in Adelaide or in Melbourne, it’s really fun to start to understand audiences and get that feedback, but you have to do it to get better.”
So far in August, Placement played MusicSA’s showcase Scouted and PAK Record’s Round and Round.
“We were like, we should make the most of industry opportunities that come to us,” Malia says.
Subscribe for updates
“It also costs a lot to tour in Australia, like we spent a lot of money on touring last year, which is awesome, but it’s expensive.”
But live isn’t the only way to enjoy Placement, with a 10-track debut album on the way, which will also be available on vinyl thanks to Clarity Records.
“As a record store and a record label, their values and their music business ethos is really, like they’re straight-up punks and that’s who we want to work with,” Alex says.
As for the album name? Placement revealed it’s the name of a track fans will recognise.
“Insect,” Giuseppe says.
“The casual listeners would say ‘Lost Sun’ [is the crowd favourite] but the true ones go ‘Insect’,” he says.
Malia says we can expect a new single this year too ahead of the album release, likely around September.
“We are still just going through the birthing process, the labour process,” she says.
“For someone without children, I probably shouldn’t use that as a metaphor but whatever the gestation is, it just takes a long time obviously to create art when you’re not doing it full time.”
Alex says the band really settled into the writing process for this one.
“It’s a really interesting record in the sense that when we started the band, we had all these kind of wild ideas and things we wanted to achieve,” he says.
“Like we’re big fans of experimental music and, we wanted to find a way to put everything that we love into our music and I feel like we did that to a degree.
“With the album, it’s like we’ve established a language and now we’re just writing together as friends.”
Malia says they took their time curating this album.
“The way you make art is you make a bunch of crap and then you edit out the crap stuff,” she says.
Alex jumps in and reminds her that this CityMag reporter is recording and “crap” is probably not the way they want to be portrayed.
“I just mean like don’t be afraid to throw ideas out there and make stuff, that’s kind of how you get there,” she clarifies.
“So like, acknowledge they’re not all gonna be great and then you just have to know when there is a great idea, so I think that’s where the curation comes in.”