In the late 1980's, Australian band Real Life released what is easily their biggest hit here in the United States, a song entitled "Send Me An Angel". However, it didn't make as much of an impact the first time around as it did on it's 1989 re-release. After the 1990 single "God Tonight" and the album Lifetime, they seemed to disappear from the face of the earth. We stumbled upon them again when they released a new single, "Imperfection" in early 2004 on the A Different Drum record label. The song "Oblivion" is currently descending our chart after topping it at the beginning of May 2005. We recently exchanged a few emails with singer David Sterry...
AeschTunes: What happened to Real Life between 1990's Lifetime and the release of Imperfection?
David Sterry: The first couple of years were spent extricating ourselves from our contract with Curb records. An emotional and financialy draining experience. Our then keyboard player Steve Williams also left in frustration. He couldn't believe all the political and legal
bullshit in this business. I also started legal action for the rights to our first 2 albums. The Australian company we were signed to was liquidated. It was a mess and took me 11 years and six lawyers to sort it out. In 1998 we decided to go independent. We produced and released one of our finest albums Happy and it's twin re-mix Happier. George Pappas had joined the band as keyboard player/co-writer #3. We were on a great little label from Texas called Momentum, who were very commited, but lacked experience and money to promote. They dissapeared.
AT: Since obtaining the rights to the first two albums, do you have plans for remastering/reissuing them?
DS: Heartland has been out for a while and I've been aproached by a company wanting to re-master and re-package it. But with Flame we have no plans at this stage.
AT: How did you hook up with A Different Drum to be your American record label?
DS: A friend put up our first website from the pathology dept. at Melbourne University. He was aware of ADD and we started talking to
Todd via emails. We finally got to meet the guy last year in SLC.
AT: There's been quite a sonic shift from your 80's material to your most recent material from "Imperfection." Can you tell us what brought about the change?
DS: I guess a lot of it has to do with the album being made entirely by George and I in our bedrooms on 2 computers with no budget and
little experience in actual mixing. Fashions in sound trends change too. The eighties was about big gated drum sounds and producers
with big studio budgets. We agonised over the production and felt frustrated and insecure without any other input. George was very ill at the time with Crohn's disease and I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression. We finally got a couple of songs mastered and the engineer and a former producer convinced us we were on the right track, so we continued and we're very happy with the way it turned out. The only cost was mastering and pressing. So the album cost around $3,000. We realise we can't possibly compete with the budgets of many of our peers, so we just do the best we can.
![[Real Life]](reallife.jpg) |
Real Life: George Pappas (L) and David Sterry (R) |
AT: Who do you consider to be your musical influences?
DS: Kraftwerk, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, New Order, Propaganda, Pink Floyd, The Clash, Kylie Minogue, food, poverty, politics, girls, girls, girls, everything really.
AT: How do you feel about other artists covering Real Life's songs?
DS: It's always flattering, but there are some really bad versions of "Send Me An Angel". I could put out a double CD of them!! I do like Thrice's punk version from Punk Goes Pop.
AT: How does working for an independent label affect how you approach your music? Do you feel more or less pressure for how your material is received?
DS: It's budget really. Small labels don't have any clout with radio or TV and at the end of the day a label needs to spend big bucks to get a song on the various levels of commercial radio. And MTV? Forget it unless you can spend more than your recording budget on
your video. The great thing about being independent is your total creative control and working with a small team that believe in your work. I think the best situation for an artist is to be on a small label released through a major. So you've got all the nuturing as well as the big budget marketing.
AT: The financial side of the business is what seems to trip up most independents. From your experience, do you have any advice for other artists that are working independently?
DS: A music business course covering management, law, copyright and marketing is always a good thing for any musician. There are many courses available all over the world.
AT: As a band that has been at this for around twenty years, what kind of changes have you seen that you feel have provided new opportunities for musicians?
DS: Technology especialy the Internet. It's now possible to record fine music on cheap computers and market directly on the Internet without a record company or music stores being involved. That really is amazing; when we first started recording the studio cost $3,000 a day. Now for the same price you have a computer and software more powerful than that studio. It amazes me constantly.
AT: In previous interviews with other artists, we've talked a little bit about "soft-synths". Are these tools that you used on the "Imperfection" album? Do "traditional" instruments still get used in your recording sessions?
DS: Yep, we've got them all. We don't own a real synth. We use a program called Reason and a laptop live. A very small setup with a very big sound. The re issues of all the great old synths are brilliant.
AT: You recently re-recorded your classic "Send Me An Angel" with Starcity, which has been well received in Germany, Ireland, and Canada. What brought about this return to this track?
DS: It's a song we can never escape and the German label really wanted to do it in the style of Eric Prydz' remix of Steve Winwood's "Call Me" [ed. note - The Steve Winwood song is "Valerie"; the Eric Prydz version is "Call On Me"]. I recorded a new vocal and just love the treatment. It went from a Minor key to Major with totally different music. It just sounds so happy. I know diehard fans may have a different opinion, but this is my all time favorite version.
AT: Is it a "full vocal" (using the full lyrics of the original) or is it a chopped up vocal, such as what Eric Prydz did with the Steve Winwood track (cutting it down to two phrases, each around three or four words long)?
DS: I gave them a full vocal, but they cut it down to one verse, the link and chorus.
AT: 9) What is up next for Real Life?
DS: We're writing some new songs to include in a sort of hybrid album for this year. It won't be a best of. Lots of re-mixes and some new
work. And we love to tour, so we're working on that too. Then a long holiday at a nudist resort in Siberia......
AT: Is the plan to include new mixes of material from Imperfection, earlier albums, both...?
DS: Both and some new songs.
AT: A "free" question - what would you like to tell our readers about the band, yourself, life in general...?
DS: Sausages.