Image: Jack Ladder and the Dreamlanders – supplied.
Author: Bradley Cork
‘I think Laurence recognised that I was inherently kind of silly, and he liked that.’ Laurence Pike, drummer for PVT and the Dreamlanders, recognised a weirdness in Jack Ladder at a solo show when he began to pull up the drawstrings of his hoodie, looking like Kenny from South Park, so his face could no longer be seen due to a bout of stage fright as the show had not been going so well. It was a move that Laurence found endearing and spelled out the recruitment process that this band would possess. The initial criterion for a Dreamlander seemed to be creating a baffling atmosphere through performative musical excursions. Ladder recounts Kirin J Callinan’s introductions into the band with the same level of amusement. ‘My manager put Kirin on as the opening act for us. We were all standing there in shock at what he was doing, it was the same ‘Is this guy for real?’ which is the benchmark that we hold everyone to. Same as when Donny Benet got up and started doing his songs, people end up asking ‘Is this guy for real?’ or ‘what the fuck is this guy doing?” Anyone who has been to a show from any respective Dreamlander knows exactly what he’s talking about.
The coming together of four peculiar fellows to create a path that goes off the musical beaten track has been part of the charm throughout their history. Following Ladder’s Triple J approved second record Love Is Gone, the twists and turns that followed in the gestation period towards Ladder’s most lauded effort, Hurtsville was like an exercise in what industry types would warn you not to do. ‘We’re playing the single at half speed and it sounds entirely different, then we’re doing the folk ballad people enjoyed, like a dad’s crying at home kind of folk song and doing it Birthday Party style where there’s no melody, Kirin’s playing noise, Donny’s bass is detuned to rubble and then Laurence is doing improvised jazz drumming and everyone’s like ‘this got weird really quickly.” Even if people didn’t know how to take the band, ultimately it was the payoff that came through by solidifying a sound inherently their own. Hurtsville is an album that has set the precedent that Ladder is measured to but one thing is for sure, you won’t get the same record twice.
Since that time, Jack Ladder has been putting out records consistently for some time and each one has had a unique production or aesthetic, like the formation of a new identity. It’s one of the components to Ladder’s songwriting and the Dreamlanders as a band that has made them intriguing. ‘When Kirin joined, it was like The Cure mixed with Dylan initially and then it went off on these weird tangents. We destroyed all the sort of pure intent that I had with the kind of folk music, country songwriting I was doing. I was kind of like interested in Hank Williams and soul music and then it just kind of got all bent.’ From the sleek yet pummelling Playmates through to Ladder’s latest solo outing Tall Pop Syndrome, his writing and creativity has been that of an artist who keeps their audience guessing if not a little perplexed. Ladder muses that this comes more from a place of going too far in one direction and eventually needing to source a different tangent. ‘I feel like the songs have to come from an open, generous place. Everyone in a way is just trying to correct their mistakes, it’s like ‘oh, I went too far there I’ve got to come back here’ I guess it’s all in an effort to push ahead. If I went and made another electronic record, I’m sort of then veering too far into that world and then I could get really lost in that and it would become more about the production and the histrionics of that music rather than trying to steer my own path.’
“I remember when we first went to America…the guy from the label was like ‘this is never going to work, you need to go to Europe.’ It was the first thing he said to me when we arrived…’okay thanks for that haha… we’ll go to Europe then.’”
When speaking with Ladder about these artistic tangents that he likes to explore, it’s clear that he sees them more as patterns in his work. ‘I know what I’m going to do next…I have my own little cycle I’ve realised. I’ll make a record that’s like really heavy and moody, I’ll then be so disappointed in how grim it is that I’ll do a flip in the opposite direction, make it artificial and clean. The last record Tall Pop Syndrome is a direct reaction to the Hijack! record in terms of mood and atmosphere.’ Ladder’s sixth album Hijack!, an album released during the 2021 lockdowns, is a work that looked to match the level of grandiosity embedded in Hurtsville but from a point of further sophistication. It was fully realised on tour with an orchestra in tow but wasn’t the usual Dreamlanders experience that gives Ladder a sense of ease. ‘I actually had never played piano on stage before and the first time I’m doing it, it’s on a Steinway at a concert hall. I was just trying to hold on, I was really nervous, so focused on not fucking up. With having the string section…normally playing with a band if I come in late or have an absence of thought and forget the line to the next verse, I’ll just sit back and come in eventually, you can’t do that with the orchestra.’
Speaking about Hijack! is a point of reflection for Ladder with regards to how the themes and choices he and the Dreamlanders explore aren’t always going to win over the uninitiated. ‘I thought‘Xmas in Rehab’ was a great song, turns out people were apprehensive. I guess it’s a pretty niche market. That’s what we’re dealing with, very niche things…people like Kirin is really not for everyone. There’s just this bent idea of what pop music is from us. In one little universe Donny is a superstar but when you get to the next layer it’s just like ‘who the fuck is that weirdo?!’ It’s constantly shifting in and out of these worlds and know the limitations of what you do.’
The feeling of ease when being amongst old friends will return for both Jack Ladder and his bandmates with two headlines shows in Sydney and Melbourne on the cards for February. It’s a combination of catching up with also playing the songs to their maximal capacity that Ladder looks forward to. ‘The main thing is just breathing the life into the music again. When the band plays them, that’s the most exciting thing for me, hearing the music as it’s supposed to be played, existing in the world and also just having a laugh, we’re all quite dear friends who don’t get to see each other very often.’
Catch Jack Ladder and the Dreamlanders in Sydney and Melbourne this month:
23/2 HOWLER, Melbourne/Naarm, VIC
24/2 MARY’S, Sydney/Eora, NSW
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