Q&A with PAINTonPAINT’s Chris Endrey

Hailing from Canberra, PAINTonPAINT‘s Chris Endrey and Hannah Beasley write music that is self-described as a “know-nothing foray into the incomplete realms of meaning, the universe, and emotional experience.” I spoke to Endrey about what it’s like to be a part of the band.

Q: Tell me a bit about how PAINTonPAINT started. When did you guys start playing music?  

A: So a band I used to give a lot of time to, Fun Machine, was winding down activity at the same time that our friend Meg approached me and suggested that Hannah Beasley was really great at writing and singing but was just too shy to perform. So we hung out to make stuff without any idea or direction but it pretty quickly reached a synthesis of our philosophies and learning over daily cooking and walking in the bush and cycling around just generally living the non-office-based Canberra dream. This was a couple of years ago now. Hannah lives in Tehran at the minute, which has impacted upon the cycling pretty significantly. I think it’s illegal for women there. Just generally.

Q: How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it before?

A: Ethereal. Generous. Honest. Dynamic. Improving.

Q: How do you think that your music has developed over time?  

A: Well it wasn’t really (and perhaps still isn’t) clear which instruments we would use to make stuff. I started on drums, moved through guitar and piano onto bass synth, and now things are a bit settled as we have the unimpeachable Clarke Finn on the drums. So, our new stuff is a lot more band-y, I think. We recently recorded with Louis Montgomery and I can’t wait to start bleeding the songs out there to you all. I think you’ll like them. All of you.

Q: It’s been a little while since Night Rises was released – what’s next on the cards? What are you looking forward to?  

A: Oh yeah, putting out those recordings. Also we’re scheming a European tour with a Hungarian musician we adore, Császari Gergely. Something like 10 countries in six weeks this Euro summer in a van. It’s the perfect bad career move for a band of friends that don’t care about doing well so long as we’re doing fine.

Q: How do you balance your music with other obligations?  

A: I’m lucky to not have any obligations beyond making stuff. Hannah lives in Tehran which isn’t ideal but seems surmountable enough. Clarke is a nurse, so it would be wrong to think of helping others achieve health as an obstacle. But it is. Hopefully we’ll be rich enough one day for him to abandon the sick to their own devices. (It’s unlikely this will happen).

 Q: Where can people go to hear more about PAINTonPAINT?  

A: Visit our website or do us a favour and download our stuff and review it on Triple J Unearthed, because that’s the gateway to exposure in these parts.

To see more of PAINT on PAINT, keep an eye out for their new songs on their website.