Words With: The Sleepy Jackson

There have been few more enigmatic characters in music over the last decade than The Sleepy Jackson's Luke Steele. With an ever-changing line-up that, at some point, seems to have involved almost every musician in Western Australia they returned recently with new opus 'Personality (One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird)'. Backstage in Nottingham midway through a brief whistle-stop UK tour, Gigwise caught up with the only remaining permanent Sleepy, amiable drummer Malcolm Clark, who reveals why 'Personality...' is actually their third album, the reason they have parted company with 12 musicians in six years and their novel plan to go solo. albeit together.

It was back in 2003 when they first charmed these shores with scintillating debut album 'Lovers' and it's quirky, schizophrenic mix of country, jazz, 60's garage and classic pop songsmithery. So you could be forgiven for thinking they have been somewhat slumbersome in following it up."I guess it looks like we've kind of been doing nothing but we've actually been working the whole time," explains Malcolm. "We did all these songs for the second album but when the other guys left the band it didn't feel right playing them. So Luke just shut everyone off and went into his own space and came up with all the new songs." So you scrapped a whole album then? "Yeah," says the drummer with an air of disappointment that suggests the decision wasn't quite his own. "We had some good ones in there. I don't know if they'll be lost forever but they're kind of lost for now, y'know? It's a shame. So this is like the third album really."

Having gone through a revolving cast of 15 musicians to reach the current, and by no means permanent, line up, Luke has acquired a reputation for being something of an eccentric megalomaniac who seems as adept at firing his friends or family from the band as he at writing classic pop hooks. Brothers Jules and Jonno Cortez were dispensed with, or left of their own accord (we're politley told he can't go into detail), as recording started on the second album. However the picture Malcolm paints of his long-standing friend suggests that the numerous splits in the band may have been more amicable than has previously been suggested."I love working with Luke," he enthuses, "he's a really creative musician and he's not someone who just plays - he's really experimental. I've played with a whole bunch of bands back in Perth and this is definitely one of my favourites - that's why I've stayed for so long."

"He attracts to him really creative people and I think that's part of the problem. When people come in to the band, because they're creative themselves, they want to do their own thing as well. To get that Sleepy's sound it needs to come from Luke - lyrics especially. I can write a song but if you're going to make it a Sleepy's song it's usually his own lyrics. He wouldn't sing someone else's lyrics." Is that why Jules and Jonno, who toured the first LP, left the band? "Probably yeah," he replies, "That and also it's been quite hard for us - there hasn't been any money and we've been struggling."

But whatever difficulties the pair have been through, it doesn't seem to have diminished their passion or enthusiasm. With the current five piece line up, the band are enjoying life on the road and the shambolic messy shows that dogged their earlier tours are fast becoming a thing of the past. And when it comes to the subject of the new album the softly spoken drummer lights up with pride.

"It's the kind of thing you can just get completely lost in - just put headphones on and crank it up when no-one's around and you'll hear stuff that - like, even when I'm listening to I think, 'I've not heard that before!' It's got a lot of depth - it's really a 3D kind of sound. You can close your eyes and hear there's something over here, or something over there. But at the same time you can just put it on as background music and sing along to it - that's what I like about it."