Enola Fall - Thinking Outside The Musical Square

In order to know where Enola Fall circa 2007 are you need to understand a little of where they have been. So the many guises of Enola Fall-the members that came and left. Joe's solo ventures overseas that saw Enola Fall begin to make an impact on the European market, three albums and a gathering of love and admiration from around the world. From what I can tell, this little Tasmanian band has certainly left an impression on the path it treads.

So the discussions begin on what happened - how the band became what it is today. Those uncomfortable questions that often make me feel like I am prying into love lost, the disintegration of a marriage, the loss of a child. How do you disentangle yourself from someone that you were friends and made music with? Getting a consensus on whether we should talk about this was, well, split.

Ever polite and gentlemanly Joe said “we can if you want...” and Sam, well, said a very firm and blunt “No”.

And then Joe takes the lead, proving that Joe Nuttall is Enola Fall's constant in a hectic and changing musical world.

“No fuck it, lets talk about it... yeah go for it....,” Joe says.

“It was a steady erosion process... it was a domino effect... Matt Moller left, Kieran left, Adam left.”

“You completely skipped me,” Sam interjects.

“But you're back in the band now,” rejoins Joe.

“...but I left and then I stayed friends with them all!”, Sam says.

That cheeky banter alone proves that friendships are thicker than bands creating music - that you can maintain a friendship beyond the confines of a musical partnership – so, with that little exchange of words, that is all we need to say regarding Enola Fall past and no longer need to dwell, well within the confines of this interview.

So why not start afresh, provide the band with a new moniker to describe its current place and intentions I ask.

“Enola Fall is weird. There are so many people that at one point have been involved with this band... I'm actually quite proud of what the band has achieved... rather than starting again at the age of 23...I have a distribution deal in Europe and several achievements in Australia. If we were all 19 I might restart the name,” Joe says.

Then we touch on a quote that I located within the depths of the web, describing Enola Fall and a review of their previous album 'We Never Sleep'. The quote stated “For three guys that aren’t presently known world-wide they seem to be teetering on the verge of a breakthrough moment, ”. So how does Enola Fall feel about this construction of words?

“I don't even know what it means? What the fuck does a breakthrough moment even mean?” Joe says.

“You're sitting there one day and you go 'oh my god'...” Sam says.

“Eureka!... It's totally illusionary, that whole idea that people talk about 'making it big and cracking the big time'... it never happens anymore,” Joe says.

So what is the ultimate aim of Enola Fall?

“My ultimate aim is to take it as far as it can go... the same as everyone else,” Joe says.

So does that mean money?

“In the end ... this is a really hard question. It a weird loop. You do it cause you love it and you love it so you want to do it all the time. You have to have money to live. The whole thing becomes a loop. So if you look at it that way i guess you are driven by money,” Joe says.

“Driven by the desire to be able to support yourself to put in that much effort into something you love. I have spent 10 years becoming good at this thing and that I really love doing. I have put so much effort into it than anything else I have in my life so why should I go and get an office job that I have put no effort in to make money?”

So what can faithful Enola Fall listeners expect from a band reformed and perhaps reborn?

“I keep on going back in time and keep harking back, this whole thing about the evolution of sound.... well its interesting. As we have all kind of become free in terms of what we are capable of doing and what we want to do. You know as we used to be an Indie rock, sound like Radiohead band... in the last year or so its exploded... now we have got cabaret songs coming through, we have almost vaudevillian songs kind of happening... really theatrical kind of stuff...,” Joe says.

At this point I question Joe on whether it’s more about doing a show or putting on a performance?

“It is but at the same time ... its a lot of folk... dark folk and also electronica... its gone off in loads of different directions at the same time,” Joe says.

With the new EP, described by Joe as “...essentially a five track best of from We Never Sleep and the pre-release Ghostpoems ...all the tracks have been chopped up and mixed with fennel and mixed herbs”.

I think regardless of which musical path each of these four boys take, they all finish up at the same place. And I am sure I am only just scratching the surface of this immensely talented band.

Share this article on Facebook