Simon Bonney
Interview by Ashlee Elfman

Crime and the City Solution came from an esoteric space I've always struggled to define, which is probably a route better not taken. In my case, it's an attempt to describe a life-changing experience. Like many fans, my first encounter was while watching Wim Wenders' ponderous masterpiece "Wings of Desire". Simon Bonney's slinking movements and deep vocals urged along by Rowland S. Howard's one-of-a-kind guitar was enough to make me run out and buy their album "Room of Lights" immediately. I remember hearing people compare them to The Birthday Party, but to me the resemblance was not there. The Birthday Party was one thing, one very savage, untamed thing. Crime and the City Solution was something just as untameable, and perhaps just as restless....but the sounds and the lyrics were coming from different imaginations. Different realms. And realms are something Simon Bonney crafts with the attention of an ancient poet or mystic. Although "Room of Lights" seems to be the camping ground for many Crime "fans", Bonney had many more tales to tell. "Shine", served as the band's anti-pop pop album, while "The Bride Ship" and "Paradise Discotheque" are abstract concept albums, or more accurately, musical novels. Later, Simon would release two sweeping and sprawling solo albums, "Forever" and "Everyman" which were greatly influenced by a romanticized America. Stained glass country music. I still think"Forever" is one of the best things I've ever heard. With a good handful of songs yet to be released, Simon Bonney's still out there somewhere in the vastness of Australia, hopefully writing more material.

1. What is it about Australia? Why does it seem to create so many "rogue", indefinable bands (yours, in my opinion, being one of the most indefinable). Does it have anything to do with the history of the place?

I've always thought that it was the harsh sun and rigid culture that brought the Melbourne music scene together – Australia in the 70s was a very conformist, sometimes hostile environment, a nation of sports fans, barbecuers, and car enthusiasts. Against this backdrop a small group of night dwelling fellow travelers came together in each other's apartments to listen to and interpret music from the other side of the planet. In this little scene, which had at most fifty people all told, many a fantastic vision was born, inspired by music and film that was only partially decipherable and which often included cultural references that were lost on us – in the process of filling in the missing information bands evolved along quite unique lines. I think Australia only partially explains Crime, to fully explain it you have to look at Berlin and the kindred spirits that we found there - it was really the combination of all the people in the Berlin Crime and the Australian/German intersect that made Crime the band it was meant to be.

2. Speaking of the Australian music scene, how would you describe the time when Crime and the City Solution began? What was the scene like then?

It seems like a lot of musicians were moving from group to group. Most people lived in or near St Kilda, the red-light district of Melbourne. All the bands played at a venue called the Seaview Ballroom (a huge cavernous old ballroom above a bar in Melbourne). The Ballroom served as everyone's extended living room, and, because of its size and the smallness of the scene, always appeared to be nearly empty – this changed as the scene grew. It was an exciting, if highly disorganized time and lots of interesting things were going on. I can't say it was the happiest or sanest period in my life but I did meet Bronwyn and Mick Harvey then, both of whom would have a huge influence on my musical life; of course Bronwyn also had huge impact on my personal life. Musicians did go from band to band, but usually as a result of bands breaking up – Rowland went to the Boys Next Door when, sadly, the Young Charlatans broke up. In those days it was rare for people to be in two or more bands at the one time.

3. The sound of Crime and the City solution took on different personalities as the line-ups shifted. Is there a particular line-up that you feel best portrayed your vision, or an album that you're especially fond of?

I have always felt that the Berlin Crime was the perfect manifestation of Crime, the one that most closely aligned with my vision for the band. It was a band in the truest sense of the word and everyone involved was crucial to the overall sound - it was greater than the sum of its parts. My favorite Crime albums, for quite different reasons, are Shine and Paradise Discotheque.

4. The Bride Ship is a tale set to music. Where did the inspiration come from for that record?

The short answer is: The Caine Mutiny, Berlin, the film making process of Wim Wenders, magical realism, and my own history all rolled up into a whimsical story set to music. It is also a product of the freedom and disregard for rules that the Berlin Crime engendered – there was nothing you couldn't put forward as a song idea. Musically, and I think songs like the Bride Ship reflect this, Crime most resembled in approach, if not sound, bands like Can and Einsturzende Neubauten.

Photo by Helen Howard

 

5. I've heard some rumors in the past of a possible Crime and the City Solution reunion. Is there any credence to these rumors?

I don't think there's any likelihood of Crime reforming (of course never say never). Bronwyn and I did contact Alex a while back but he was unavailable so I didn't pursue it further with any of the other members. My view has always been that if Crime reforms all or almost all of the original members of the Berlin Crime would need to be involved. Since Alex's not available the idea of reforming fell at the first hurdle. That said, when I start touring again in 2011 I intend to play a mixture of solo and Crime material.

6. Your solo albums, Forever and Everyman, have a very salt of the earth, Americana feel to them. What drove you in that direction after Crime and the City Solution? Do you still feel such a connection to Americana music?

My writing is always influenced by my environment (my physical location, what I'm reading and listening to, what's going on in my life, and what I'm mulling over). I was very interested in the mythology of the American Dream at the time – the Liberal tradition and the search for individual happiness through self-determination – which is also, perhaps to a lesser extent, a part of the Australia psyche. We also had two children during this period which had a profound impact on what I was thinking about and, consequently, my work. I lived in LA from 1991-2001 (when Forever and Everyman were recorded) and I travelled throughout the US during that time, a lot of the time with my children in tow. We drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway on one journey which, like most of Virginia, is very reminiscent of Tasmania (a place I spent much of my youth and to which I have a deep attachment). I put all this together and conjured up some stories in my mind to which I tried to put a soundtrack – the music that I was most influenced by was Willie Nelson's 'The Red Headed Stranger', Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Tuesday's Gone' and 'Simple Man', the lap-steel of Jon Dee Graham (who played on Forever and Everyman) and the music of Lucinda Williams. I don't know where that positions me with regards the Americana genre – I do think that Romantic Americana is pretty accurate description of my music.

7. From my understanding, you have recorded an entire record named, "Eyes of Blue", but it has yet to be released. What's holding up the process? Can we look forward to a day when we might hear the record in its entirety?

"Eyes of Blue" refers to music that I recorded over a number of years in the late 90s in Detroit. I plan to release a compilation at the end of 2010 called 'American Twilight' which will feature five songs from these sessions and some remixed, re-edited and re-mastered versions of songs from Forever and Everyman.

8. You've lived in different parts of the world. Do you find there's an area that's particularly responsive to your music?

The Melbourne scene was very important to my beginnings – it was very inspiring, musically. Berlin was a city where there was a very well established bohemia that lived in parallel but separate from the mainstream – the upper and lower worlds. A shadow state – it was a very chaotic time but it was an exciting chaos – you never knew when it was going to implode – in the end it did, but I had a great time before the collision.

Detroit – my current spiritual and musical home –most of my band are from Detroit and during the late 90s I think I would have gone musically insane without them – very supportive and geared to record music with no money in someone's living room while urban, post-apocalyptic, mayhem reigns in the streets below.

9. What's the song writing process like for you?

The following two tales are pretty representative of my writing process: I wrote The Last Dictator when I was living in Vienna – there was the city with its imperial buildings, add to that books on the Roman Empire, lots of wandering and flights of fancy, a typewriter and my own history and ponderings and you end up with a twenty minute song about one man's search for happiness through the imposition of order on those around him followed by the destruction of the world. I wrote Everyman on a journey from LA to New York – I put all our belongings on the roof of a station wagon, added a six month old baby girl and a pregnant wife, listened only to Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, ate at Shoney's, stopped in the Ozarks for Sunday lunch, dreamt and wandered, wandered and dreamt, went to West Memphis, Little Rock and Birmingham, let everyone we met advise us, stirred and shook the lot and ended up with a ten minute song about a man searching for happiness in world in which he has lost his place.

Photo and Button Photo by Miles Standish

 

10. You have the unique situation of having been in a band with your wife, Bronwyn. For those that don't know, she plays violin on the later Crime and the City Solution material as well as your solo albums. What's this relationship like creatively, if you don't mind sharing?

Bronwyn has always had a huge influence on my work. She edits all my work and she co-wrote or wrote the lyrics to a number of Crime songs. Also, her violin was a major contributor to the sound of my solo records and the Berlin Crime, but I don't know to what extent our personal relationship impacted our musical relationship – we got together when we were very young (17) so it's probably impossible to separate the personal from the professional.

11. How do you feel about the internet and how it's being utilized by musicians these days?

Concentrating on the positives, I like the idea that I can just load a song onto a site like Myspace or Facebook and it floats out across the globe like a virtual gift. I also like the contact that it facilitates (I've led – and continue to lead - a very isolated existence and I haven't toured for a long time, so hearing from people who like my songs has quite an impact). I always associate particular songs with times and events in my life and I have a special bond with them – it means a lot to hear that my music has a similar place in someone's life.

12. I have to ask the obligatory "deserted island" question. You're stuck on a deserted islandand you can only bring one book, one album, one famous painting and one film with you...what do you choose?

I still have to think that the third Velvet Underground record is my favorite record of all time. As for film, the one I'm fondest of is Cocteau's Orpheus. As for a book: One Hundred Years of Solitude.

13. What can we expect from you in the future?

Beyond releasing 'American Twilight' in late 2010 I plan to tour in 2011. My band is in Detroit so we'll definitely play there and Ann Arbor, with Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York and Cleveland being likely destinations, also.

 

Simon Bonney's Myspace
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