Forty years after it’s original release, So What If Im Standing in Apricot Jam, the one and only album from unknown Tasmanian psych folk performer Howard Eynon is being reissued on vinyl.A truly unique and at times bizarre record that takes in elements of folk, children’s tales, psych and pop that has been likened to Syd Barrett, Nick Drake and Paul McCartney’s 1971 solo album, Ram.Eynon has lead an interesting life. Originally from the small town of St Ives, Cambridgshire, at the age of 11 he and his family moved to remote and rural Tasmanian to live and work on a dairy farm. At 17 he took his motorcycle and moved to Melbourne to pursue an acting career where he made appearances in television drama The Sullivan’s and films such as The Man From Snowy River and Mad Max.Throughout this time he continued to play music and whilst a member of the Tasmania Theatre Company, he was asked to write and record a guitar piece for a play which lead him to Spectangle Studio in Hobart where he met Nick Armstrong. Armstrong invited Howard to record a full-length album and over the next three months was joined by local players to record a record that utislised violin, mellotron, flute, synths, French horns and piano. Originally released in 1974 by Basket/Candle Records, So What If Im Standing in Apricot Jam has been out of print for years and ranks amongst the rarest and most sought after acid folk private pressings.Now based in the Central Coast of New South Wales, Howard took time out to answer some questions before the album reissue through Buttercup records in Australia and Fire records new reissue imprint Earth in the rest of the world.Noisey: There’s no punctuation in the album title. Was that a deliberate decision?
Howard Eynon: Being a rhyming type, I originally wanted So what if I am standing in Apricot Jam. As Luke Swan was the visual arts guy in our tribe, he took on the graphics and layout and decided to amend the title. I was a bit surprised, but probably he was right.The mid 70s was a very fruitful time for Australian folk music. Do you think a record like So What If Im Standing in Apricot Jam could be released today?
Well, I guess it will be in a month! Whether it will find a market is another matter. But it's interesting that there are people around today who seem to like it. I'm delighted that Scotti at Buttercup and the guys at Fire Records have such confidence in it after all this time.The song “Roast Pork” was written after spending six weeks in Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland. Parts of Australia including Tasmania were pretty conservative in that time. Were you considered hippy music? Did you cop much flak?
I was probably lucky in that I didn't cop much flak, although a lot of the content probably caused it to be ignored by the mainstream media guys of the time. I've never considered myself a hippy although I knew a lot of hippies at the time. I have no idea how my stuff was considered. I was surprised years later to find it had become a collectors item and people were writing it up as psycho acid folk. In retrospect I felt it had found itself a genre I wasn't unhappy about.You played with Hunter S Thompson when he came to Australia. At first that seems odd but listening to the deeply descriptive and at times anti-authoritarian songs it makes sense.
I don't know who made the connect between my stuff and Hunter's trip Down Under to book me as a support act. He only did two appearances to my knowledge; - Sydney Town Hall and Melbourne Town Hall. For me, the Sydney gig worked - the Melbourne one not. It was all a bit weird - you can imagine how many dilettantes and bikies wanted to be in this illustrious 'gonzo' journo's presence.It’s a very whimsical record with lots of references to food and animals. At times it almost sounds like a fantastical children’s songs.
I like that you say that - would be just as happy to hear it described as fantastical chldrens songs as psycho asic folk - perhaps even more so. It was just what came out at the time. We were living a magical life in so many ways.What was your experience like on the set of Mad Max?
Mad Max was a six-week trip. There is a strange magic to movie making and I was fortunate to have been a part of this one. This was a few years after the album came out but it was an experience I wouldn't have wanted to miss. Thanks to Hugh Keays Byrne (now my neighbour) and George Miller for that one. Hugh played Toecutter one of the head bad guys in Mad Max and was also given the role of the main bad guy, Immortan Joe in Mad Max 4 - Fury Road that was shot in Namibia last year.Nick Armstrong is an important part of the album. His production seems almost magical.
Nick is a truly amazing engineer. Somehow we just communicated very well, even though he no doubt had to put up with a lot of shit which comes with the job when you're dealing with performance artists. I could ask Nick if he could do something a certain way, and always he could manage it. An analogue genius - what he couldn't do with tape…How did the reissue with Scotti Henthorn and Buttercup come about? He has mostly done loud rock and punk records.
I seem to remember Scotti popped up via Nick, who met him in Melbourne about seven years back. Scotti says he has always loved the album and it was meaningful for him in the day. We finally met earlier this year and I understand what he does. I see Scotti as a genuinely important Australian music historian.
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Howard Eynon: Being a rhyming type, I originally wanted So what if I am standing in Apricot Jam. As Luke Swan was the visual arts guy in our tribe, he took on the graphics and layout and decided to amend the title. I was a bit surprised, but probably he was right.The mid 70s was a very fruitful time for Australian folk music. Do you think a record like So What If Im Standing in Apricot Jam could be released today?
Well, I guess it will be in a month! Whether it will find a market is another matter. But it's interesting that there are people around today who seem to like it. I'm delighted that Scotti at Buttercup and the guys at Fire Records have such confidence in it after all this time.
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I was probably lucky in that I didn't cop much flak, although a lot of the content probably caused it to be ignored by the mainstream media guys of the time. I've never considered myself a hippy although I knew a lot of hippies at the time. I have no idea how my stuff was considered. I was surprised years later to find it had become a collectors item and people were writing it up as psycho acid folk. In retrospect I felt it had found itself a genre I wasn't unhappy about.You played with Hunter S Thompson when he came to Australia. At first that seems odd but listening to the deeply descriptive and at times anti-authoritarian songs it makes sense.
I don't know who made the connect between my stuff and Hunter's trip Down Under to book me as a support act. He only did two appearances to my knowledge; - Sydney Town Hall and Melbourne Town Hall. For me, the Sydney gig worked - the Melbourne one not. It was all a bit weird - you can imagine how many dilettantes and bikies wanted to be in this illustrious 'gonzo' journo's presence.It’s a very whimsical record with lots of references to food and animals. At times it almost sounds like a fantastical children’s songs.
I like that you say that - would be just as happy to hear it described as fantastical chldrens songs as psycho asic folk - perhaps even more so. It was just what came out at the time. We were living a magical life in so many ways.
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Mad Max was a six-week trip. There is a strange magic to movie making and I was fortunate to have been a part of this one. This was a few years after the album came out but it was an experience I wouldn't have wanted to miss. Thanks to Hugh Keays Byrne (now my neighbour) and George Miller for that one. Hugh played Toecutter one of the head bad guys in Mad Max and was also given the role of the main bad guy, Immortan Joe in Mad Max 4 - Fury Road that was shot in Namibia last year.Nick Armstrong is an important part of the album. His production seems almost magical.
Nick is a truly amazing engineer. Somehow we just communicated very well, even though he no doubt had to put up with a lot of shit which comes with the job when you're dealing with performance artists. I could ask Nick if he could do something a certain way, and always he could manage it. An analogue genius - what he couldn't do with tape…How did the reissue with Scotti Henthorn and Buttercup come about? He has mostly done loud rock and punk records.
I seem to remember Scotti popped up via Nick, who met him in Melbourne about seven years back. Scotti says he has always loved the album and it was meaningful for him in the day. We finally met earlier this year and I understand what he does. I see Scotti as a genuinely important Australian music historian.
'So What If Im Standing in Apricot Jam' is available November 17 through Earth Recordings in Europe/US and Buttercup distributed through Rocket in Australia.