Exclusive album premiere of ‘Small Steps, Tiny Doors’ by Pop Radio, out today via Holiday Maker Records and Rescue + Return Records.

The Pop Radio story begins with Alex Halsey’s decision to make a cross country voyage in his grandfather’s Falcon, with a box trailer full of music gear. Perth to Sydney via the desert, where he dialled in the Pop Radio sound during the pandemic. Then from Sydney to the Northern Rivers, where the album was layered to tape from a home studio visited by floodwaters.

<a href="https://popradiomusic.bandcamp.com/album/small-steps-tiny-doors">Small Steps, Tiny Doors by Pop Radio</a>

Ten thoughtful and fantastical arrangements soundtrack this chapter of self-discovery, which begins and ends with small steps and tiny doors.

“Being so new to the tape world, I fell in love with the rawness of it”

Are you all coming from Byron Bay, Australia?

Alex Halsey: The Byron Bay area is where Max, Rick and I reside though none of us are from here. I grew up in Perth, Western Australia and moved to the East Coast in 2020, so I’m fairly new to the area. Max has been here a lot longer. He moved around a bit growing up but I guess youʼd say heʼs from WA too. Rick grew up down near the Sydney area on the Central Coast. Byron Bay is a bit of a cultural hub that draws in a lot of artists and musicians. Ethan and Mikey grew up and live around the Gold-Coast.

Would love to hear about growing up and first being involved with bands, hearing records that influenced your style, seeing shows…

Growing up in Perth and being heavily involved in surf culture surrounded me with art and music from quite a young age. My dad plays a few instruments and mum loves listening to music. Lots of great cassettes and records being played from groups like Pink Floyd and The Mamas & The Papas. For some reason I never started playing till I was about 20, I feel like it was while I was listening to The Brian Jonestown Massacre a lot. Something happened at that stage of my life and I put everything else aside and focused on learning all the different instruments, going to shows and really emerging myself in the music scene. It was an iconic time in the Perth music scene. Tame Impala had just had some success and everyone was riding on the back of that which made it flourish. Lots of good memories seeing those older guys play around town in a number of different side projects.

What led to the formation of Pop Radio and how did you originally meet?

In 2020 I decided to drive over to the East Coast from Perth with my friend Mason (Badbury Inkum). We arrived in Sydney as Covid hit, we ended up living with his cousin and a few others that happened to be members of Ocean Alley. I spent the next year or so in Sydney making music, playing with gear and writing songs. The demos from that time became the backbone of what became ‘Small Steps, Tiny Doorsʼ which was recorded after I moved up north to the Byron Bay area in mid 2021. During the recording process I asked a few old friends that lived in the area if they wanted to play the songs live with me. This is what became the ‘Pop Radioʼ band. Since we started we have been through a few members. All which have been great but have dropped in and out due to other commitments et cetera.

You are releasing a new album , ‘Small Steps, Tiny Doors’. How long did you work on it?

‘Small Steps, Tiny Doors, was quite a long tedious project. In 2019 I had just come off a six month-long break from making music or playing live. The past projects I had done had fizzled out and I was getting into different music. This is what sparked me to move over east and start something new. With change came great inspiration. I spent a lot of time buying and selling different tape machines. Experimenting with the analog world was new, and it took some time to dial in what I was doing before coming up with a sound and process that I was happy with. As it was amid the pandemic, I wasnʼt really working much so I had plenty of time to write. I must have written 20-30 songs that year. After choosing a handful that I felt were the best and worked well together, I started recording it all instrument by instrument. There were some huge hiccups in the middle which really slowed things down. The studio got damaged from the 2022 north coast floods, right in the middle of recording. The entire recording/ mixing process ended up taking about 15 months. I learnt a lot about recording and mixing over that period.

Tell us about the amps, effects and general gear you used in the studio.

As mentioned I had just converted to a full analog setup. All the demos were made on either a Tascam 38 reel to reel machine or a Yamaha MT4X cassette recorder. I loved the hands-on approach of analog. It made things so much quicker and quirkier. No laptop freezing or errors flashing in my face, just clicking buttons and the sound of the reel spinning. Iʼm unsure if I could ever go back to a computer setup. Once I had picked out the demos that I would use for the record I decided I needed something a bit better quality and with more tracks. I bought myself a Tascam MSR-16 reel to reel and a Tascam 2516 desk to do the final versions on. I love the sound of this machine and having the extra tracks made for less track bouncing and creative freedom. The 4 or 8 tracks really force you to make decisions early which can be hard when you’re as picky as I am. It’s a sickness.

I recorded all the instruments straight through a Joe Meek Twin Q. It’s a great affordable unit with lots of uses for a little home studio. The 12 string and electric guitars (1967 Vox Starstream and 1966 Welson Jazz Vedette) were recorded through a little hand made single 20” valve amp I acquired. It sounds kinda along the lines of a Fender Deluxe Reverb with a little more flair. It was handmade in Berlin by a famous West Australian guitar tech in the 80s before being brought back to Australia. Apparently he has since passed so it is a very unique amp. The bass. (Hofner – Contemporary) and Keys (Micro Korg) were DIʼed through the Joe Meek Twin Q. I had recently bought a Neumann TLM – 103, which I used on almost everything. Being so new to the tape world, I fell in love with the rawness of it. All the instruments on the record are tracked from beginning to end with only minimal EQ and processing.

Are you often playing live?

Since our first show in 2021/2022 we have been playing a lot. 2022 was heavily based on local based shows. It helped us a lot with the live sound and gave us the time to tune in as a group. This year we have done around 20 shows up and down the coast. The album release tour booked for this October is another 11 shows. We are looking forward to having the album out so we can expand even further. Maybe Europe next year!

What are some future plans for you now?

Keen to knuckle down for a while after the album tour and get the next record on the move. The past year I have put in a massive amount of hours getting the band and project off the ground. Now that the ball is rolling we can spend a lot more time in the studio creating.

Are any of you involved in any other bands or do you have any active side-projects going on at this point?

I have been involved in a lot of projects in the past. The Wheelers of Oz, The Alexanderʼs Band and Stephen Bailey to name a few. At the moment I am just focussing on Pop Radio though I love to jump up if someone needs a stand in. Rick Snowden (keys) composes music for a living, supplying music to surf movies. Ethan Eyles and Mikey Clarke play in a bunch of great bands on the Gold Coast. Love Banana, The Sleeves, The Sleeping Positions and Datura. Check them out on YouTube!

Letʼs end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

This is hard and I could go on forever. These are the first albums that pop into my mind!

Love – ‘Da Capo’
Pink Floyd – ‘Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn,’ ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’
Norma Tanega – ‘Walking My Cat Named Dog’Cate Le Bon – ‘Pompeii’
The Brian Jonestown Massacre – ‘Take It From The Man’
White Fence – ‘Cyclops Reap’
The Beatles – ‘Sgt Pepperʼs Lonely Hearts Club Band’
David Axelrod – ‘Songs Of Innocence’
Margo Guryan – ‘Take A Picture’
The Velvet Underground – ‘VU’
Neil Young – ‘After The Gold Rush’
David Bowie – ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust’

New/recommendation

Baby Cool – ‘Earthling On The Road To Self Love’