Melbourne four-piece City Calm Down have been gearing up for the release of their new album In A Restless House on November 6, teasing fans with singles Wandering and Rabbit Run ahead of the album’s release. If you’re at all familiar with the band then you know their sound is one carefully moulded and tempered to achieve that moody, new-wave aesthetic. Naturally, a band’s gear is the essential hardware that brings their inspiration to life, so the CCD lads decided to share the 5 pieces of gear they can’t go without!
Ahead of the release of their new album In A Restless House, Melbourne four-piece City Clam Down reveal the 5 pieces of gear they’d be nothing without.
The Juno 60 synthesiser
This dreamy sounding classic is responsible for around 80% of the synth sounds on In A Restless House. Pair with some distortion and tape echo, put on a hat, get silly.
The well oiled team that is the CCD horn section
Jono is our sexy sax villain, and Fin is almost as hot on a trumpet as he is at Tinder. They join us on tour to spice up the live set.
Studio Electronics Code
A polyphonic analogue beast that sounds a bit like a CS80 (or are we just wishing?). Massive fat pads and chords and lots of control over parameters. Plays the lead synth hook on Until I Get By and the Leslie organ sound in Border of Control.
iPhone!
Most song ideas start here: singing a melody or beat into the recorder, whenever it dawns on you. Comes complete with embarrassing moments like when your iPhone is on shuffle at a party, and the audio recording of you singing a drunken melody to yourself is blasted out for everyone’s humiliating enjoyment.
Strymon El Capstan tape delay
Jez [Jeremy Sonnenberg, bass] always looks up to the Strymon El Capstan tape delay. So much so that we have two of them in the live synth rig. Built in reverb make this sound absolutely magical… someone may kill me for saying it, but it’s better than a Roland RME-201 Space Echo. Shhhh!
