‘W
e had literally run out
of money, we were all about to
kill each other, we needed to
just get it finished.”
Cloud Control’s Alister Wright sounds
like a relieved man when he opens up
aboutZone, the third Cloud Control re-
cord which, for better or worse, he decided
to produce. Over three years, Wright and
hisbandmates–siblingsHeidiandUl-
richLenffer–toiledawayinseveralmake-
shift studios. There was the one-room
shopfrontinRedfern,Sydney,wherethey
chuckedafewkillerparties.Theheadmas-
ter’s cottage in their
old high school in the
Blue Mountains (dur-
ing school holidays,
of course). And a ga-
rage in Haberfield,
which they still rent
out from a fan named
Jake.
“That’s how we
wereabletodoitsolong–justrenting
out cheap places and moving the studio
around,” Wright explains.
Andyetforanalbumwithsuchade-
layed birth,Zoneis devoid of the kind of
clutter you’d expect from a band collect-
ing sounds for three years. Wright says he
wanted to strike the balance between elec-tronic production techniques and a live
band feel; similar to the kind of space they
inhabited on “Dojo Rising”, the curveball
single from 2013’sDream Cave.Hepulled
itoffusingthesameelectronicinstru-
ments throughout the record – a drum se-
quencerandtwosynths,whichtheycon-
sideredmembersofthebandbytheend.“I
wanted the best of both worlds: the chaot-
ic [live] stuff mixed with some really inter-
esting sounds,” he says.
It’s been a bumpy few years for Cloud
Control, four high school friends from the
Blue Mountains who became a festival
mainstay off the back
of their wonderfully
energetic 2010 debut,
Bliss Release. After
founding bassist Jer-
emy Kelshaw left the
band in 2015, they
hadtoreinventthem-
selvesasatrio.But
with Wright’s broth-
erDoug,ofSydneyoutfitFishing,currently
filling in on bass, those self-described “dark
moments” seem to be behind them.
“There’stoomuchhistoryforustonot
keepgoing,”saysWright.“Icanstillre-
membermeetingUlrichonthetraingoing
uptoschool.HewasshowingmeJamiro-
quai. The band goes back a long way.”[Cont. from 13]
THE KILLERS
Where previous re-
cordsdealtlargelyinfictionalstories
–themurderofagirlcalledJenny,a
Springsteen-inspired portrait of the
band’s Las Vegas hometown and other
mini-narratives –Wonderful Wonder-
fulspeaks largely to personal experi-
ence,from“Rut”,anemotiveanthem
recallingWhispering Jack-era John
Farnham, to the title-track, inspired
by Flowers’ wife’s difficult upbringing.
“I’m trying to figure out why I’m
doingthis–IthinkI’vejustbeenalit-
tlebitguardedbefore,”saysFlowers.
“ButIalsoknowthatwhenImakethe
connections and I’m being honest and
whenitworks,thosearethesongsIlike
toperformmost,andIwantedtodo
thatmoreonthisrecord.”
Ifthelyricsaremoreinward-look-
ing,themusicistheoppositeofthat;
stackedwithscreamalongchoruses
andmonsterhooksgearedtopropelthe
Killersbackintofestivalheadlineslots
fiveyearsaftertheirlastrecordwasre-
leased. Jacknife Lee (Taylor Swift, U2,
BlocParty)wastappedtohelpwith
an updated stadium sound after what
Vannucci describes as “speed dating”
different producers.
“He’s a big believer in rock & roll, but
healsoknowsthatin2017,youhaveto
do things differently.”
Alex Cameron was a less obvious col-
laborator. Flowers, who declared Cam-
eron’sJumping the Sharkthe album of
2016 on Twitter, invited the Austra-
lian singer-songwriter to Las Vegas
to help with an elusive verse on “Run
for Cover”. “I used to talk a lot of trash
aboutbands,andIhavesincecometo
regret that,” says Flowers, whose mid-
’00s targets included the Bravery, the
StrokesandGreenDay.“AndIdecided
mynewthingwouldbe,ifIhearsome-
thing I really like, not only would I not
forget that in an interview, but I would
findoutwhothesepeopleareandreach
outtothemandtellthemIlikeit.”
Flowers has never been short on am-
bition, but it comes over more brazen-
ly than ever on soaring tracks such
as “Tyson vs Douglas”, which reflects
on Mike Tyson’s loss to the underdog
in that legendary fight in 1990 while
strengthening his own resolve to re-
mainaheroinhisthreesons’eyes.
“For sure, now more than ever, I’m
moreawareofwhattheirperceptionis
of me and they’re going to go to school
onedayandthekidsaregoingtoknow
I’mtheirDadandwhatIamputting
out there into the world,” he says. “I
want it to be great, so it’s made me try
andupmygamealittlebit.”
Cloud Control
Enter the ‘Zone’
Trio’slonggestatingthirdalbumseesthelightofday
By Darren Levin
“There’stoomuchhistory
forustonotkeepgoing,”
says frontman
AlisterWright.R& R
14 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com October, 2017