Gyroscope

Gyroscope finally have a No. 1 album and theyre ready, after a long, long apprenticeship, to take on the world. Andrew Murfett reports.

MUCH to the surprise of Perth power-pop quartet Gyroscope, their third album, Breed Obsession, made its debut at number one on the ARIA charts on its release in March. The band are now on a sold-out national tour.

Eighteen months ago, however, Gyroscope were at a crossroad. Their past two albums were relative chart failures - 2004s Sound Shattering Sound limped into the charts at number 37 and 2005s Are You Involved lobbed in at number 20.

Despite a devoted fan base, the tyranny of distance that affects most West Australian-based bands was beginning to bite.

Frontman Dan Sanders says the band decided to up the ante and acquired a Melbourne-based manager, Rae Harvey, whose clients include the Living End.

Gyroscope are proud of their DIY ethic. They ran their own merchandise company and their first two releases were homemade cassette tapes.

They are the rarest of high school garage bands, having had no line-up changes since forming in the eastern suburbs of Perth - Beechboro - at the tail end of the grunge movement in the late 1990s. Now aged in their late 20s, the four band members retain the enthusiasm they had in their teens.

With their business affairs in order, the band felt free to turn their attention to the music.

In April last year, with a handful of demos in hand, they began shopping for a producer. The process was painful and protracted. After searching in Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles and London, and with just 13 days to go until they were due to begin recording, there was no concrete plan.

However, after a call with producer Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers), a decision was made to head to Britain and record in Liverpool.

"Liverpool, being the home of the Beatles and the Merseyside bands, meant we felt comfortable and that helped the songs," Sanders says. "It was definitely not the polished LA sound that wed had in the past."

After recording the album last year, the band began ticking off items on the wish lists they had accumulated over the past 11 years.

First up, for the video of the comeback single, Snakeskin, they employed an eccentric Englishman in Wiltshire - the county that is home to Stonehenge - to build a 200-metre crop circle specifically for the video shoot.

In January, Sanders was married on the South Island of New Zealand.

The band then embarked on a string of summer festival dates, including the Big Day Out.

They have also relinquished control of their merchandise company. "We used to do it all ourselves," Sanders says. He would check email orders three times a day, print them out and process them manually. The band would pack and post the items themselves, something that was untenable when they were on the road for up to 10 months a year.

Then, two months ago, came the big No. 1 debut. After getting phone calls from family, friends and well-wishers on the day, the four congregated at Perths Capitol Bar to celebrate.

After this weeks brief tour they will undertake the biggest tour of their career. International touring is off the agenda for this year, with the primary focus being to firm up their Australian base.

Sanders hopes that, with their first number one record in hand, they will finally burn off the dreaded emo tag.

Although Gyroscope, along with compatriots Kisschasy and After the Fall, appear to be natural fits for the much-maligned genre, Sanders is having none of it.

"We saw ourselves as an indie grunge band from Perth," he says. "We relate more to the Foo Fighters then emo bands."

Gyroscope play the Hi-Fi Bar tomorrow and Sunday. Breed Obsession is available through Warner Music.

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