Garry Gary Beers - AshenMoon 'You Can't Keep A Good Riff Down'

It is not every day you get to interview an Australian music icon.When the opportunity to interview Garry Beers, bass player of one of Australia's most commercially successful rock bands INXS comes knocking, it is hard to resist. Especially when he is about to drop a single with his new project AshenMoon (also featuring fellow Aussie Toby Rand from Juke Kartel) - one he has been sitting on for 25 years.We caught up for a chat with Garry to discuss not just the new single 'Godtank', but to pick his brains on how to stay grounded and evolve through a 40-year career.Hey Garry thanks for stopping by WoS HQ. Can you give us some background on how ‘Godtank’ came to life?I actually wrote the music for ‘Godtank’ as you hear it, back in 1998. We lost Michael [Hutchence] in ‘97, and I didn't really touch a guitar or a bass for quite a while, and then the first thing I picked up was a guitar, and I wrote that riff. Not a bass but the guitar- I wrote the riff, and then put down an arrangement and worked on it, and then… it's been basically sitting in my computer for many, many years. Then Toby [Rand] heard it and said let's work on that. So until we had a lyrical idea and a concept, it became a whole new beast. So it's been sitting around for 20-25 years. I guess you can't keep a good riff down. And we just decided, with our new guitar player, Yohai Portal to re-record all the guitars, let him have his way with it with a solo, and the chorus guitars, and asked him to make it different. So he he did that. And now it's the way it is.So when did you show Toby the riff? And what prompted you to show it to him?Well, Toby and I met I guess, like 5 years ago, at a party. Then we sort of became friends, and we started doing some corporate shows together and doing, you know, fun things, doing covers. And then we started writing and went 'this is really good writing'. We were just sitting [and] listening to what he had and what I had. I've obviously got a computer full of songs that didn't make it with INXS, or just didn't make it with other bands, or with that or other projects that I've been working on. And then finally, we were playing, having a bit of a listening session and he grabbed probably 3 or 4 pieces of music that I had from the past, even more, maybe 5 or 6, that have become part of our AshenMoon catalogue.What was it about Toby that drew you to working with him?You know, it's interesting. He is, besides being just an incredible singer, he writes great lyrics. But he obviously hasn't found someone to believe in him with his lyrics. And I had not met someone that I've felt so comfortable with writing and having someone sing on my music. So I just think we were both waiting to meet each other. So it worked out really well.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAiDpC3QyS8A bit serendipitous. I like that. You have had a bit of a lineup change with AshenMoon, haven't you?Yeah, we made the record [Umbra I] and then signed a distribution deal. And then literally 2 weeks later, Covid hit. And it obviously affected everybody. All our tours were cancelled, and we sort of soldiered on. We made, I think we released like 5 songs, and we made the videos ourselves. The first single ‘Dustbowl’ we made the video in downtown LA in front of the Staples Center during Covid, when there's absolutely [no one around], a Silicon ghost town. That was kind of cool doing that being like guerilla video people. But then, Toby and Jimmy, the original guitar player, moved to Vegas to get some work, because Vegas - well, was working as normal. And I was here in LA looking after my kids because the kids obviously had school. I've got 12-year-old twins, or then they were 10. And school shut down. So we had the whole homeschool Zoom school thing. That became more important. So the band kind of shut down for a while. Jimmy left because nothing was happening, I guess, and then Zack, our drummer introduced us to Yohai and we did some gigs together and it was great. Then he [Yohai] had a car accident. He wasn't hurt, but he had to have CAT scan for insurance, and they found a brain tumour. It was benign. So luckily he had the accident and found the tumour. All the complications from having brain surgery took him out for over a year. So we put the band on hold for another year and a half. Now Yohai’s fully fit and a really important part of the band cause I did all the engineering and recording of the original recordings. It's not my favourite thing to do (to be an engineer). I'd rather be more involved in songwriting and production. Yohai is brilliant on the computer in the studio. He makes ‘Godtank’.It feels like listening to ‘Godtank’- it has this real freshness about it.This really feels like a band, you know, like everyone's got their input. We just did a video for ‘Godtank’ the other day at Toby's house. It just kind of takes me back to being in a band with my mates again. It's great.So is that how, because obviously, you've had such a long career and you've done so much, how you have avoided any sort of stagnation, musically?I guess I don't think about that much, because it's a matter of I just love music, and I always have, and Toby's the same. And Toby, we like kindred spirits and just love performing and writing and singing and playing.

I do miss touring with INXS. I do miss just touring I'm bummed that AshenMoon isn't out there touring right now because I love playing. I guess it's a matter of I like being active in the music business. It's probably not that sensible for me to do that.

I've been doing it all my life, so maybe it might be time to try something else. But it's what I like doing. So I just stick at it.Bringing ‘Godtank’ to life- how's that felt on a personal level? Because obviously, you wrote it at a very interesting and painful time of your life.It feels good. It feels cathartic. There's another piece, that I think is the 3rd thing that we're looking at releasing (a song called ‘Stargaze’), and that was the next piece of music I wrote after Michael died and it's pretty much exactly how I wrote it too. So I think these songs, these pieces of music, came out of me for a reason and they sat there and are still around for a reason.A lot of our audience are part of young up-and-coming bands, especially in the Australian sphere and you've been through so much in your career. The ups and downs and you experienced some of the worst parts of being in the music industry and some of the best. Yet, you have remained pretty grounded. So do you have any advice you could give to some young musicians coming up now?I think it's to try and be with like-minded people. Being in a band with my schoolmates, and 3 brothers, you can't kind of beat that for staying focused on being normal. You got to try and keep each other grounded and centred, and stop anyone becoming an asshole or whatever.

And you got Michael, who is just amazing and everyone was trying to separate Michael from the rest of the band for years, for a lot of our career. Michael was the first person that refused to let that happen. So, he turned down the cover of Rolling Stone America cause he said, 'no, not until you do a whole band shot'. So we waited. And that was Michael's call.

So yeah, it’s just something about being in a band, something about playing with people that you're friends with or even family. It does tend to keep you centred and focused on what's right and wrong.And that's what you've got with AshenMoon right now?Yeah, Toby's become pretty much my best mate.Interview by Kayla Hamilton (@kaylazomboid)

AshenMoon's new single 'Godtank' is out now.

Stream it here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXXWva0crPs