Biografie
Salmon Brothers started as a joke, and evolved into a passionate project of musical brilliance.
Nick Weaver and Nicholas Meredith knew each other through mutual friends from university when they both studied music, and for a couple of years lived down the road from each other in Sydney’s Elizabeth Bay. One night they played at an event, coincidently wearing almost identical salmon-coloured blazers, Weaver’s a vintage model inherited from his “step-Nonno”. Laughing about this all evening, they decided to call themselves Salmon Brothers.
Not to waste a good name, the two Nicks began creating songs for sheer enjoyment.
As Nick Weaver said, “We started writing this sort of smooth rock/disco music as a bit of a joke but it accidentally became a weird pop thing that we're very passionate about and eager to release.”
“We had played many gigs together and I had recorded and toured with Deep Sea Arcade on a few occasions, recalls Meredith. “Nick is still one of my favourite bass players I’ve ever played with. His groove was un-matched and his style was super infectious. It was always going to be a good time if Nick was on a gig.”
“The more we got to know each other the more we started to share our taste in music. We spent hours chatting about the Bee Gees, reading articles about how their songs were made, trying to dissect their work. But it took a year or so before we actually wrote any music together.”
“Then Nick had some solo tracks he asked me to play and record drums on. The session was great and Nick showed me a couple of other tracks he composed but didn’t know what to do with. I don’t think any of them were finished and he was slightly embarrassed to show me. Obviously, I loved them and suggested we write a song.”
“So we got together at the studio one night with a bottle of Rosé, a tub of hummus and pumped out pretty much all the parts to ‘Coming Up For Air’. It was a super-fast process and sounded really cool! We were both very surprised that we got so far and that it was so easy. It’s not surprising - we were just hanging out, laughing and making music we loved, never intending to play any shows or even release it. The ups and downs of playing in rock bands for so many years had drained us both and this process was kind of like our rehab centre. Nick ended going halves in the rent of my studio room and so Free Energy Device Studios became Salmon Brothers HQ for the next few years.
“For about a year we just continued writing and playing the songs to our friends. But we both gradually started to realise we were onto something great and decided to release an album. By this time Sydney was in lock down but realistically that didn’t change our way of working. It was usually just us two in the studio or at each other’s houses, so we just carried on doing our thing.”
Weaver’s comments, “It’s been fun making fun songs. We’ve done a few Salmon Brothers DJ sets too and people really feel all that good 70s cheese at the moment so it seems like a natural thing to be channeling. That said, I don’t want it to cross the border into parody-land so I’m trying to focus on writing great songs and giving the music its own personality too.”
“We poached the talents of our friends Karl Laskowski, Liz Fader, Seb Bartels and Harry Sutherland at various times when they were in the studio. These extraordinary musicians really stepped up our demos to an amazing level. Richie Belkner was instrumental in producing the work, mixing the songs and bringing his technical and creative expertise to the music,” says Meredith.
“We were about to film a music video for “Coming Up For Air” when Nick was taken to hospital in 2021, diagnosed with a rare cancer.
“We had so many plans and dreams for the band and it’s ironic that we started Salmon Brothers as a joke to recover from the music industry, only for it to be the vehicle to pull us back into it. For me, this music is about sharing joy and time with a great friend. It’s about not taking things too seriously because you never know what life is going to throw at you. There are so many horrible things happening in the world and I hope Salmon Brothers can be a small ray of sunshine in someone’s life just as it was in mine.”
“I don’t think I will ever truly recover from Nick’s death and I find almost all music quite hard to listen to now. If it’s too emotionally charged, I break into tears. Music itself has changed for me since he died and I miss him everyday. Despite this, I want people to hear these songs because I think they are stunning”
“This album is a true testament to the genius of Nick Weaver. His lyrics are so clever and funny and his bass playing is beyond groovy.”
“So many of these songs mean something completely different to what’s heard on the recording. The lyrics are to be interpreted, thought about, despite being conveyed in the smoothest, funkiest way possible. They’re not all sunshine and rainbows!”
“I’m really proud of this album and everyone who has taken part in it. I hope people enjoy listening to it as much as we loved making it.”