You know when you’re selling out gigs without promoting them, then you must be doing something special as a band, and Sticky Fingers have certainly been on a special kind of rise since 2013’s Caress Your Soul. Following up with Land of Pleasure in 2014, which hit #3 on the ARIA charts, the reggae-rockers from Sydney have been touring heavily since, both at home and abroad in the USA & Europe. Understandably, anticipation is high for the third studio album Westway (The Glitter & The Slums) due out next month. I chatted to bassist Paddy Cornwall about the new record, the Sydney music scene, and being immortalised in stain-glassed windows.

Thanks for having the time to chat to me Paddy. Recording the new album in Thailand sounds like the best fun a band could have. How was that experience and what influenced the decision to record in Thailand?

“We were super exhausted by the end of the year, and by the same token, we didn’t want to stop playing either, so we treated Thailand like a working holiday. We all kind of felt like making tunes together, and it’d be a good time to hang on the beach, recording and make a banger of an album. And yeah it sounds like everything we wanted it to be. Heaps of bands come out and say “oh yeah this is the best thing we’ve ever done”, but I really think it is the best thing we’ve ever done as a band.”

Now you’ve been saying that Westway is a much darker album, is that in terms of lyrical content and narrative, or more to do with the jams you’ve been putting together?

“When we all finished school, we started this band as a form of escapism, we didn’t like the idea of falling into that 9-5 trap. This rocket ship of ours kind of just took off, and it has taken us by quite a bit of surprise. Despite that, it’s a very DIY band, to this day we’re a fully independent band and we do most of the work ourselves. Over the past 8 years of being a band, we’ve done a great job of having fun with it  creating these amazing highs, but also some terrible lows.”

“Around March/April last year, we had to reap the consequences of some of our actions; mentally, physically and socially. A band member ended up in rehab, and it was looking like we weren’t going to end up making it to America because of some average behaviour. A few relationships were torn, and the band was looking like it was going to break up for a second there, which would have been tragic for all of us. So even though last year was an incredibly testy year for the five of us as a unit, we managed to turn it around and were able to get over to America. To our surprise, we had quite a fan base, selling out a bunch of shows, so it kind of got us back on top, and inspired us to keep going. We wrote this album about the times we’d shared over this past year or so, all the good and all the bad, hence the title, the Glitter and the Slums. Then Westway references the popular highway in the UK, and also is a reference to The Clash documentary Westway to the World. They’ve been such a massive influence on us, musically and stylistically. Listening to Sandinista! growing up, we were never rocking the dreadlocks with tea-cosy hats or anything like that, but we wanted to create a two-toned flavour, with that reggae but also with a punk attitude.”

We’ve already heard two songs from the Westway, “Outcast At Last” came out just before your Australian tour in earlier in the year, and “Our Town” just last month. Two very contrasting tracks, how do they fit into the overall scheme and mood of the album?

“Yeah “Outcast” was about all the time we’ve spent on the road together, the road became like our home, and a place where we felt comfortable. It can be a strange thing coming back to your home town after being away for so long, dropping in for a week or two and then heading off again. You kind of fall out of the loop of things, and feel like an outcast in your own home town, which can be confusing. The experiences we’ve had, I wouldn’t trade what we do for anything, and that’s why I guess we put a positive spin on being this outcast at last, as a good thing rather than a sad thing, embracing what you’ve got and coming to terms with it.”

“Last year when we put out The Specials cover “Ghost Town”, obviously in response to the lockouts, and you know everyone is going around Sydney complaining about the lockouts, how bad it is, and how Sydney is turning into a boring ass-nanny state. It kind of gets to a point where everyone is sitting around complaining and not doing anything positive for the community, adding to the bummer kind of vibe. “Our Town” tries to put a positive spin on the same steeze on a similar theme, trying to unite people and get us all together, saying ‘Hey this is our town’. You can’t stop people from doing what they want, especially if it involves a good time. There’s always a way to make it hot, you just have to be willing to make it happen.”

Speaking of making it hot in Sydney, along with STIFI, bands like Violent Soho and DMA’s have really been on a roll of late

“Yeah, all of the bands in our local scene are great examples of persisting and sticking to their guns. You look at the ones doing really well like Violent Soho or DMA’s, they’ve got this image of coming out of the woodwork, but they’ve earned their stripes playing music for a number of years, together and in different projects. Whether it’s The Preatures, Jagwar Ma, it’s a beautiful thing to see the amount of bands who are coming from our scene and going internationally. It still gives me a tingle, like if my 12 year old self was looking at what my mates were doing and being super proud, it’s great.”

The album cover features a stained glass window, and this actually a legitimate thing in a pub called the Lord Gladstone?

(Laughing) “Yeah man I’m literally out the front of it now”

That’s brilliant! How did that come about?

“I loved the idea of an album cover not just being a cover, but an actual place that you can go visit, almost turning it into a landmark. We all drink at the Marrickville bowling club, just across from the studio that we built in January last year, and there’s these ye olde stained glass windows of old people playing lawn bowls. I guess we came up with the idea and just decided to go full tilt wanker, and get these Renaissance glass portraits of our heads in our local, the Lord Gladstone. I proposed the idea to the owner of the pub, Big Paddy, who’s a good friend of ours. To our surprise he actually did it, and yeah I’m surprised no one has bricked it yet to be honest. Personally it’d be hilarious if someone smashed it, and it added to the story of the landmark, but it also looks very pretty to stare at it during a day’s drinking . Probably don’t make the headline, “Paddy wants you to brick the Gladstone” (laughing).

Coming off Land of Pleasure and a massive tour, with everything that happened, did you ever think of taking more of a break?

“The moment you stop creating things, you can get quite depressed and lose your place where you’re finding colour in the world. So in terms of taking a break, not at all. It’s been definitely taxing for us partying and being on the road for such a long time, but for us the music comes first and foremost. If the music’s shit, then there’s not much point.”

What can STIFI fans expect from Westway?

“I think there’s something in it for Sticky fans old and new, there’s a lot of classic dub sounds on there, and there’s going into a rock we haven’t really gone into before. The record is fucking beautiful, but you definitely need to come to a live show to get the full experience; it’s a fairly unique show, you never know what you’re going to get on any given night. We’re a band that’s especially good at flaunting our flaws, we’re far from perfect musicians, and we are far from perfect humans, and we’re not ashamed to say that.”

“I can say with all my heart, this is our best effort yet. I’ve been particularly so fucking proud of how Beaker has progressed as a drummer and you’ll hear it on the album. Last year we went through so much shit together, we’ve still got each other’s backs, and love each other.”