With the release of their third album, Drop City have again proved their worth as one of Australia's best bands, on the cutting edge of the scene, leaving many mainstream acts in their dust as they continue to come up with highly addictive melodies & lyrics that fans just can't get enough.

Just days before the release of the new album, entitled This Heavenly Machine, I caught up by phone with Matt Tow from the band. We spoke about all the usual things, including production of the album, touring, writing & the state of the airwaves at the moment.

I started by mentioning the great sound the band had come up with on this album. "Yeah, we've really worked hard on this album & it's all come together so well for us. We used some different material on this album, whilst still giving the fans that pop music they expect from Drop City."

Having noted some of the more experimental songs on the album, I asked Matt whether that was a direction Drop City were headed in. "Well, yes & no. On this album, we conciously kept some of the poppier sounding tracks like Fools Rush In & Living In The Machine in, whilst adding some of the more experimental stuff."

What, like the second part of Living In The Machine? "Yeah, exactly. I've always felt that Drop City were first & foremost a pop band & I think that element of the band will always remian, but we all felt that we needed to progress with what we were doing & tracks like that go a long way further than we've done before."

Yes, it's certainly a different sound than anything Drop City's released before. "Well, Living In The Machine has always been played like that in live shows, it sort of like once the song has ended, we go into a bit of a jam mode & on this occasion, it worked really well."

I noticed on the album how many musicians were listed & asked Matt how many of them would be on tour with them. "Well, my ideal would be to have a large string section onstage, but it's just not economically possible for us, so it's gonna be just the band, but I can assure you that we'll be putting heaps into our shows."

A few shows coming up then? "Sure, we've got quite a few gigs lined up, at the moment all the capitals & a lot of the major cities."

So almost a tour around the country then? "Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be getting to the reginal areas this time, but we're hoping to do some of those in the future. We're also going overseas too, which we're quite excited about."

Having spoken to other band's about overseas touring, I wondered aloud what it will be like. "I reckon it's gonna be interesting. We're virtually unknown outside Australia, but we've been in that position before, which'll make it a bit easier for us."

An intersting question I thought was what Matt thought about the state of radio in Australia. "It's funny you should mention that. Although Triple J have been really great for us & heaps of other bands, we rarely get played on any of the commercial networks. You have to be really established to get on there, & even some of the really popular bands only get late night airplay on them."

So, what you're saying is that Australian bands don't always get the airplay they deserve? "In a sense I guess that's right. But I would never conciously write a song that would get played on a commercial network, I don't think it's that important. I think Triple J have (& still get) a lot of unfair criticism. They do a fantastic job of helping out a lot of band, I mean look at the Unearthed project & their live recording."

What about the ABC TV Recovery program? "Yeah, that's great too, it's about time we had something good on TV. In the same vein as Triple J, they give a lot of people in reginaly areas the chance to hear some great new music. People in the cities are too demanding on Triple J & the ABC, they seem to forget that lots of people only get one or two commercial stations & the ABC, of which Triple J & Recovery are a part. The city areas are some much better covered for options."

Another thing I was interested in was the band's label, Red Eye & I asked if they were as great as the reputation indicated. "Yeah, they're really great, we get basically full artistic control & that's what a band really needs. I think Red Eye will go down in Australian music history as having been one of the most influential labels. I was reading Clinton Walker's new book Stranded & in the back there's a bit of a discography. It's astounding how many of those CD's were from Red Eye."

As I wished Matt & the band well for both the album & touring, I had to ask where the name Drop City came from. "(chuckling) Well, it's funny you should ask that, because it's a bit of a story in itself. I was reading this 1960's book about American alternative lifestyles & it was about these people that lived in communes & stuff & the town they built they named Drop City. It's as simple as that, so I thought that was a great name for a band."

Drop City's new album is called This Heavenly Machine & is out now on Red Eye through Polydor.