The brilliance of 3 piece Pollyanna was never truly in doubt, but cemented firmly after the release of their Junior e.p., from which the fabulously wandering & emotional Pale Grey Eyes was taken, becoming a firm favourite on Triple J & transforming the band's status by a large measure.

Pollyanna have recently released their second album, following up their outstanding Long Player debut album which was a former hEARd feature album upon it's release. I recently caught up with Matt Handley, the disarmingly pleasant frontman & main vocalist for the band who is also largely responsible for their songwriting.

The band had driven up from Melbourne the previous night to Newcastle, where they were to perform with Skunkhour, Front End Loader & others for only one night. Iasked Matt what the reasons were for this single performance when the tour for the album wasn't coming until November.

"We really wanted to do Newcastle along in the tour, but for many reasons it just wasn't going to be very convenient. Tonight's like a once a year thing at Newcastle Uni, so it was really a good time to play for us as we've played with Front End Loader before, they've got a good sense of humour."

The band were former residents of Sydney, only recently relocating to Melobourne. Matt soon explained the move.

"Well, for a number of reasons, we've just found that it was a good decision, made easier by the fact that our new drummer is from Melbourne. That's not the whole reason though. We just felt that Sydney is a bit... manic I suppose in comparison to Melbourne. The lifestyle in Melbourne seems just more relaxed in general, plus in Melbourne, compared to Sydney anyway, there are a lot more live venues & the punters seem to be more into their live bands."

Once the subject of live performances came up, recognition from radio airplay was an inevitable follow-on.

"Pale Grey Eyes as a high-rotation on Triple J was a major factor in getting recognition outside of Sydney & Melbourne. That enabled us to go & play places like Bunbury in Western Australia & people actually know us from hearing our music on the radio. The new album hasn't had quite the impact on Triple J yet, though I hear we might be in for Album Of The Week soon, so maybe it'll start around the time we're doing the tour. Melbourne stations like 3RRR have gotten into it immediately though."

While the band seemed happy with the coverage they've had on public radio, I asked about response from commercial stations & networks.

"That's a really hard question, but not really all that difficult to answer. I think you must really have to work hard to get daytime airplay on the commercials. They give us a little bit of time on nights in their Homegrown sorts of shows, but in the daytime, you're just faced with endless Cold Chisel & The Angels or maybe John Farnham"

An interesting response, but Matt also added what seemed like a serious solution.

"The Australian minimum content is a very good idea, but the commercial stations have found their way around it by just continually adding older tracks like those bands I just mentioned. I think in addition to the minimum Australian content, they should be helping to expand & help new artists by having a minimum of new bands as well. At least that way new artists & bands would perhaps get more of a break & not have to fight against the older & established music from bands that have mostly broken up by now anyway."

Before I let Matt go, I asked about the difference between this & the last album.

"We really didn't want to make Long Player part 2, so I made more room for the vocals, which is one area I reckon you can hear a big difference, plus I didn't try to fill the songs out with endless guitar, something I think makes the songs better somehow. We're very happy with this album. We don't have anything definite for the next album yet, I think we'll tour this one & then wait & see."

Catch Pollyanna on tour during November or check out their latest album Hello Halo out now through Mushroom.