Sound As Ever, the Australian Indie label dedicated to the ’90s music scene, has just unveiled Greenhouse’s latest offering, ‘Centre of the Universe.’ This album is more than just music; it’s a journey filled with complexities and emotions that have culminated in a stunning collection of alternative pop/rock tracks.

In this exclusive interview, Michael Ormond Robinson, Greenhouse’s frontman, generously shares the story behind the album’s creation. With honesty and openness, he delves into the genesis of this beautiful record, offering insights into the creative process that resulted in powerful, striking, exciting, and intensely melodic songs.

Join us as Michael provides a glimpse into the past, present, and future of Greenhouse, making this interview a must-read for music enthusiasts eager to explore the intricate tapestry of ‘Centre of the Universe.’

Could you share the journey of bringing this record to life? How did all the pieces come together to create the final product?

This was a very long and fraught process. We were courted by major labels in the early nineties, just before the industry had its seismic shift post the release of Nevermind. We’d had some singles that were indie hits in Australia but never managed to get to an album before we evaporated into the ether. We always regretted that but had not been roused into doing anything about it until drummer Glen became gravely ill.

The regret had been especially strong in him, and when he expressed it to us, we were able to share our own and decided to get down to action. We were under the impression that Glen’s illness would be a slow progression, but four weeks after gathering to record demos for the album, Glen was gone. So sudden and shocking. We felt compelled to continue with the project as a kind of tribute. Then we were hit with the first of the series of the Famous Extreme Victorian lockdowns that lasted here through COVID-19. I recorded and produced slowly, one song at a time, at my off-grid studio in the Wombat Forest in the Central Highlands of Victoria. I was learning techniques and gaining experience and expertise in complete isolation.

Drums were recorded remotely from the USA and played by Nik Hughes, currently of Bush, bass from Melbourne, and all the lead guitar parts were recorded on short stop-offs at the studio while Johnny, the guitarist, was completing regional wine deliveries. (This allowed him to…sort of…be acting within the letter of the law.) This all took place over eighteen months, quite a while.

I sent my monitor mixes to Barny Barnicott in Kent, UK (also locked down in his studio), and he agreed to mix the album at Blue Bell Hill. It was mastered in London at Streaky Studios, and Sound As Ever decided they’d like to release the album back home in Australia.

We all learned a great deal about patience and persistence over the two-and-a-half-year process. We had a lot of goodwill that we were able to call on and a lot of luck. The lockdowns were a killer, but they enabled us to work with Nik and Barny…..

And now it’s out there in the world. I hope Glen likes it.

The decision to seek opinions on your new songs is intriguing. When did you realize that external perspectives could contribute to your creative process?

I don’t think there’s any point in making music as a one-way process. If you make music and release it just to say, “hey, look how good I am,” you’ve missed the point. It’s the conversation that creates the meaning; without it, it’s just masturbation. Empty, meaningless. Music demands opinion because it’s an active thing; a back-and-forth communication where minds and bodies share, accept, or reject what’s being transmitted or received. It’s definitely the audience that decides what’s worthy or not.

With the record completed and the music released, do you believe the pinnacle of enjoyment has been reached, or is this just the beginning of an exciting phase?

There is a very different type of exhilaration when a record is released. It’s a highly anxious moment heightened by the unknown. There is an absolute excitement in having finished the creative process of writing, recording, production, and the art of putting the music and the physical album together. For that moment when your creation is first in your hand and concrete and tangible, it’s a tremendous high; but it’s a fleeting high because then you have to hand it over. It doesn’t belong to you anymore, and doesn’t matter a damn what you think of it or how proud of it you are. You throw it into the abyss of public opinion and hope to get a reaction that somehow echoes your own feelings about the work. I think the process of creating and releasing pop music is either a search for an intellectual or visceral connection with the community or an expression of separateness from it. Both attempt to make statements about the world we live in and what it all means through communication…So essentially, you must launch it to find out who you are and where you fit.

So I reckon you’re right about it being a pinnacle….but for me, it’s heaps more complicated. Lol. I find the most enjoyment in the process of creation or performance, but there is definitely a thrill in knowing that your work is now out there in the world. I’m such an anxious wreck that I don’t get to enjoy it as an exciting phase; I experience it less as a sort of release and more as a what’s-next moment….probably so I don’t stress about the response to the album. It’s the way I cope, I guess….I’m sure there are better ways.

Looking ahead to the next couple of months, what exciting plans or projects are on the horizon for you?

We are so looking forward to heading out live with a bunch of shows to launch the album. We are hitting capital cities and our hometowns. We are lucky enough to be supporting Happy Mondays on their Australian tour, so we are going to be in some big venues in parts of the country that we’ve never played before. We can’t wait!

Then right after that, we are off to the UK for shows in England and Scotland. We have a show with Inspiral Carpets while we are there and a Friday night spot at the massive 3-day Indie festival, Shiiine On. We have some vague plans for an Australian and New Zealand tour in the New Year that we are really hoping come to fruition. We haven’t stopped writing either, so recording again is a definite!

In the digital age, visual elements are intertwined with music. How did you approach the album’s visual aesthetics, such as album art and accompanying visuals? How do they complement the sonic experience you’ve crafted?

I’m really glad you asked about the visuals. They are really important to me. Always have been. I think there’s a degree of synesthesia that goes on with album art. If you get it right, you can almost hear the music in the artwork. It can really inform a punter on a level beyond the purely visual. Album art is a bonus in a sense that it allows another medium for the message.

I was a big fan of the 4AD label from England. Their album art was extraordinarily evocative. It sang. It resonated all on its own. I’m always drawn to that kind of synergy. I wanted to do my best to achieve something approximating their achievement. It is a similarly useless pursuit to just have a cool picture. It’s meaningless, a wasted opportunity to convey meaning, to say something beyond the literal, to touch people in a more profound way. I think you have to try.

I don’t know if I succeeded in creating a visual style that speaks of the music or conveys the essence of it…or not. I think I married how our music makes me feel with a visual representation of that feeling. I hope it communicates that marriage.