Published in The New Yorker in 1948, J.D. Salinger’s short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is a masterpiece of economy and style.
With six members and a rambling and rocking style, you’d hardly call Wireheads economic, but the Adelaide band have taken inspiration from Salinger’s story for their track and video “Bananafish.”
Videos by VICE
Lifted from their new album Arrive Alive, which is released today, the track refers to the story of Muriel and Seymour Glass, a married couple on a Florida vacation and the video, that we are premiering, stars Wireheads Dom Trimboli and Fair Maiden’s Ellen Cary as the young couple.
Filmed on Adelaide’s Grange Beach by Alex Gordon-Smith, the video features, bananas, wine and some late night golf.
Arrive Alive is follow-up up to band’s acclaimed second LP Big Issues and is available now on Tenth Court.
Watch the video below and read a short chat we had with Dom.
Noisey: The story of Muriel and Seymour Glass is quite tragic. Whose idea was it to come up with writing a song based around the Salinger story?
Dom Trimboli: I didn’t come up with the idea so much as it just kinda fell out when I was sitting around playing guitar one day. A lot of what I write about are inspired by things that I read; the references in Bananafish are rather obvious in comparison to other songs that I’ve written though I suppose.
Did Ellen write the song with you?
No, she just made it sound many million times better by singing most of it. Haha. I’d love to write a song with Ellen someday though.
“Bananafish” salutes J.D. Salinger’s short fiction and the variance in styles on the new album seems like a work of short stories. Is this just coincidence?
Probably. However, short stories are most certainly my favorite way to consume prose. Also, they are not unlike songs in my personal opinion. By that I mean: neither a song nor a short story is ever granted the luxury of too much of a listener/reader’s time. The writer is never required to clarify absolutely everything explicitly either. Instead, things can be left ambiguous and everybody can move on to explore the new ideas and themes inside of a new song/story.
Salinger edited Bananafish a number of times over a year before the story was published in The New Yorker. How about you guys wiht the album? Did it take long to record?
This is by-far the longest time we’ve ever spent making an album. Usually we just set aside a week or so, but we messed around with Arrive Alive on-and-off for months. The album is a very different beast for having done so, and it has kinda softened my attitude toward the whole business of the creative process. I don’t believe it’s a one-size-fits-all kinda thing anymore. Vic Conrad has helped me a lot in this area.
I notice you drive a golf ball into the ocean.
Ha. Actually, it’s a tomato! I couldn’t bring myself to pollute the ocean with a golf ball. Plus, Alex always wants me to smash up some fruit or vegetables in front of a camera for some reason!
How is your golf game?
I can actually get around the front nine holes of a golf course reasonably convincingly. I lose interest on the back nine though and usually end up in the clubhouse drinking jars and yarning with the old timers.
‘Arrive Alive’ is available now from Tenth Court.
