Alf: Tone Home.

Alf launch Sarah Tone In at The Healer on Saturday.

Having performed around the traps as an acoustic soloist and with band for a couple of years now, Alf’s formidable live reputation has once again been captured for prosperity with their new disc Sarah Tone In. Alf, the band’s frontman answered some questions on their new release.

You've done a fair bit of recording in the past couple of years. Are you getting the songs down as you want them to sound straight off, or are you always surprised by the final results in the studio?

“I'm always stoked with the results of a recording; to hear a song you've been tooling around with in your head for years at last actually recorded with a band... I love it! We try as much as possible to let each of us play their own personal arrangement to each track, we may give each other some suggestions but that's about it. Jason is a champ at pulling out great little licks on the spot. So sometimes the sounds in my head aren't what comes out in the studio... It's usually better!”

You're both a soloist, the frontman of a band and a member of the Acoustic Allstars. Which is closest to your true musical personality?

“Having kept the name Alf for the band as well as solo work has lead to a lot of confusion with venues, media and the punters. Hopefully we're getting past all that... Being by yourself on a stage can be very daunting and you learn a lot from those experiences. I love the intimacy of the solo gigs I think it's a vehicle to truly bare your soul to an audience. Having said that I love the power of the band, hearing everything kick in and look around at the boys who are going off... it's hard to describe.”

What pushes you to write songs? Do you have to look far for inspiration?

“I've had a terrible writer's block for a while now, though I still pull out a couple now and then. We're looking at writing as a band more these days which is really exciting.”

There are a lot of local references in your songs, is it important for you as an act to define where you're coming from as part of your musical outlook?

“I think we're all just a result of what we're exposed to. It's what keeps us all-original. You can't sing a line like ‘...A daily trundle through Darlinghurst...’ when you've only been there twice. We live a South East Queensland lifestyle and that's what comes out in the lyrics.”