Figures Taekare Of Themselves

Figures is a band from Brisbane that like their 90s guitar rock to be sparse yet dark, ruminative but destructive, maudlin yet cleansing. There are checkpoints across their three tracks on their Taekare EP (recorded at Incremental Records) that evokes Dinosaur Jr, Pedro The Lion (especially in the quieter moments of 'Figure Eight'), Sonic Youth...and another band enamoured with the blanket-bomb noise of shoegaze, Melbourne legends White Walls. I seem hardwired to dig bands that take the shoegaze noise aesthetic and give it a brittle edge, stripping away the dreaminess, even the dreariness, to lend it fire. Swervedriver had moments like this, to be far, but it seems like it's the younger bands that have found that serrating the fuzz and distortion gives new shadows to lurk in and burst out of. It's early days to be sure, but Figures look the goods.

Can't Sleep With Deep Heat

Melbourne punks Deep Heat have put out some great releases over the past couple of years, especially their 10" EP New Design - it is still one of the most played pieces of vinyl I own. And their split with White Walls is so good, I bought a second one to put into the first Sonic Masala giveaway (I think the other pieces were a Dreamtime record, a Tym Guitars T-shirt and something else I can't remember...) So to hear that they have re-joined Poison City Records to launch their second record, Still Life. They have been quite of late, with members spread across taking part in The Stevens, Infinite Void and Shaking Hell. They are revitalised and ready to tear the air asunder. Listen to that frenetic bass that opens first track of the record, 'Sleep'. They have not lost any of the hedonistic rush of finding melody within raw angularity, the round-vowelled and clipped yet drawled delivery of Gus Lord meaning that lyrics are more insinuated than finely articulated, and Katie is so tight as the drumming rhythm that it's impossible to think of a better calibrated beast. 'Sleep' pitches into the past, echoing the darkness and desperation of blue-denim punk rock, whilst also propelling into the dank twilight of Melbourne's sweaty inner suburbs, a warm yet suffocating place, where insomnia is both a blessing and a curse. If this is the kind of nugget that callused minds churn out from being starved of rest and oxygen, keep them on the hamster wheel. I fucking love this song; I fucking love this band; and I can't wait until 2016 when I can fucking love this album.

Double White Walls In Limbo

This year's Sonic Masala Fest was incredible, a real coup and a life achievement for me. So many things worked out right - the weather, the venue, the crowd, the bands. Although David Lynch's Q+A and the Oblivians shows took a few punters away, it was above all a killer day.

One of the best parts was hanging out with the three dudes from White Walls for the weekend. Their set was decidedly loud - as is their MO - yet I had forgotten just how smooth it all is, how easily it is to be cocooned within the intricacies inherent within the noise. Their self titled album has been a favourite of mine for some time now, and finally their follow up Afterthoughts In Limbo (which is mammoth as a double LP and is out on the band's brand spankin' new Pet Moth Records label) is just around the corner. Below are three tracks off it ('Crossing Roads' having been pushed into the ether last week as a biding time gesture while the vinyl orders take their time getting shipped), and their eloquent and devastating take on shoe gaze rock is as jaw dropping as ever. If you haven't put your order in to get a piece of Afterthoughts In Limbo, go here right now. And if you are in Melbourne May 30 and haven't got anything going - get to The Corner where White Walls and Hotel Wrecking City Traders support the gargantuan Japanese giants Boris.

IT'S TIME - SONIC MASALA FEST PART DEUX

That's right people, after the success of last year's inaugural Sonic Masala Fest, we are ready to throw down again. Descending once again on Brisbane's Greenslopes Bowls Club on Saturday March 14, we bring you 22 bands from across the land for a day of music, food, booze and barefoot bowls. We are opening up channels to buy an early bird ticket of $15 (and some bundles with records and T-shirts of the design above, made once again by the brilliant Phoebe Paradise), which will go up to $20 after February 1 - which still works out as less than a dollar a band, so win win. So far the lineup is pretty stellar if I say so myself!

SCREAMFEEDER

WHITE WALLS

SUMMER FLAKE

GHOST NOTES

DOLLAR BAR

DANYL JESU

UNPEOPLE

THIGH MASTER

BARGE WITH AN ANTENNA ON IT

PLEASURE SYMBOLS

MCKISKO

PRIMITIVE MOTION

THESEASHALLNOTHAVETHEM

GOLDEN BATS

ULTRA MATERIAL

GO GO FISH

VULTURE CIRCUS

JULIA R ANDERSON & THE JOHNNYS

With more bands and added extras to announce, including criminally cheap Cooper's Pale Ale schooners once again, and as another excuse to fly back into perennial sunny good times, I for one am pretty excited.

EXEKUTIVE DUB

A deliberately sparse and haunting siren call of leather steampunk caught in the dub excess of William Gibson's less lucid moments, Melbourne nightcrawlers Exek really have hit a nerve with their new release. The ex-Slug Guts and Martyr Privates vehicle is the closest thing yet to a Melbourne band actually living on the outer regions of all parallel universes. 'A Hedonist' feels like Ennio Morricone on a space-age Rastafarian bent, with instruments frayed and blasted from time and neglect. The experimentation with instruments (glockenspiel, saxophone, violin, triangle, glasses) to create an ephemeral bedrock for Adrian Wolski's disembodied warbles creates a languid wasteland with which the songs float, in a green room of wavering consciousness and emotions. It's a brooding beast of a release, but Exek proves there is life on other much, much more distant planets than this one.


Buy Exek from TIME /\ SPACE Record Co. here. They have played shows recently with the likes of Cobwebbs and White Walls, but have gone underground for a while. In between the lines and minds. But stay intuned...

Rancid Mutton

I somehow missed commenting on this brutal bile-fuelled band at the beginning of the year, then again when they supported Sonic Masala Records' own Gazar Strips on their Sparkling EP tour in May. Well I'm sure these guys don't need much of an introduction if you are into gutter noise punk rock outta Melbourne. To the rest of you - introducing Mutton.

I first heard 'In Between The Dirt', the last track off their self-titled EP, and thought of fellow trash Batpiss (one of my favourite breakout bands of last year). But this is even more indebted to Yow and his acolytes than most of the pricks running around Brunswick, and that alone makes them an exciting proposition. you can't state that this is particularly "new" - but what's original when you are flailing on the floor trying to gouge your eyes out with a broken pool cue? Plus they have a band T-shirt of Sam Kekovich being torn apart by rabid sheep - an in-joke for the Aussie AFL/lamb-eating crowd, sure, but that imagery alone buys them miles of shit-stained cred.

Mutton are already aligning themselves with some of the gold-flecked detritus of the Australian underground, playing shows with the likes of Sewers, Cuntz, White Walls, Scul Hazzards, Worm Crown, Bone and the excellent DEAD - but these guys are flaying themselves to the front of the pack. Join in on the flagellation.

Eleven from Thirteen

It's pretty hot in Brisbane today. I have no memory of who my secret Santa is anymore. But there's some things I'll never be able to forget about this year (in no particular order and with some of them actually released last year):

Violent Soho - 'In the Aisle'

Violent Soho have killed it this year. There is something behind this that I still can't quite put my finger on. That's a good thing. Plus, I can find no better contender for a nude bike riding anthem.



Parquet Courts - 'Stoned and Starving'

This is the first Parquet Courts track I ever heard. I went straight home and ordered the album on the strength of it. The best feedback of the year. The best solo of the year.



White Walls - 'Transmission'

The White Walls album spent the most time out of any on my player this year. There is a dirge that runs through these gems. The tone at 0:40 here is un-fucking-believably good.



Mogwai - 'Re-murdered'

From most played last year to an early contender for next year already. Brendan told me he listened to this 16 times in a row. I didn't believe him. Then I listened to it. Then I believed him. The I listened to it  fifteen more times. The bass tone at 3:17 could surely be used in place of a defibrillator.



Pop. 1280 - 'Nailhouse'

This Pop. 1280 record is also full of all things good for the soul - especially 'Nailhouse'. I was listening to this on headphones in my lounge room so that my housemates could hear the telly. Too bad for them when the "in a nailhouse" part came along. If I could do this on Karaoke, I would go to Karaoke every night.



Yes I'm Leaving - 'Creepy Man'

The Yes I'm Leaving we put on at the Waiting Room this year was really up there for me. And this song live is a revelation. If you haven't got Mission Bulb, don't worry. Tenzenmen have got your copy (and the Yes I'm Leaving back catalogue) waiting for you.



Cloud Nothings - 'Wasted Days'

Though technically released in 2012 - same with the Whitewalls album, actually... - I only got 'round to listening to this this year. I love bands who aren't afraid to hold a groove for as long as needs to be held.  I don't know anyone who doesn't appreciate the 'Wasted days' sentiment either.



Dollar Bar - 'Everyone's Everyone'

Oh, man, talk about feeling good about music in Brisbane this year. These guys are bloody legends who write bloody great pop songs. The album launch at the Beetle Bar was a damn love-in. And rightly so! When do Dollarbar get there plaque on Brunswick street?



Courtney Barnett - 'Avant Gardener'

Another singer who writes bloody good, bloody clever, pop songs. Never have I smiled so much after hearing a song. I fucking hate gardening and now have a legitimate excuse in the medium of song. Hedging on genius.



Batpiss - 'Loose Screws'

Genius again here. Evil Genius. A Bat Pisses on a dude. This band is formed. If there is a necessary connection between animal urine and insanely rad music, here's hoping for further such incidents.



The Spinning Rooms - 'Julia'

The Spinning Rooms at the Waiting Room (and then at Tym's the next day) was the best gig of the year for me. Hands down. Frenetic, pacing, torpid they are really something to behold.


If I've forgotten anything (which I have), I blame the weather. And budget cuts to my brain.

INTERVIEW - Batpiss

Ah, Batpiss. The loose trio produced one of the best balltearing releases of the year in the form of Nuclear Winter back in the first half of the year. Yet this interview, conducted with bassist/vocalist Thomy Sloane, was actually conducted back in May, the same time Nathan and I interviewed another excellent Melbourne band White Walls. Why has it taken so long to air? Because I had been holding on to this for their album launch shows up here in July – that never happened. Then I was holding it for when they would launch the album at a Sonic Masala show slated for October 12. But that ain’t happenin either. Why? Because the bloody Nation Blue bloody asked em to bloody support them on a little covert tour, didn’t they? The same day I have a wedding to attend (not my own, but a close friend’s). Fuckers. No, it will be a killer show this Saturday night down at Crowbar (with the excellent Roku Music and new anomaly Greig filling out the bill). So here is the interview. (Yes, Thomy does speak like this; and yes, I laughed a lot).

SONIC MASALA – Hey Tommy, how are you man?

THOMY SLOANE – umm…fucking working on the door (at the Tote) at the moment. So if the band starts Ill ask someone to cover me if it’s too loud.

This is the flyer I saw. OFF! was a dream come true for Black Flag head Thomy...

SM – Cool, Ill get stuck in then. I can’t remember exactly where I had heard of Batpiss originally, because you haven’t been around all that long – it may have been on a flyer that I saw in Melbourne back in February – and so it feel you have leapt out of nowhere to be slaying it down there.

TS – Yeah man, fuckin ahh, it’s pretty new ay? We’re blown out by it all too, we’ve only been doing this for a year and a half. Shit’s just worked out for us, we haven’t really had to do anything, we’ve just been lazy pricks and shit’s just fallen in our laps, which is lucky for us I guess. We’re spun the fuck out over it hey!

SM – (laughs) The funny thing about your album Nuclear Winter is that its brutal but it does sound like there's some kind of manic glee in the entire process, there's no, as full as it can be it is not a serious endeavour…

TS – Totally. There’s nothing serious about us. We get labelled and put alongside these heavy as hell bands, but you listen to the record and…we’re not, you know? We’re the opposite in some ways. There are heavy elements for sure…but I don’t even think its heavy! (laughs) The album itself has real diverse shit in there; some of it’s pop I reckon…

SM – (laughs) Really?

TS – Yeah, yeah. The ‘Loose Screws’ chorus is pretty poppy, same with ‘Portal’ I reckon.

SM – That’s a pretty warped take on pop.

TS – Yeah, pretty much (laughs) Well not pop, but catchy. Catchy can be the word; I don’t wanna be in a pop band, fuck that.

SM – (laughs) Not with a name like Batpiss, that’s for sure! Where did the name come from?

TS – It came from Marty our drummer. We were drunk as shit one night, trying to come up with a band name. We came up with heaps of stupid ones, then that came up. We –

(Noise as the band starts up. The next three minutes is Thomy trying to get someone to take the door; lots of expletives; finally he works something out and things quieten down)

TS – So sorry dude! Where was I? The name? Yeah, so, do you really wanna know the long story?

SM – (laughs) That’s up to you, do you want to tell it?

TS – Ok…(sigh)…I went on this date with this chick at the Tote, and at this time of year bats hang out in the trees. It’s a clear arse night, and I’ve seen them piss on someone before in the beer garden. So that’s happened to me; it was a clear arse night, so it clearly wasn’t rain. And the girl was like “Oh, what was that?” And I was like “Ah, nothing…I'll be back in a sec.” I just live around the corner so I'm fucking running home, ripping my fucking shirt off that’s covered in fucking bat piss, ran back to the pub and ran into Marty, and I was like “Dude, I got pissed on by a bat!” He laughed and said “We’re called Batpiss, that’s it” And yep, that’s it. How good is that?

SM – (laughing)

TS – We came up with heaps of other stupid names afterwards, because it was just a joke at the start. The whole band thing – Marty and I only played songs that went for one minute. Then we got Paul in on guitar, we started writing different shit to suit him, and the name stuck.

SM – So the name literally fell from the sky?

TS – It literally did, and it covered me! (laughs)

SM – So you said you brought Paul in and started changing the dynamic of the band, were there any influences or goals that you had at the very least?

TS – Yeah, well, all three of us love different shit, like Marty our drummer is heaps into doom stuff, and I enjoy old punk rock, Black Flag and all that punk shit, and Paul our guitarist is heaps into blues – he’s one of those dudes who can just play mad shit. So I think it’s just a blend of three different people throwing whatever they want to the mix. There’s no boundaries, like we don’t say “We’ve got fucking do this or fucking sound like this!” We just sit around and fucking jam out, so things start fast and end up slow, that kind of thing. And there’s no real band influences either. If it was anything like that, it’d be local bands around Melbourne I reckon. Just got a dark Melbourne kinda sound, you know? We’re just a bunch of weird cunts, really…

SM – (laughs) Yeah, that you are! It’s funny you should say that, because one of my favourite bands at the moment is The Spinning Rooms, and there’s a certain level of affinity that you guys hold with them too…

TS – Oh majorly man, I reckon those guys are awesome! I actually live with Pete (Dickinson, vox/guitar for The Spinning Rooms). I absolutely love what they do and once again I think they’ve got that real dark underground Melbourne kinda sound, that noisy kinda thing. Whatever they do is fucking rad and I’ve definitely taken influence from them for sure. Mainly the noisy guitar and Pete’s vocals as well.

SM – It’s just something else, isn’t it? I’ve known Tom Lyngcoln since 2011 when I came back from the UK and he was starting up Harmony, who’s a goddamn legend, and…

TS – Who’s that?

SM – Tom Lyngcoln? He did your album?

TS – Oh, yeah, Tom, sorry I couldn’t hear for a second. Yeah he’s a fucking legend.

SM – Yeah, and he recorded the Spinning Rooms stuff, so it’s clearly a sound that he is gravitating towards as well, or at least is searching him out…

TS – Oh majorly man! I don’t know what it is about him hey. He’s got such an ear for good shit. I'm not saying that about us, though, the other stuff he does, including the bands hes in. He’s totally onto it.

SM – He sure is…

TS – And he’s the most humble dude to work with, man. Recording was completely stress free with him. It’s a fucking pleasure to know the guy.

SM – (laughs) He puts his neck out for anyone that he thinks is the real deal, he’s a great guy…

TS – Fucking oath. He’s someone where it’s like if you don’t get along with him, then you must be a fuckwit. (laughs) If you can’t like this guy then there’s something fucking going on with you, mental issues or some shit. He is just a fucking good dude.

SM – Stepping away from the gushing for a second…

TS – (laughs) Yeah, that was getting a bit like that…

SM – You said that Nuclear Winter was an easy recording process, you did it all at the Tote in your rehearsal room, is that right?

TS – Yeah. Well me and Marty work at the Tote, jam here, we know what the room’s like, it’s just around the corner from my house, so why not, you know? It’s where the band fucking started, so we feel at home here. Plus we don’t have to fucking pay any money, which is luck because we haven’t fucking got none, plus all our gear’s here so we don’t have to lug it anywhere. Tom has a portable studio he can take anywhere with him, so he set up a bunch of shit and we recorded it live.

SM – Nuclear Winter kind of sounds live, but it sounds so good. When I heard it was all recorded in the Tote rehearsal rooms, well, I know you can make anything sound good from anywhere I suppose, but it’s a sleeker production that still sounds brutal, like it can break down at any time…

TS – Yeah, it’s got a real roomy sound, not like it’s in a sterile environment like a studio.  There’s lots of bleed in it. It’s pretty much how we sound live, and I didn’t want to capture anything else. You know when with bands you see them a bunch of times then you hear the album and it sounds really polished? I wanted the opposite, to say “Nah, this is how we kill it” and press play. I think it’s come out sweet, I'm really happy with it.

SM – With songs like ‘Loose Screws’ that are more straightforward rock tunes, then there are songs that are slower, stretched out, dirge like songs – it’s an album that truly showcases what Batpiss has been able to achieve over the past year.

TS – Totally man, and I think that’s to do with the different stuff we all listen to as well. You can be heavy without being metal, and the riffs on the albums prove that I reckon. It’s good to be diverse, rather than be labelled as a punk band or a whatever band. We play fast paced songs, medium paced shit, it’s all good.

SM – Do you find yourselves being corralled into heavy sets or heavy lineups that don’t really suit you, or sort of diverse acts that don’t really gel together?

TS – Yeah, we get thrown onto lots of doomy sort of shows and that always flips me out because all the bands before us are heavy as fuck, and I'm thinking “Man, we’re gonna sound like the Spice Girls coming after these guys!” I don’t know, I feel we’ve always played shows with different genre bands as well. I prefer to play mixed-genre bills. A good band’s a good band, you don’t have to all sound the same to have a good time. And that’s where I think we’ve branched out to a lot of people as well. A lot of people who listen to country or folk grew up as little punks, everyone’s had their day listening to hardcore shit, and Batpiss might take them back to that. I don’t know…

SM – Well you had a pretty eclectic lineup for your launch too, didn’t you?

TS – Yeah man that was nuts. And once again I think the scene down in Melbourne is so strong dude. Every fucking band is seriously got their A game on. All the bands we picked for that were bands that we’re mates with. We couldn’t do a launch where you have one or two bands support you, we though “Fuck that! We wanna get them all!” So we made a party out of it, and it was off the tap man. Every band was on the money, and we were sitting there shitting ourselves, thinking that it had all backfired on us and we were the worst band to be finishing off such a fucking awesome lineup. I don’t know, I reckon it all worked out in the end.

SM – (laughs) Just going back to the album for a second, the artwork is pretty cool, where’d that come from?

TS – That’s our guitarist; he does all our art. He’s a freak at drawing, like you go to his house and the place is covered in pictures he’s drawn, all like skulls and that kinda shit. I reckon he’s got a distinct kind of style about him, and it’s good for us too because then our releases can be seen as Batpiss just from the drawings. His artwork is off the chain! That’s fucking nothing compared to a lot of his other stuff, it’s pretty loose.

Shit indeed. A wild guy from a wild band. Make sure you can get to the show at Crowbar this Saturday – Ill be the guy in the spew-stained suit – but if you can’t get there, you can pick up their excellent album Nuclear Winter through Every Night Is A Saturday Night Records here.

Forever In Harmony

A friend of mine said last week that Harmony was easily the most original band in the country right now. It's a bold statement (made bolder by further asserting that they were indeed the best band in the country right now), but one that is easily justified. Tom Lyngcoln's rough-hewn guitar and bluesy, guttural howls alongside the three-part gospel croonings, the feverish bass and cataclysmic, marching drums. Gothic to the extreme, drenched with sweat, marked by flies, covered in red dust and moribund chagrin, Harmony seems a name initially only in existence due to the choral offshoot. Yet there is an intense, inherent fervency that forges these disparate elements together in a stoic march against adversity and despair, clawing for hope with arms interlocked. 'Cut Myself Clean' is the new track from the upcoming sophomore album Carpetbombing (after having signed to Poison City Records, who after taking on White Walls and Deep Heat amongst many more seriously know what they are doing) - and I for one have shivers permanently etched into my spine.

Harmony are about to tour the country in support of another iconic gem, The Drones. And yes, they are arguably the most original band in the country - quite possibly the best.

Foreign Thieves

I thought I'd end off  Chicago's Daylight Robbery, who I caught playing a no-frills rocking set at The Waiting Room on Friday night (alongside others such as Roku Music and Screaming Match). The trio are no nonsense, clearly doing it for the love of it, and there was something disarming about their throwback garage punk that is often missing from others of their ilk.

I'm closing down for the weekend. I'm a little bit sore from last night's stellar Trainspotters gig (thanks for coming out, by the way), I'm dreading my first day at two of my jobs in three weeks tomorrow, I've done a mountain of washing, and I'm looking at the final day of the Ashes Test with a queasy sense of trepidation. I need to medicate. And their latest release, the EP Distant Shores, is the ticket. Apparently created specifically with this tour in mind (they only released their Ecstatic Vision LP last year, but wanted something "new" to bring with them), the three tracks electrify; fast paced and urgent, with a mirthful glint in the eye, feeling more in sync with MC5, the Jam and X than more recent punk luminaries (which also speaks to their final show being a support of Straitjacket Nation).

You can pick up Distant Shores (in white 7" vinyl), and indeed any of Daylight Robbery's back catalogue, from here. They are halfway through an extensive Australian tour, have been playing with the likes of Deep Heat, White Walls, Cuntz and Native Cats of recent times, and they have tapped another show tonight at the Crowbar alongside the ever-excellent Blank Realm (Yoghurt Blood are also playing a rare set).

Daylight Robbery - Distant Shores

Spilling Paint on White Walls

I've been listening to the White Walls debut Self-titled for a few months now and it is still right up there as album of the year for me. I have a feeling that the upcoming shows at the Crowbar on Friday, 7 June (next weekend, for those playing at home) and at Tym's guitars (the best goddam guitar shop in the entire world) the following day for a free in-store will be up there on my live list too.

I caught up with Dylan from the band for a chat:

First of all, congratulations on the album, it’s a fucking fantastic piece of noisy craftsmanship. For me it really captures the hopeful side of world-weariness; a sunlight through the fringe kind of deal.

Thank you. It's really nice to hear good feedback on the record.

No worries. A lot of people up here [Brisbane] are really looking forward to hearing those doom guitar swirls live. It’s a sound that really fits well with the lyrical content: dealing with loss or regret, but in a way that’s more cathartic than depressing.

I think you have summed up the feeling of the record perfectly.

Going into it did you have any particular notions about what you wanted to convey?

Although we didn't consciously set out with any particular notion, there is definitely a familiar feeling that flows throughout.

Can you go into a bit more depth about the cover art on the album; it’s a very intriguing choice.

The cover art for the album was done by a good friend of ours; Gus Lord. He was actually working on something else initially, in a similar vein, but then came across this picture that he accidentally got paint on and built on that to create the final design.  It was perfect! We liked the fact that it was intriguing and also felt it suited the music well.

I definitely agree with that. As a band you seem very keen to talk about other people’s stuff that you think is worth getting in to, between the playing, writing, listening and sharing, it’s pretty obvious music plays quite a big role in your lives.

Music definitely plays a big role in our lives. The Melbourne music scene is thriving these days. It’s very exciting to be a part of it.

Yeah, the Melbourne music scene seems to be really kicking along at the moment. I get a sense of a sort of cross-pollination making for a vibrant and healthy environment for the bands.

We play with friend’s bands regularly and at the Gasometer Hotel more than enough - It’s almost like a second home. So our social life pretty much revolves around music, on top of the general listening enjoyment.

You must be stoked about getting on the Release the Bats line up.

We are extremely stoked on being asked to play ATP! It's a huge lineup of bands we like. Can't wait!

Tone and volume are pretty central (even to the sake of ‘worship’) – when you start a new song do you have a way of irking out or describing the sounds you want, and how long will you spend finding the right tone?

We are rather obsessed with tone, haha, this healthy obsession has grown since we started this band. We have a good idea of how we want new material to sound these days. Recently our setups have grown and we have now perfected the guitar tones we want at this point in time.

Does anyone have any secrets with their setups at the moment? Personally, I’m very keen to hear how you got the epic guitar sound in ‘transmission’.

There's no real tone secrets kept from anyone that has seen us live. Basically comes down to powerful guitar amps. The transmission guitar tone was a combination of death by audio fuzz pedals through an orange OR120 and a JCM800. This was pretty much the setup for this record. The next record will involve new and old setups.

The absence of bass guitar is something people often note about the band – was it a conscious decision at conception to leave it out? Does it impact on the song writing process?

The lack of bass guitar simply came from Fuj and myself both being guitarists when we started out and alongside Rory it just felt right. We figured if we could create a full enough sound then we wouldn't need a bass player. Some of the new songs have bass parts written in which are played on guitar.

New songs, eh? Can we expect anything anytime soon?

Got a second record in the works, which we will be recording late July, so lots to look forward to.

Get your hands on a copy of the album and the split 7" with Deep Heat (both out through the fucking incredible Poison City Records) here.

Deep Heat Burn

Due to a bit of an illness (don't worry I'm fine) and car issues (an ongoing concern), yesterday had me stranded. It was still an OK day - I watched a few films, started the fourth season of Justified, read some Daniel Cotterell (Winter's Bone is one of the best novellas of the past decade IMHO), started the layout for a gig in June, expanded on a short story premise, a few James Squires IPA beers to see out the day - but it was missing one vital ingredient.

Deep Heat played a free instore at Tym Guitars yesterday afternoon. I am soooooooo gutted.

The Melbourne band, featuring current and past members of Boomgates and Infinite Void amongst others, might be fairly unheralded up these parts, but (hopefully alongside geographical compatriots White Walls, and incidentally they released this sexy as 7" split a couple weeks ago) that will all change soon enough. Serving up a heady concoction of Wipers/Nation of Ulysses esque punk dissonance and esotericism with grungy dirge and a lurid gleam in the eye, the four-piece are terrifyingly titillating, a punch to the face that caresses the loins. I bought their 10" EP New Design on Record Store Day and it hasn't left my turntable for the past week. Blistering.

Buy New Design (out through Poison City Records on 10" vinyl) here. It promises to be one of the most truly exciting calling cards - their debut LP cannot come fast enough. And if you saw them play this weekend, why not tell us how it went in the comments? It gets so lonely around here...

Deep Heat - New Design
Deep Heat - Green Box