Melbourne post-punk/no wave quintet Drug Sweat remain a mystery to many. Despite taking the coveted closing slot at last year’s Meredith Music Festival, there’s very little known about the band’s origins, interests and prevailing movements. Music-wise, just one song sits on their official Soundcloud page – the single Pinguz. By all appearances, Drug Sweat have been able to keep their egos in check while steadily gathering a curious listenership. Though, it’s worth considering where you draw the distinction between temperance and indifference.
Whatever the case may be, Drug Sweat aren’t reluctant to perform and they’ll continue to further their reach when they take part in PBS FM’s Drive Live event early next month. There’ve also been hushed mutterings that the band are preparing to release an album sometime in the near future. “We just recorded it. It’ll be out this year,” says bassist Rich Stanley. “Working title: The Best Day Of My Life/The Biggest Boner In The Universe.”
Stanley’s joined in the band by guitarist/vocalist Jake Robertson (Ausmuteants, The Frowning Clouds and Hierophants), drummer Angus Bell (The Galaxy Folk), keyboardist/vocalist Marc Dean (Ausmuteants) and guitarist Roland Hlavka (Cobwebbs). This list of affiliated bands is a microcosmic indication of the overwhelming extent of music currently being created and released. The surfeit of contemporary releases could trigger anxiety about one’s music getting lost in the fog, but Stanley remains unmoved. “Not a bit [worried],” he says. “Our music is sick as.”
In a late career interview with The Quietus, David Bowie described the compulsion to go into the arts and attempt to share your ideas with masses of people as a sign of dysfunction; “where all the nutcases go when they haven’t been locked up.” There’s a sardonic element to Drug Sweat’s music, but the songs are also well crafted and reasonably accessible. As far as Stanley’s concerned, the drive to make music and play shows isn’t particularly aberrant.
“Given the eternal post-adolescent man child with rockstar ambitions is one of the most enduring objects of ridicule in our culture, the desire to play in a band is about as odd as eating bread,” he says.
Drug Sweat owe stylistic debt to late-‘70s/early-‘80s post punk and new wave, as well as no wave bands like Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. They’re no chumps melodically, and can employ a memorable hook to temper their more over-the-top, experimental tendencies. At the outset of the band, however, there wasn’t much time to demarcate their desired stylistic space.
“Our first rehearsal was on Wednesday April 30, 2014 at 7.30pm,” says Stanley. “We played our first gig in the same spot at 10.30pm. There wasn’t a lot of time to think.”
Despite their haphazard beginnings, Drug Sweat have persevered. Everyone has their own idea of what ‘making it’ in music means, and this conception is likely to evolve as creative concerns shift or popularity increases. For everyone that’s drawn towards music by the anticipated glory and hedonistic lifestyle, there are just as many hell-bent on creating something that articulates a certain elusive feeling (and then provides a similar experience for the audience). As far as the ultimate payoff goes, Drug Sweat’s ambitions are fairly modest.
“Girls dancing,” says Stanley. “You always expect people to be standing around looking funny, so if they dance then you’ve hit the bullseye.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
