It’s tempting to see Shepparton Airplane as the successor to Jefferson Airplane’s hirsute and hallucinogenic message of peace, love and happiness. The rhetorical shine of west coast idealism has worn off, replaced by the disenfranchised reality of regional Australia, wrapped up and spat out in abrasive punk rock form. This is where the world was always heading; those hippies didn’t know shit from clay.
But Shepparton Airplane is a lot more than just a clever pun: they’re a straight out, serious as fuck rock’n’roll outfit. With members from Graveyard Train and The Peep Tempel, Shepparton Airplane know how to play rock’n’roll with punk attitude. You’ve got the decapitated Ramones psychosis of Got No Head, tempered by the disaffected northwest snarl of Long While and the chunky post-punk fatigue of Depressure. What Would You Know offers a Buzzcockian salute to the pretenders of social status; Drink the Water is Jonestown tragedy via the Lizard Train; and Superheroes is so pissed off it’s in danger of being detained for disrupting the peace.
Town Cryer yanks you out of your terminal cerebral malaise and into a place of manic anti-social excitement; Rockin’ Man is a frenetic blend of jagged melody, pithy punk rock discourse and screaming feedback. There’s some seriously good shit happening here, and it ain’t none of that hippie crap.
BY PATRICK EMERY
