In the existing music climate, you’ll find two kinds of bands: those who are held hostage by the current musical zeitgeist, or conversely, those who are widely regarded as genre bands. One such example is The Eighty 88s, whose specialist genre is soul music, much akin to the jumpin’ style of legendary outfits like James Brown, Little Richard and Ray Charles. However, while The Eighty 88s had fully embraced this style from a bygone era and claimed it as their own, the band still faced a very real obstacle around the time of their conception a mere three years ago: sourcing a venue that would allow the band to cultivate their style, while simultaneously allowing them to place a solid foothold within Melbourne’s live music landscape. Enter the band’s relationship with Fitzroy’s iconic tiki haven and live music venue, The LuWOW.
“Our first show at The LuWOW was two-and-half years ago,” says Alex Werner, keyboard player for The Eighty 88s. “They asked us to play on a Saturday night, which was good for us at the time. It was packed and turned out to be a great show, with their gogo goddesses getting around us, so they asked us back to do a Friday night. We’ve probably done a Friday night there once every two or three months since.” “It’s pretty much been our home-ground,” adds guitarist Teddy Mitchell.
Indeed, a key reason The Eighty 88s sound resonated so profoundly throughout the tropical walls of The LuWOW was due to both the band and venue’s overriding flavours being firmly rooted in 1950s America. According to the band’s second guitarist Lachlan McDougal, The Eighty 88s early success at The LuWOW directly led to wave of more gigs. “We got a gig at The Old Bar because Joel [Morrison, owner of The Old Bar] stuck his head out of the door and saw there was a queue, and thought he wouldn’t mind having a bit of that action.”
The Eighty 88s are currently in the midst of an intensive run of rehearsals ahead of their month-long Friday night residency at The LuWOW. During these rehearsals, the band have been figuring out their set for the shows, working on new material, and establishing how best to cater for the loss of the band’s powerhouse vocalist and effervescent frontman Scott Connolly, who is moving to Sydney for work.
Thanks to Connolly’s commanding impact as The Eighty 88s frontman, some may assume he was the band’s key songwriter, too. However, this isn’t quite the case, with songwriting and vocal duties split evenly across Connolly, Werner and Zoe Rinkel, with each sharing equal credits on the band’s self-titled, 2015 debut album. However, according to McDougal, since the release of their debut album the band has taken an inclusive approach to their songwriting. “We are going to be playing song brand new songs over the next four weeks at LuWOW,” McDougal says. “We wrote these songs with all of us in the room – we’ve tried really hard to include a group input on the songs. I think they have a different vibe; they seem to be a bit freer.”
While the band will be playing most songs from their debut album, Connolly’s songs won’t be touched on until the final week of their residency, when he returns for the show on Friday July 29. However, the band has revealed that one song that’ll feature proximately during their residency is one of Rinkel’s numbers, Long Way Down. While the smoky blues tune that features an infectious groove is a band favourite, the deeply personal subject matter can often present concern for Rinkel.
“It’s weird to hear myself sing the words and wonder, ‘What the fuck were you thinking?’ It does feel very removed,” she says. “We’ve almost got Long Way Down Part 2,” adds Mitchell. “It’s practically the riff in reverse.”
BY DAN WATT
