The Vasco Era – Lucille
I wanted to be in a band after I saw Vasco play at Falls when I was 17. Nothing much has really changed since then. In fact no other gig has ever had an effect on me like that one. They were playing the first album then but I think Lucille probably had the biggest influence on the band. The words on Lucille and the next one are extraordinary and I still keep the lyric sleeves in the glove box. I love how different the three albums are. When you listen to them it’s not really if you are in a Vasco mood or not, but which particular album you are in the mood for and I don’t reckon you can say that of many bands.
Blink-182 – Dude Ranch
I first heard this when I was still in primary school driving through the Simpson Desert with me mate Will who had the CD. Dammit was the standout then and still is now and we play it at gigs. They’re just pretty bloody genius. We always play their songs when we rehearse and all of them are the same chords but with different guitar bits or a different melody and they are all immediately individually recognisable. One band we all farken love. Completely lost me after Take off Your Pants and Jacket though.
Paul Kelly – Songs From the South Vol 1
I think probably like everyone my age I was exposed to this ‘best of’ when I was a kid. Memories of childhood are pretty much Paul Kelly and Pizza Shapes. That’s it. Just banger after banger. Everything’s Turning to White got me pretty early. You forget it’s a live recording until you hear the applause. I can’t get enough of the Coloured Girls era when PK was just a god damn rock’n’roll heartthrob.
Youth Group – Skeleton Jar
Hopefully everyone that got around the cover went back to this album. I suppose it’s not any special kind of indie rock. They tread that fine line between emotional indie and cheese which I reckon is one of the hardest things to pull off. I think they recorded it in an abandoned boat and you can hear it’s not super polished which was probably tempting. The guitar stuff is sick and the drums are bloody spot on. I think it’s the drummer. He pushes them real good.
The Mess Hall – For The Birds
This album was a bit of a shock at first. I remember being intrigued by the cover and then surprised at the theme of the whole thing. It’s like a dreamy, eerie, distinctively Australian Beck album or something. Beck has probably done a distinctively Australian album at some point. It’s way different to the blues rock stuff. Jed Kurzel did the soundtrack to Snowtown a few years after this and you can hear the foundations on this album I reckon.
THE PRETTY LITTLES are launching two new songs, Tegan Victoria and Dangerman, this Friday August 8 at Northcote Social Club. Support for this self-deprecatingly titled event, The Double B-Side Launch, comes from Oscar Buble and The Butter Boys plus James Moloney & The Mad Dog Harrisons $13.
