Tripod have been a staple of my musical life since the release of their early album Open Slather in the year 2000. Men Of Substance definitely represents a very different Tripod from those early days. The humour is similar, the singing is more polished, and the themes are more adult, but somehow the brand is unmistakable.
If you’ve been to a Tripod gig in the last two years chances are you’re familiar with some of the material on this album. Adult Contemporary kicks of the album, featuring the boys eulogising their youthful past and embracing their new-found adult selves – picking up sausages from Bunnings and only attending live music gigs if they take place at wineries.
The album continues much in this vein – comedy songs featuring themes drawn straight from the lives of 30 to 50 somethings around Australia. Unfortunately a lot of the tracks don’t relate quite as well on the album as they do live, but there are still some excellent offerings. Yon’s anxious self-analysis contained in Climate Change is simply charming – “I’m not much good at fighting marauders off/I learnt this at my Year 12 formal,” and he takes the lead again in Gay Bar, where he plays the role of a father explaining to his young child how he met their mother in a gay bar where he went trying to “pick up a fag hag”.
Overall though this album leavesa feeling of nostalgia. It will remind you of being 15-years-old, cavorting around your bedroom with your friends mouthing the words to Second Drawer Down. Tripod have grown up, and we’ve grown up with them. Their live shows are funnier than ever, but somehow it doesn’t quite translate to CD.
BY JOSH FERGEUS
Best Track: Climate Change
If you like These, you’ll like This: CORKY & THE JUICE PIGS, TENACIOUS D
In A Word: Nostalgic
