Melbourne rock fourpiece Tetsuians return with their new video and single 'Shadow in the Sky'.
Tetsuians have been around the block in Melbourne’s gig scene a few times, formerly as a female co-led alt-rock three-piece varying between Sleater-Kinney and Stevie Wonder, now as “a four-piece…so we probably rock a little more than we used to,” in frontman Trent Price’s words.
Price (guitar/vox) and Andy Jackson (drums) teamed with Luke Guan (bass) and Chris Corvetti (lead guitarist) for Tetsuians’ upcoming third studio album release. We premiered that record’s first single and video ‘Punching In’ last year, and now we’re showing off their new vid, ‘Shadow in the Sky’.
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In the words of the band, the song you are about to hear is an account of the tragedy that befell a rock group whilst enjoying an idyllic sunny afternoon…
“We wrote the song ‘Shadow in the Sky’ before realising it shared its title with a 1952 film about a recovering shell-shocked war pilot,” Trent continues. “We thought that was a bit heavy for the tone of the song, but liked the idea of flying guinea pigs. So we figured the natural thing to give the guinea pigs some motivation by dressing up as vegetables.
“It’s an upbeat take on paranoia – if that’s a thing. It’s about looking over your shoulder. Even a carrot’s got predatory issues. We just magnified it by giving it’s natural predator an unfair advantage.
“We had some help from some friends with drones, so the most expensive thing was probably the costume rental and the dry-cleaning bill. Capsicums sweat a lot in 30 degree heat.”
The band have been together since 2012, but saved their debut album until 2019’s eponymous debut, led by the single ‘Blue Or Blackballed’. They then followed up their debut with 2020’s Elephant Hexagon, with singles ‘Bloody Chieftain’ and ‘Pack A Little Bag’ before their rapid progress was stalled by COVID lockdowns, making ‘Punching In’ their first single of 2021. You can check out our feature on Elephant Hexagon here.
On the band’s unusual name, Trent says: “There was a campaign in Japan decades ago called Tetsu-wan-teeth-Project to help educate kids on the benefits of brushing their teeth. We entertained that name a bit but settled on Tetsuians as it had a weird Japanese 50’s sci-fi feel to it. We kind of created our own brand of people.
“The songs [on the upcoming album] are pretty diverse so piecing them together as a whole is gonna be an interesting challange. I know people generally don’t listen to albums anymore, but we’re still carrying that flame.”
Tetsuians are going to be supporting Sydney muso, Saffire Rose at the Workers Club on Sunday 13 March, the day after their single launch. They’re plugging the fact it’s an early arvo gig, so you don’t have to feel guilty about heading into work drunk the next day.
Follow them on FB here or Bandcamp here.
