Watch This Now: The Snowdroppers – “Moving Out of Eden”
“I get no regard, no dinner invitations, no Get Well cards…”
I dunno about you lot, but we’ve already been treated to some pretty great Australian albums this year, ranging from the new Drones record to the Safe Hands debut and back around again. Way to go, first quarter! A record that I’m almost certain is about to join said ranks is Moving Out of Eden, the long-awaited sophomore from The Snowdroppers. Them boys have clearly been up to no good if their last video, the necromancing White Dress, was anything to go by. This time, however, it’s personal.
I dunno, is it? I just thought that sounded cool. What we do get is a minimal, shocking and exceedingly dark video starring the four Snowies lads, all of which apart from frontman Johnny Wishbone end up wielding pistols. The thing I dig the most about this clip is just how mysterious it is. We don’t ever quite cotton on as to where the guys are, what lingers outside and just what has brought them there. No words are spoken, just Johnny singin’ the blues. It ends in tragedy. It’s bleak, confronting and entirely watchable. Those crazy cats. See what you make of it all.
Watch This Now: The Snowdroppers – “White Dress”
“I don’t want to have to teach you how to love me, baby don’t you understand…”
Rushing in with a late pass on this one, but I figured it was better late than never. This one deserved some massive credit, as it’s not only from one of my favourite live Australian acts, but one of the catchier blues-rock tunes I’ve heard in awhile. We’ll finally be getting a second album out of these motherfuckers in early 2013 (hey, how about a tour with Gay Paris?), and this is our first taster from it. One thing I’ve always been drawn to about the band is their aesthetic; how they truly sell themselves as old-time bluesmen in the clothing that they wear and the names they take on stage. It’s stuff like this, really, that makes them all the more entertaining – and videos like White Dress all the more disturbing.
In this b-grade horror pastiche, we see the band’s irrepressible vocalist Jeremy “Johnny Wishbone” Davison preparing for the day of his wedding. It seems fitting enough, really, that the woman he intends to marry is also being prepared – limb by limb. That’s right, Wishbone’s got himself a zombie bride, being put together by the other Snowdroppers after various grave-raids. It’s disturbing, stomach-turning and more than a little NSFW. In spite of all that, though, it remains completely watchable for all of its insanity. For me, the most fascinating thing about White Dress is the fact it hasn’t been pulled from YouTube yet. And here I was thinking that YouTube WASN’T a place for zombie titties. The world we live in! Although this is obviously a bit more Halloween than Christmas, it’s still worth a look-in.
Watch This Now: Gay Paris – “The Demarcation of Joseph Hollybone”
“You won’t kiss their lover’s lips, you’ll kiss his ass…”
After a successful crowd-funding campaign, my top-form provocateurs and down-n-dirty bluesmen of Gay Paris are nearly ready to release their second studio album, entitled The Last Good Party. Before all that hullabaloo, however, we’ve got some other business to get down to – namely, the goddamn video for the first goddamn hit single from this goddamn record.
We’ve all heard about cock-fighting before, I’m sure. We’re all adults and all that. Well, the GP boys have decided to take that to the next level. Now, don’t you get your mind into the gutter just yet, scoundrel. We’re talkin’ some seriously old-school shit here. In this GP world of cockfighting, there’s a lifesize chicken who used to be a heavyweight boxer. Nowadays, he’s a janitor. We flash between the past and the present, to see just how things came to be this grim in Hollybone’s life. It’s blackly comic and overall quite an entertaining prospect. It’s not all about W.H. Monks shakin’ his beard and booty for your visual pleasure when it comes to Gay Paris, y’know! Roll on, 2013; and roll on, The Last Good Party!
Watch This Now: The Toot Toot Toots – “Fool’s Gold”
“I was sleepin’ on the cold hard ground, I was a poor man…”
It’s Friday, friends – so let’s take ‘em to church. Here’s one from The Toot Toot Toots, a growly Melbourne collective that I was relatively unfamiliar with up until quite recently. Could it possibly be because they’ve only done two music videos to date – including the one that you’re about to see? Whatever the case, I strongly suggest that you get amongst this, as there is a lot to be excited about with this swampy blues gang and their righteous new clip.
Part O Brother, Where Art Thou?, part creepy cult, the video follows a church of some kind happening in the middle of the forest, happened upon by two insanely good-looking ladies in long traditional gown. They’re converted instantly – and, really, can you blame them? It’s all a flurry of baptisms and gospel singing that errs heavily on the disturbed side, that still manages to be effortlessly pretty due to the picturesque regional Victorian location that the video was shot in. Shucks, y’all, I just think this is great. I hope you do too.
FEATURED FRIDAYS: My Favourite Video – Wolf & Cub
Joel Byrne is the lead vocalist and guitarist of
Adelaide-based pyschedelic rock band Wolf and Cub.
His favourite video is She Said by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
I love JSBX. Push comes to shove, I think they’re my number one. This clip isn’t especially amazing, but it’s decent – real decent – and I’ll stop whatever I’m doing at the time to watch it, because I love the JSBX and anything and everything that they do speaks to me.
It’s funny because, The Black Keys are one of the biggest bands in the world at the moment, and it distresses and confuses me that the JSBX aren’t just as big. Perhaps my love of the JSBX is making me ignorant. In that case, then, ignorance is bliss.
Wolf and Cub‘s new double A-side single, See the Light/All Through the Night, is available now via Bandcamp.
The band will play three shows in Adelaide, Melboure and Sydney this March and April. For details, head to the event page.
Watch This Now: The Vasco Era – “Child Bearing Hips”
This one nearly slipped my radar completely, I’ve gotta be honest – that is, until their national tour with Papa vs. Pretty was announced last Friday. How exciting! Two of Australia’s best live bands rocking it up around the country. Having seen our boys The Vasco Era tear it up at both Goodgod Small Club and the Changing Lanes festival over the past month or two, I can vouch for their wild and exciting live show. They’ve also got a clever idea or two for their clips, and that’s where Child Bearing Hips comes into play.
At first, the contrast of the thudding rock drive of the song mixed with a girl letting her hair fly out of the car window in slow motion feels quite peculiar – where is it going, you’re bound to wonder? That opening sequence, however, is incredibly arresting and subsequently mesmerising – and it leads into a gorgeously shot tale of starcrossed lovers. I’m not entirely sure if the two main characters are Lucille and Sam, from the band’s last studio album Lucille, but whoever they are, they sure know how to speak volumes without actually saying a word. Watch this one right to the end, it’s very much worth it. Oh, and don’t forget to see the boys on tour next month!
Watch This Now: Lanie Lane – “Ain’t Hungry”
“Livin’ in a guesthouse, room is hot as Hell…”
As a certified friend of the blog, it’s an absolute honour to welcome back to our screens the divine miss Lanie Lane! It’s been an absolute cracker of a year for this brilliantly talented young lady. She started off playing the Big Day Out, then she got to tour the states, then she got to tour with Clare Bowditch AND record a song with her, then she got signed to Ivy League records, then she recorded her debut album, To the Horses…and if THAT wasn’t enough, she’s now recorded a 7-inch with none other than Mr. Jack White! I’m exhausted just writing about that, so imagine how she feels!
Anyhoo, she’s quickly put together this gorgeous looking clip with a very simple structure, simultaneously going between her performing in a tiny room and her strolling the streets, before heading into a powder room and dolling herself up. It works perfectly for the song, which is considerably rockier territory than what we’ve come to expect from Lanie. That’s definitely a good thing, mind – this looks absolutely great, and it’s pretty safe to say it’s only a matter of time before she’s exploded in this – or some other – country! God bless this brilliant woman. Get dancing.
Watch This Now: Seasick Steve – “You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks”
“Never need to change my style, been this way for a long, long while…”
It’s not hard to dig Seasick Steve. He’s a travellin’ man with some great stories and killer blues numbers – and, even at age 70, he’s still one of the hardest-working dudes in his field. He’s just released a brand new record, You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks, and has rung in a mate to help him out on the title track – that rumbling bassline you can hear is played by none other than John Paul Jones, of Led Zeppelin and, of late, Them Crooked Vultures. Pretty cool, right? Well, it just got a little cooler with the release of this video.
An animated interpretation of the song and its lyrics, this vid has a cool mix of animal magnetism and artistic surrealism. From the bird on the wire, tapping in time to the kick drum, right up to the giant iron going up the coastline, there’s a whole lot of kerrazy shit going down in this video. Even Steve himself makes an appearance – in cartoon form, at least – as both a human and an underground dinosaur skeleton. It works so well with the song, you really couldn’t have picked a better style of video to go with this. Hopefully we’ll get the old bastard down Australia way before too long…hell, if it’s in a month or two, he’ll probably have another album ready to go!
