Wormwood Grasshopper Records is the baby of Hobart musician Ben Mason (Drunk Elk / Que / The Breeze). So far, it has proven itself to be a small boutique label releasing underground pop music from Tasmania and beyond. That kind of pop music that gets called 'demented' in PR, with an apparent heavy influence from New Zealand pop. Wormwood Grasshopper looks to be focusing on recordings of both the past and present, with previously unreleased material from defunct Hobart bands like Que, Wendy In The Mountains And The Caves With The Salves and Hammering The Cramps either already released or in the works.
I recently briefly spoke to Ben Mason about his new label, and where he plans to take it:
What have you released so far on Wormwood Grasshopper?
So far
it's been predominantly the Drunk Elk LP [Under Neon Lights] and Mad Nanna 7", although I
did put a Wormwood Grasshopper logo on a few CDRs for Julian Teakle's music
stall a while back (The Que's Fern Tree Recordings and Drunk Elk's
"Pieces Of People...").
What are the future plans for Wormwood Grasshopper?
Just
around the corner would be the Hammering The Cramps LP, which has been
in the works for some time now and it looks like it's nearly there. I
can't wait to release this one. They were an incredible Hobart band
that, I think, are totally underrated. There's vibes of Roky Erickson,
Xpressway bands and - the best song in the world - Brian Eno's 'Here Come
The Warm Jets'. After that would be some tapes from Wendy In The
Mountains And The Caves With The Slaves (first one was sent off to be
duplicated today!). I wouldn't mind doing another Drunk Elk 7" soon, and
hopefully we'll get our act together and record a Breeze EP. There's
also a couple of projects I'm toying with that aren't Hobart bands, but I
need to figure those out a little more still.
Three totally different punk bands played on the top of the reservoir tanks at the Domain in Hobart last Sunday; almost in celebration of the free Hobart punk compilation that launched last week (it was actually a triple tape launch, but you know, horses). Best gig location or best gig location?
A few weeks ago I went to Newcastle for a few days as part of This Is Not Art / National Young Writer's Festival. If you want to know how the Writing festival went, go and read the numerousblogsothercool people posted or just ask me. I found some time while wearing my Writer's wig to head across to Sound Summit festival on the other side of town and I filmed a few of the bands. Now separate from the rest of the This Is Not Art festival umbrella, Sound Summit has grown into its own dedicated entity. Sound Summit 2011 is a little bigger than last year, but its distance from the rest of the long-weekend Newcastle art community (among other reasons) meant the attendance was a little underwhelming. I only made it tow three gigs and no panels/other events, mind you. The venues were all well-organised and within walking distance of each other, etc, etc.
Here's some footage of Australian bands. I saw and filmed a few other bands but most of that footage sucks even worse. Guerre was beautiful and Kitchen's Floor were awesome (if a little detached from the audience) and Iowa's Wet Hair lived up to my expectations. For what its worth I adore this Fabulous Diamonds song below.
A mix of free, pay-what-you-want and fixed price releases this time. They're all good, so have a listen to what grabs your fancy. Click through on the respective album art to see the full Bandcamp page with a nicer tracklisting.
Jordan Marson from Paint Your Golden Face / oceans, in his experimental indie pop guise. $5.
Remember
the Liverpool Street Bomb scarefrom last year? On that day I was walking through Elizabeth Street,
earphones playing The Native Cats' Always
On.
There was this small moment where, approaching the corner of
Liverpool, I was half-way through absent-mindedly singing 'Game Of
Numbers' to myself. In particular, en route to Liverpool Street, I
sung aloud: “have you ever seen an unexploded bomb before / how do
you know / this isn't what it looks like?” I hope nobody heard me.
If
you've followed this blog from its beginnings (and all its
encompassing words and things and shit), or know me personally, then
you've probably come to the conclusion that The
Native Cats
are one of my favourite bands. Call me a fan. The Native Cats is made
up of two of my favourite Hobart artists, Julian Teakle (of Bad Luck Charms, The Frustrations) and Peter Escott (of... Peter Escott), but that
isn't the reason they hold such an esteemed place in my
mind/heart/ears. I don't think I even explored either the
Frustrations or Peter Escott's solo guise until after discovering the Cats.
I
think there is a definable reason for it, though. It's more than the
hypnotic bass lines and propelling drum machine, or the lo-fi DS-10
squeals or whatever other musicals components. My admiration for the
Cats can largely be attributed to front-man Peter Escott's lyrics and
delivery. Escott's lyrics have always appeared as vague monuments;
unsolved mysteries with these various clues hinting at something
more. You can always feel the intention – in specific words and
those sharp emphasises – but you can never unravel the full story.
It's like there's venom pulsating below the surface, but the fangs
are too short to reach whatever its reaching for. Probably for your
throat. Ride the snake, baby.
Process
Praiseisa step abovethe duo's debut. IfAlways
Onwas
the short-statured/high-reaching schizophrenic First child, thenProcess Praiseis the moody art-school Second, dripping blood onto a canvas before
hiding their wrists in a royal blue cotton jumper.
Some/most
of the songs on Process
Praise
could be autobiographical, but you'd be darned to unpack it without
all the little Escott-branded puzzle pieces, none of which you'll
find in the package. Everything is so purposely cryptic. So obscured
as to allow Escott to tell you his life stories, minus all the
details, minus all the things that makes it his
life story. It's what every private writer aspires to, isn't it? To
give you the mood, the theme, the idea; without forfeiting a sense of
safety? Interpretation can be more powerful than direct statement.
Words guide, the music narrows the possible interpretations.
All
throughout are scattered allusions to a past love; a terrible love.
This is best seen in 'Dani Dani', a sequel of sorts to 7" single 'Catspaw'. On the knife's edge between brutal revenge and
reserved spite, its the tale of a soured, oppressive romance. In parallel to these references to a past lover, this track could
also been seen as a sketch of Escott's growth as both a person and a
performer. At first he appears the sheepish victim of a tumultuous
relationship, but the song traces his development into the confident,
competent, vengeful character. Not a wrecking-ball of a man, but an
intelligent and matured one. “No leathers,” Escott sings, “no colours / no tatts / no quiffs / just checked shirts and neat jeans / with worn
knees / old time / 1993 / Australian suburban exoticness.”
The Liverpool Street bomb turned out to
be a hoax. Unexploded because it never could explode. The
Native Cats are always edging at something unexploded; poking an
abstract mass of shrapnel. They're smart enough not to set it off.
The Liverpool Street hoax turned out to be just a small orange and
yellow box holding dud wiring and AA batteries, probably a cheap
plastic nothing. Parts of Always On
were this cheap Casiotone plastic – the extended indie-pop of “The
Image Of Annie & Ivan” never did a whole lot for me. But
Process Praise?
There's a live, ticking bomb at its heart, thumping away in the drum
patterns.
Conclusion: Sharp lyrical witticisms set to real
minimalist/moodist electronic beauty. Treasure it. It sounds really
good on vinyl.
---
The Native Cats are launching Process Praise at the Grand Poobah in Hobart this Friday September 9, and at Skinny Geans #11 in Launceston this Saturday September 10. Both shows are a dual LP launch with the fantastic Adelaide via NZ trio Batrider, who launch Piles Of Lies. Listen to the title track below.
Process Praise is available from Tommy Gun Records in Hobart, select record stores around Australia and direct from Ride The Snake.
A fortnight ago was the 'first' Noise Etc Live show. I was pretty nervous but excessively excited at the same time. I'd never organised a group of musicians to play at a venue before. Turns out its pretty easy, so I'll probably organise more in the future if I can find suitable performers to prod and pester. The vague idea of a Noise Etc Live series was to promote and feature musicians who might not play live as often as I'd hope. So, for August 17, I asked Peter Escott to debut his electronic experiments; Carl Higgs to make his once-a-year solo appearance (though, he did play a few days later as a duo with Charles Du Cane); and Splash Mountain to try and make a proper debut.
Most of the night went according to plan (Splash Mountain were still a little unprepared, but they did clear the 10-minute mark as I awkwardly claimed in promo), and the turnout was decent enough for a Wednesday night local show. It was fun and I fully plan on organising more every few months if I can find performers willing to participate. If anyone has any hidden solo/side/bedroom-projects that they want to present to little Hobart town, do get in touch.
Below are three videos from the night, click through at the bottom to watch a few more, including Peter cover Morrissey and Carl cover Chris Isaak. Covers.
Peter wrote this song on the night, about the night. The first minute or so didn't get filmed but I'll spoil it for you - it's about his work shirt that he didn't get the chance to change out of.
Carl's upbeat Italo Disco track. Fun, fun, fun.
Splash Mountain's first song of their 12 minute set.
Did everyone have a good past week? Hobart Music, right? Right!
Last Saturday afternoon, Moe Grizzly and Drunk Elk played a house show before the Broken Social Thylascene show that happened. Walking distance to both beers and the next show made it pretty ideal, it sounded decent and the house was full of good people/conversation. Moe Grizzly are sounding really good with the addition of Phoebe on trombone, it kind of highlights the melody a little more, particularly in older songs. Drunk Elk made a few mistakes at the end of a couple of songs - nerves - but they otherwise played a good set. They might have played a few newer songs, which sounded similar in vein to the songs they've been playing for the past year, maybe a touch heavier.
Drunk Elk
Moe Grizzly
Two more Elk videos and another Moe Grizzly song (with trombone) through the break. If anyone knows the names of these songs, feel free to leave a comment. I have a couple more Drunk Elk songs on tape if anyone is interested.
Crappy videos from an all ages show last weekend with No Action, Bears, Treehouse and Driftwood at the Brisbane Hotel. My video of Bears stuffed up sorry.
These guys were alright, they're a young Rosny College band. The singer has a nice New Zealand-ish voice which gives them a bit of identity already (this was only their second show). The drummer shouldn't sing though; it doesn't compliment the lead vocals at all, nor contrast with it in any interesting way. More annoying than anything.
Treehouse played some new songs, this one is called "Drunk Elk". They've recorded this plus a bunch of others for an upcoming cassette/release which should be fun. Their set was mostly new songs - less lo-fi punkish and more like the song above. They still played "Party", though.
No Action are from Adelaide and they make emo music, I think? I don't know these genres very well. They went down pretty well with the small crowd and sold a few 7"s.
Here's two tracks from Hobart power pop trio The Lucky Dips, who are launching their debut 7" this Saturday at the Grand Poobah. Brief, guitar-based Buzzcockian punk. "Obsession" is the A-side, while "Assistance" is their inclusion to the upcoming Community 2 compilation.
The Lucky Dips launch their 7" at the Grand Poobah tomorrow (Saturday 13th August), with support from Mess O' Reds and The Crunch. $5 entry, doors at 9:30pm, Facebook event here.
Edit: This was good. The Crunch were pretty boring but had lots of 30somethings dancing; Mess O' Reds played some really good songs; and The Lucky Dips played a good set with an added rhythm guitarist. Fun time. You can now buy their 7" at Tommy Gun Records for $10.
Sea Scouts were a Tasmanian noise-rock band in the 90s. If you've every hung around Hobart music circles, you've probably heard their name referenced a few times, usually reverently. While the legend of the Sea Scouts does get played up a lot (Melbourne thirty-somethings seem to be particularly fond of the group), its not without reason. They're good. Here's 'War As A Weapon', a song they released on Zum Records when they toured America in 1999. You can even still buy that same 7" from the label directly - $3 US plus shipping. It comes with B-side 'Burn Down Your Local McDonalds'.
Hammering The Cramps were a Hobart band circa 2006. Their unreleased debut recording will be released through Wormwood Grasshopper Records on vinyl next year, if all goes according to plan. It features musicians who went on to play in bands like Drunk Elk, Wendy In The Mountains, etc.
