Track Descriptions
Roadtrip:
Roadtrip was one of those songs that just fell right into place as soon as it was brought to the band room. Like a snobby businessman at a teenage waiter, it just clicked. It started from an acoustic jam, fingerpicking the 3 basic chords and coming up with the main guitar riff in the track. From there, with smashing cymbals and a silky bass line, it expanded into one of our fullest songs in the album.
Lyrically, it’s all about takin it easy and slowing down the grinding gears of the mundane. Breaking the rules a bit, grabbing the Milton by its mangoes, and just going and doing something meaningful. It was also influenced pretty heavily by our collective stoke of someday doing a massive band tour, getting in the van and just cruising from place to place living the life, chasing that amber sunset. Then sure enough we decided to commit to the tour in early 2017 so I guess it brought that band dream to life in the end.
Lip Addiction:
Probably the rockiest track on the album and coming in at number two in the track listing, Lip Addiction was written to get your head bangin a bit. It was written on piano with finger-clicks in between chords to get a groove going, however ended up filling out completely with mental drum fills and driving guitars to become a live banger. The last chorus is the absolute climax which explodes into a full on jam-out for the band and one that we can scream on stage and go full ham and turkey sandwich, so much fun.
It’s essentially a slightly psychedelic take on modern attraction and affection, and how caught up in young love we can all get, as well as how helpless we succumb under its addiction. This translates well live as it’s played with loads of energy and grit, with a heavier bass line and sweeping guitar riffs that show the passion behind the track.
Back in Our Day:
A rockier track that builds continuously from start to finish, adding new elements as it goes. It focuses on a single riff for most of it and builds into a smash chorus. Written about how Brisbane life is a very closed circle. Everybody knows absolutely everybody. I tried to tell the story of how we might reflect on being in a band and living the lives we have in Brisbane for so long in 20 years’ time. The chorus changes tense slightly in the line “good luck follows us down the beaten Backbeach road doing what we always should have” in the sense it’s about now and in the future. Backbeach road in reference to Angourie Backbeach, a place we love.
Sunbleached Girl:
The funny thing about this song is that the chorus was written nearly 2 years ago about the ideal girl that I hadn’t met yet, almost in anticipation for her to show her face some day. Then sure enough she finally came along, it was too good to be true and seemed to end for no reason.
We’ve all probably met one, a sunbleached girl, bit of a dream girl, so the song was written to reach out one last time and connect people with those experiences of head over heels and heartbreak.
It was written on the acoustic and then we tried to get something funky out of it, brought it to the band room and we just jammed until we got a good bop going. Cav came up with this sick bass riff literally on the day we were about to record it which then became the total feature. So the song is really one to try and bring light to a bit of a sad situation and to just have a good time with your mates, which is reflected in the clip. Cause life goes on ey.
Time Wasted
A track that bops from start to finish, it’ll have you getting on the vibe train and begging to get back on when it’s done. A running bass line complemented at times with the guitar, it is a simple song that will make you just want to scream every lyric back.
So many people I’ve met say that their drug habits are just things they do because their friends do it; and a lot of the time they go on to try and justify it as though it’s something they won’t keep doing. This is the meaning behind the first two lines. The chorus and second verse are the same idea in plain words. The track is definitely a statement about drug use.
Stolen
A slower song that has begins with a single guitar riff, it rolls slowly on like a lone man walking across the Great Sandy Desert. It continues to climb all the way up to a chorus that expands dramatically and suddenly.
The song was written as a story. It is my attempt to describe the story of the Stolen Generation in music. The verse describes the invasion and the continued ongoing pain. The bridge personifies this. But in the chorus I tried to take it somewhere else. I wrote it as if after years of being away the child, now and adult, walks home. This is contrasted with the metaphor/image of a dust storm turning at the end of the street. An event that describes living on the edge of the desert, a common part of Australian life for so many of these affected people, and as something horrible that comes straight over your home.
Coconut:
Coconut is a bittersweet take on the one that got away. Musically it sounds like quite a happy song, which was the intended effect to distract from a hidden air of melancholy within the lyrics. It was also transposed to a piano version which extracts the sadder strings woven into the song. However this version makes for a great live track and a really easy song to listen to, with each musical part fitting perfectly in the song.
I’ve gotten a lot of stick from my mates about this girl that it’s about, which is a laugh, but had to write a song like this to get it all out and stuff. The island dolphin princess she was, just one of those unreal girls who you manage to stuff it up with so I just had to give some cadence to the story, but you know live and learn from these things ey.
It’s noticeably different from the other songs on the album, with a more jazz-infused purpose to it, clean fingerpicking on the hollow body guitar and a biddly bop bassline that turns the old frown upside down. However, the chorus open up to a booming climax, and with a velvety summery guitar riff, it’s sure to be stuck in your head for way too long.
The Pub
A summer tune to listen to on any beach, couch or hammock whilst watching the day go by. It rolls on continuously with a focus on the lyrics and the listener. It climaxes in each verse to a break out guitar riff to make you feel all damn right.
The pub is about three things. The first verse is about The Northern where we have played so many gigs. The first line about the insanely beautiful girls that seem to live in Byron Bay, the second line about all the bands that play there and smoke like chimneys and drink till the sun comes up, and the third and fourth lines are about being caught up in the moment. The Chorus was Ian’s (Ian Haug) idea, when we were producing it he thought the chorus just sounded so empty with just the guitar riff so he added in “The moment, the Melody, the moment is gone” and it just worked so well. The second verse is about the endless summers we all spend down at Currigee (South Stradbroke island), we always sit on the jetty every morning at high tide reflecting and enjoying ourselves and each other’s company in the sun. The bridge is half about a girl and the other half about being young and full of wonder.
Loosen Up:
Loosen Up is an upbeat dance track that’s sure to get the feet tapping. It was essentially written so you can go nuts like you do in your room, dance like a loony in the car or fist-pump to it live in the mosh. Fun fact also, it was the very last song written for the album and was taken to the band room a couple of days before we were planned to head to the studio and smash out some demoes. But somehow it got a groove and a vibe flowing straight away and we just had to scrape it in. It developed and evolved a hell of a lot since its demo version which made it the intricate and coherent track it is.
Lyrically, it was written with a rather poetic and segmented style, focussed on the games thrown back and forth when chasing after someone. How it can tie you down and ultimately how you shouldn’t get so hung up on the little things, loosen up and just have a dance. With an eerie plodding verse that tiptoes along with rhythmic guitars, the song releases at the chorus with a popified and soothing simplicity to it. We were going for a slight Pharell vibe during the recording process in the chorus, with the funky guitar riff accompaniment, but it then turned into a big singalong belter which clinched the song. Sure to be one to listen out for live.
Headland:
Headland is an acoustic, atmospheric track made to try and walk you to the top of your retrospection and gaze over your life as you know it, waiting for how the tide will change. It was created very raw to start just on the acoustic guitar, however evolved into a build-up track that takes you to a special place within yourself.
It’s all about how you’re blissfully unaware of your future and who you might meet to carve names into the mango tree with, but at the same time placing your trust in it all working out and enjoying the ride.
A delicate journey filled with a running ambience that fills the track. Soothing falsetto’s mixed with harmonizing trumpets and grand piano, make it quite a unique song on the album and definitely one for lazy Sunday nights in bed.
Crack The Code:
A chill acoustic track with a classic 8 chord chorus, it’ll have you singing along at all hours. Whether it’s at home all alone or at a kick-ons session after a long night out, enjoy its’ moving lyricism and uplifting ending. There are a few ideas throughout this song. The first few ideas are in the verse, which is about the nights out we have each weekend and how we always talk about how much we want to do things in the future. We get so stoked at pre-drinks and everyone is buzzing you just can’t help but feel everything is going to be great. But the second line is about how talking is just talking and you really have to take time to work out big dreams. The third line, which is the main chorus is that there are so many people around us who seem so stuck in this private school mentality, get an accounting job and wear cinos everywhere you go idea ,that there is no consolation in being near them.
The chorus is far more hopeful and is about these people breaking out of their narrow-mindedness. Something they’ve always felt but are too scared to do. I used the metaphor of a storm and sea right on the coastline that had been turned to jade, so it was always looming but never crashing. The continents are conjoined because the sea is solid and without the ocean it would seem rhythmless. Waving goodbye to the gravy train is a metaphor for independence.