Johnny Hunter
Cult Classic
Break Even Recordings
Five piece from Sydney, Johnny Hunter, have released their third single Cult Classic, a rampant, buzzing, upbeat post punk piece of tyranny and fun. With legitimate fist thumping moments, the song is deep in 70s and 80s Australian pub rock territory. Complete with a melodic chorus, unrelenting drumming, acute and turbulent guitar, masses of energy and by-gone era vocals.
Cult Classic pokes fun at fickle fame in a modern world, with lead singer Nick Hutt singing “cash in your head, take a photograph, for your 15 seconds of fame,” presumably a narrative around a social media and visual obsessed world where people’s lives are embedded by their online personas and their fanciful and unsustainable ‘fame’. The theme is carried off with a wonderful mix of disdain, anger and a mocking, self-deprecating sense of humour.
But it is vocalist Nick Hutt’s delivery and voice that really elevates Cult Classic to higher levels. It’s somewhere between Iggy Pop and David Bowie for most of the song then plunges down into the deeper depths and Paul Banks domain during the bridge and closing. But it’s not just the vocals that are reminiscent of the past, the song itself is quite derivative, and whilst most styles these days are, Cult Classic is very much so, it bleeds post punk and new-wave from every pore. However, the band pull it off with aplomb.
The accompanying video directed by Declan Arrighi and shot inside Sydney’s iconic Lansdowne Hotel is superbly made and chameleons the song; sharp, high quality, fun, and served up with a tongue in cheek attitude and a good dash of humour.
LARA FOX
