“The main thing that we were concerned with, with that single (Wipe That Shit-Eating Grin Off Your Punchable Face, was the government’s treatment of asylum seekers and the refugee policy. There’s a bunch of other issues but that’s what we care about most at this point and we’d like to see some change on.”
Aussie rockers The Smith Street Band play this Wednesday, February 25, at the Rosemount Hotel (new show); Thursday, February 26, at the Prince Of Wales, Bunbury, and Friday, February 27, at the Rosemount Hotel (sold out), support by PUP (Canada). AARON BRYANS reports.
Following the success of their debut album, No One Gets Lost Anymore, and its follow-up, Sunshine And Technology, Melbourne’s Smith Street Band ventured out to the small town of Forrest, Victoria, to record their third album, Throw Me In The River.
It was, once again, met with rave reviews.
“It’s been really great,” drummer, Chris Cowburn, says. “It’s been about three-to-four months since the album came out and I can’t be stoked enough. It’s really nice to go around on the second tour for the album, the last being November, and even on that one we largely played songs from that album and I could instantly hear the words to all of the songs, people were singing along like crazy. For an album that had just come out then and even now it’s a pretty cool feeling. To also have friends and family tell you how proud they are, it’s come to the stage where parents and family take a bit more notice.”
Despite the album being the fifth official release by the band, Cowburn reveals that the group have let music come to them rather than push for a specific sound.
“I think it’s just been a working progress over time,” Cowburn explains. “We haven’t and we never will write an album with an intent of ‘lets make an album that sounds like this’. We’ll write songs with an honest depiction and a snapshot of where we are at that time. I guess musically we do the same thing; it’s a reference to what we’re listening to and where we’re at and we try make it sound as big as we can.”
The album’s success was quickly followed by the release of a separate single, Wipe That Shit-Eating Grin Off Your Punchable Face, a song in reference to the Australian government and more specifically Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
“The main thing that we were concerned with, with that single, was the government’s treatment of asylum seekers and the refugee policy. There’s a bunch of other issues but that’s what we care about most at this point and we’d like to see some change on.”
The band’s recent release success has carried over into both their international and national tours with some unforgettable moments occurring across the globe as a result of the band’s live shows and current 26-date national tour.
“Its awesome, it’s one of my favourite tours we’ve done so far. All the shows have been really great, it’s really cool to go to a bunch of places that we haven’t had a chance to go in a couple of years or in some cases ever. There are lots of people to see and it’s awesome. The group of people we’ve got on this tour is great.”
“Playing internationally has aspects that are entirely different like the landscape and the food, that’s always going to be the case when you travel somewhere different, but the thing that I liked the most is that pretty much in every city that I’ve toured so far there’s always someone there who like punk music or rock music and they have a similar idea. Like even though we’re on opposite sides of the world, it’s great to make friends. We’ve done a lot more shows here in Australia and a lot of people know the band a lot better in Australia so we love playing at home, it’s different but it’s still fun.”
While the band has numerous unforgettable and unbelievable live show memories, from crowd-funded shots, to beer bottle solos, one memory stands out amongst the others as a huge turning point in the band’s career.
“The craziest show in terms of being so excited and blown away by the reaction for me was when we played at Meredith Music Festival. It’s a pretty hallowed stage and the amphitheatre there is really cool and sounds really good and for us to have the chance to play on that stage was really cool and a huge honour.”
