We recorded this last year but we've been waiting for our friend Psykotik to make his triumphant return to the ring.
He'll be making his first appearance in September, when we're away on tour.
That night, Psykotik will walk into the room to the sound of this song, to hear the roar of the crowd as they cheer him on. Outstanding!
It's appropriately fashioned after the manner of Mss'rs Bon Scott and Angus Young, a tribute to Rascals, Rapscallions, Scallywags and Aussies Everywhere!
I was stoked to hear from S. today, letting me know he's climbing back in the ring after a year in recovery from injury.
Regular Cellar Dwellers may remember that we wrote a song for Psykotic and his mates at Australian Wrestling Entertainment and played it at their Championship match. Don't recall? here's the promo.
Even though I never considered myself a wrestling fan, I have a deep respect for these guys. It's a Co-op, they set up the stage themselves, do their own promo, plan their own stories and as I learned, the stories are Mythic, Epic, in an amazing way, a direct descendant of hi brow Greek stuff...minus the face paint and buff body parts.
Well...
It totally changed my mind on the nature of wrestling and what it means.
Children and their grandparents, business dudes and hecklers, Cheer the good guys, Hiss at the bad guys and experience titanic battles in their local RSL.
S. explained to me that the choices of characters, good guys and bad guys, represent the fears and hero archetypes of suburban Aussies.
The audience is part of the experience. It blew my mind.
Recap the night here:
We wrote 'Return of the king' for the championship and had to rename it to 'The King is Back' cos some douchebags turned the 'return of the king' from a tolkien reference to some douchey pickup stuff and Marketing Department intervened..
Where was I? oh yeah. So there we were, getting ready to find a night to come in and launch the song at another match when Psykotik was badly injured at a match.
I admire these guys, the persistence, the tenacity, the Cojones to just go be a Hero for a night, to transcend themselves, in some way it represents the best of what we can be as Men. Yeah weird I know, yes I draw a long bow, citation required sure.
But this same determination has seen S. walk again, return to work, greet his newborn standing, and now, Psykotik returns to the ring September 9th.
We salute the members of the AWE and we bow to the rightful king. The King Is Back.
Telling the stories of the people we meet is one of the great things we get to do.
Our second stop on this years US tour is...Recording a new album!
With the release of SC8, the next album will 'officially' be SC9. It was a 10 month turn around on SC8, so I guess we can expect SC9 in 2017.
Conceptually, SC7: Everywhere Feels Like Home, SC8: Kansas City Gold and SC9 are all part of the 'Mid West Triptych' concept.
Ah! What exactly is that, I hear you say (ok i don't hear you say it, i am imagining you saying it).
Ahem.
Well.....a tryptych triptych is um..a...hang on...wikipedia...crap i've been misspelling it...
A triptych (/ˈtrɪptɪk/ TRIP-tik; from the Greek adjective τρίπτυχον "triptukhon" ("three-fold"), from tri, i.e., "three" and ptysso, i.e., "to fold" or ptyx, i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded ...
Right. So, in our uniquely 'cellar based thinking, this bunch of albums is a three volume set reflecting our experiences touring the american midwest for 4 years - from folk, to country, to blues, to gospel, soul and now....and now....who knows what will emerge from Indiana. (I do, if you've been to a show you do too, if not, come to a show).
We're heading back to the same studio we recorded 'Better Off Without You' on last years tour, and that song will set the tone for SC9. Sort of. I'm serious about doing Harmonica METAL!!!! METAAAAL!!!!
(Ahem)
No really - the mid west artists we have been playing with, writing with, jamming with, have all influenced us. We've written songs about the places we've been, songs about stories we've been told, songs written for and in the styles of others, or at least in our version of their styles.
I think the last part of this triptych (ha! got it) is going to explore the modern derivatives we encountered. We saw some far out high energy blue grass/folk/punk stuff in downtown KC and it's been in my mind ever since.
Yep, until I sat here and wrote this I didn't realise that this one particular show from the eponymously named Larry & His Flask had stuck with me so hard. That makes them an Official Musical Influence. Get down!
And that's as it ought to be. Colliding ideas.
Anyway. Even though the next albums worth of songs are written, mostly battle tested and ready for tracking, Brother Bill, Rosie and Mr Wizard are all pitching new candidates for a last spot.
That's the good bit of doing what we get to do. Making stuff. You should make some stuff too. You might dig it and we might go to your gig and be influenced by you.
