Ouvir os australianos do Workhorse é fazer uma viagem rumo a uma perdida e esquecida geração que ficou cruelmente renegada sob os espectros da new wave, post punk, tecnopop entre outros, estou falando da deliciosa psicodelia feita durante a era da Paisley Underground. Gente como Opal, Rain Parade, Dream Syndicate, Green on Red entre outros transportaram uma certa psicodelia folk dos 60´s para o início dos 80´s e injetaram um pouco de raiva punk, mas infelizmente naquela época todos sucumbiram a si mesmos.
E é exatamente nessa esquecida cena, que a sonoridade do quinteto australiano Workhorse mais se aproxima, obviamente com trejeitos modernos de psych, o Workhorse debutou com um disco absolutamente pegajoso e ácido, "No Sun" é o nome da preciosidade e deve ser escutado em volume máximo, junto a sua bebida ou psicotrópico predileto.
Uma literal, viagem ao submundo dos bons sons, como deve ser....
***** Interview with Workhorse *****
-I checked the internet today and apparently Workhorse started almost a year ago! Which seems unbelievable. I think as soon as we had our first band practise I booked us a show as a way of forcing us to play. We haven't played a whole lot since then and I feel like we are still our place, but it's been lots of fun so far.
Q: Who are your influences?
- We all have very different influences and probably some very similar ones too. I think we all have common ties in country music, for myself it's some classic Americana or folk like Townes Van Zandt, Gene Clark Lucinda Williams and Emmylou. And big ones for me are other powerful female muso's like PJ Harvey, Patti Smith and Cat Power. I'm also going through a big The Cranberries revival.
Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
That's very difficult.
In no particular order and with lots of room to move - but most consistently it might go something like this....
Cat Power - What Would The Community Think?
PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Sibylle Baier - Colour Green
Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Leonard Cohen
Jackson C. Frank - Jackson C. Frank.
Q. How do you feel playing live?
-Very weird. Confused. Happy. Nervous. Proud and grateful to my band mates and friends.
Q. How do you describe Workhorse sounds?
-I'm not very good at genres but it has been helpful hearing other peoples perspectives. We have so far been referred to as things like 'alt-country' and 'dream-blues'...somebody called it Americana which seems funny because we are Australiana but influenced by, sure. I myself would describe it as 'music that we made.'
Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
-The process was pretty informal and 'organic'? Is that the right word? In a similar way to me booking us our first show after having one rehearsal, I coaxed everybody into recording before we even knew how the songs went, so that we would be forced into figuring it out. I mean, I knew how the songs went, but nobody else did.
Our drummer Liam came over with a 4-track cassette and we played the songs, and now that's how they go! Then I reluctantly chose some words to accompany, and our friend Patrick Lockwood helped us record the vocals in a big old church with nice natural reverb.
Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
-New bands, hm, well my favourites from Australia are...
-Angie (https://angelabermuda.bandcamp.com/album/shyness)
-Primo (https://primocassetto.bandcamp.com/releases),
-Bent (https://emotional-response-recs.bandcamp.com/album/bent-snakes-and-shapes)
- Aldous Harding (https://aldousharding.bandcamp.com/)
-Dag
And aside from that, really into Jessica Pratt, Exploded View, Weyes Blood and Kaitlyn Aurelia-Smith.
Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
-We were thinking about trying a Shocking Blue cover, maybe the song Mighty Joe.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
-We'll be doing a small Australian tour in the next month or so to launch this cassette tape, and then who knows! Hopefully keep playing music together in one shape or form. I was just thinking I'd love to get back out to America where I've recorded with another band called Wireheads twice now, and maybe test out the big studio thing by myself. You know. Play with all the fun instruments.
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Thanks
https://www.facebook.com/workzorse
https://tenthcourt.bandcamp.com/album/no-sun