Cosmic Psychos

“We may end up splitting the atom at some point!” front man Ross Knight jokes when asked about their upcoming tour with Brisbane stoner punks Dune Rats. “We’re generations apart, but from all accounts they’re a top bunch of blokes who really enjoy taking the piss out of everything including themselves – so it just seems like a very good match. These shows will be a lot of fun – they’ll be playing in front of people they wouldn’t usually play in front of and vice versa so it’s win win, and I’m sure we’ll respect each other’s beer rider – I’m sure there’ll be no problem with that!”
The much-anticipated double header kicks off on the fifth of Dune (ahem sorry, June) timed perfectly to coincide with the release of the Psychos’ ninth studio album, eloquently titled Cum the Raw Prawn. The 10 tracks on offer can only be described as unashamedly Psycho – there’s certainly no denying that Knight, Onya and Muller have honed their distinctive sound over the last three decades. Add to that the fact that the entire album was recorded at Knight’s Spring Plains farm, and it makes their first release in six years even more worth the wait.
“The control room was my bedroom and we recorded the guitars in the kids’ room,” Knight explained. “We jammed in the lounge area and did vocals in the laundry – it worked like a treat. The only problem was that once we’d set everything up we realised we didn’t have any new songs, so we had to do some song writing on the spot – which took all of about 15 minutes,” he laughed. “The first things that come to mind are usually beer, schnitzel and broken relationships when I’m writing a song – my brain only functions one way. The next five albums will probably be about the same stuff I’d say. There’s nothing too complicated about the Psychos – we just put those same three cords in a slightly different position and bingo, there’s our song.”
‘Better, Not Bitter’ is the first single to be lifted from the album and its release was coupled with an attention-grabbing video clip. “It’s a corker of a clip, isn’t it? The shooting of it was a helluva day, I’ll tell ya! Unfortunately I can’t take credit for the concept – that was the work of Weston [who also directed the Cosmic Psychos: Blokes You Can Trustdoco]. His secret ambition was to do a Wolf Creekinspired short film – I think he’d been waiting for an ugly band like us to come along with a song so ridiculous and out there that he couldn’t go wrong!”
One scene sees kidnapped TV/radio personality Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald (and self-confessed Psychos fan) escaping from Knight’s clutches, only to have his head blown off in all the schlocky-horror glory you’d expect. “I did an interview with someone last week and they were saying how menacing I was in the clip. I was thinking: ‘Bloody hell, you don’t see me doing the dishes at six o’clock in the morning!’ I’m not a bad man at all – you can ask my kids about that. Sure, I yell at the cows every now and again, but other than that I’m ok.
“I wake up every day smiling, saying, ‘Geez, I’m happy I’m in this band’ – and not much has changed. We still wake up with hangovers and have to pack into a van and drive for hours, but it’s just so much fun – and to be getting away with it still in my fifties, well it’s just bloody ridiculous. I love it!”
When & Where: Max Watts, Melbourne – June 13
Written by Natalie Rogers