Melbourne alternative band The Great Emu War Casualties truly delivered a slice of indie-pop goodness with their single, “The Australian Parma Crisis” last month.
Featuring witty lyrics with tongue-in-cheek humour, snappy drums, angsty vocal harmonies and mellow guitars, the track is an electrifying and relatable listen, fighting against the everyday mundane routine faced by those in their twenties, forcing listeners to believe there is something more to life.
“The song is… self-deprecating yet honest; it paints a realistic vision of life as a twenty-something trying to get by in Melbourne without the cloying Australiana cliches,” said the band. “There’s this constant push/pull between “adulting”- being responsible, working hard, staying focused – and actually enjoying life.”
Check out the song below.
We sit down with bassist Saskia (virtually of course) who reveals the top five scariest things she has ever done.
1. Ran across Hyde Park at night
I really don’t recommend doing this… but I went to a gig in London once (can’t even remember what it was now) and the place I was staying at was on the other side of Hyde Park. My phone wasn’t working and I couldn’t figure out any other way to get there. Did you know they don’t have any lights on at night in Hyde Park? I mean, really?? I seriously bolted all the way across assuming I was going to get murdered and trying to remember all those taekwondo lessons from back in the day…
2. Flipped out on skates
I also don’t recommend doing this… I used to skate back when I was a teenager (ha ha) and I thought it would be super cool and amazing if I could do a front flip off the ramp. Suffice to say it was a good thing I was at least smart enough to put a helmet on because I didn’t get quite far enough around and fell backwards onto my head… maybe that explains why I’m so spacey now…
3. Auditioned for a band in Tokyo
This one was mostly scary because a) my Japanese sucked and b) my bass playing sucked… so I was desperately trying to understand what the hell was going on (did you know a lead is called a ‘shield’ in Japan, for unknown reasons? I certainly did not know that then…) whilst also trying my best to keep up with the songs that were the hardest I’d ever played up to that point. Somehow I passed… I also accidentally told them that bottles of water cost $15 in Australia because I didn’t know how to say ‘$1.50’… lol.
4. Had a motorbike accident
Well… by ‘motorbike’ I actually mean scooter… when I was first out of school and had a proper job I bought myself one of those Honda PCXs which was my favourite thing ever until one day I was too busy daydreaming and not paying attention and went straight into the back of a ute. Totally my fault… it got smooshed into smithereens and I never saw it again… (I don’t have the most amazing riding record so it was probably for the best… I also almost went off a cliff whilst scootering in Thailand… but that’s a story for another time).
5. ‘Played’ on The Voice
Once I was asked to ‘play’ on that show The Voice (you know, with the chairs and whatever) but it was a super last-minute fill-in thing so I didn’t really know what was going on or what we were meant to be doing… but I learnt the song diligently and thought it’d be all g. I only realised after they’d squeezed us into these tight miniskirts and stiletto heels and ushered us onto the stage that actually by ‘playing’ they meant ‘pretending to play but mostly pretending to be sexy’. Cool… well… anyone who knows me would find that incredibly hilarious but it was obviously mortifying. The worst part was they had ‘real’ old men musos out in the dark somewhere like legitimately playing while they’d hired these female musos to mime out the front. I asked someone why they didn’t just have models and the answer was ‘because it looks more authentic if you can actually play the instrument’. Cool… welcome to showbiz I guess…