Melbourne alternative band The Great Emu War Casualties truly delivered a slice of indie-pop goodness with their single, ‘The Australian Parma Crisis’ earlier this year, and now they’re backing it up with their new single ‘Tight Enough to Tell’.
With nods to Aussie rockers such as Faker, Eskimo Joe, Ocean Alley and Powderfinger, this new single signals a subtle change in sound, championed by driving beats, surging riffs and their signature tongue-in-cheek lyrical style.
Check out the song below.
Now enjoy a nostalgic trip with bassist Saskia and frontman Joe who reveal the top 5 gigs they’ve ever been to.
1 Joe: Everything Everything @ Paradiso, Amsterdam.
Brilliant. I’d already seen them twice prior to this show but here, touring the release of A Fever Dream, they were absolutely on another level. In a kind of “it’s a small world” scenario, Jen Cloher opened for them with Courtney Barnett on guitar who I’d seen in Liverpool a year or so prior. All of that’s just footnote material. I remember leaving that show wondering how I was supposed to keep making music when something that good existed. I don’t think I ever answered that question, I just stopped thinking about it.
Saskia: The Same Gig.
Fuck off Joe I was going to say this one. I was here also btw. Embarrassingly enough I’d never heard of Courtney Barnett until I saw her in Liverpool (lol) and had never heard of Jen Cloher until I saw her at this show playing with Everything Everything (of all people) in Amsterdam (of all places). Oh, Alex Cameron was another Aussie I’d never seen or heard of before I saw him in Amsterdam (I forget the venue… somewhere on the Noord? Well who cares). Anyway, this is supposed to be about Everything Everything. Oh yeah, they were seriously insane, fuck them for being so perfect. I was all like ‘pfft yeah Night of the Long Knives is going to be rubbish live’ and they were all like ‘hold our beers’.
2 Joe: The Zutons @ Echo Arena, Liverpool.
People don’t seem to know that Amy Winehouse’s Valerie is a cover and that blows my mind so I’m re-opening with this next sentence to clear things up. Mark Ronson’s Valerie feat. Amy Winehouse is a cover of The Zutons original version, and they don’t get enough credit there. Anyway, I wasn’t actually a fan of the Zutons before I was offered a ticket to their second album homecoming show. It was incredible. They played everything on all the albums, then some stuff that didn’t get released, and then they went and played the hits again. Nobody left. They ended the evening jamming until the venue, the arena, turned the lights on and told us to go home. The next day I bought both their records and added the singer on Facebook. We don’t talk but he’s still there.
Saskia: Savages @ Somewhere, Sydney.
Was it The Metro? I have a really bad memory for that kind of thing. Anyway I was also ‘not a fan’ of them before I saw them (the recordings really don’t do them justice in my personal opinion), but my friend had an extra ticket and I was like ugh fine but then after the show, I was all like OMG THEY ARE THE BEST BAND EVER TAKE MY MONEY. I hate to use the term ‘best all-female band’ to describe them since it seems condescending to their talent, but they really are (sorry Warpaint). The best part was when Jehnny Beth stalked over to some dude in the audience who was filming the whole thing on his stupid phone and was like ‘hey, can I have your phone?’ and then she threw it at the back of the stage. So freaking cool.
3 Joe: Coldplay @ Etihad Stadium, Manchester.
Another one that I wasn’t sure about going in to. I’d actually bought the tickets this time, high off the back off the Viva La Vida hype. Oh, and by the way, I know there’s a lot of Coldplay haters, but Viva La Vida is a great album, so hush now. Anyway, this wasn’t actually the Viva La Vida tour, this was the Mylo Xyloto one, the one after, so it was all a bit “ooh I wonder how much of the good stuff they’ll play”. Actually some of the memories that have stayed with me the most are Rita Ora and Robyn opening and not being good. Not good at all. Surprisingly so. Frustratingly so. So, by the time Coldplay are getting ready to go I’m already checking train times on my phone. Shouldn’t have worried. They were excellent. Stadium shows just suit their whole thing. They played this one track, and I can’t remember the name of it now, but they played it three times in a row because they were shooting a video for it and that was a lot of fun. They played long, we stayed even longer, and then all the trains were gone and the hotels full, so me and my friend Neil stayed out drinking in Manchester until all the clubs closed, then went to the karaoke bars until they closed and then played snooker in the only place in Manchester that seems to be open 24/7. Then we fell asleep on the train home.
Saskia: MUCC @ DRUM LOGOS, Fukuoka.
MUCC usually play arena shows in Tokyo but since this was Fukuoka they played this dingy little venue called DRUM LOGOS, that was what made it so great. I (very quietly and secretly) love (some) J-rock and MUCC is far and away my favourite – I couldn’t really tell you why or recommend anything in particular, except that I love everything about them for unknown reasons. But anyway, fittingly the crowd was so crazy at this gig – everyone had like these mosh moves that EVERYONE knew to EVERY SINGLE SONG, even the random obscure B-sides. HOW DID THEY ALL KNOW?? So it was like the entire room was dancing around in total unison. Everyone there was a serious hardcore fan and they all wore it as this badge of honour, I’ve never seen that in any other gig I’ve been to. It was so great and they played pretty much all my favourite songs and they were so fun and it was probably the best gig I’ve ever been to (so I put it at number 3).
4 Joe: Unknown Mortal Orchestra @ The Masque, Liverpool.
Another show I went to with Neil! Congrats. Two references to Neil in quick succession. The reason this one makes the list is actually less UMO and more the whole gig. We bought tickets to see UMO because “Can’t Keep Checking My Phone” is an absolute tune but that was kind of all the research we’d really done. We knew the puppet video song and I’d seen online a show of theirs from a bike store but it was background more than anything. Anyway, we turned up early because we’re those weirdos who show up for opening acts we’ve never heard of and Alex Cameron, and his business partner Roy Molloy, played the entire Jumping The Shark album from start to finish. A real kind of “what is happening” moment that has stuck with me since. UMO played and they were brilliant. Closed with CKCMP, obviously, and the place went off. I haven’t been able to catch UMO since. They played the Forum touring Sex & Food but I think I was still weighing up whether Hunnybee was worth the $100 ticket price by the time they sold out. The answer to that question is that, yes Hunnybee is worth that, but American Guilt is worth more so I should have just paid… I saw Alex Cameron years later in Amsterdam touring Forced Witness. I actually emailed his manager once to see if he could give us some advice and he replied saying he’d get back to me. He never did but it was nice that he replied, so thanks for that Alex Cameron’s manager if you ever read this.
Saskia: Jack White @ Festival Hall, Melbourne.
Okay, so I’m kind of a Jack White fangirl… actually I was never into The White Stripes when they were big, but my very first bandmates were super into The Saboteurs and (some of) their songs had (relatively easy) basslines for me to learn to play badly. Anyway, everyone lost their shit when he released his first solo album and of course I bought tickets to see the tour in both Sydney and Melbourne because, as I stated earlier, I am a fangirl… and boy was I not disappointed. It was pure magic. He’s such a magnetic performer – people like that only come around once every so often.
5 Joe: InnerPartySystem @ The Barfly, Liverpool.
InnerPartySystem were an American electro-rock band from the mid to late 2010s. I saw them twice. The second time was disappointing because the first time I saw them was the best gig I had ever been to. I had previously worked unpaid making posters for the Barfly so the office staff sorted out a free ticket for me. I bought an overpriced t-shirt that didn’t fit. I bought their EP and told all my friends how good they were. They broke up in 2011 because electro-rock was doomed from the start.
Saskia: The Fall @ Manchester Cathedral, Manchester.
I saw The Fall a couple of times while I was in the UK (and I’m glad I did as Mark E has sadly passed now) but this was far and away the best (although seeing them play some weird dinky RSL in the middle of nowhere was also an experience…) But this was such a fitting venue for them and it had all the hallmarks of a great Fall performance – he staggered onstage about twenty minutes after the rest of the band, fucked with everyone’s guitar (and drum) settings, and read impromptu lyrics off of what looked like a ripped and dirty bar napkin. Legend. Oh, and that lineup was spectacular.
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