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opinions were like kittens i was giving them away. -modest mouse
there's nothing as something as one. -e. e. cummings
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Neon
Neon:
Song: Hit Me Again
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GREAT ROCK’N’ROLL instinctively reflects it’s roots. The Kinks fascination with the crumbling British Empire stemmed from Ray Davies’ childhood growing up in the shadow of the faded grandeur of Alexandra Palace. Nirvana’s dystopic worldview stemmed largely from Kurt Cobain’s troubled adolescence in the depressed logging town of Aberdeen, Washington. So it is with Neon. “I was brought up in New South Wales in this place called Broken Hill” explains singer-guitarist Josh Bitmead. “It’s called ‘the capital of the outback’. Nearby is this ghost town called Silverton; think Mad Max. It looks exactly like it does in the movie so as you can imagine, you have to make your own fun.”
REWIND
Broken Hill’s nickname is Silver City. It’s also famous for producing the world’s largest deposits of zinc, silver and lead. But the obsession with metal doesn’t end there. “My first real band was called Porecelain, we were somewhere between Sebadoh and The Smashing Pumpkin, but it wasn’t the music I was into. The only groups who would come and play in Broken Hill would be real hard rock bands like The Angels, because they were the only ones who would last five minutes. So I knew if I was seriously going to do my own thing I had to move away...”
Sensing that his more sensitive songs would never gain an appreciative audience in a town eagerly awaiting the return of the classic Aussie pub rockers Cold Chisel. Josh decieded to made the time-honoured pilgrimmage to Melbourne, armed only with a suitcase and his electric guitar.
“It was kind of odd. I had to start life in a new town, looking to play in bands while holding down a boring job. I did all sorts of work. I played drums in one band, but slowly things came together.”
Persuading drummer Jamie Gurney to make the trip west to join him, Josh then persuaded the sister of one his friends to join on bass. Cue the arrival of bassist Britt Spooner and the completion of Neon’s musical vision. Rapidly amassing an impresive thirty song arsenal, the trio set about fine-tuning their chops supporting other up and coming Aussie bands on the local circuit. With well respected local label Ivy League (JET, The Vines) signing the band at home and Graham Coxon’s (Blur) label Transcopic releasing debut EP ‘Hit Me Again’ in the UK their searingm, sinuious assault was completed by a late night phone call in July 2003.
“It was about three o’clock in the morning our time. On the other end of the line was Steve Macdonald from Red Kross. He’d heard our demo’s and wanted us to go over to LA to record the album with him. I couldn’t believe it was happening…”
RECORD
Working twelve hour days with Macdonald at reknowned LA studios The Boat proved to be equally surreal. “It was totally bizarre. At first we were all in awe. Dale Crover from The Melvins came down and played a drum outro on one track. When we wanted a different guitar sound Steve called up Pat Smear and we borrowed some of his gear. It inspired us to showwe were up to scratch.”
Indeed. Dry-as-a-bone riffing of (‘Hit Me Again’),sublime psych-pop hooks (‘Dizziness’) and a rousing cover of Cheap Trick (‘He’s A Whore’) come as a standard, but with it, comes an opaque lyricism which suggests that beneath the riffola a darker mindset. When Josh drawls ““I got the key in my hand/But there’s no way out” in ‘Dizzyness’ it feels both lurid and disorientating. “I like that ambiguity, the feeling of being on shifting sands” grins Josh. “All the best records allow you room to figure things out for yourself….”
FAST FORWARD
Having signed to V2 records after a year long label scramble, the band completed their first US tour in Spring of 2004 as part of the ‘Aussie Invasion’ with mates The Vines, Jet and The Living End. The next twelve months, however, seems set to see us all enveloped in their Neon’s tornado.
“We can’t wait to start playing again” enthuses Josh. “The record is exactly how we want it. We just want to get out there and deliver it the world. We want people to have a good time but to delve a little deeper too….”
Neon: prepare to bathe in their sleazy glow.
PRESS PLAY!
Neon
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