Sunday 27 May 2012

Scale Models - Scale Models (2012)




Scale Models formed in Melbourne some time during 2010. I had met guitarist Ross Adam at a show by a prog-rock band called Alexandria, for whom he was playing bass. We got to talking about music (as you do), and discovered that we were both interested in the same kind of jangly pop groups from the 1980s. Naturally, we decided to form a band.

We wanted to capture some of the shambolic energy and sugar rush of the early Flying Nun sound, the reckless abandon of The Wedding Present, as well as the muscular power pop of the likes of Guided By Voices. Of course the resulting songs sounded nothing like those inspirations, especially after we  roped in singer, lyricist and trumpet player Clare Hourigan (Go Spot Run, Hissy Fit) and drummer Danny Martinov (Dogs Of Thomas Park).

Clare added her darkly wistful take on romantic relationships to the mix, while Danny contributed a powerhouse rhythmic approach, which guaranteed that things never got too twee.

Scale Models started gigging as soon as we had a handful of songs. We were played a bunch of gigs, including some with musical heroes of mine, such as Robert Scott (The Bats, The Clean) and Harry Howard & The NDE. 

Engineer James Alexander Dean recorded eight of Scale Models’ songs at his home studio in the waning days of 2011, and we launched the resulting CD in February 2012. The hand-printed limited edition of 200 CDs is still available via mail order from Scale Models’ bandcamp page, for those who like to hold physical artefacts in their hands.

Clare’s recent move to Brisbane makes it a bit hard for us to play at the moment, so I’m glad this recording exists. It’s pretty polished-sounding, and my contributions to the songwriting definitely hark back to the style of The Bites and Hand Hell. Having spent the last few years immersed in more experimental ideas, it was fun to get back to writing 3 minute pop tunes, and I couldn’t think of a better bunch of people to do it with.

1. Standing Tall
2. This Is The Time
3. Hey You
4. Keeping Busy
5. Things That You Reject
6. 180 Degrees
7. Appearances
8. Midnight 

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