Two Car Garage – Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes/Formula Juan – Grand Pricks b/w Chronica Majora – The Tall Stories (Stanley Records)
You’d like a dollar for every two-bit punk that ended up playing bastardised country, wouldn’t ya? How about three songs for the price of two?
Which brings us to this spilt single featuring always productive Sydneysider Dave Favours and his well-travelled Roadside Ashes and recent Newcastle match-ups Grand Pricks and The Tall Stories. The three bands crossed paths in a saloon off the Pacific Highway one boozy night and this EP is the by-product.
Nice ‘n’ greasy blues harp runs through “Two Car Garage”, a song that might, or might not be, an ode about suburban normality. It chugs along without a lot of fuss and Michael Carpenter’s production lets everything shine through.
Grand Pricks ease into a canter on “Formula Juan” and ring some sweet chord changes as they go. If this is Lachlan X Morris’ alter ego band, it works, a treat and his story about a shadowy nowhere man making his way up and down life’s highway is effortlessly good.
Flip it over and if you’re looking for the pick of the litter, The Tall Stories might have landed the prize with their brooding “Chronica Majora”. Powered by Nicholas Wright’s thumping bass and some chiming guitar-work, it’s a sparse shuffle with a mix so transparent you can hear the tumbleweeds rolling past Ben McCauley’s dobro and banjo. Brock Henry’s vocal sounds like a less damaged Ian Rilen.
2/3
Catch ‘em on tour and if you can’t, go here to buy.
Friday, November 1 – Link & Pin, Woy Woy
Saturday, November 2 – The Stag & Hunter, Newcastle
Sunday, November 3 – The Junkyard, Maitland
Friday, November 8 – Golden Barley, Enmore
Friday, November 29 – The Orana Hotel, Blacksmiths
Tuesday, January 21 – The Tamworth Hotel, Tamworth
