Terry In session for Marc Riley – June 26, 2017 – BBC 6 Music –
Australian Indie/Experimental/Dolewave band Terry, in session tonight for Marc Riley at BBC 6 Music and recorded on June of last year.
Terry is Xanthe Waite, Zephyr Pavey, Al Montfort and Amy Hill. The band’s four members have all featured in Melbourne’s “dolewave” scene in some form or other for the past decade. Montfort alone is a much-celebrated local music figure, and a member of long-standing outfits Straightjacket Nation, The UV Race, Total Control, Dick Diver, Lower Plenty and A Country Practice, to name only a few of his musical adventures.
When asked about the difference between rock bands from the United States and from Australia, Montfort quips deadpan: “Lack of ambition.” In the background of my mind while I read this, the announcement from the new band’s debut album Terry HQ repeats: “Why would you say sorry for that?”
But Terry isn’t all about Al Montfort. This roustabout collection of hard-boiled jammers who will roll a seamless lick off the end of one track into a tidy quip about the public transportation system, are part of a nexus of Melburnian rock’n’roll and punk set against the backdrop of the digital music age.
Towels and thongs. Ice-cream and dongs. Hill and Waite sing of Terry’s simple things on multiple tracks named after “Uncle Greg”, on “Chitter Chatter”, before they get to the last track of Terry HQ, “Hang Men”. Beneath the threat of castration and violence of the lyric backed by wildly out-of-tune guitars, the sense of exhaustion caused by the cynicism and hubris of our leaders, who’ll tell their own children to button down and tighten their belts while they themselves are smoking cigars, is unmistakeable. “Work is dead” reads the badge on one of Terry’s self-styled jackets – they’ve got their own clothing line – and the slogan echoes like a rally cry out the window of a dilapidated rental house.
This session, done for BBC 6 Music and Marc Riley’s program is from June 27, 2017 during one of their European tours.
Maybe you’re not familiar with them – maybe you are; having seen them no doubt at SXSW 2017. In either case, settle in and crank it up.
