Oz Rock 101

In the attempt to both put Australia on the map and make sure only the good stuff gets on the export ship, the Kingblind Sydney office presents Oz Rock 101, a bi-weekly heads up on the best Australian bands you may never hear. In this space we’ll be focusing on the contemporaries, the locals, the ones that deserve your attention. Some you may already know, some you may not, but one thing is for sure: all, you will love. Well hopefully…
Gerling
Way back in the days of the early nineties when wearing the shittiest clothes and playing with the shittiest gear while constantly staring into the shittiest shoes was cutting edge, three misfits from inner city Sydney were tooling about with lo-fi noise spurred on by their love of Sonic Youth, Pavement, and all those other bands who represented everything that music in Australia at the time was not. Their shows were raw, barely musical at the best of times, and bordering on the psychotic – the perfect soil in which to grow one of the best and most unpredictable bands Australia has ever produced; Gerling. It wasn’t until 1998 that this seed was finally harvested with the release of their debut album “Children of Telepathic Experiences”, a primitive mash of styles, patterns and textures; an album hobbled together with punk, electronica, pop, and lots of sticky tape. Their dabbling with the devil of dance on “Enter Space Capsule” pricked up the ears of Kylie “I used to be a soapie star in Oz but now I live in the UK earning loads of cash for having a great ass” Minogue, who later went on to collaborate on a track on their next album “When Young Terrorists Chase The Sun”, an album with the unfortunate timing of being released in September 2001, when the word “terrorist” was probably not the best word to drop into a quiet conversation let alone brandished on an album cover. The altered international album “Headzcleaner” and the current release “Bad Blood!!!” has seen Gerling perfect their art of imperfection, never bowing to formula or conforming to what’s in vogue. Gerling are the square peg in the round hole. The shoes that never quite fit. Yet there’s something about their grating abrasive dance punk sound that is overwhelmingly magnetic. They wouldn’t know a trend if it set right before their eyes, they wouldn’t know a bandwagon if it pulled up right in front of them. They’re just Gerling. Don’t expect them to be what you want, you probably wouldn’t like it if they were. And they still wear shitty shoes.
(By: Chris Deal- Sydney Australia)
Listen to this: In the city
CLICK TO LISTEN Requires Win Media
Watch this: Blood on the microphone
CLICK TO LISTEN Requires Win Media
Read this:
http://www.gerling.net.au
Buy this: Bad Blood!!!
http://www.fenwayrecordings.com/home.html
Gerling North America Tour
Gerling are currently in the middle of a 34-date North American tour. Here are the remaining dates, don’t miss ‘em.
(You might have seen them with the Suicide Girls in the early portion of the tour)
June
* With The Pleased and The Shore
22 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern
23 Albany, NY Valentines
24 Boston, MA Harper’s Ferry
25 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell’s
27 Philadelphia, PA The Kyber
28 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
29 Washington, DC IOTA Club & Café
July
*Co-headline w/ The Red Light Sting
5 Seattle, WA Graceland (TBC)
6 Portland, OR Meow Meow
7 San Francisco, CA TBC (TBC)
8 Hollywood, CA Knitting Factory
9 Long Beach, CA Koos
10 San Diego, CA TBC (TBC)
11 Phoenix, AZ Modified
13 El Paso, TX Schaffinos
14 Austin, TX Flamingo Cantina
15 Houston, TX Mary Jane’s
16 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves
17 Baton Rouge, LA TBC (TBC)
18 Nashville, TN The End
19 Columbia, MO Mojo’s
20 Lawrence, KS TBC (TBC)
21 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
22 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court