Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
As Aussie cosmic noisemakers release their third album, Getintothis’ Will Whitby gives Jack McEwan a call to talk intergalactic influences, being John Bonham’s drum stick and munching cardboard in a field.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpet’s new album And Now For The Whatchamacallit finds the Aussie lads come into their own, with big riffs, big sounds and psych dance floor fillers to blow your mind.
The band says the hedonism of touring the world and being immersed in music has influenced the new album through “large nights out, larger characters, drunken recollections of foreign cities and rabbit hole-ing into insanity.”
The groovy basslines which open in Keen For Kick Ons pulsate through you like a Heebies basement Saturday night classic.
Woozy, get-up-and-go riffs appear on Bill’s Mandolin and the self-confessed “rhino at full charge” Hymn For A Droid tears through the album, making you need a lie-down after just three tracks.
Classic psychedelia returns with Native’s Tongue and solid instrumentals from Fields, Woods, Time.
The band’s adventurous composition comes into fruition with When In Rome and Social Candy as jazz free form flows with Digital Hunter.
The hedonistic onslaught ends with Dezi’s Adventure as a blurry Wurlitzer organ makes you feel like you’ve had too many cans and you’re stuck in a hall of mirrors and want to lie down, again.
After many months being on the road “actually holding the product made me feel like a child” McEwan told us. “I’m so happy with the cover art and how the wax has turned out too. I’ve not given it a spin yet but I am very happy.”
The cover art in question sees an innovative collage of a fairytale jungle of fruits, mushrooms, flora and fauna and was created by Ben Giles is known for multi-layered collage art which creates a surreal universe.
Aside from their new album being released in a number of variants, McEwan was unaware that their first two albums on vinyl are worth a pretty penny. Copies of High Visceral part one are on sale upwards of £150 on the second-hand market with one even selling for $500.
“That’s just stupid, stupid money” McEwan remarked.
Getintothis joined the band on the phone after they supported Interpol in Cologne. On the road, they were in Wiesbaden just west of Frankfurt as hungry musicians rushed to the next venue to eat Interpol’s catering.
The conversation follows what the group had for breakfast as the leftover buffet from the night before only offered up rice, satay sauce, cherry tomatoes, avocados and some bread. “It was a lovely and balanced breakfast” McEwan joked “however, we did have a conversation about how rice can give you food poisoning and everyone’s stomachs collectively turned sideways.”
The group had System Of A Down on the car stereo after blazing through playlists of Stevie Wonder, Mile High Club, Dead Meadow and death metal group Witch.
“Babe Rainbow by Secret Enchanted Broccoli Forest was the last track I heard and wish I wrote” McEwan revealed. “That was a good track and it was weird and amazing, it is acceptable to be weird now and that notion propels our band. Oh and Let My Tyres Down by Tropical Fuck Storm too” he added.
The group have been on the road for what feels like their entire career and have recently completed a tour of the UK, supporting The Strokes in London, playing Manchester’s Yes Fest and Brighton’s Great Escape but more notably nearly blowing the roof off Liverpool’s Shipping Forecast in May.
Deeper Cuts Festival – an interstellar new music happening in Liverpool
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are on an exponential trajectory to psych greatness with big venues no doubt far away on the fuzzy horizon. A set awash with massive riffs, cymbal crashes, woozy lines and cosmic melodies saw Shipping Forecast sweat it’s way into a strange realm between the basement’s uneven floor, low roof and unforgiving structural pillars.
The show will no doubt go down as an “I was there” gig as the Aussie noisemakers brought their brand of chaos to Liverpool for the first time.
Wirral rockers The Mysterines helped them get the spot in Liverpool after the up and coming trio supported Porn Crumpets on the tour, that night they came as fans.
The bright lights, nice people and iconic music scene of Liverpool got the better of the band as McEwan opened up on how a quiet one in the Cavern at 5pm turned into Heebie Jeebies dance floor at 3am.
“Liverpool ruined us. We arrived on the day before the show and thought we’d go check out The Cavern, we thought it would be a small room, it’s now a museum. We just went out and it turned into 3am at a Heebie Jeebies” McEwan revealed. “It was sick, we met loads of friendly people. It was nice to get to speak to people we usually wouldn’t, it was really easy to make friends in pubs. Needless to say, we were rotten in the morning” he ended laughing.
Travelling Europe in the early days gave the group the inspiration for the video for their single Cornflake which is as much of a grand assault on the eyes as it is the ears. A psychedelic experience of shapes, stars, flowers and aliens travelling through an animated, intergalactic, cosmic kaleidoscope.
McEwan discussed how the video was created by animator Mike Wyatt who doubled as a roadie, driving the band around Europe “he was such an enthusiastic and flamboyant character and having him as a friend allowed us to push our boundaries and be adventurous too.”
The new album inspiration started at the band’s first festival at Party In The Palace last year in Tasmania. “We got amongst it and pretty much just got munching cardboard for a few days in a field with so many strange characters. This one guy thought he was a liquid state and his friends couldn’t find him”.
McEwan told Getintothis that this was the starting point for track My Friend Is A Liquid. He added “We just wanted to make an album to play through festivals and have as much fun as possible. We wanted it to be really uplifting and upbeat!”
Hailing from the Perth Psychedelic scene, Porn Crumpets join a raft of mega-talent emerging from the down under cities. With the likes of Tame Impala, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Pond, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and more calling Australia home there must be something in the water down under.
McEwan also likened Perth to Liverpool with a vibrant music scene, individual identity and free-thinking populous. We asked McEwan what ingredients are needed for a vibrant psych scene like that of Perth?
“You’ve got to be a bit strange or undeveloped and like things getting weird. Architecture and the ability to build and construct something is how scenes start with an understanding of how to create. For good measure add beer, malts and hops too.”
The lead single from the new album Bill’s Mandolin is inspired by the instrument that Jack’s grandfather gave him and since has followed them on tour. This led to some fun, deep and literal conversation as to what item following a musician on tour would he like to be?
“I would say I’d like to be John Bonham’s drumstick but then I’d have a headache every day. If the life of something fun like a saxophone is hard as you’d just get spat on all day or any kind of brass instrument wouldn’t be nice. It’s a rough existence being an instrument” McEwan joked.
After a long conversation, he finally settles on a Xylophone, after poo-pooing Getintothis’ suggestion of a violin as you’d be stroked by greasy horse hair all day. “Xylophones have little mallets and the cushioned stick so it would be a relaxing life” he reasoned.
What’s clear from our brief time with Jack McEwan is that his friendly, exciting and upbeat demeanour he holds on stage is all homemade. A young lad who is here for a fun time and seeing where his music will take him.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpet’s latest album is a testament to music made to have fun as the riff-laden experience will please and cater for indie fans, psych stars, jazzheads and funk demons alike. People might sneer at the name but the music is nothing to be snubbed at.
Closing the conversation by being asked how he would sum up Psychedelic Porn Crumpets in 3 words he joked with “The Animalistic Cosmic Conglomeration.” We left the group upbeat and very complimentary for our engaging conversation as the band rushed to the next venue to take as much of Interpol’s catering as possible.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets new album And Now For The Whatchamacallit was released May 31 on What Reality? Records. They return to the UK in the summer for a string of festival dates at YNOT, Truck Festival and Leopallooza.
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