Space Boozzies - I Feel Alright! - 12" LP (Outtaspace)
Side A punkside
SPACE BOOZZIES’ debut album is the deluxe fried rice of punk-surf-garage-rock’n’roll with the peas picked out.
Side A launches with ‘I Feel Alright!’, a three-chord ripper from Beerserker (aka Spewy, Spewface, Beers, Adam) with his trademark yell-to-arms singing style (The Dunhill Blues; ex-Special Patrol Group; ex-Satan in Disguise).
On the record, Beers’ Johnny Ramone-model Mosrite bass meets a loud-as Music Man head and Marshall cab made famous by the legends of Canberra metal, Armoured Angel.
This tidy gear combo emits a growl that can be mistaken for a guitar at times.
Opener ‘I Feel Alright!’ is about being at peace in life and love, such as Sydney FC belting the Western Sydney Wanderers, your squeeze looking particularly rootable, or winning the pub raffle; a “1-2-3-4!” nod to the late King of Soul.
Michael Likeable (ex-Evil Geniuses) is Space Boozzies’ guitarist, vocalist and pop-culture attache. The tragi-comedy ‘Tonia’ highlights Likeable’s struggle with basic adult tasks such as craft, gardening and cooking. He asks for help from Australian TV gurus Tonia “I Decoupaged a Rock” Todman, Peter “And I’ll Tell You Why” Cundall, and Peter “G’day” Russell “G’day” Clarke.
Despite access to his idols’ tricks and tips, Likeable fails:
Why, Peter, that’s a lovely cordon bleu;
Well tell me, Peter, when I made mine why did everybody spew?
Mr Likeable further explores the fragile male regurgitative state
in ‘Vomit Song’. Anyone who has hosted Likeable on New Year’s Eve knows this, especially when the spirits bust out.
Written in acrostic verse (the first letter of each line spells a word), think ‘Gut Feeling’ by Devo with more Lemmy and Edgar Allan Poe, plus an almost speed-metal drum track by Leithal (ex-SPG).
The lyrics are reprinted below for those spewing along at home.
And, unlike an epic chunder, it’s over in two minutes:
V is for victory, I’m now as drunk as I can be
O is the thing I say when I realise I need to spray M is for Mummy; I need someone to comfort me I is for I’m so ill perhaps I should update my Will T is for cup of tea; I wish that I had stuck to tea V-O-M-I-T
Vomit, I need to vomit (x4)
Vomit...I need to SPEW!
This song tends to be popular with nurses, journos, and other pissheads.
Side B surfside
“Space Boozzies,” they say. “Space Boozzies, if you’re so punk how come you do a Mental As Anything cover?”
Friends, the answer lies in the song, which is ‘The Nips Are Getting Bigger’. The Mentals also covered Chuck Berry, which makes the Mentals rock’n’roll royalty, just like The Beatles. ‘Nips’ reminds one of an era before that shit song ‘Closing Time’ eclipsed ‘Nips’ on the Australian juke: when publicans want to let the punters know you should fuck off home, just quietly.
It is also better than ‘Closing Time’ and has a fun bass line. The Mentals also live and snort the Space Boozzies’ credo of writing uniquely Australian songs with a sense of humour. Full credit goes to Martin Plaza (aka Martin Murphy) for this solid tribute to
drinking (and/or boobs).
‘Messy in Umina’ is a nod to Aussie stomp, king tides, and the main street when drunk bastards leave the Umina pub on a Friday night:
C is for carrot; what’s with all the carrot?
(^Sorry, that is a line from ‘Vomit Song’; ‘Messy in Umina’ is surf-inspired and instrumental as anything.)
Which brings us to Leithal, Space Boozzies’ drummer. He is a percussive powerhouse who can weave bass and guitars into his relentless, Staffy-like rhythm. Punters have remarked how the Boozzies become one in certain songs, and ‘Slaughter’ is the
business in this regard. The crescendo on ‘Vomit Song’ is another.
Ben Playboy, the ‘Fourth Boozzie’ Ben (Intercontinental Playboys) joined the fellas in the studio for this recording without any rehearsals, for which we can thank the beer gods. Playboy joined SPG when the band moved to Sydney in 2001. His guitar work is timeless garage-surf punk, summing up each song’s character and adding experience and expert tremolo (you may have spotted him in Mudrac in the ’80s).
Bend your elbow while you bend your ears to the singular sounds of the swinging SPACE BOOZZIES.
-- written by Esther Bangs, January 2019