THE BOTBOTS - Stoneage Scomeos - 7" EP or CD-EP (Outtaspace/ Wreckless) - OUT NOW!
LAST COPIES
Secure your copy of THE BOTBOTS debut Stoneage Scomeos today!
7 tracks / Limited 150 run, mastered by Mikey Young
THE entire concept was suss – songwriting over the ether, one gig and a fairy’s snatch of rehearsals. Perfect time to rock up to a studio in Mayfield, NSW, to record seven punk songs. THE BOTBOTS’ first and only show was in Mayfield in late February 2020, and the plug was pulled due to onstage swearing, and sports being on the TV. Four months later, the pack returned to eat their own sick and record STONEAGE SCOMEOS with Pana Damo Watson, who we will meet a bit later.
FRIDAY: Everyone is rooted from posting their top 10 influential albums on Crackbook. THE BOTBOTS are due to rehearse at 9pm, and it’s best described as a speed shit. One of the songs was written that week; another needs to arc up the Pentecostal factor in the lyrics department. THE BOTBOTS’ Elder Statesman and guitarist, Ronny Wreckless, is infectiously electric; drummer G. Ardia’s doubled down after recording all day; frontperson Sean’s already shared everything on social media, and Spewy is thinking about his Frankenstein bass rig and a future turd that will fuck up G. Ardia’s toilet.
STONEAGE SCOMEOS SATURDAY: Ronny and Sean don’t sleep well at all in nearby Jesmond, perhaps because they weren’t spooning. We meet at a café that serves shakshuka and bloody good coffee. But you probably know this already, because Sean.
The technical shit happens on the top level of an old-skool, double-brick, skinny terrace decked out with indoor greenery and Buddhist ephemera; once doctors’ rooms, now a chilled, eclectic home and studio. Plus two cats -- one of which “is a cunt”, according to THE BOTBOTS’ loco-soundo-mixo.
Nobody said anything about the stairs.
I leave THE BOTBOTS to bond with their guru while I go to the chemist, then check out the pub next door. It’s diagonal from Corona Street. The bar manager spends an inappropriate amount of time loudly insulting his chef in front of two customers, and the bathroom is 1950s’ lavender, intact. Schooner away, I leg it back to the studio and hang in the sunroom while the guitar tracks go down in the kitchen. About 37 nearby dogs howl in agreement/horror. This is going to be a cracker.
Pana and THE BOTBOTS are in love – the drums, bass and rhythm guitar are already done. Chemist. Pub. Most of it’s in the can. The rule is: it’s not gonna get better after three takes. Someone makes a joke about “take 27” and someone else says “get fucked”.
I’m sitting in on the last gasps of THE BOTBOTS’ EP, and they are cutting it like butter, with a fair amount of sledging and larfs over minor fuck-ups. It’s the three-take rule, which was halved for the theremin and kazoo, thank Christ. The lead vocal has a classic quiver that punches above the guts in the room. We open a few beers to toast the cacophony and listen to the playback, and there’s an insanely happy feeling in the studio. Wall of sound, surf rock, bass rumbles and genuine art, which is the point.
Nobody’s sucking each other’s dicks just yet, but listening to the mastered mix a few weeks later, there’s a hugeness-cum-unhinged-ness to STONEAGE SCOMEOS that surprises all who were present, including Pana’s cat. In eight minutes and four seconds, STONEAGE SCOMEOS is A Current Affair on ’roids, with startlingly accurate observations and fresh-yet-retro distortions.
Oh dear.
– Esther Bangs, July 2020