Here is a clip of Dog Trumpet performing "Lonely Death Cleaning Company" live at TedXSydney in November 2020:
Reacting to the war in Ukraine, on February 25 Dog Trumpet uploaded their own version of Reg Mombassa's song "Troop Movements in the Ukraine", originally released by Mental As Anything on the album Espresso Bongo in 1980 (and later also released on the album Chemical Travel in 1993).
I've also had a chance to listen to some of Martin Cilia's music over the past week, though somehow I didn't get to 'Farewell (Mr Smith)' until I played the video posted by Stefan. This week we're covering Dog Trumpet's album Great South Road. I listened to the entire album over the weekend, and I think I can review it now (re-listening as I do). This post will be silently edited here waiting for Stefan to post. Not Quite Enough This Pete song is very typical Dog Trumpet. It has a nice melody, and a simple, straightforward, arrangement. After a number of Dog Trumpet songs, there's not a lot to say about it. It's good. Wallpaper Another Pete song at the beginning of the album. This is again very Dog Trumpet. It has a nice melody and a straightforward arrangement and production with acoustic and electric guitars. The electric guitar figures, and solo, are nice. I can't hear much in the way of backing vocals. I'm sort of not sure what to write here. I don't think it's a matter that I need to listen to the album more - I think this song is straightforward. It's nicely written, arranged, and performed. But, it's definitely not trying to break new ground for the band. The guitars are very nice. Erm, ... Gravity I note that Spotify puts this up the top for Dog Trumpet among their featured tracks. I don't know how it decides those and whether they are personalised for me. But, I think this is a very good Reg song. Throughout this album I'll mention that I think that musically Reg's songs are getting a bit repetitious musically. But, this is one of the more distinctive Reg songs on this album. It's a nice campfire singalong song and would fit very well on a MAA album, with an arrangement by the full band. Perhaps the middle 8 could be ... refined a bit. But, overall, musically this is good and the slide guitar and more riffy backing guitars (of which there are many, as usual) work well. Lonely Death Cleaning Company And, a second Reg song to balance things up. A song about the protagonist being found dead in his flat after a lonely death. Covering the topic of who has to clean up after such events. Perhaps a slight echo of Nick Lowe's song 'Marie Provost'. Lyrically very interesting. And, the guitar solo is good. Musically it's very much what we expect from Reg. At Anytime This Pete song has a very nice melody with a melodic lift for the chorus (or possibly refrain - I haven't been counting bars). Keyboards make a contribution here. This is an interesting Pete melody as he often writes. The arrangement is many overdubbed guitars as common on DT song, with the addition of keyboards. Perhaps a MAA version of this song would include more backing vocals and it would get to a more driving feel. It seems to me that the O'Doherty brothers have continued the quality of their songwriting, but the arrangements aren't stretching for hits (or even being very distinctive). You've Heard It All Before Continuing the initial pattern of this album of two Pete songs then two Reg songs, this is another Pete song. This is my favourite song on the album. There's just something about the melody that really works for me. The arrangement is very Dog Trumpet - nothing unexpected. Gangrene Another Reg song with an unexpected topic. Reg doesn't sound very positive about medical things and ways that people might die. Perhaps Musically, this is what I mean by Reg's songs being musically a bit samey by this point. I don't really hear anything here that sounds like a hook. The bridge (I think) here doesn't sound very impressive. It's an interesting song lyrically, but I think it needs more musically. The bass reminds me of some of Paul McCartney's work with the Beatles. Walk to the Moon Another Reg song. However, this tune that was buzzing around in his head sounds a bit too much like many Reg songs I've heard before. This song lacks the distinctive lyrics of Reg's other songs. It's OK, but it feels to me a bit like filler. As DT albums are very consistent in style without a lot of contrast between the songs, filler is very ... filler-ish. What sounds a bit like mandolin but might be guitar is a nice touch, but a nice touch that has been used before. Overseas and Everywhere This is another Reg song, with Reg dominating the last part of the album. The more rocky feel and the piano and organ (according to my ears) are good contributions. But, the melody is a bit too much ... Reg. More variation in the vocal melodies and more distinctive melodies would help here. As I'm going to mention down below, I may be burnt out on DT songs a bit. Stay for Too Long This slightly more up-tempo Pete song has a nice melody. And, I could imagine this done as country rock like the early Eagles. There is a nice hook in the chorus balanced by the guitar line. The backing vocals really help the song lift in the chorus, and perhaps there should have been more backing vocals on this album. Atom The 6/8 (according to my ears) time signature here sounds interesting. But, this song has a melody that sounds like another Reg melody without enough to give it a distinctive character. Without reading the lyrics, I'm not sure what it's about. But, the bits I hear sound interesting. How to Find my Way Home The brass on this song is a real plus, giving this song a more distinctive sound. Particularly at the end. It's a pity that there wasn't more adventure in the arrangements of the songs on this album before we get to the last song. This is a much more interesting and distinctive song overall, with a good melody. I thought the time signature might be 6/4 early on, but it settles down into what sounds like 3/4 to me. The instrumentation is more interesting, even in the bits that are only guitar bass and drums. Overall Overall I appreciate that this album isn't too long. The songs are very Dog Trumpet. It perhaps doesn't help that I've heard all of DT's career in a few weeks. So that I've heard a very large number of songs over a short time period. For much of this album it sounds a bit like they record DT songs, and when they have an album of them they get released. At least sonically, I don't hear a distinctive character for this album, or a sonic vision for it. Given that the brothers are (we are told by Greedy) focussing on their art, they aren't taking the time to really work up an album. I don't know. I do know that there are many good songs here, but they are perhaps a bit hidden by the similar arrangements for many songs. After I played this album while writing one draft of this review, 'Invisible Eyelids' played. That track sounds much more distinctive and would be a real standout on Great South Road as it was on River of Flowers. I think that DT have the songs to make a better album, and there's nothing wrong with the playing. There just needs to be more contrast between tracks. And, more variation/distinctive nature in Reg's vocal melodies. 3.6/5
That's a lot of videos for the album. I had listened to the album and written my review before the credits were posted. I didn't realise that the drums were mostly programmed. They are simple drum tracks, but I didn't notice that they were a drum machine. Videos: Gravity They've had some fun with the effects in their video software. It shows that you don't need a big budget for a music video - it looks like hand held camera, a conveniently blue sky suitable for chroma keying, and some big floppy hats. It's a fun video for a fun song. Wallpaper Another video which matches the feel of the album. A bit home-made (lighting could have been more professional) but an interesting idea and enjoyable. Lonely Death Cleaning Company Again, the ideas are good in this home-made looking video. The masks are interesting as is the use of lighting to cast shadows. Again random(?) images and effects are used. You Heard It All Before This is my favourite song on the album. The black and white suits the song, and is often a good choice for videos shot without fancy equipment and a professional filming crew (which I guess they don't have.) Bit disappointed that in the video that Pete isn't playing the bass. (Which I presume he played on the recording). Not Quite Enough The differentiator for many of the videos. I guess this is their home studio. I appreciate bands that have home studio and can record albums when otherwise it may not be financially possible any more. I don't know how DT records, but I am wildly guessing that this is their situation, so I appreciate seeing such a location. Of course, I could be completely wrong again Overseas and Elsewhere They're using their (interesting) chroma key out the sky trick again. I am peering at these locations wondering if they are around Auckland, but I haven't recognised any of the locations yet. The very red guitar is eye-catching. At Anytime The album is consistent in style and quality. This is happening with the videos. B&W makes its return. This is another of my favourite songs on the album and I like the perspective angles on the guitars. I wonder if this is an actual depiction of the domestic arrangements of at least one O'Doherty brothers. I mean the house - the song's protagonists appear to be actors. Or, I'd like to think, friends/fans This is a very nice song and maybe it should be be my favourite on the album. Listening to a smaller selection of songs makes me think that my 3.6 rating for the album is a bit parsimonious. If the above songs were an EP, then I would be rating it in the low 4s. Live Tracks Lonely Death Cleaning Company I could imagine this being a recording and having more instruments added to this and it making an album. It's good having naturalistic and a bit home-made recordings being your sonic signature - without huge expectations of a massive production which would take too much time and cost too much. Maybe. I haven't seen DT live - I wasn't aware that the band existed before this thread. But, if they visited my city, I would definitely go see them. Troop Movements in the Ukraine As they say, very topical. The sentiment which fits the situation now perhaps even better than it did the cold war is important. Perhaps the recording is a bit rough and ready, but that's not the point here. (General comment) It's good to hear that they are working on a new album. I presume that unless it's released in the next few weeks that we will eventually reconvene here. (Stefan may have plans to keep us busily working on MAA listening for some time - I don't know )
Great South Road OK, so the first time I listened to this album was while waiting to get the hell out of Dallas airport as it became increasingly clear that more flights were going to be delayed. It was a situation that called for chilling out and letting the situation unfold (after making peace with the idea that I might be stuck in an airport for a day or two). In any case, it was a situation that perhaps called for a dose of Dog Trumpet because it was amazingly a very chill way to spend about an hour and I enjoyed it greatly. Let’s see how the album shapes up now that I’m actually going to write some commentary… Not Quite Enough I’m liking the very low key, lo-fi vibe of this opening song. It reminds me a little of lying by the beach and hearing the waves crashing somewhere in the distance. Of course, now that I’m listening to the lyrics in detail, it’s a little bit melancholy as well. I do like Pete’s vocal here and I like the poetic cast to some of the lyrics. It strikes me that this sounds a little like other DT songs…but then again I sat out the last couple of albums, so I don’t know if that still stands. Wallpaper The guitar melody in this song is very elegant. I don’t know that this is ear-worm catchy, but it’s very pleasant to listen to. I don’t know that ear-worms are even an aim for Dog Trumpet. They seem to write a lot of songs that I’d categorize like this one. Great to listen to at the time, well crafted, but I can’t always recall the song later (maybe I need more repetitions). Still, I could listen to the guitar line on this song on repeat for quite some time. Gravity This is a very similar style song again. I do like the Reg lyrics here. I’m intrigued to know what Reg reads because this is another song that makes physics references. I’m sorry my inner geek is showing through but it’s not often you get references to Einstein, Black holes and Gravity in a song. I quite like the lyrics and it’s a bit of a nice philosophical take on the place in the universe. I like the interesting guitar figure which is almost latin-ish like. So far, this song is quirky and a bit of a winner for me. Also, I like the video a lot which has a very strong visual style while communicating the essence of the song. Lonely Death Cleaning Company This is a seriously sad topic for the lyrics and true to Reg lyrics, it’s very much a social commentary. It’s interesting with the wry observations within the lyrics. I don’t know that the music captures me as much as the lyrics do. Very clever weaving in Eleanor Rigby into the lyrics also. Reg does have a very unique perspective on the world. At Anytime There’s a dream like quality to this album to this point. I think this is a good song at this point, there’s a bit more energy probably due to the drum/bass line. I think this might also be a bit of a high point in the album – I particularly like the outro with the bass line and guitar. That’s kinda terrific. You’ve Heard it All Before I’d probably have to listen a bit harder to the lyrics of this song. Because I feel like there is a story being told here that I wasn’t concentrating on. I like this country tinged song. Gangrene This reminds me a little bit of songs from the first Dog Trumpet album. Or maybe it’s because it is such a distinctively Reg song. As in, it could have been written any time in the last 40 years. That’s not a negative, it’s a style. And who would have thought you could write a song about Gangrene? Walk to the Moon I like this little, lazy song. It’s maybe the mandolin (or whatever stringed instrument) that really appeals to me on this song. Again, thinking back to when I was waiting in the airport, this was one of the songs that really stood out to me – probably because it’s so calming. Kind of a song for playing while in a hammock… Overseas and Everywhere I do like the ambling air of the musical track here. The lyrics as always are very interesting. It’s also a bit of a welcome change in style. The addition of piano and organ is quite lovely producing a richer sound overall. It was getting a bit spartan. Stay for Too Long OK, I really like this song a lot. It’s just a good change of pace and style and I like the lyrics. Pete’s vocal is really nice on this. The additional musicians and backing vocals make it a bit warmer and richer. Atom OK, again another philosophical set of lyrics by Reg. This is very much about where our place is in the universe. It’s very similar to a lot of conversations I’ve had over the years. It’s very charming in a Reg style. Lovely guitar break there also. How to Find My Way Home I like the observations in the lyrics here and the gentle swinging rhythm of this song. Is that a trumpet I hear? That’s a nice bit of change in the album. There’s a nice style to this song – almost jazz like – I’d take more songs in this style. I’m definitely feeling like the album is finishing more strongly than how it started as this is another highlight on the album. Favorite tracks: How to Find My Way Home, Gravity, Stay for Too Long On balance and now on my second listen through I feel like I have a handle on the style of Dog Trumpet. There’s no real ear-worm song on this album, but the album is a very enjoyable listen. Chill, but with plenty to appreciate and digest. In particular I always appreciate the unique Reg view of the world, and I like Pete’s poetic style. If I had to say anything, it’s maybe that all the songs sound similar and aren’t separately all that distinctive. In the same way, I’m not sure that there’s been any stunning progression since the first album, although this album is more polished. Still, they have a distinctive sound. I’d like it if the next album had a few more tracks like “How to Find My Way Home”. I like the jazz stylings of that song and the richer texture of the song. Sometimes I think Dog Trumpet albums can get a bit spartan – with just Reg and Pete - and having additional musicians added into the mix I think actually shows the songs off to better advantage. Right, now I can go back and read what @HitAndRun has said about this album. I resisted reading it so it wouldn't color my view!
Now that I've read your comments I think I can agree with this assessment. I've always felt like Reg and Pete have the "goods" to make a really good album but as you say I think sometimes the arrangements are a bit the same. I know that the aim isn't probably to develop chart hits or ear worms but it does make it a bit tricky to recall individual songs sometimes. I enjoy this album - specifically as an album - but I struggle to recall individual songs. Maybe that's just needing more spins. One thing I think worked for MAA was not only that they had 4 songwriters, but that Greedy brought a pop sensibility and Martin seemed to have a wicked ability to generate hooks. I feel like in a sense, that hook generation is the missing factor here (since they clearly aren't going for a pop sensibility, if anything it's a more blues/folk sensibility). I do think it's a bit of a full circle moment - Reg started off being more squarely in the blues style of music and it feels a little like Dog Trumpet is in that niche. I would like Pete to bring a bit more jazz style to the proceedings because I feel like that hasn't really been fully explored yet.
Interview with Reg Mombassa Both Reg Mombassa and Peter O'Doherty have very kindly taken the time to do interviews for this forum. They got essentially the same set of questions, divided into three sections - Mental As Anything, Dog Trumpet and visual art. Here are Reg's answers - Peter's will be in the next post. Thank you very much Reg! *** Section 1 - MENTAL AS ANYTHING You first met Martin Plaza when you were both students at the National Art School (Alexander Mackie College) in Sydney. What were your first impressions of him as a musician and as a person? I first saw Martin playing at an art student party in 1975 with a scratch band and thought he was a good singer and guitar player, so I approached him and suggested we have a jam and maybe put a band together. We got along well and had similar tastes in music and humour. Peter joined the group in August 1977 and this line-up was together for more than two decades. In your opinion, what were the key factors for this line-up’s longevity? We all had a shared interest in art and similar tastes in music, but with enough slight differences to give the band a broad input of influences. We also shared a sense of humour and an awareness of the absurdity of the human condition. Which was the first song you wrote for Mental As Anything and what was it like from your point of view having four songwriters in the band? I think the first song I wrote was called ‘Torchy the Battery Boy’ which was based on the theme song from a Japanese marionette children’s show of that name. We never recorded it. Having four songwriters meant that our music was never one dimensional. On the first two albums, the person who wrote a song sang it, but on Cats and Dogs this changed – “Walking on Rails” was written by Reg and sung by Martin, “Berserk Warriors” was written by Peter and sung by Martin, “Got Hit” was written by Peter and sung by Peter, Greedy and some parts by Martin and “Looking For Bird” was written by Reg, Bird and Martin and sung by Greedy. How did the band work up vocal arrangements and decide who should sing each song? Martin and Greedy were the lead singers so that is why they sometimes sang the songs that Peter and I wrote, but we would mess around and see who sounded the best singing certain songs. I have read that “Berserk Warriors” was kind of inspired by ABBA. As I live in Vallentuna, Sweden, the town where the ABBA members lived when they started out (and a place which hasn’t really contributed much else to the world of music), I am curious: what do you think about ABBA? I thought Abba were a little cheesy, but I could see they were very catchy and relatable songs, well played sung and recorded. Through the ‘80s, Mental As Anything had lots of chart success, with hit single after hit single and the albums reaching high in the chart and selling gold and platinum and intensive touring. What was it like being in the band at the height of all this commercial success and what does success mean to you? The success occurred gradually but it was certainly gratifying to be popular and able to tour internationally and make a living from playing music. In 1982 and again in 1983, Mental As Anything toured North America, both with Men At Work and on your own. What were those tours like from your perspective and what are your favourite memories from this time? It was great to see America for the first time and travel right across the country in tour buses. We got along with Men at Work and they treated us very well. In the ‘80s you toured both in North America and Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. What was the biggest differences in touring the different territories and were there any differences in which songs the audiences responded to the most? I didn’t notice any real difference in audience reaction – we played the same sets in all the countries we toured in. Mental As Anything did a huge number of gigs every year and no doubt many songs were played almost every night on tour. How do you as musicians keep the songs fresh on tour? Which songs did you enjoy playing the most? We generally played most of the hits but would vary the solos and vary the sets a little, particularly with the cover songs. My favourite songs to play were probably ‘If you leave me can I come too?’, ‘Berserk Warriors’, ‘Too many Times’ and some of the blues and rock’n’roll covers. After Cyclone Raymond, Mentals took a break from recording for a few years before Liar Liar Pants On Fire. In Murray Waldren’s book The Mind and Times of Reg Mombassa, it says this album was recorded in about a week and I get the impression that the band enjoyed making this album, is that correct? There are 14 tracks on that album plus all four CD EPs released from it had non-album tracks as bonus tracks. How did the band decide which songs went on the album and which were to be bonus tracks on the CD EPs? We probably put the tracks on the album that seemed to hang together as a collection. We did enjoy recording that album because we no longer had a big record company beathing down our necks and giving their stupid opinions. In Debbie Kruger’s very interesting book Songwriters Speak. Conversations about creating music, published in 2004, there is a chapter in which Martin Plaza and Greedy Smith were interviewed, separately. One question they both got was “What are a few of your favourite songs written by other members of the band?”. I’ll borrow that question from the book and ask you the same question – what are your favourite Mentals songs written by Martin, Greedy and Peter? My favourite Martin song was ‘If You Leave Me Can I Come Too’ and Peter’s ‘Berserk Warriors’ and of Greedy’s ‘Too many Times’. Mental As Anything continued after you and Peter left the group. What are your thoughts on the albums and EPs the band released after you had left the group? They did some solid work after we left but lacked the variety of having 4 songwriters. On the Mental As Anything: Album by Album forum, several of us fans have expressed hope that there will one day be a lavish Mental As Anything box set featuring B-sides, movie songs, unreleased demos, extended mixes and so on. Do you think there is any chance of such a box set happening? That is something that I would like to see but there are no concrete plans for such a thing at present. On the Basemental DVD, recorded on August 16, 2003, you both made guest appearaces and you worked again with Martin and Greedy when The Wiggles did their version of “Let’s Cook” in 2010. Do you still keep in touch with Martin and Bird? Yes, we do. We had dinner with Martin and his wife Kate recently and Peter and I recently recorded some interviews with Martin and Bird for a proposed documentary about the band. Section 2 - DOG TRUMPET In 1991, your first album as a duo, Two Heads One Brain was released. What was it like making an album without the other Mentals members and what do you think of this album today? It was more intense and quite different making our own album because we weren’t sharing the writing and recording duties between 5 people. I think the album stands up pretty well. In the second half of the ‘90s, Mental As Anything released the Liar Liar Pants On Fire and Garage albums and in between there was the second Dog Trumpet album Suitcase. When you were writing songs in this period, were all songs attempted by Mental As Anything or were some songs earmarked for the next Dog Trumpet album from the start? If so, what made a song a Mental As Anything song or a Dog Trumpet song? We did try some songs with the Mentals which ended up on a Dog Trumpet album. Of my songs ‘I’m so Handsome’ and ‘Quiet Night’ are two examples. Probably quieter more folky songs were more suited to Dog Trumpet than the Mentals. On the Kiss A Gun Down and Strange Brew EPs and the Suitcase album, Tony Martin was one of the musicians and Suitcase features one song (“Bing Bong”) written and sung by him. How did your collaboration with him start and is he still involved in music? Tony Martin was the first bass player we used for live gigs. He was a friend of John Bliss who also was the drummer in the first live line up. They were both original members of The Reels, another great Australian band. We recorded Bing Bong because it was a great and funny song. I think Tony plays with friends occasionally but no longer professionally. You have collaborated with several great musicians on the Dog Trumpet albums. When you are writing the songs, do you have a vision of what instruments the song will feature and do you have particular musicians in mind at that stage? No, we probably record our basic version of a song with just Peter and I playing before deciding on guest musicians. Before the third Dog Trumpet album, you both quit Mental As Anything and also suffered the loss of your father. So there were major changes in your life, both professionally and personally. How did these events affect your creativity? Leaving the Mentals gave us more time to concentrate on Dog Trumpet and art and I did write a song about the death of my father, but we never recorded it. On previous Dog Trumpet albums and EPs, you had worked with Steve James, David Price, Brett Stanton and Martin White as co-producers, but from this album onwards Peter has been the sole producer. What do you think are Peter’s strengths as a producer? Peter has done great work as an engineer producer and arranger on most of our albums. His grasp of technology and the ability to learn stuff that completely baffles me is always impressive. Dog Trumpet has recorded a few covers – “Strange Brew”, “Lili Marlene” and “On The Mighty Ocean Alcohol”. How do you approach recording these covers and what makes a song special enough for you to make you want to record your own version of it? We often record covers that we have been playing live and just choose old or more contemporary songs that we like. The recorded versions are generally similar to how we play them live. To personalise the song we changed the line ‘I lost my darling brother’ to ‘I lost my darling father’ because our Dad was an alcoholic and Peter isn’t. On the Antisocial Tendencies album there is the song “Bloomsbury Birds” sung by Bernie Hayes who is a member of your live band to this day. How did this collaboration start and what are the best things about working with him? Bernie is an accomplished musician and singer and has recorded several great albums of his own songs. He also knows and can perform an incredible range of covers. Dog Trumpet’s most recent album Great South Road was released just as the pandemic was starting, causing lockdowns and restrictions all over the world. It’s been a tough time for the world for two years. How do you cope as musicians and artists when the opportunities for concerts and art exhibitions become so restricted for such a long time? It has been a frustrating couple of years. We have cancelled many live gigs but have also enjoyed playing some live Facebook concerts, which are also for some reason more stressful than playing live. You have done live shows that have been streamed online during this period. Have you enjoyed doing these shows and is there any chance that there will be more online streamed concerts? We will do more live Facebook concerts but probably just as a duo. We did one concert with the band last year but it’s technically more complicated getting a good sound with a full band. You have both been writing songs for more than 40 years by now. Does it become easier, as you have a lot of experience writing, or does it become harder, because you have a huge body of great work that new songs have to compete with, so to speak? I don’t really find it any different. Some songs come quickly and easily and some you will labor over or just struggle to complete words that you are happy with. It’s best not to spook yourself by competing or comparing your new songs with previous work. What do you think are your biggest strengths as songwriters, both in terms of the songs you write yourself and in terms of what you think of each other as songwriters? Peter is probably better at writing relatable romantic songs, and I am more likely to write more ridiculous esoteric or political songs, although I have done a few romantic songs that I think are ok. All Dog Trumpet albums have just been issued on vinyl by UK label Demon Music Group. When the pandemic is over and touring becomes more possible, is there any chance that there will be a Dog Trumpet tour in Europe? We would certainly love to play in Europe but because of the distance from Australia the cost of taking a band to Europe is prohibitive. Also of course the ongoing pandemic makes it difficult and risky to go anywhere at present. From your point of view as singers, songwriters and musicians, what makes a Dog Trumpet gig extra memorable for you? It is always pleasurable to play with a good P.A. and mixer, and if we and the band are playing well and confidently and the audience are obviously appreciating it that makes it a memorable gig. In the recent interview you did with Bernard Zuel, it was mentioned that you are working on a new Dog Trumpet album. What are your artistic visions for this album and when do you think it will be released? We have about 10 songs recorded now that we are pretty happy with. There is probably a little more free form jamming and instrumental work on this one and I guess our artistic vision is just to write what comes into your head and try and present the songs as convincingly as possible. We never really have specific unifying concepts for our albums. They are collections of songs that occurred at that time. Section 3 - VISUAL ART How did your interest in Art start and were there any particular painters that inspired you when you were growing up? I was always drawing pictures as a child and at high school I did art and liked the Impressionists and Post Impressionists particularly Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet and Sisley. Also, I liked Bosch and Breughel and the German Expressionists like Max Beckmann and Otto Dix and George Grosz. I also like more contemporary artists like Francis Bacon, William Kentridge, Grayson Perry and the Chapman Brothers. Both in Murray Waldren’s book and in the Dog Trumpet song “Reading Comics” it says that comics have inspired your art. Are you still interested in comics as an art form and if so, do you have any favourites among comic artists? As a child I liked comics - Walt Disney, war comics, classic comics, the Phantom etc. Later on, I was fan of the American underground comic artists, particularly Robert Crumb, and I still look at his work. Do you recall the first exhibition of your paintings? As a young artist starting out, what was the art world in Sydney like – were there many art galleries that you could contact? The first real show I had was a group show at Watters Gallery in 1975. The gallery scene was quite healthy then in Sydney but there are probably more galleries today. With Mental As Anything, you spent a lot of time touring, both in Australia and overseas. Did you get the opportunities to visit art museums and art galleries while on tour and if so, which was the most inspiring to visit? Yes, we did visit galleries and museums, probably more overseas than here. The most impressive for me were the British Museum and the National Gallery in London and a Van Gogh gallery we found in a park in Holland, after playing at a festival in the park. Over the years, several groups and artists – such as PiL, Crowded House, Mondo Rock, Paul Kelly, Akwaaba and Kingtide – have had paintings by you on their record covers. PiL asked to have one of your already existing paintings on their cover and in the cases of Crowded House (“Pineapple Head”) and Mondo Rock (“Primitive Love Rites”) the paintings were obviously inspired by the songs. When the song exists first, how do you approach doing a painting that will be its cover artwork? The PIL cover was done specifically for that purpose, it wasn’t an existing image. Usually, I would do a few rough ideas and let the band or artist concerned choose which one they wanted. When you work on new paintings, what is a typical working day like and what is the creative process from a blank sheet to a finished painting like? A typical painting or drawing day consists of climbing up the ladder to my attic studio and either starting a new picture or continuing working on one or more that I have previously started. Some pictures are done en plein air and some are derived from photographs I have taken or from magazine or newspaper photos and some are based on rough preparatory drawings I have already made. Some come directly from the imagination. What advice would you give to young people who have just started their education at an art school? Just turn up and start work. Absorb influences and inspiration from the great artists of the past and present and from fellow students and teachers. Experiment with different art styles, mediums and tools to find what suits you and don’t stress too much about finding your own voice or style – it will come eventually. Final question… what are your plans, as visual artist, for 2022? Just to keep working towards another show. I had a big show 7 or 8 months ago so it will be a while before the next one. I have been doing a lot of ink and wash drawings in the last year which is a new and enjoyable medium for me. I also now have an online studio/store www.regmombassa.store which has digital prints and merchandise which is available to buy, plus stuff to look at like interviews, poems and writing.
Interview with Peter O'Doherty Peter got essentially the same set of questions as Reg and here are his answers. Thank you very much Peter! Section 1 - MENTAL AS ANYTHING You joined the group in August 1977 and this line-up was together for more than two decades. In your opinion, what were the key factors for this line-up’s longevity? We had common threads with the visual art, a similar sense of humour and general aesthetic along with a wide-ranging appreciation for classic 50’s and 60’s rock and roll, country, rockabilly, soul, blues and jazz. It was quite an egalitarian band with no obvious leader, a sum of our parts. Four of us (and sometimes Dave Twohill) were writing and contributing songs which spurred us on from album to album and kept the momentum going. Which were the first songs you each wrote for Mental As Anything and what was it like from your point of view having four songwriters in the band? One of the first songs I wrote was Wolf at Your Door. I was learning on the job. We all started writing songs around the same time which gave us a sense of competitive encouragement to keep writing. I think I found my feet as a songwriter by the 3rd album Cats and Dogs. On the first two albums, the person who wrote a song sang it, but on Cats and Dogs this changed – “Walking on Rails” was written by Reg and sung by Martin, “Berserk Warriors” was written by Peter and sung by Martin, “Got Hit” was written by Peter and sung by Peter, Greedy and some parts by Martin and “Looking For Bird” was written by Reg, Bird and Martin and sung by Greedy. How did the band work up vocal arrangements and decide who should sing each song? It was a case of just trial and error what came out the best at the time. We would try different approaches to see what suited the song best. Plus Martin was such a naturally strong singer it sounded great to hear him sing some of those songs. I have read that “Berserk Warriors” was kind of inspired by ABBA. As I live in Vallentuna, Sweden, the town where the ABBA members lived when they started out (and a place which hasn’t really contributed much else to the world of music), I am curious: what do you think about ABBA? I first heard Waterloo on the radio when I was about 16 – I was always a fan of unashamed pop and ABBA did it so well. They weren’t the kind of group whose albums I would buy but I was aware of them all the way through and appreciated what they were doing. They were huge in Australia. When I was about 11 and 12 years old I used to love reading historical novels often about Vikings and Norse mythology. When Björn and Agnetha’s relationship broke down around the time of the Winner Takes it All, the drama and imagery of it suggested an interwoven pop music/romance/ Viking story line. Through the ‘80s, Mental As Anything had lots of chart success, with hit single after hit single and the albums reaching high in the chart and selling gold and platinum and intensive touring. What was it like being in the band at the height of all this commercial success and what does success mean to you? It was very intense – we were on the road, living out of suitcases, at close quarters, writing, recording, doing promotions, film clips, touring and being away from home for months at a time. We were lucky too being in the right place at the right time when music was exploding all around us. It was exciting and relentless and we were young and had a lot of energy. It was great to be so well received. The success of the band meant that we had the luxury of time and circumstance to keep writing and making albums which itself kept the wheel turning. In 1982 and again in 1983, Mental As Anything toured North America, both with Men At Work and on your own. What were those tours like from your perspective and what are your favourite memories from this time? It was our first time leaving Australia apart from New Zealand so it was a big deal and very exciting to be in the US. Playing with Men at Work meant we were exposed to much bigger crowds than we would have been otherwise and it was good fun touring with another Australian band and seeing North America together. We also played sideline solo gigs in small clubs in different cities, sometimes to just a handful of people so it was one extreme to another. Some of those gigs were the most memorable. We played one gig in Wausau Wisconsin where the entire audience piled onto our tour bus (borrowed from Men at Work) for a party after we played. The venue manager’s mum supplied the food! In the ‘80s you toured both in North America and Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. What was the biggest differences in touring the different territories and were there any differences in which songs the audiences responded to the most? Obviously playing in America and Europe was different as the audiences didn’t know us. There was a sense of starting from scratch but in general people were pretty responsive. Being Australian meant that we were a curiosity and somewhat exotic. Mental As Anything did a huge number of gigs every year and no doubt many songs were played almost every night on tour. How do you as musicians keep the songs fresh on tour? Which songs did you enjoy playing the most? Some songs you never tire of playing - our first single Nips are Getting Bigger, Egypt, Berserk Warriors, If you Leave Me, Let’s Cook, Psychedelic Peace Lamp, Got Hit, Too Many times…… We had a lot of songs plus covers that would slip in and out of the bracket over the years which kept the sets reasonably fresh. Certain songs I didn’t like much which meant it was good if they didn’t hang around in the live set too long. After Cyclone Raymond, Mentals took a break from recording for a few years before Liar Liar Pants On Fire. In Murray Waldren’s book The Mind and Times of Reg Mombassa, it says this album was recorded in about a week and I get the impression that the band enjoyed making this album, is that correct? There are 14 tracks on that album plus all four CD EPs released from it had non-album tracks as bonus tracks. How did the band decide which songs went on the album and which were to be bonus tracks on the CD EPs? I think it took a bit longer than a week. But it was good fun making that album as we were without a record company, had no deal, felt no particular pressure and wanted to make an album for ourselves the way we did when we first started. We’d all been writing, had some good songs and were co-producing in a low-key relaxed studio. It felt natural to record like a garage band again after being released from the tight control of the music industry machine and long winded technical studio conventions of the 80’s. In Debbie Kruger’s very interesting book Songwriters Speak. Conversations about creating music, published in 2004, there is a chapter in which Martin Plaza and Greedy Smith were interviewed, separately. One question they both got was “What are a few of your favourite songs written by other members of the band?”. I’ll borrow that question from the book and ask you the same question – what are your favourite Mentals songs written by Martin, Greedy and Reg? Martin wrote some great songs – Nips, If you Leave me, Come around, Let’s Cook, I Didn’t Mean to be Mean, Mr Natural. Greedy’s Too Many Times and He’s just No Good for You. Reg’s Egypt, Business and Pleasure, Troop Movements in the Ukraine (very topical at the moment), Psychedelic Peace Lamp, Chemical Travel, Apocalypso, Nigel, I’m In Love with My Car. Mental As Anything continued after the two of you left the group. What are your thoughts on the albums and EPs the band released after you had left the group? I didn’t really pay too much attention to what the band was doing after I left. I felt a bit uncomfortable listening in as they sounded different with new players in our places and the band took on a newer persona. On the Mental As Anything: Album by Album forum, several of us fans have expressed hope that there will one day be a lavish Mental As Anything box set featuring B-sides, movie songs, unreleased demos, extended mixes and so on. Do you think there is any chance of such a box set happening? Not sure about that, it would take a lot of work to organize and collate. Never say never though. On the Basemental DVD, recorded on August 16, 2003, you both made guest appearaces and you worked again with Martin and Greedy when The Wiggles did their version of “Let’s Cook” in 2010. Do you still keep in touch with Martin and Bird? Yes, I see them every now and then. Reg and I are still good friends with them though Martin and Bird don’t talk. We are in the process of a Mentals documentary being put together so have had a little more contact with both Martin and Bird over the last year. Section 2 - DOG TRUMPET In 1991, your first album as a duo, Two Heads One Brain was released. What was it like making an album without the other Mentals members and what do you think of this album today? We had a big break from the Mentals after Greedy’s accident falling off a horse. We’d been writing songs and doing home demos plus there was a surplus of songs accumulated from Mentals albums that had never been released. With the Mentals it had been a case of only a few songs each finding space on any album so it felt like the right time to create a whole album of Reg and my songs. I think Two Heads had some good songs - Handsome, Made of Wood, Celtic God, Jean…; it maybe sounds a little bit of its time production wise, post 80’s. It was the most expensive album we’ve done, using Steve James (who had worked with the Mentals and many other bands) on production and recording in a professional studio as opposed to the home recording of the later albums. In the second half of the ‘90s, Mental As Anything released the Liar Liar Pants On Fire and Garage albums and in between there was the second Dog Trumpet album Suitcase. When you were writing songs in this period, were all songs attempted by Mental As Anything or were some songs earmarked for the next Dog Trumpet album from the start? If so, what made a song a Mental As Anything song or a Dog Trumpet song? By the 90’s there were big gaps between albums for the Mentals and for Dog Trumpet, so whatever songs we had at the time were up for which ever album was on the go. It’s hard to remember exactly how that went at the time. I’m sure some songs were definitely more suited to Dog Trumpet. We didn’t have to compromise or accommodate the other members of the Mentals so there was a sense of autonomous artistic freedom. You can hear the crossover in the 2 bands in songs like Dorothy Parker’s Hair and I’m in Love With My Car from Garage. Those songs could easily have slipped onto a DT album. On the Kiss A Gun Down and Strange Brew EPs and the Suitcase album, Tony Martin was one of the musicians and Suitcase features one song (“Bing Bong”) written and sung by him. How did your collaboration with him start and is he still involved in music? Tony was a good friend of drummer John Bliss who played with us through that period and brought Tony in for a gig or two. John had been in the Australian band the Reels who were from the small country town of Dubbo from western NSW and Tony had played in the first iteration of that band when they were called The Brucelanders. The Reels were and still are one of my favourite bands of the 80’s - really original and completely different to most other things coming out of Australia at the time. Tony is a great bass player and had written a few interesting songs, Bing Bong being a standout. He was with us for a few years until that line-up just sort of fizzled out due to us not playing much and still touring with the Mentals. He has continued to play with friends over the years in different collaborations. You have collaborated with several great musicians on the Dog Trumpet albums. When you are writing the songs, do you have a vision of what instruments the song will feature and do you have particular musicians in mind at that stage? Not at the writing stage but after recording starts and the songs take shape there’s usually a few ideas thrown around as to what other sounds or specific instruments could work with any specific song. Through my friendship with Jazz double bassist Jonathon Zwartz I’ve met many great Sydney Jazz musicians which helps if I need a trumpet or saxophone or flute etc., or double bass. People like Cameron Bruce on piano, Amanda Brown on violin, Heather Stratfold on cello, Hamish Stuart, Andy Travers or Jess Ciampa on drums and percussion, Dale Barlow on sax and flute, Rob Wolf on piano and many more, all excellent musicians. Before the third Dog Trumpet album, you both quit Mental As Anything and also suffered the loss of your father. So there were major changes in your life, both professionally and personally. How did these events affect your creativity? Leaving the Mentals gave us the freedom and time to focus and recalibrate. It was actually a relief not to have to be on the road touring constantly and not be tied to the family dynamics of the Mentals anymore. It’s a big thing to lose a parent and what comes out of that is you reflect and drill back into family life and childhood. Songs came out of that over the next couple of albums. Wood Grows on Trees was one such song looking back at my father’s life as a young man and his Irish background. On previous Dog Trumpet albums and EPs, you had worked with Steve James, David Price, Brett Stanton and Martin White as co-producers, but from this album onwards you have been the sole producer. How do you approach your role as the producer? It’s just easier to produce the albums on my own. I have freedom to work at any time of the day and to be as artistically uncompromising and untechnical as I want to be. All the mistakes are mine. Also I can work pretty fast, getting ideas down quickly either for Reg or myself with the luxury of time to re do things as many times as seem necessary to get a good performance. Dog Trumpet has recorded a few covers – “Strange Brew”, “Lili Marlene” and “On The Mighty Ocean Alcohol”. How do you approach recording these covers and what makes a song special enough for you to make you want to record your own version of it? It’s a bit random as to why we’ve done those particular covers. They’re great songs but we’ve always done and still do a lot of covers. It was probably accidental that we gave them a go and we liked how they turned out. On the Antisocial Tendencies album there is the song “Bloomsbury Birds” sung by Bernie Hayes who is a member of your live band to this day. How did this collaboration start and what are the best things about working with him? Bernie is an outstanding musician, singer/songwriter. Apart from being in several bands he used to host a music night at a pub in the inner city suburb of Erskineville. Reg and I were guests as a duo a few times and Bernie would jump up on bass on a few songs and sing harmonies. It sounded good so he gradually became part of our band. Eventually we added Bernie’s drummer Jess Ciampa (from the Bernie Hayes Quartet). Bloomsbury Birds is a song I’d written about the English author Virginia Woolf. I tried a couple of different approaches and had even recorded a version with me singing but it wasn’t really working. I worked it up with Bernie and he came up with an arrangement and feel which really suited it. I loved the sound of his voice on it so we recorded it that way with him playing acoustic guitar. Dog Trumpet’s most recent album Great South Road was released just as the pandemic was starting, causing lockdowns and restrictions all over the world. It’s been a tough time for the world for two years. How do you cope as musicians and artists when the opportunities for concerts and art exhibitions become so restricted for such a long time? We had no idea how long the pandemic was going to go for at the beginning of 2020. We had our album ready to release and we thought of delaying the release date but as everything was so uncertain and live music had basically come to a full stop everywhere, we thought why not put it out and see what happens. We cancelled a string of gigs we had lined up and began doing live duo face book shows instead – like other musicians we had to adapt to the situation. You have done live shows that have been streamed online during this period. Have you enjoyed doing these shows and is there any chance that there will be more online streamed concerts? The Facebook shows turned into a good way to get our record out to a broader audience. It was nerve - wracking and strange playing to an iphone with no physical audience response but it was pretty loose, relaxed and intimate and it was good for us having the opportunity to comb back over our songs from Dog Trumpet and Mental albums right back to 1979. There are real benefits as you reach a much wider audience unrestricted by geography and people respond in real time which makes it a collaborative experience and a weirdly intimate experience. You have both been writing songs for more than 40 years by now. Does it become easier, as you have a lot of experience writing, or does it become harder, because you have a huge body of great work that new songs have to compete with, so to speak? A bit of both. Each song presents itself in its own way. You’re starting from scratch with lyrics and melody, chords, rhythm, feel, tempo, arrangement, instrumentation etc. and then recording it, trying parts, sounds and different approaches. The challenge and work involved is what makes it exciting and also addictive and and sometimes elusive and frustrating. Some songs come in a burst and others can take years to complete. No matter what you’ve done previously it’s impossible to dial up a song using the same recipe (mixed metaphors there). What do you think are your biggest strengths as songwriters, both in terms of the songs you write yourself and in terms of what you think of each other as songwriters? I think we’re both idiosyncratic, with a shared love 60’s pop rock and blues and country which I think comes through. Reg tends to write observational, often absurdist songs looking outwardly at the state of the world – while I lean more inwardly to songs of personal experience. The incidentals and small details are what people can personally connect to. As brothers we have a musical shorthand and common sense of melody and harmony, an understanding of how to read each other’s songs. All Dog Trumpet albums have just been issued on vinyl by UK label Demon Music Group. When the pandemic is over and touring becomes more possible, is there any chance that there will be a Dog Trumpet tour in Europe? We’d love to be able to get to Europe and you never know, we might get to Sweden for the first time. From your point of view as singers, songwriters and musicians, what makes a Dog Trumpet gig extra memorable for you? It’s great getting out and playing to people; every venue and audience is different depending on the interaction between band and crowd which sets the mood of the night. Our gigs can be unpredictable, trying not to talk too much nonsense and getting through to the end without making any major blunders which is always a big plus! In the recent interview you did with Bernard Zuel, it was mentioned that you are working on a new Dog Trumpet album. What are your artistic visions for this album and when do you think it will be released? We’re getting close to having a finished album, just working on a last batch of songs which we’ll release later this year. There’s probably a little more psychedelic semi-rock and longer form jamming on this one along with some folk and melodic pop. Due to Covid I’ve had plenty of time in the studio. Making records is full of highs and lows – it can be incredibly infuriating and frustrating wrestling with a song, trying to pull out its core and make it work; but, like painting, it’s an addictive process which never loosens its grip. We have a few last songs to record but I think we have a really strong body of songs for this album. Section 3 - VISUAL ART How did your interest in Art start and were there any particular painters that inspired you when you were growing up? I was always drawing a lot from early childhood. Warriors, soldiers, cowboys, spaceship, cars, jet planes, the sort of stuff boys are interested in. As a teenager I liked the Dadaists and surrealists. I didn’t go to art school as I was so much into playing music. Before I joined the Mentals at age 19 I’d taken a big interest in Django Reinhardt and then Wes Montgomery and modern jazz in general. The Mentals took me back to playing rock and roll and pop music. The Mentals being an Art School band meant there was a strong connection to visual art in my life which also came through in our film clips, posters, album covers, and t-shirts. Do you recall the first exhibition of your paintings? As a young artist starting out, what was the art world in Sydney like – were there many art galleries that you could contact? I was included in the three Mental As Anything group exhibitions. Through the nineties I would take paints, paper and canvas with me on tour with the Mentals and spend quite a bit of time in motel rooms painting. It was good to have something creative to do in the long hours spent hanging around waiting for gigs. Not being from art school and not being in any networks I didn’t pay too much attention to the art world as such. Things just gradually happened. I had my first solo show in the mid 90’s at a space called POD Gallery in Darlinghurst Sydney. With Mental As Anything, you spent a lot of time touring, both in Australia and overseas. Did you get the opportunities to visit art museums and art galleries while on tour and if so, which was the most inspiring to visit? A good thing about touring was that we did get to be in other cities both in Australia and around the world. With the art school background we were all keen to visit museums and art galleries. There was always interesting street art and independent galleries along with the major museums. Highlights were The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam; New York’s MOMA, Whitney, Guggenheim and the MET; London’s Tate, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, the Serpertine and the Barbican and many local galleries and museums in cites all over. Your wife Susan is also a very talented and successful artist. You were both part of a recent exhibition titled “A Conspicious Object – The Maitland Hospital”. Can you describe this exhibition and how you both prepared for it? Have you done many exhibitions together? We both started using paint when we got married in 1988 – neither of us are art school trained but we supported and encouraged each other to be artists. We’ve been in a few group exhibitions together and created work specifically for a Regional Gallery touring exhibition (2013-2017) called ‘Moving House’. I painted exteriors of houses and Susan constructed wall assemblages of interior rooms relating to houses that each of us had grown up in. We were invited to participate in the recent exhibition ‘A Conspicuous Object – The Maitland Hospital’ to make work relating to the history and people of the old hospital. I painted a series of works depicting hospital exteriors and interiors and Susan made textile sculptures representing staff and specific women who had dedicated their working lives to the hospital from 1840 to the present day. We visited the hospital several times over the last couple of years to gather material, subject matter and to talk to some of the staff and look at the history of the site. The reason for the exhibition was that old hospital is being decommissioned for a new one being built nearby. When you work on new paintings, what is a typical working day like and what is the creative process from a blank sheet to a finished painting like? I often start with a drawing and then work it with paint on canvas. A painting can take anything from a day to weeks depending on the size and whether it works out easily or is a struggle (same as in music). Much like music it’s a matter of putting the work in and not letting too many distractions get in the way. What advice would you give to young people who have just started their education at an art school? Just listen to yourself, follow your instincts, don’t be influenced by fashion and don’t let the system or people’s opinions and taste interfere with your ideas, originality and interpretation of the world. I don’t think you can really teach art or music. You can encourage and offer advice and provide technical instruction but it’s in the mistakes, the failures, the doing and the redoing that makes you find your own voice. Final question… what are your plans, as visual artist, for 2022? I try and paint every day. Sometimes the art dominates and sometimes the music takes over. I’m working towards a solo exhibition in June at the gallery that represents me in Sydney - King Street Gallery on William.
@StefanWq - Thank you for those splendid interviews with Reg and Peter. (And thank you Reg and Peter for your responses). The most exciting pieces of information from these interviews are that there is a new Dog Trumpet album (with a slightly different style) and a Mentals Documentary in the works. I'd love to think that a lavish box set would go with that but it seems like there's no solid plan to do this (maybe Stefan can offer to be their archivist!). But mostly it's great to hear about their work/art and their slightly different perspectives on touring the US and their approach to art. I've often wondered how difficult it must be to get into Reg's art attic. But I guess once you are in there you are a bit reluctant to go in and out of the attic since it appears to be literally a ladder into the attic! I do like both Reg's landscapes and Pete's exterior paintings. There's something there about the capture of the light that really appeals to me. Thanks once again Stefan for bringing us a surprise set of interviews!
This is amazing to see! Thank you so much for this Stefan. Also, a documentary on the Mentals will be fantastic. Looking forward to that.
Great interviews there, Stefan. Of course thanks to the brothers as well; I honestly didn't expect to see that today! For this album, I think I have to just do numbers again. I'm having a hard time connecting with the album to an extent that I can write words about each song, but I will at least rate them for some context as to how I feel about them. The songs aren't bad, but they lack a spark that make me enthusiastic enough to write about them. It certainly doesn't help the cause that lately I've been consumed with a couple newer albums that I've connected with on massive levels (Poppy's Flux and Tears for Fears' The Tipping Point). Having those albums buzzing through my head right now puts this album---one of which I don't care for the style---at a bit of an unfair disadvantage, but I will do my best to not let that affect my ratings. Not Quite Enough - 2.5/5 Wallpaper - 2/5 Gravity - 3.5/5 Lonely Death Cleaning Company - 3.3/5 At Anytime - 3/5 You've Heard it All Before - 3.5/5 Gangrene - 3.2/5 Walk You to the Moon - 3/5 Overseas and Everywhere - 4.3/5 Stay for Too Long - 2/5 Atom - 2.5/5 How to Find My Way Home - 3.5/5 So another 3/5 from me for this album. Not bad at all, and I can certainly hear the effort put in, but I personally have a tough time getting it to resonate with me. There's really only that one track, "Overseas and Everywhere", that I'm interested in hearing on a regular basis, though a few come close and could grow on me enough to get to that point. I do like to read that the brothers are finishing up an album with some psychedelic influence, along with their brand of melodic pop. That sounds mighty interesting, honestly, as psychedelic is a genre that I can definitely get into. Reg has certainly proved himself to be a wonderful psychedelic rock songwriter with songs like "Garageland". Looking forward to what they've got in regards to that sound!
Wow, I didn't expect interviews from Reg and Pete. Thanks very much @StefanWq. And as said, to Reg and Pete too. Fascinating insights.
I'm also looking forward to the next Dog Trumpet album. I do think they can do a good line on psychedelic (as @drewrclv9 points out, Garageland is a good example of Reg's skill with this). And I'd love to see a bit more expansion on the jazz influence. I get the appeal of the acoustic approach (because it just relies on the brothers) but I'd love to hear what else they can do.
Great South Road My copy of the CD edition of this album had quite a journey on its way to my house. I pre-ordered the album at Dog Trumpet’s web page and it was shipped either on or a couple of days before the release date, which was May 1, 2020. By this time, the pandemic had already caused lockdowns and restrictions for a couple of months and the world at large was quite chaotic. After having queued at the Sydney airport for three weeks, waiting to be loaded onboard a plane, someone decided it was taking too long and came up with a plan B: let’s send this parcel by boat from Australia to Sweden! It was duly put on a boat – so could truly be said to have been “shipped” – which obviously wasn’t in any mad rush. Thanks to the postal service’s tracking I could follow the parcel’s adventures at infrequent intervals. Towards the end of July, nearly three months after it had started its journey from Sydney, I received a note saying it had arrived in Sweden. Some three weeks later, I received another note saying it had arrived in Sweden a second time. We aren’t that big a country, I’m not entirely sure what the parcel was up to in the three weeks since its first arrival to Sweden. Eventually, in the latter half of August, the parcel finally arrived to my house. Thankfully, it was definitely an album worth waiting for. Not Quite Enough This is a very strong opening track. I like the blend of the acoustic and electric guitars and how they build the gentle melody. I remember how much this resonated with me when my copy of the CD finally arrived in August 2020, some three and a half months after it had been shipped from Australia. I had started a new job in mid-February 2020… but then the pandemic hit a month later and everyone at my workplace had to work from home. We had Teams meetings and all that, but by mid-August I hadn’t been in the same room as my new colleagues for five months and it felt very strange. While the lyrics of this song weren’t written about the pandemic, I related to them very much in that context. Great singing by Peter as well. Wallpaper I think the album is very well sequenced. This song sounds like a natural sequel to the previous song, both musically and lyrically. Peter is very good at creating a mood with his lyrics. I especially like the lines “What a beautiful day for a storm / Like a picture only a quarter drawn”. Bernie Hayes’ backing vocals are very nice too. The drums in this song add some oomph and I was surprised to realise that it must be drum programming rather than a drummer creating that energy. Gravity This is one of my favourite tracks on the album. I find myself humming along to it and I like the twists and turns it takes. The chorus is very catchy and the lyrics are funny. As with many Dog Trumpet songs, this works best for me when listening to it in headphones, all the complex details and nuances reveal themselves and the song keeps growing. Lonely Death Cleaning Company Also an album highlight. The lyrics are certainly unique and the video clip is memorable to say the least. Reg has an amazing ability to write about topics that are very serious (in this case, what lack of family and friends can lead to and how even society only notices the narrator after his lonely death) in a humorous way, yet with that humour being expressed in such a way that the message comes across. I like how the guitars intertwine in the song and the determined energy they bring to the music. At Anytime This song didn’t do all that much for me when I first heard it, but it is a real grower. The guitar parts are splendid and again I love the blend of electric and acoustic guitars. Peter is really good at capturing individual moments in a long-time relationship where the persons might quarrel occasionally but have strong bonds based on deepened love. Peter’s singing is very good. You’ve Heard It All Before This song seems like such a natural sequel to “At Anytime” and again I’m marvelling at how well sequenced the track order is. Great acoustic guitars, giving the song a laid-back yet also very determined energy. There’s a kind of restrained intensity in this song that I find very appealing. Gangrene Hm, that is certainly an unusual topic for a song, but it is an intriguing song. I like that the lyrics seem to comment itself: “The gangrene in our arm is racing towards the heart / That’s not just a metaphor for a toxic love affair” and “The gangrene in our arm is racing towards the heart / Maybe that’s a metaphor for the human condition”. The song has a very nice flow and is allowed to stretch its legs, taking the time it needs to fully blossom. Lyrically, I think it could have been even better if there had been more words rather than as it is now – when Reg has sung all the lyrics in the CD booklet the song isn’t even halfway so he sings the lyrics all over again. Walk To The Moon A real album highlight. I love the instrumentation with the mandolin adding so much colour to the song. Great singing by Reg and the lyrics sound very heartfelt. This is a song with so many layers and every time I hear it new nuances and details reveal themselves. Overseas And Elsewhere Another album highlight for me. I find it very catchy and the piano and the organ add a bit of ‘50s/ early ‘60s retro rock feel. The song has a very good flow, it sounds like they really enjoyed playing this one. I like the video clip too with the blossoming summer park and Reg and Peter joined by Bernie Hayes and Jim Elliott, grooving along. Stay For Too Long In this song, the lyrics capture the feeling that can sometimes occur in long-term relationships, of staleness and concerns that this can threaten the relationship. The narrator describes how they move around the furniture as a way of looking for change and how he is looking out into the garden and the nearby street to see some signs of action, but he also seems to be aware that a change needs to come from within rather than outside factors. There is a very nice flow to the music and I like the false ending followed by the instrumental outro, a kind of musical way of expressing that when you think it (the song / the relationship in the lyrics) will end it doesn’t, it continues on but not in the same way (no vocals) as before. A very well-written song. Atom One of Reg’s strengths as a songwriter is the way he can express often deep, existential musings with a sense of humour and a kind of naivety. This song is a bit like a musical fairytale story, but the more I’ve listened to it I think it opens up layers of possible interpretations and musically it’s a track that keeps growing. How To Find My Way Home I am really fond of this track. There are so many details and nuances in the backing track, the song shifts in energy and is like a real musical journey with some unexpected turns along the way. Phil Slater’s trumpet playing has a quirky feel to it and gives the song a lot of additional character. The ending of the song gives me images of it drifting off to sea and vanishing into the horizon. It’s a very good closing song for the album. Overall, I think Great South Road is a very strong album with lots of great songs and no bad ones. As with all Dog Trumpet albums, it is perhaps not an immediate album but that’s often the case with great albums – they don’t reveal all their many great qualities the first time one listens to them. Dog Trumpet’s albums require a few times listening to them and preferably in headphones while reading along with the lyrics in the booklet and then they become richly rewarding. Great South Road has been on heavy rotation in my stereo since it arrived here. It’s definitely a superb album.
This forum has now discussed all Mental As Anything albums and all Dog Trumpet albums released so far. There will be three more discussion topics coming up: *Ranking the Mental As Anything albums plus the Favourite Dog Trumpet Album Award. I will post the "rules" on Tuesday (8th March) and will also post a "road map" for the forum so that you all can find where the discussions for each album started. The plan is that we will devote two weeks to the rankings. *Favourite video clips by Mental As Anything, Dog Trumpet, Martin Plaza, Beatfish and The Stetsons. This could be a top 5 or top 10 list (with some comments) or something like that. I will post another "road map" with links to the relevant video clips. This discussion will start on March 21. *Hypothetical Tribute Album to Mental As Anything. Put together a hypothetical tribute album to Mental As Anything - which artists would you include and which Mentals songs would they cover? This discussion will start on March 28. After that, the forum will take a break until the next Dog Trumpet album is released (hopefully later this year).
@StefanWq - Sterling work you have done with this thread so far and I'm looking forward to seeing some album rankings!
Is there any chance we would rank the singles? I mention this because there's a couple of really great songs that never did make it on to a studio album but were singles...
That is a very good suggestion. Do you reckon we should rank all the singles or just the stand-alone singles?
I'd kind of like to rank all the singles but that might be too much...I don't have a good idea of how many singles there are. The other choice might be a top xx singles of Mental as Anything....which I guess is possibly another way to saying how do you create a best of list (just from singles). The companion to this would be the deep cut list (Best of the Rest, to borrow from the Icehouse thread).
I'd find ranking all the singles quite challenging - as there are a lot of them. However, I wouldn't want to stop others doing so.
