October is full of exciting surprises, with Young Henrys throwing another Best Served Loud rager at Nighthawks this month.
Best Served Loud is well-known for hosting free-entry gigs at different venues, showcasing talented local acts. The lineup is a rowdy one, with Melbourne garage punksters Ausmuteants set to get naughty alongside troubadours Girl Germs and Future Suck.
Ausmuteants released their LP …Present the World in Handcuffs a few months ago and are excited to play Best Served Loud. Guitarist Jake Robertson admits he is surprised at being able to play this gig, considering the band’s busy schedule.
“All of us play in other bands and stuff, Billy [Gardner, drums] is playing in four or five bands at the moment and I’m in four or five too,” Robertson says. “The other two [members] are playing in a couple too. That’s what we pretty much do, work 9-5 and then do this because it’s fun.”
“I was surprised that we were able to do this gig that Liz [Reilly, Young Henrys] organised. I just really like playing at Nighthawks the venue, because it’s a really small, intimate place and it’s run by people who actually come to shows, so they’re like within the music scene. Everyone that works there is within the music scene.”
Robertson is particularly drawn to Nighthawks because it resembles the vibe of playing at a house party, which is his ideal scene.
“It’s close to a DIY venue, like playing at a house party or as close to that as a pub can get, I’m into that. Also, we’ve played with Future Suck before, but we haven’t played with Girl Germs before, so it’ll be nice to play with them.
“Liz is also really down-to-earth and she’s picked bands that play within, at least, parallel themes to each other, so I think it’ll be pretty good.”
Ausmuteants also look forward to belting out new tracks from …Presents the World In Handcuffs as part of the upcoming gig.
“That album was written entirely by our guitar player Shaun [Connor], who previously had written two or three songs for this band. It’s a concept album that deals with a police officer who has too much power and authority that goes to his head.”
The most intriguing factor of this album is that it actually has two sides with the same tracklist: Part A and Part B.
“Part A is like a theatrical version where the lyrics tell a story from the cop’s point of view, whereas Part B is just the songs in the order that sounds good,” Robertson explains.
“When sequencing a record, you’re looking for the best sound, the thing that makes people want to hear it again. We also wanted to have it in a lyric sequence, as the record goes on, the cop gets more and more power until eventually, this is a spoiler alert, he puts the entire world in handcuffs.”
Despite the amount of time that Ausmuteants invest into their music, Robertson explains it is actually more of a hobby and an opportunity to spend time with his friends.
“All the members write songs, we’re all buddies and that’s what we do as a hobby,” he says. “It’s just fun, before band practice we’d always have a barbecue, and the actual gigs and stuff has always been secondary to hanging out and seeing your friends.
“It’s not really collaborative in songwriting but it’s like, for instance, if I write a song, I will purposefully not finish it and then bring it to band practice and then we can deconstruct it and construct it again.
“It’s never once seemed like work; we don’t get paid for it, which is the other thing. But it’s never at all been like a chore, it’s always like, ‘Oh hell yeah, I get to hang out with my buddies!’”
Ausmuteants hit Nighthawks for Best Served Loud on Saturday October 26. Head to Young Henrys’ Facebook for more info.
