Sydney psych legends The Upskirts recently dropped their killer third EP, Barely Moving (out now via Inertia Access). It’s nothing short of exciting raw, swooning, Aussie psych rock at its best.
The seven rack release feature the band’s attention commanding single ‘Nothing Happens in Roseville’ which is about growing up in a disinfectant commercial. The song builds around a slugging twelve-string guitar and a reverberated drum loop while Tom Kell (singer/drummer) laments the dissolutions involved with past years spent living within the white, picket fence illusion painting a shiny veneer over life’s objective truths.
Today the guys have also released the video for the single, and national tour dates to accompany – which you can check out below. Before they hit the road, and in celebration of the EP release we chatted to the band’s guitarist/ vocalist Nick Stillman about some of the records that changed his life. Check out his list below and don’t miss the guys on tour this August.
The Rolling Stones – Exile on Mainstreet
1972, Polydor Records
“I discovered this record when I was flying back from Europe back in 2010 and I watched a documentary on it in the plane. They had the album on the music player too so I put it on. I think I listened to it back to back about 30 times.
It’s such a fucking raw album. It was recorded in some stinking hot basement in a mansion in France. The Stones were living there along with a bunch of their mates/girlfriends/tagalongs, and you can totally hear that in the album. It’s scrappy and rambling, and made me realise that making music doesn’t have to be this clear cut, scheduled thing. It has made me appreciate more albums like that for what they are – visceral.”
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My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
1991, Nippon Columbia/ Plain Recordings
“I think Tom (Drums/Vox) introduced me to MBV a few years back.
I love this record for a few reasons. Technically this album is up there with the best. It took Kevin Shields almost two years to record and you can totally hear why. The guitar work is mind-blowing. You can hardly hear the drums but its such a fluid album. It’s like a dream that has been crammed inside a tin can and rolled down a hill. It has definitely influenced how i play guitar, creating a mass of sound that is still in some way coherent. And it made me just want to go out and buy a Jazzmaster…which I did. ”
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands
1987, Blanco y Negro
“My ex-girlfriend’s favourite album was Stoned and Dethroned. I had never really listened to JAMC before, but i listened to that a fair bit, then got into Darklands and Psychocandy.
It think it’s the perfect way of making music. They just take a simple pop song, then completely just fucking it up somehow. Jim Reid’s voice is so cool and the guitar sounds are incredible, but simple.
Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for The Deaf
2002, Interscope
I heard ‘No One Knows’ a fair bit when it was getting smashed on triple J. But when I met Tom when we were kids he was obsessed with QOTSA and we used to play this all the time.
At the time I was pretty much only listening to stuff like Green Day and Blink etc, so this album really opened my eyes to the possibilities of rock music. Homme is a lord, and Grohls drumming on this is out of this world. It’s gotta be one of the best albums ever written.
The Black Angels – Directions To See A Ghost
2008, Light in the Attic Records
“I remember reading somewhere that The Black Angels were one of Josh Homme’s favourite bands so I sussed them out.
I reckon The Black Angels are one of the best contemporary psych bands out there.
I dig their sound and how they make music – and they toured as Roky Erickson’s backing band and started Austin Psych Fest for fucks sake!
Greenday – Dookie
1994, Reprise
“I discovered this when I was at the tender age of 13.
It changed my life when Tom and I started playing music together this album is pretty much all we played. I learned how to play power chords because of this album.
Cheers Billie Joe Armstrong. ”
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
2009, Domino Records
“I always liked Arcitc Monkeys from the first album. I remember buying the album and putting it on backwards by accident. I already thought it was already different enough, but starting off with a six minute slow burner….?
This was the one produced by Josh Homme at his house in the desert. The production is amazing. There’s so much going on and it’s all so warm and loose, where their old stuff was pretty stark and tight.
I guess this was just after we did our first EP and this album definitely made me want to slow things down a bit and get a bit spacier. We’re getting there.”
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychadelic Era (65-68)
1972, Elektra/ Sire
“I’m pretty sure Harry (guitar) showed this to me a few years ago.
It made me realise that the 60s wasn’t just about the Beatles, and psych music had some pretty solid roots before Sgt. Peppers came out.
There are so many classic tracks on here that were so massively influential and still are today. I’m not sure if psych music would be the same without it.”
Tame Impala – Lonerism
2012, Modular Recordings
I loved Antares, Mira, Sun and Innerspeaker, but Lonerism really blew me away.
What a fucking album. I know everyone know it, but holy shit. Song writing structure is almost non-existend, and the detail in the production and instrumentation is absolutely mind blowing.
It definitely made me reassess how making music works, and want to buy a whole bunch of analog synths. ”
Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks
1975, Columbia
“I stole a whole bunch of music from my cousin years and years ago. He had about 800 Bob Dylan songs and I never bothered trying to sort through them all. But his tracks always popped up and eventually I got to know his stuff. This one is my favourite.
Of course it’s not news that Bob Dylan is a great songwriter. But this album is pretty different from heaps of his other stuff. This like 1975 so he was well into his career, and well past his peak, and this album forgets all the politics and social activism and is just about telling stories. It made me appreciate long winded, prose-based song writers like Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, and the way they use music as a platform for their poetry. He said it isn’t about himself, but I really can’t see how it isn’t…..”
‘Barely Moving’ Tour Dates
Friday, August 7
Moonshine Bar, Manly NSW
Tix: www.hotelsteyne.com.au/moonshine
Friday, August 14
Newtown Social Club, Newtown NSW
Tix: www.ticketscout.com.au
Friday, August 21
RAD, Wollongong NSW
Tix: www.yoursandowls.com.au
Saturday, August 22
Shebeen Bandroom, Melbourne VIC
Tix: www.ticketscout.com.au
Friday, August 28
Woolly Mammoth. Brisbane QLD
Tix: www.ticketscout.com.au
Saturday, August 29
Northern Hotel, Byron Bay NSW
Tix: www.thenorthern.com.au
Sunday, August 30 @ Sounds of Sunday
Broadbeach Tavern, Gold Coast QLD
Tix: www.facebook.com/soundsofsundaygc
