A pretty familiar name on the Australian music scene, The Rubens have had a busy few years since their inception in 2011.
After being Unearthed by Triple J, playing Homebake, reaching no. 3 on the ARIA charts for their debut self-titled record, and playing national sold-out tours, the boys will be visiting Centennial Park this Sunday the 23rd to play the Lost Picnic Festival, alongside Megan Washington, Emma Louise, Dustin Tebutt and Sons Of The East.
We had a chat with Will Zeglis from The Rubens about what he considers to be the top 5 albums that changed his life.
Phil Collins – No Jacket Required
1985, Virgin
“One of the most feel good albums of all time! You can’t help but to sing along to the vocals and instrumentation on songs like – Sussudio and Don’t Lose My Number, it causes the listener to have an overwhelming sense of bliss like giving a meth head a free bag of crystal and warm place to sleep.
The cheesiness of the album is what makes it cool…. but what the fuck is cheesy anyway? Once you get over the stigma of 80s music you realise this album is melodic perfection.”
AC/DC – T.N.T.
1975, Albert
“Listening to this album as a child caused me to enter a state of premature puberty, as it quickly sunk in this is how real men play their instruments – no bell or whistles, just rock ‘n’ roll played with fire.
This fire maybe from the deepest darkest corner of hell or the tips of the fingers from the Divine one – I’m still undecided. Personal favourite : ‘Live Wire’.”
The Doors – The Doors
1967, Elektra
“Everyone raves on about Jim’s poetry, which I don’t want to take anything away from but the greatest attribute he gave to this album was ‘honesty’. If you want to write lyrics about whipping the horse’s eyes- you van. The skill, creative force and freedom of this band is second to none , remembering this album was recorded in 1966 without the aid of auto-tune, beat detection or the nudge feature in protools ,yet the doors can record a live song over 10 mins long without making a mistake.
Listening to this album made we want to practice the guts out of a set until it became second nature, plus they made a bloody Hollywood film about them.”
Nirvana – MTV Unplugged In New York
1994, DGC
“This album is total proof of the bands memorable song writing ability as even though the songs are played in acoustic form they still stand up musically without the need for distorted guitars and punk rock drumming.
Like all great albums it is a memorable performance mistakes and all. Listening to the album now I remember the moment I stopped practising scales and using Floyd Rose guitars and started to wear flannelette shirts, ripped stone wash jeans and acting depressed… not much has changed.”
Dr. Dre – 2001
2001, Aftermath/Interscope
“You automatically feel cool whenever a track off this album is played at a party or club, It made me want to put massive sub woofers in the back of Mum’s station wagon and do laps around the local high schools at lunch time.
Before this album I would have a sudden urge to cut my own head with a butter knife if any mentioned or played hip hop in my presence, but hey we all at some point let go of our musical insecurities.”
Lost Picnic Festival
The Rubens
Megan Washington
Emma Louise
Dustin Tebutt
Sons Of The East
12pm- 8pm Sunday 23rd March – Centennial Park, Sydney. Tickets available here.
