Alyosha is a man trying to stand up straight and grow the hell up. Stepping away from nihilism. Away from self indulgent depression. Away from cowardly anxiety. Hatchet Man is the debut single. The sound is raw, old school guitar pop. It’s upbeat, true and so damn catchy. It’s music bristling with meaning and purpose. And hooks. And guitarmonies. You might hear Kings of Leon (first 2 albums obviously) makin’ babies with Elvis Costello.
“I wrote this while I was in the process of abandoning a whole bunch of poison ideologies that had been making me
miserable for a long time. Material rationalism, post modernism, moral relativism – I didn’t know it explicitly, but these ideologies were nested deep deep down in me, just running amok and ruining everything! It’s about the pure, unadulterated joy of finally dropping the bitterness and resentment, picking up my burden and walking up that damn hill. It’s so good man, you don’t even know!
Then I laid it down super quick, no opportunity for the feeling to dissipate in the production. I was shmacko in the middle of that joy, I think you can hear it in the guitars.”
Hatchet Man is a total one man affair – all instrumentation and production is Perth veteran Michael Strong who has been deep diving through just about everything musical you can
think of during his 15 year career. Weird alt rock with Generals & Majors, WAM SOTY winning folk with Michael Strong and the Ghost Anyway, pop rock with The Disappointed, glitch electronic as Young Girl (dropping the very well received A Marshmallow Called Moon album this year). A degree in sound, producing records for Lionizer, The Donald Trumpets, Jeff’s Dead (amongst others), drumming for Odlaw. Now pumping out self produced record after self produced record in a fevered rush (several in the bank right now) and doing live sound for the much loved Beaufort St Songwriters Club and killer new Mt Lawley venue Grumpy’s Music Bar. Phew!
Debut LP Shut Up Cain is due later in the year. ‘Hatchet Man’ Out July 1 on Blue Grey Pink, launching Fri July 26 at Grumpy’s Music Bar with a backing band full of legends stolen from Salary, Bad Friends and (ex) The Wednesday Society.
FRIDAY JULY 26 – 8pm
GRUMPYS MUSIC BAR
Beaufort st, Mt Lawley With: The Little Lord St Band and King Mantis
HATCHET MAN // OUT NOW ON BLUE GREY PINK
