Rock’n’Roll Spice Girls

Noise punk outfit True Radical Miracle are the coming together of four distinct parts, writes TIM SCOTT.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] True Radical Miracle are the true sum of their parts. Four individuals with distinct personalities and ideas forging a unique musical experience. Like if the Wonder Twins were actually a quartet, and rather than have the power to transform into a bucket of water atop a flying eagle, they could turn your shitty night out into something special.

This backstage interview, which happened a while back, started with three conversations going on at once. It wasn’t really backstage. More back warehouse. Next to a toilet. Catfood Press doesn’t have a stage and in true warehouse fashion the toilet is kind of rank. But as a makeshift interview space, it had to do.

Tonight this small all-ages “venue” in Melbourne’s inner-north is where True Radical Miracle are returning to the fold. Like most TRM shows the bill is diverse. There’s the manic punk attack of Useless Children, who are launching a new CD; the noise deconstructivism of Breathing Shrine; the assaulting hardcore noise of Piss Bolt; not to mention the dirgeful, death songs of TRM.

As mentioned earlier, the beauty of a band like TRM lies in each member’s individual tastes, personalities and ideas. Even their appearances are distinctive. Guitarist Scotti O’Hara’s long locks and Sonic Youth T-shirt recall a grunge rocker circa 1993. Leith Thomas on bass, who drinks wine straight from the bottle, looks like he wouldn’t be out of place at a rowing regatta. The tomboyish Evelyn Morris with her studious glasses is an atypical “sick” drummer. And then there’s Grover (Mark Groves), the tall lurching frontman, whose onstage antics are like a Hillside Church preacher channeling The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow.

“It’s very obvious that in the band we all bring different elements,” says O’Hara. “Kind of like the rock’n’roll Spice Girls”. That is if the Spice Girls played at a funeral procession in Tijuana.

“When we had our first rehearsal, we had this lofty and quite ridiculous idea that the band was going to be a mail order cult that you had to sign up for.”

Originally a cassette-only release on O’Hara’s Adelaide label, F’cken Stoner Records, their debut Taste the Rainbow made an immediate impact, melding the dark herky jerky of early Birthday Party with a more hardcore art-punk mindset. The recording has recently been re-released on CD through Sweatlung with bonus live material recorded at Head Gap Studio.

“Pete who runs Sweatlung has been hassling us for about two years to re-release it because he said at the time it was the best thing that we ever did, and that it was really shitty that it was only available on cassette,” Thomas says.

And the reason behind the cassette only-release? “Because it’s just a beautiful format,” explains Grover. “Most of the music I buy even now is on cassette.”

The cassette culture lies close to the band’s punk beginnings. It comes down to a matter of economics as well as a DIY ideal of home taping and recording. “In Adelaide we did plenty of blank tape releases and it’s definitely a cheap format,” says O’Hara. “Maybe CD-Rs are cheaper now but when F’ckn Stoner first started releases, it was time consuming but incredibly affordable. Then we came to Melbourne and wanted to release True Radical Miracle and a little more money was floating around at that stage and I’m pleased we did. I love that tape.”

Indeed there is a certain nostalgia with the tape format that is hard to duplicate.

“I was of the era when vinyl was on the way out when I was getting into music and buying music. Cassettes were and are like childhood nostalgia,” says O’Hara.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] “Leith is from Stawell [in rural Victoria], where even now you can only get cassettes,” jokes Grover.

“And they are only Iron Maiden, Kiss and Alice Cooper [tapes]” deadpans Thomas.

The band’s beginning was a conflux of sorts. Grover and O’Hara went to the same high school in Adelaide but only really “met” and became friends when they both moved to Melbourne. Following the demise of George W. Bush - an art punk outfit that the pair had been involved in – Thomas and O’Hara started to jam. It became “a weird Saturday and Sunday afternoon thing”. Grover came in on vocals and, after some try-out drummers, Morris joined and a band was formed.

“I sure knew that I liked fast music and I liked the way Grover sang,” says O’Hara of the band’s early days. “The way Grover sings is that he doesn’t so much sing, as snarl. A feral aggression that is ominous and intimidating. ‘One Day an Organ Will Give Way’ reminds me of a possum that my grandfather once caught in his roof. It would hiss and snarl at anyone who would get close to the cage. Its eyes bugging out. It scared the shit out of me.”

“Yeah to play in a band with someone like Grover is so awesome,” says Morris. “To watch him get into this kind of trance and just so focused on the music is intense, I love it.”

With O’Hara now back in Adelaide and other members involved in different projects, True Radical Miracle are relishing their upcoming shows. The band is, first and foremost, an outlet for fun.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] “When we had our first rehearsal, we had this lofty and quite ridiculous idea that the band was going to be a mail order cult that you had to sign up for,” says Thomas. “There was going to be four members with four symbols that hold up the four corners of the universe.”

“I remember I was going to be called Billy Death,” says O’Hara.

“But then we decided that being in a band and playing shows was more fun,” adds Morris.

Part of the band’s aesthetic has been the striking visual imagery found on releases and tour posters. It’s a collaboration between Grover and Thomas, who are also behind the experimental noise label Sabbatical. “I’m the layout and press ready guy, but Grover is the ideas man,” Thomas says.

The band are ready to record again, heading back across to Adelaide for a show and to spend some time in the rehearsal room writing their first material in almost three years.

“We had a grand plan about two years ago when a friend offered his parents’ beach house in New Zealand. We were going to do a week-long tour of New Zealand then hole up for another week and record. Lofty plans that never happened, so we’ve scaled that back and we’re going to Adelaide to record and hang out in Scotti’s garage with his parrots,” Thomas says.

TRUE RADICAL MIRACLE AT “THUNDERCLAP”

Thursday, January 22
The Birmingham, Melbourne, VIC
w/The Focus + Useless Children + The Twerps

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