The UV RACE: Warragul’s Finest

The UV Race may eventually put Warragul on the map, but they’ll have to fend off stiff competition from the Farm World agricultural show, Trucks In Action and the Harvest of Gippsland first. Over rissoles at a Melbourne bowls club, singer Marcus and bass player Moses talk to TIM SCOTT about how the isolation and conservatism of regional Victoria has influenced their music.

Warragul. Any talk of the UV Race should mention this regional centre 100 kilometres southeast of Melbourne. With a population of 13,000, it’s primarily known for its dairy production, and while frontman Marcus describes it as “pretty shit”, it’s a place that has had a direct influence on the band nonetheless. You see, The UV Race are a punk band. Warragul is not a punk town. Although some would say it’s a lot more punk than Fitzroy or Brunswick, it’s still a quiet and conservative place. Not quite ready for a band that write songs with fantasies about being a “Lego man”.

“I still live there,” explains Marcus. “I come up to the city on the weekends to visit my friends and play gigs. It’s not that Warragul is bad. It’s just that there’s nothing to do there.”

Four of the six members of the UV Race have associations with Warragul and many of their early songs were about the tedium and isolation of being punk in a small town. It’s the kind of place where, as Marcus put it, most social activity for young people revolves around 18th or 21st birthday parties held at hired halls and bowling clubs. So it’s with more than a hint of irony that this interview is conducted in a bowling club in Fitzroy at a 21st birthday party that we’ve crashed. The host is some guy named “Two Mates”. We don’t get to meet Two Mates, but Marcus and bassist Moses happily eat his rissoles as we talk about the formation of the band.

“[Guitarist] Al and I went to high school together from Year 7,” explains Marcus. “He was one of the only classmates who ‘got’ me. I’d freak everyone out. The girls would run away. In a country town people thought I was just weird. I have a slight learning problem but I’m very verbally strong. That’s why I speak a lot.”

No arguing with that. Marcus is a conversationalist in the truest sense of the word. It’s not often you get to talk to a musician with such candour, humour, humility and enthusiasm. It’s not often you get a chance to speak to someone like Marcus. Whether in conversation or through his lyrics, he tells it like it is.

“Actually I want to say straight up: first, I’m very honest; second, I bullshit a lot. It can be hard sometimes for people to decipher what is truth and what is not.”

Since forming in mid-2007, The UV Race – Marcus, Al, Moses, drummer Dan, saxophonist Georgia and keyboardist Emily – have built a cultish following with their take on bluesy proto punk rock that takes in elements of early Aussie punk and American garage.

Their recently released self-titled album has garnered much praise for its loose, basic three-chord punk and simple but genius lyrics that combine astute observations of living in regional Victoria with Marcus’ weekend forays into the city. After selling out the first pressing of the album within a month of its release and being featured as “Album of the Week” on community radio station Triple R and in streetpress, media activity is something that Marcus has grown accustomed to.

“I like talking about the band. I don’t get a chance to do that much in Warragul. I’m not the main focus of the band there are six of us, but everyone else is so busy. Al and Emily are doing their honours [at university], Dan is studying, Georgia is a great photographer and Moses is a scientist so I guess I talk about the band the most.”

While the UV Race play and party like a gang – their recent road trip to Sydney is a case in point – there is no denying that Marcus is the driving force behind the band.

“We are not the most technical band in the world, we know that, but neither were The Ramones. I’m not comparing us to them, of course, but if Tommy Emmanuel and the Ramones were playing different gigs I know the one I’d be going to.”

“The thing is I’m different,” he says. “Dan and Moses were talking about it today. I wish I could be a bit more normal. At the shows I like visual stuff. I get bored really easy. If I go and see a band I want to see stuff. Sometimes I will just take the CD and go home and listen to it. Why? Because you are boring! You’re just standing behind your mic on stage and going through the motions. Fuck off and do something.”

The same can’t be said for Marcus. You can often find him dressed in a fairy dress, undressing down to his underwear or engaging the crowd either by heckling them or inviting them up on stage.

“I think Spring Tones recently proved that,” he says. “There were better bands there that night, but I think the crowd was getting kind of wild when we played. We, or at least I, feed off that. People spilling beer, dancing, up on stage, it’s all punk. We are not the most technical band in the world, we know that, but neither were The Ramones. I’m not comparing us to them, of course, but if Tommy Emmanuel and the Ramones were playing different gigs I know the one I’d be going to.”

There’s no denying that The UV Race play a big part in Marcus’ life as well. He proudly shows off his UV Race sun logo tattoo and explains that being in the band has helped with his insecurities and the monotony of living in Warragul. The band became even more of a support after his father passed away earlier this year.

“To be brutally honest I think I would be close to suicide at the moment if I didn’t have the band. That may sound scary for the band,” he laughs.

Moses concurs. “When he was going through all this with his dad’s illness and then death, he said on numerous occasions that the band were like his second family. He exerts a lot of energy towards the band and I think it gets him through the week.”

Due to other projects including Dick Diver, Ally Oop and the Hoopsters, Straightjacket Nation and School of Radiant Living, and the fact that Marcus lives in Warragul, the band rarely get the opportunity to jam. It’s part of the reason why they have such a loose shambolic spirit.

But while the band are now comfortable in the studio, this wasn’t always the case. “The first time I was shitting myself,” Marcus says. “I was so nervous. I was eating coffee beans. I was eating them and falling asleep while the guys were playing. I was driving in the city. I never drive in the city. I kept on getting on the Eastern Freeway somehow.”

Moses laughs as he remembers the story. “Yeah, we were recording in Clifton Hill [in Melbourne’s north]. We popped around the corner to get some food or something but then were like 40 minutes because we were halfway to fucking Doncaster. Al was freaking out!”

Their new album recorded by Mikey Young of Eddy Current Suppression Ring/Ooga Boogas fame is a wild ride of youthful punk spirit. It’s a record about not fitting in: at school, at work, in the music scene – even on the bus. ‘Make You Strain’ is about Marcus’ “ability” to travel on public transport and not have anyone sit next to him.

But if they were to send one track to triple j to showcase what The UV Race were all about, what would it be? Marcus: “Well, if I was lying I’d say ‘Driving In My Car’. I love that and I think it’s the most triple j song. It’s slow and has a pop edge with Sarah’s vocals, but ‘I Go Blank’ is my favourite. It’s about having a mental blank when you have strong feelings for a girl. It’s like a love song.”

As for Moses, his favourite track is the album’s opener ‘Society Made Me Selfish’.

“It’s kind of catchy but it’s also a ‘fuck you’. But one of my favourite of Marcus’ lyrics is from an older track called ‘I Just Want to Drink’. How does it go? Oh, that’s right: ‘You are Colonel Clink and I am Hogan/But I prefer to be a bogan.’ Shit if cool.”

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The UV Race is out now on Aarght! Records. It will be launched at Ding Dong Lounge in Melbourne on Saturday (November 14). Supports: Royal Headache, Deaf Wish and Breaker Morant.