Track By Track: Running Gun Sound

The Brisbane garage-pop band pack their second album ‘Friends’ with bitter lyrics, stoned guitar parts, double-tracked solos and the message to quit your day job. Or so says singer-guitarist MICHAEL FLETCHER.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

‘Just You See’

This was my first real conscious attempt at writing a pop song. It was 4am in the morning and I couldn't sleep, so I sat in my kitchen in the dark and came up with all these stoned guitar parts. The hardest part was teaching it all to [guitarist] Julien [James]. I was sick of drinking Stanley’s fresh dry white wine and Oettinger tinnies, and had in mind this couple who were involved in some kind of romantic crime spree.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Just You See by Running Gun Sound

‘I Don’t Want to Know’

I remember [guitarist] James [Boyd, also of James X. Boyd & The Boydoids] coming to practice and playing us this song for the first time. That’s when I knew we had the start of the album. ‘Just You See’ followed shortly after and they set the feel for the record. Like all of James’ songs, it’s simple and says so much.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]I Don't Wanna Know by Running Gun Sound

‘Kirin’

This was a real bastard of a song that I worked on for a long time – I was never really happy with the music and kept rewriting it until it came to this. I’m glad I did because the original was shit. I had just quit my day job and was trying to get myself some DJ work at a restaurant in town – the manager was out so I went to kill some time in the Botanic Gardens. I sat down on a bench and over my shoulder someone had passed away under a tree. The body lay in the sun, covered by a sheet. I didn’t forget it.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Kirin by Running Gun Sound

‘Crooked’

I was listening to Tom Verlaine’s Dreamtime a lot, and was influenced by the arrangements on that record. Money was a hassle then, and I was living on very little but having a pretty good time still. ‘Just You See’, ‘Crooked’ and ‘Best of It All’ are all about the same couple – a narrative of sorts. The original outro for this tune turned into ‘Omar’ somewhere along the way.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Crooked by Running Gun Sound

‘Omar’

This was a song we could never learn, and that frustrated me a lot because this was the best song I had. I finally finished writing the bitter lyrics after another failed attempt at getting the song together, and that was the day before we recorded it. We did finally manage to play it, though, and it turned out great on the record. From now on, I will double-track all guitar solos.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Omar by Running Gun Sound

‘What!’

Girlfriends will comfort you and make you feel a whole lot better, especially when you’ve been working the same shitty office job for six years and you see your life going in the wrong direction. Quit your day job – you don’t need to work five days a week to pay rent – and you’ll feel pretty fresh.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]What by Running Gun Sound

‘Friends of Yours’

Another James X. Boyd classic, and another James X. Boyd song that he didn’t think was any good. I loved it from the start and it was one of the final songs that became Friends. We went to outro-town on this record, which is something I love about it, and this song in particular. Lauren Jenkin’s keyboard parts were very Orange Juice, who were another big influence. Thank you Orange Juice.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Friends Of Yours by Running Gun Sound

‘No Matter What’

Emotional ballad territory that turns into Bowie’s ‘Teenage Wildlife’. I wrote this song for my sister and I still can’t look at her and sing it, because it’s a real tear-jerker.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]No Matter What by Running Gun Sound

‘Good Friend’

This is a song that I actually did write very quickly – I’d had the chords and that for a while but had never done much with them. My girlfriend thought she was the fourth most important thing in my life after music and a bunch of other things, so I decided I’d let her know she wasn’t – I’m just really bad with time. [Drummer] Jeremy Neale puts The Boss in this song. Now I just close my eyes and pretend to sing ‘Born to Run’.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Good Friend by Running Gun Sound

‘Best of It All’

This song was almost about the time James spat beer all over me on stage and in return I threw a can of beer at his head at a family-friendly birthday party we’d been booked to play, but thankfully I wrote about something else. The intro to this song is perfect for power stances and dumb guitar moves and I don’t think I’ve ever sung so silky smooth in my life.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Best Of It All by Running Gun Sound

‘First Time Winner’

The intro to this song is all [mixer] Sean Cook’s work and it’s a great way to finish the record. Brutal and simple and ends with an hour-long guitar solo by Julien James. He’s a shredder. I like to think the song is about the time we were beaten up, but we didn’t win so you’ll have to ask James X. Boyd.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Fight Time Winner by Running Gun Sound

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‘Friends’ is out now independently.