Track By Track: Ooga Boogas

Ooga Boogas’ self-titled second album deals in post-apocalyptic swaggies, pointless messages of hope and failed lyrics about a hamburger-judging contest, according to reliable sources MIKEY YOUNG (guitar, keyboard), LEON ‘STACKEE’ STACKPOLE (vocals, guitar, keyboard), RICHARD STANLEY (bass) and PER BYSTROM (drums).

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

‘Circle of Trust’

Stackee: This is a Mikey riff ‘n’ bass line that took many, many hours of repeat listens to come up with some vocals to – and what a bunch of naff lyrics they are! There are so many nasty characters out there. Everyone needs their little Circle of Trust. So c’mon, join ours.

Rich: Mikey wrote this one. People say to me, “Hey great bass line dude!” and I say, “Fuck yeah aren’t I bitchin’?!” And then I go home and cry myself to sleep.

Mikey: Great bass line Rich.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Circle of Trust by Mess+Noise

‘Archie & Me’

Stackee: I came across a photo of two swagmen in an Australian history book for school kids. Swaggies always looks so old in photos with their big beards and all, but as I looked a little closer I saw that these guys were probably 30-40 or so – more like me. I imagined what it would be like to roam the countryside, herd sheep and cut timber. Not in this age you might say, but how about in an altered future? Perhaps our cities will break down and all our dandily-dressed friends in East Brunswick will have to hit the road to glean the fields, trap rabbits and eat gruel. Perhaps that’s not such a bad thing?

In this song Archie and I realise the time has come so we hit the track. When we reach Red Cliffs near Mildura we miraculously restart the old monster tractor engine known as Big Lizzie. We head northwest into the sunset, with our new swaggie friends in tow. Oh the folks we would meet. I see a character known as The Cosmic Swaggie that helps the lost swagmen find their destiny.

We broke the title convention firmly established on the first record, which featured the song ‘Rich ‘n’ Me’, by using an ampersand, thus creating considerable Ooga friction. Bands eh!?

My favourite song and Per’s drumming kicks asses.

Rich: I’d love to be a fly on the tractor when Stackee runs off into the bush screaming “AAARRCHIIEEE!!” in desperation at the stars.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ooga Boogas - Archie & Me by Aarght Records

‘FYI’

Stackee: This riff comes straight out of my Casio CTK-401. I’d tell you which pre-programmed track if my keyboard was here. I was running short of lyric ideas for the verses so a series of phrases were plucked from a well-known book. The title of which shall remain a mystery.

Little-known fact: This song is otherwise known as ‘Fuck You Ingrid’.

Rich: Some French jerk deserves royalties for this but he’s too busy hitting on his agent to worry about it. When Hector Sailor heard this he said, “Jesus, is Stackee still playing that thing?”

Mikey: Even though the tune is a keyboard demo and the lyrics are pilfered, it feels to me to be the perfect example of modern-day Boogas. I love it and have no idea why.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ooga Boogas - FYI by Aarght Records

‘Oogie Boogie II (The Hobo Hoedown)’

Stackee: A Mikey tune intended to sound like Status Quo but ended up sounding like the Ooga Boogas. Fucking fun to play. The lyrics are also about post-apocalyptic swaggies but of the urban kind. Life on the streets of the future can be awful mean but these gents still get together for the occasional party, which is nice. The title is an abbreviated version of one suggested by a friend of mine, Justine Jansz. She called it ‘The Homo Hobo Hoedown’.

Things to look out for: Richard’s bass slide in the second verse. It’s a ripper.

Rich: It’s nice that Per and Mikey get a mention here since I got a whole song on the first record.

Mikey: I had dreams of actually writing a solo for this for one and practicing it heaps and becoming a total shredder but somewhere along the line I got lazy and didn’t put the required effort in to shred properly. I could happily play this kinda mindless boogie chug forever. The breakdown was meant to be long and full of faux psychedelia and Robert Plant-esque orgasmic behaviour but that never eventuated, which is probably an excellent outcome for everybody concerned.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ooga Boogas - Oogie Boogie II (The Hobo Hoedown) by Aarght Records

‘Mind Reader’

Stackee: A song that deals with the complexity of sexual politics. Started out as a rool garage stomper but a dreadfully clichéd one. We couldn’t play it with straight faces. It’s now as close as we’ll ever get to Hot Chocolate and probably the most suspect song on the record.

Little-known fact: Lyrics co-written by Archie himself.

Mikey: Hot Chocolate records sound amazing. The dead drums, heavy strings, rippin’ fuzz, Errol’s absolutely heartfelt vocals. I think I always envision our songs to be accurate tributes to my favourite bands but they always refuse, and stay heavily Boogarised no matter how hard we try. The outro originally went a lot longer and is a good indication to the ethno-funk/world music angle our future records will be taking.

Per: My years as a drummer in Cloudberry Jam sure came handy in this song. Mikey had a look of disgust on his face for the longest of time while we were trying to whip this one into shape. In fact, it still shines through sometimes when we play it. It also contains my favourite line: “I’m no Nostradamus, and I doubt that I will ever be.” Doubt. Still a possibility though!

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ooga Boogas - Mind Reader by Aarght Records

‘It is a Sign’

Stackee: A song that travelled the world (Berlin – never forget, eh Jensen?) and found itself in an Oogas rehearsal – “Hey guys I’ve, er, got this song. We should do it.” Next thing we know it’s on the record and it’s too late to get rid of it.

Per: The opening line sounds a lot like “it’s a sign that we’re making a baby.” So much in fact that Leon tried to redo the vocals, to much lesser effect. The original version stuck, and he moved to Kyneton and made a baby. The ironies of life, eh?

Rich: It can be extraordinarily difficult to tell when he’s being sincere.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ooga Boogas - It is a Sign by Aarght Records

‘Sex in the Chillzone’

Stackee: Another Mikey riff that took many months of repeat listens to come up with lyrics. It was going to be about a hamburger-judging contest adjudicated by Richard (he likes hamburgers a lot). Surprisingly that lyric wasn’t working out. Then I thought, “Hmmmmm, how about that ol’ chillzone?”

Things to look out for: ‘Chillzone’ features the second yelp of “FIRE!” (pronounced “FI-YA!!!”) on the record.

Mikey: Which is a knowing nod to the yelp of “fire” off our first record, which was itself a lil’ homage to the late, great Reg Presley of The Troggs, who yelps an excellent “FI-YA” on the Troggs song ‘Lover’. Thanks for the times Reg.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Sex in the Chillzone by Mess+Noise

‘Studio of My Mind’

Stackee: A tune the Boogas have been doing for a while. It was upbeat until we dragged it into the electro-mire for the recording and found that we couldn’t play it like that live so we’re back to the upbeat version. In the lyrics a little bit of musical progress is followed by severe regression into childhood fears. The dreaded WWII vet that ran the last chicken farm in Nunawading is on my trail, Freddie Krueger-style.

Sounds suspiciously like: Laurie Anderson’s ‘From the Air’.

Mikey: Stackee’s demo of this sounded so good so I just tried to copy it and put evil stuff on it. Sounds scary as hell to me but I’m pretty faint-hearted.

Rich: Difficult song to play. He sounds pretty definite about going ’round to Mikey’s and Per’s, but I only get a “maybe.” I think we’re pretty even in the being-sung-about stakes now.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ooga Boogas - Studio of My Mind by Aarght Records

‘Ecstasy’

Stackee: This one was recorded in Rich’s garage in Prestonia. I like the laidback feel and Rich’s fluid bass lines. Best song on the record (but not my favourite).

Per: In a desperate attempt to make us sound “still a bit punk,” let it be known that the cops shut down these recordings. This song is the sole survivor. Like Steven Seagal dressed as a native American Indian standing on backlit, ravaged plains.

Rich: It can be extraordinarily difficult to tell when he’s being sincere.

Mikey: The first time I’ve ever fully believed that Stackee is not somewhat taking the piss.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ooga Boogas - Ecstasy by Aarght Records

‘A Night to Remember’

Mikey: I really like this song but I wish my bandmates alerted me that I’ve started a few songs like that before. The chorus is emotional.

Stackee: Taken from a Mikey tune called ‘Boogie Island’, which I think would have made a good album title, especially considering the cover art, but no title will do.

I had very little to do in July 2011. My friend’s parents had booked me an apartment in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for a month. Most of the contacts my Russian friend had given me fell through. I got the impression they thought I was a sex tourist and didn’t want to know me, so I spent my time wandering the streets of my new city drinking fermented horse milk and searching for the best mutton shashlik. Then I came up with the idea of an ultra-positive, thumping dance track along the lines of ‘Absolutely Everybody’ (but more hardcore) and the chorus would be “Let’s do it for the kids, and for our kid’s kids, and for our kid’s kid’s kids...” A song of hope for the future. Then I saw the movie A Night to Remember, in which the band keeps playing to keep the peace as the Titanic goes down. I imagined the Ooga Boogas were that band. Playing along as the world disintegrated. Pointlessly singing a message of hope. Using electrical instruments, burning resources and doing fuck all to save the planet.

Reference point: ‘Down Among the Dead Men’ by Flash & The Pan.

Rich: It’s nice to think you could hold down the boogie in moments of extreme duress. I hope we could do it. We boogie for freedom.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ooga Boogas - A Night to Remember by Aarght Records

+

‘Ooga Boogas’ is out now through Aarght!/Fuse.