Track By Track: Danger Beach

LACHLAN THOMAS’s second album as Danger Beach spans midnight instrumentals and sporadic vocals, with as many nods to bedroom lo-fi as to vintage film soundtracks.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

‘Sioux’

This is the first song I recorded after releasing Milky Way in 2010, so I unimaginatively placed it as the first track. Tim Guthrie from Dream Damage made a great video out of a Greyhound bus film from the ’50s. It looks like it has the equivalent budget of a Michael Bay movie and I have no doubt that a number of people were probably killed/crushed during the making of it.




‘Black Rain’

‘Black Rain’ is the result of a jam for a short-lived band called Neighbourhood. Neighbourhood was basically just the Assassins 88/TV Colours band that toured 2010-2012. Which then went back to being Assassins 88 (RIP). Then broke up and is now TV Colours. I have to draw a mind map whenever someone asks what band I am playing with.

I thought the bass and guitar parts were too good to go to waste. Before the vocals were written, I would sing the melody to ‘Our House’ by Madness thinking no one would notice. They did. The keyboard solo was written and recorded in 10 minutes next to a passed-out Bobby Kill. This song is about the decapitation of Andy Garcia at the hands of Sato.

‘TV Glow’

‘TV Glow’ is by TV Colours. Purple Skies Toxic River out June 1 through Eighteen Records (France) and Dream Damage Records (Canberra)!

He, like many, has a love/hate relationship with TV. I assume this is about getting stuck at home watching some band like Dallas Crane or The Hellacopters guest program RAGE. This was before the advent of the Internet and YouTube. Now my musical taste isn’t dictated by Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry music videos. They always pick the same 20 videos anyway.

‘Pacific’

This is the title track. Do people like to know what gear you used when recording? I used my little brother’s guitar (because I don’t own one) mostly through a cube 30-watt guitar amp because no one can tell the difference. I recorded into Pro Tools with one microphone for every single instrument. I also used a variety of drum machines, keyboards and real drums. This process took me two years, mostly because I was watching lots of quality television and it was not expensive.

‘Xue-Ying’

This is the mandatory hard-to-pronounce track of the album. “Xue” is pronounced “Sh-weh” for all of you Gweilos. It is my favourite song from the album and it was written back in 2007.

‘Magnum’

I was happy that ‘Magnum’ successfully carries that coked-up Miami vibe. This is the first public release of girl group The Creamers. I can recall a lot of arguing and matching pitch with the girls. My dream was to have a sax solo on the outro but I couldn’t get it together. The Creamers may return…

‘Idle Hands’

If you want to hear ‘Apache’ again, the “good” song from the last album, this is the closest it will get. Writing a vocal line with guitar is a lot easier and usually more expressive than singing about going to the shops or catching the tram.

‘Neon’

This is the ’80s song referred to as that Drive song by my friends. I like to think its more ’80s sci-fi than Drive. I prefer to use movies as inspiration for music. My dad is an infamous hoarder of movies and I was exposed to M15+ to R18+ movies at a young age. He has everything, including a large collection of straight-to-video Lou Diamond Phillip and Michael Madsen movies. Despite my education, I had never seen The Godfather until very recently.

‘Bee’

When I was finishing the artwork for Pacific, it was very rushed and there was a lot of pressure. As a result I forgot to “thank” Joel Paine of The Fighting League for providing the drums. I thanked every other contributor on the album. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Joel for perfecting the beat and that you should restrict your “thanks” to 3-5 people most.

‘Glory’

Chris Hearn (not Alps; another guy named Chris Hearn) is a great singer. I can remember making him record an excessive amount of double tracks for safety, most of which I didn’t use. He’s a good sport and I like this song because it reminds me of Zelda.

‘Cold’

I have always felt that as a rule the weakest song should be buried towards the back of an album. The second-last track is like an orphan or the redheaded stepchild of the family.

‘Dark Blue’

This is my second favourite track from the album. It is as close as I will get capturing the essence of a 1990s crime thriller. When I hear this I visualise Al Pacino overacting, yelling at his wife: “I’ve got three dead bodies on a sidewalk off Venice Boulevard!”

+

‘Pacific’ is out now through Dream Damage. It launches upstairs at Gasometer in Melbourne this Saturday (May 11) with The Ocean Party.