Touchstones: The Gin Club

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the eight members of Brisbane’s THE GIN CLUB single out the albums by other acts that have shaped them most.

Ben Salter

The Triffids – In the Pines

I first discovered In the Pines – the reissue, with all the extra tracks – just after The Gin Club formed. I really grew to love it and it became a bit of a touchstone for our sound, in my mind at least: ramshackle, diverse and a little bit epic. Whilst some of their other albums are very highly polished and drenched in reverb, In the Pines was recorded very simply in a shed on the McComb family farm. It has an intimate, eccentric character that I love, whilst sacrificing none of the magisterial, quasi-mystical quality of David McComb’s songwriting. I still listen to it all the time and I always find something new.

Bridget Lewis

Neil Young with Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

I’d always liked Neil Young, but The Gin Club made me appreciate Crazy Horse. I think we all love this record in one way or another, and the sound inevitably becomes a touchstone for us whenever we record, even if it’s in the context of asking “Do you think that sounds too much like Crazy Horse?” Every time I listen to this record, I hear something that reminds me of my friends in the band, and that’s a pretty sweet thing.”

Conor Macdonald

Palace Music 
– Lost Blues and Other Songs

This collection of songs made me realise that there was a whole other approach to songwriting, recording and being in a band. It could be a collaborative process, there could be a fluid line-up and you didn’t need a major label, producer or bulk cash to produce great work. It showed that you could write strange, frail songs with odd lyrics, and that an honest voice is worthy in and of itself. Lost Blues... proved that there were no rules, and this approach has been a huge influence on the way we operate in Gin Club.

Brad Pickersgill

Ryan Adams – Love is Hell

I’d previous bought Gold in 2001 on the back of ‘New York, New York’, and subsequently filed it under one-hit wonders, never to be heard from again. It wasn’t until I bought Love is Hell that I really got a proper appreciation of him. The width and breath of both the songwriting and musicianship blew me away. ‘This House is Not for Sale’, ‘Anybody Wanna Take Me Home’ and ‘Love is Hell’ is a golden trifecta of rock, followed by THAT version of Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’, ‘Shadowlands’ and ‘I See Monsters’, bringing out his haunting best. It really epitomised and reflected what we were doing in The Gin Club by not being pigeonholed and stuck in a genre.

Angus Agars

Big Star – Radio City

For me, Radio City is the first notable stepping stone between the first Big Star record, and the rest of Alex Chilton’s weirder solo career. It’s limited in instrumentation, which leaves space to highlight the enviable talent of the individual players, but it’s always cohesive and tasteful. I won’t go into how much I love his voice, but I will say that if I were a guitarist, I would want to sound exactly like Alex Chilton. As a drummer I have Jodie Stephens’ musicality and creativity to aspire to. A great example of a band wearing influences on their sleeves, but almost accidentally making something totally unique and equally influential. Thanks, Big Star.

Scotty Regan

You Am I – Hourly, Daily

I was introduced to You Am I smack bang in the middle of my formative mid-teen years via this album, and the awards it took home at the 1996 ARIAs. Perhaps it is just nostalgia for my youth, but for many of us this was a golden age of Australian alternative music, back when “alternative” and “indie” meant something (i.e. other than ‘Tubthumping’, ‘Barbie Girl’ or The Macarena). You can hear The Beatles, you can hear The Kinks, you can hear great lyrics about everyday Australian life sung to awesome melodies and catchy guitar hooks. Enough said.

Dan Mansfield

The Beatles – The Beatles

There’s probably a little Beatles in most Gin Club songs; some of us are tragics! When we have gone away to record, it’s been done in a similar manner to this album. We might start solo, with a group of three or four people, or with the whole band. If someone has a song to put down, they’ll grab whoever is around and bash it out. Much in the same vein as The White Album.

Adrian Stoyles

Elliott Smith – Either/Or

Elliott Smith has long been an inspiration to me for both his personal, honest songwriting and his meticulous approach to his craft. Maybe it’s his close-mic’d half-whispered vocals or the lo-fi recording of Either/Or and his earlier albums, but I always feel like I’ve been let in on a secret when listening to Elliott Smith. Hearing songs like ‘Angeles’ and ‘Between the Bars’ are testament to this. You can almost picture him, solitary, hunched over a four-track for hours on end in the basement. But despite the limits and constraints under which he made this record, it is evident that there is a grand vision at hand that transcends the nature of these recordings. I like to think that The Gin Club have taken something from Elliott Smith, whether it be his honest approach to songwriting, excessive harmonies or, at least, his love of a double-tracked vocal.

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The Gin Club wrapped up a 10th anniversary tour last weekend. Their debut self-titled album has just been reissued on double vinyl through Plus One. They’re recording their fifth album, slated for release in mid-2014.