Track By Track: Ciggie Witch

ZAC DENTON’s solo outlet Ciggie Witch grew into a full band for the debut LP ‘Rock and Roll Juice’. Denton deconstructs it below with LACHLAN DENTON (his brother and Ocean Party bandmate) and MITCH CLEMENS.

‘Long Weekend’

Zac: One of the faster paced songs on the album. It tells the story of a wonderful thing that comes along every now and then: a long weekend, when you are able to go out drinking one extra day – or, in the case of ‘Long Weekend’, drink cordial, kick the footy and watch Terminator 2.

‘Broken Nose’

Mitch: I never really have any good stories to tell after a night out, so I wrote this song about not much happening. One time my mate woke up in Werribee and then hitchhiked home and almost got tasered under the Westgate. That’s the song I would have written if I wasn’t so into existentialism.

‘Part Two’

Zac: ‘Part Two’ is the second part of an older song, ‘Wrong Crowd’, which is about living in Wagga Wagga and not feeling like I fitted in. In ‘Part Two’ I’m living in Melbourne and in much of the same position. My awkwardness and inability to have conversations has made me realise maybe it’s not the crowd; maybe it’s me.

‘The Internet’

Mitch: This song is kind of a contradiction, because I spend the whole song talking about how I didn’t do anything productive today, but then I wrote a song. I tried to make all the lyrics on this album completely honest and relatable; this song kind of takes that idea to its logical conclusion. I really like the dial-up internet sounds Joe [Foley] makes on the slide at the start of the second verse.

‘Day Dreaming’

Lachlan: For some reason Zac asked me to write about ‘Day Dreaming’. Zac is my little brother so I’ve known him my whole life, but being six years older than him and moving out when I was quite young, I didn’t really get to know him well until he moved to Melbourne and into my kitchen. What I have learnt about Zac in this time is that he loves nothing more than having a whinge. This song is classic Zac: he doesn’t want to work and he hates his boss. Don’t worry though: he moved to Box Hill recently and he seems happier.

‘Taylors Lakes’

Mitch: I wrote the lyrics to this song as I was recording the vocals. I think a lot of rappers do that – it was pretty hard to do; don’t reckon I’ll do it again. I’d just gotten back from a holiday in Cairns in June/July last year. Before I left I was pretty disillusioned with what I was studying and also just the state of play in general; I was hoping that holiday would kind of turn it around. I had lots of fun and the weather was nice, but I more or less fell back into the same mundane routine when I got home, so this song’s about regretting that.

‘Point Cook’

Zac: ‘Point Cook’ is about when I got stuck at a 7-11 service station in Point Cook. I had to wait three hours because I was living week by week and my employer hadn’t paid me. I was frustrated because I hated the job and my boss wasn’t even paying me on time. Just before my brother turned up to pay for the fuel, the money went through and I could pay for the petrol. I felt like an idiot.

‘Uni Break’

Mitch: This song was written before the aforementioned FNQ holiday. In retrospect my job making choc bombs was pretty cruisy, and nobody really told me to do anything. I like when I sing “stop” and the music stops: that’s probably the most postmodern moment on the album.

‘Back Aches’

Zac: ‘Back Aches’ is about being pressured to leave school to pursue a career in a trade, and realising I wasn’t even halfway through and my back was already feeling the effects. All this for a job I hated.

‘Servo Stride’

Mitch: The first verse of this song is like a disclaimer for all the whining I do on this album or something. It’s not like the lyrics are about my laptop dying and my charger being in the other room or something, but sometimes I do feel a bit self-conscious about all the pessimism. In saying that, though, this song ends kind of on a high note, especially with the pinnacle of creative expression that is rhyming “servo pie” with “pervert eye.”

‘Midday Movie’

Lachlan: I think ‘Midday Movie’ was the first song I wrote after the last Ocean Party record. I wrote it on an old Yamaha keyboard which I since left on the side of the road. (If anyone ever came across a Yamaha Sk10 sitting on High St, let me know.) I’m not sure if the midday movie still exists, but I remember them always being on free-to-air TV growing up. When I wrote this I think I was feeling pretty useless, but now I work three jobs and am pioneering a new genre of music called career wave. Someone please tell me punk’s not dead!

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‘Rock and Roll Juice’ is out now digitally and on limited vinyl through Osborne Again. Launch tour dates below.

Sun, July 6 – Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney, NSW [w/Jack Lee, Territory + Red Fella]
Sat, July 19 – Fitzroy Bowls Club, Melbourne, VIC [day show, w/Full Ugly, Jack Lee, Hot Palms, Cool Sounds, Galaxy Folk + Bad Guys]
Fri, July 25 – The Underdog, Brisbane, QLD [w/Thigh Master]
Sat, July 26 – Trainspotters, Brisbane, QLD [w/Black Vacation]