Wall of Sound presents “2016 YEAR IN REVIEW” – by Frenzal Rhomb’s Lindsay McDougall
He may have left the Triple J airwaves back in 2014 in honourable fashion but that doesn’t mean the legend that is Lindsay “The Doctor” McDougall has stopped and become one of those washed up ex-radio guys (kinda like the guy writing this spiel). He got straight back into doing more with Frenzal Rhomb, touring the world and just doing what he does best, playing some good quality Australian punk rock for fans (because Gordy Forman broke his arm and pushed back the release by a year). Anyway he’s taken time out to give us his opinion on the Best that 2016 produced with Wall of Sound’ 2016 Year in Revew…
“Coz this is for Wall Of Sound my selections are in keeping with the style of the website, but I like heaps of less guitar heavy stuff too” – Lindsay
TOP 5 ALBUMS OF 2016?
1 The Nation Blue – Black/Blue
2 Camp Cope – Camp Cope
3 Pears – Green Star
4 Peep Tempel – Joy
5 Hellions – Opera Oblivia
TOP 5 SONGS OF 2016?
1 A.B. Original feat Dan Sultan – Jan 26 (not strictly rock but fuck it, it’s the best, and Dan Sultan is Rock as FUCK)
2 Descendents – Shameless Halo
3 The Drones – Boredom
4 Pears – Anhedonia
5 Camp Cope – Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams
BEST MUSIC VIDEO OF 2016?
Dune Rats – Scott Green. Only saw it this morning but it’s fucken rad! A fairly obvious storyline about some dude (Scott Green) nicking their weed, but the video is interactive, so you get to choose where in this party house they go, and click on various drugs for them to take and score point for finding Scott Green hidden in the different scenes. I actually laughed out loud repeatedly during it. Pretty good song too!
BEST GIG YOU’VE SEEN 2016?
This was the first year without a Soundwave, so the first year without a whole bunch of heavy bands to all vie for this prize. I did get to see Iron Maiden in Sydney for the third time, who were excellent as usual, and the reformed reunited and almost reinvigorated At The Drive In at Splendour In The Grass. But after they played was easily the best gig of the year for me. The fucken Cure! I’ve seen them a few times before, but in terms of song choices (almost three hours of old from every Cure era), attitude (Robert Smith even smiled a fair bit), and just downright musicality, from Simon Gallup‘s imposing basslines and Roger O’Donnell‘s keyboards, to Robert Smith playing most of the recognisable cure riffs on a Fender 6 string bass of all things, and of course Reeves Gabrels the dude who played guitar for David Bowie going nuts on stage right, it was just a fucken joy. AND, since most kids were off watching Whatsonot, I was easy to get to the front of the mosh for most of it.
BEST SHOW YOUR BAND HAS PLAYED THIS YEAR?
Either Brisbane Hotel, Hobart, because it’s one of our favourite places to play and we got to play our newly recorded songs (but only in Soundcheck, no spoilers) OR in Ikebukuro, the second gig of our Japanese tour. In a giant sweaty sold out show with about 8 bands, and Cham from local band TNX (who had broken his back a couple of days before) got up and played bass for us on “Your Mother Doesn’t Know You’re A Nazi”, turning us into one of those horrible bands with two-lead singers for a bit. Was worth it though.
Here’s a video of it!
Also a honourary mention: opening Darwin Festival with Nabarlek; a band from 8 hours east of Darwin, who I drove out to meet, rehearse with, and drive back to Darwin. They’re rockstars in the top end, and hadn’t played in a year & a half. Playing guitar for them and their crowd was like joining the Rolling Stones for a night. Amazing vibes.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2017?
Getting our new album out! It’s a year late coz Gordy broke his arm in 2015, so we’ve been sitting on some of these songs for years! Don’t worry though, we wrote a bunch of newer ones too, and we recorded it at Bill Stevenson’s amazing Blasting Room again, and we think it’s quite nice. Should be out in April and then we can all breathe a sigh of relief and let it sink into the mire of new Australian music as it deserves.
Dammit Gordy! All the best to the Frenzal boys until the new stuff is out, we loved their tour this year and a massive thanks to Lindsay McDougall for taking the time out to share his thoughts… We leave you now with a classic track to get you amped up for the Christmas break
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Cool. Looking fwd to new album. Nice to see some love for locals Nation Blue & Dune Rats. Didn’t mind PEARS LP either 🙂