On 208l Containers
Or, We All Need A Friend Like Andrew Denton
A Transcript:
Andy: I’m beginning to resent you for thi…
Franc: Andy, Andy Andy, I know you’re probably busy off saving the world but can I steal a minute?
Andy: Do so at your own peril.
Franc: Right, yep, of course. So, I was browsing my bandcamp messages in one of my other other email address and was stopped dead in my tracks when I saw your face. It was unmistakably that wind up toy crank head smiling at me. And I thought, “get out, Andy’s finally made that spoken word album he threatens when we’re on the southern comfort” but it’s not, its this Tassy punk band 208L Containers. Hang on, I’ll share a link with ya
Andy: Oh no, I just look at myself and think “yeah, I had a five o’clock shadow but how cute…"
Franc: Yeah, yeah, of course you would. So I dig in and all and it’s all about Chris Skase and that fuckin swindle he pulled back in the late 9o’s
Andy: At who’s?
Franc: Don’t play dumb, Andy - I know I put shit on the shape of your head but we remain friends because you and I that you know that we ask the right questions.
Andy: I’m not very musical I’m afraid…
Franc: Yeah, I’m not asking you about the music, I’m going to rant at you about Chris fucking Skase and how this punk band has made an album on the whole fiasco, you included.
Andy: So…
Franc: So… your face is on the cover. It’s like out of some sort of camp nightmare where you’re forced to dress like a new romantic at an open house - which, always going to get me curious, I do like you in pink. Anyway, I have a listen and it’s this full of smart arse abandon, like Jello Biafra fronting the Voidoids. it’s that social punk of the Dead Kennedy’s with the art punk of New York in the 70’s.
Andy: Oh, I See..
Franc: Yeah, BUT there also Tasmanian so they’re especially hairy due to the environmental conditioning.
Andy: I want to see the punk ethic,
Franc: Exactly, I want to see it clearly as well, through the hair and the lo fi recordings. Now, get this, you’ve seen the great rock n roll swindle featuring the sex pistols, right?
Andy: Yeah…
Franc: Yeah, so how’s this: The Sex pistols tried it on with that crudely tongue-in-cheek movie about the largesse of commerce, of Rock’n’Roll, of arts industry - all the while exploiting the punk movement itself and not being about anything important at all. If anything it laid the foundations for that part of the music industry that is full of conformism marketed as the opposite. And, they’re not held accountable for this, either. It fucks me up, Andy. I know you feel this: the pistols, skase, milli vanilli, fuckin’ cryptocurrencies - the swindles never end!
Andy: How infuriating for you, you’ve said songs come from other songs…
Franc: Yeah, and that’s why I have have serious fuckin’ trust issues. It’s abusive. I’m stockholmed to song and I keep coming back for the good feels. I’m now questioning whether I’d be able to enjoy A Night At The Mirage without actually actually being able to watch 208L Containers perform the album in its entirety from the fake marble stages of the Sheraton Grand Mirage, you know, right there, smack bang in their function room. I can’t just have some hoary punks from Tasmania retelling the story of Skase without feeling incredibly triggered - Like, Sunburnt In Brisbane is a fuckin’ jam, and a phrase that resonates deeply with me but is the swindle worth it?
Andy: Which gets back to how you measure what’s ok and good?
Franc: Ahh, see, this is why I called you, Andy - you ask the right questions. But I’m too deep in it, I need you to listen to it, I need you to help me measure A Night At the Mirage by 208L Containers - what was the last full album you listened to?
Andy: Maybe Led Zeppelin,
Franc: Jesus weeps. Lucky for us that I checked my other other email address then, wasn’t it - your algorithmic suggestions could definitely do with a tweak.
Andy: Lucky for us that you did.