Long Weekend

ourteen years between albums, and it could have been easy to assume that Melbourne icons Underground Lovers had put the possibility for new sonic highways behind them. Each of the five members has branched off on their own creative mediums, whether they be other musical endeavours, animation or film. Yet the arrival of new album Weekend proves to be just as refreshing, original and inviting as when they first came on the scene with Underground Lovers back in 1991.

“Glenn [Bennie] or Phillippa [Nihill] had some money left over from a grant, so we thought why don't the five of us just go into a studio and bang out some songs and see what happens,” Vincent Giarrusso explains. “We did seven songs one after the other in one rehearsal, then went into the studio and recorded them. Songs like Spaces, Can For Now and Haunted came out of that; in fact Can For Now was done for the first time in the studio and that was it, the structure and melody came together just like that. We thought we should just do it, finish a record. And we are all busy with our own interests, but they all feed into music anyway so it felt so natural.”

Weekend echoes with band's penchant for shoegaze aesthetics underpinning esoteric pop machinations, yet Giarrusso stresses that it remained important to all of them that while acknowledging their past their eyes stayed focused on the horizon.

“We didn't want to make a nostalgic record, rather than focus on what we do that is natural. Nothing overly conscious, but I think that's how all of us are. So we are really happy that Weekend sounds as fresh as it does. Our first show in Melbourne surprised us because there were so many young people there who were getting into the new stuff – it was their introduction. It didn't feel like a trip down memory lane kind of audience; people actually wanted to and got involved in the new songs. We are aware of ageism in the industry, and that we may not have appealed to a young demographic, but that isn't what music is. The industry is more about marketing and working out how to sell shit, because people want to put you somewhere so they can tick the boxes. It's always been impossible to do that with us anyway, but the music will always speak for itself.”

Even so, the veterans have had to iron out a few kinks when playing the new songs live for the first time. “It has been strange and a little more nerve-wracking than we thought it would be,” Giarrusso laughs. “We have found that the songs do flow quite effortlessly when put alongside certain older tracks, but it's been a little trial and error. But we now have (the set) as a gradual build up that is quite intense.”

That word – intense – is a common part of the vernacular when it comes to describing Underground Lovers, both from a discerning listener and from the viewpoint of the band members themselves.

“It has always been very intense; the gigs are intense, and we're in it together and we're bonding through this experience,” Giarrusso states. “Each show is emotional, in the head as well. It's intricate with a lot of layers. We generally see music as a reflection of how we see life – high and low. That is why we named Weekend after a Jean-Luc Godard film, because we like things that are intricate and complex. We do have a laugh together too – it's like we're in a bloody sitcom together sometimes.”