“It's Such A Trap”: Meg Mac Refuses To Be Another Tragic Tale On 'It's My Party'

Monkey Business

Benny Doyle

"When we’re together we tend to sit around for a long time enjoying each other’s company. We get drunk, is what I’m trying to say,”

Emerging out of the wilderness but arriving fully formed is The Ape, another feather in the well worn cap of Tex Perkins, and one which might be the most colourful yet. It's gritty rock'n'roll, loaded with blues, swagger, blood and piss. Perkins' howls seem naturally at home leading these songs, and the energy that the entire self-titled debut holds makes most young bands sound like they're not even trying.

Perkins had these songs sitting in demo form for about six years. The core ideas were there; it was a just a matter of finding the time, and as he rather incredibly puts it, “having the courage [to] bite the bullet and do this”. It's a staggering statement from one of Australia's most ferocious frontmen, and requires some expanding.

“When I wrote the riffs for these songs it was a little writing exercise – I do these things sometimes when I write music, I just play some stuff, obviously not for any band that I'm in, but just because I'm a musician, I play music,” he explains. “[So] I might make a little electro album on my laptop; this is one of those things. I went around to James Cruikshank's [The Cruel Sea] place and he had some hip hop loops, so I said, 'Just play that over and over again', and I started riffing. And the concept developed for these recordings. I had no vision for these songs; it was purely just [fun]. And so the idea was trashy sorta '60s, almost Kinks-style riffs over hip hop beats, and it was like, 'Wow, that's interesting'. But it had no home.

“They were almost going to be on a Tex Perkins solo album many years ago, then I thought they might be Cruel Sea songs, but none of those things happened. But the band I finally put around these songs had a lot of respect for [them]. They were perfectly cast so it really came together.

Perkins has known Magic Dirt guitarist Raul Sanchez for years: “I used to go over to his place and get stoned and just do stuff on his 4-track,” he recalls. Gus Agars from The Dark Horses; he obviously fit. And when Pat Bourke of Dallas Crane locked in, the connection was obvious for Perkins, “and the music was very thankful”.

“That's another aspect about The Ape – there's no drama. [These guys are] very cool and they're good company, which is great. But when we're together we tend to sit around for a long time enjoying each other's company. We get drunk, is what I'm trying to say,” he laughs. “And my Ape hangovers have been far worse than any of my other bands; generally I'll have a few drinks and then go home. But The Ape, they're just too good company.”