Why You Shouldn't Call 'Midnight At The Plutonium' A Concept Album

"We've heard lots of different takes on our new album — my wife calls it 'post-yacht', as in 'post-yacht rock'," lead John Steel Singer Tim Morrissey explains of the band's newbie, Midnight At The Plutonium. "She did say never to say that to anyone, but I love it so much, we're going to roll with it."

The new album for the Brisbane band has been more than a few years coming, and if "post-yacht" doesn't turn you on as a teaser, then frankly, dear listener, you need to take a good hard look at yourself. To be fair, Midnight At The Plutonium is less about getting out on deck in your chinos than about an epic '70s funk-styled night out, but the dreaminess vibe remains. In addition to singles Weekend Lover and Can You Feel The Future, it's hard to go past the magic that is Luke Perry's Lips. Ah, '90s fanboys and girls — it's a moment to relive some love. "Yeah, lots of people have been drawn to that one," says Morrissey, unsurprised. "Often when we have a jam we come up with just a placeholder name to go in the song, and I don't know why Luke from our band [McDonald, guitar], came up with that particular name. But then when it came to writing the lyrics he was able to keep that theme in there as well, so it fit really well the whole album's flow."

"She did say never to say that to anyone, but I love it so much, we're going to roll with it."

Not only is it a draw, but the track, and the album's "retro-futuristic" style begs a bit of research for the young ones listening, too. "Yeah, a lot of kids listening to [our] music probably weren't even born when 90210 was in its heyday," he continues. Scary how quickly pop culture moves.

While the band stops short of calling Midnight At The Plutonium a concept album — "I think it's a bit of a dirty word," says Morrissey — the idea of capturing one type of event is something that appealed in terms of consistency and focus. "With concept albums it's easy to do hits but also misses, so we've got a theme that's focused, but not constricted." The album starts at midnight, then draws the listener through "the hours of darkness in the club all the way through 'til dawn, making the track listings run through smoothly too".

In addition to the band, Morrissey has also taken over a major venue in Brisbane, Black Bear Lodge. "It's a pretty well known venue on the Brisbane touring scene, and you know, we've been touring extensively for like ten years and not doing uni or anything else, so after a while you've got to start thinking about what else to add," Morrissey explains. Along with the bar, The John Steel Singers also built their studio for the new release, The Plutonium, which they recorded in as well as developed to hire out. So far Cloud Control and Tame Impala have set down sounds down there. Morrissey jokes he'd happily be the Sam Malone of the place in a Cheers-like set up, "or there's that Louis CK series Horace And Pete, set in a bar, that kind of vibe would work too".