Exploring The Stage Of Middle-Aged Rage On Crash & The Crapenters ‘Species Du Faeces’

Eora punk-rockers Crash & The Crapenters are well and truly fed up, and on their recent EP Species Du Faeces, they let you know in great detail, what’s got them pissed off.

While some may describe the reckless, youthful rebellion of teen angst as “just a phase”, Crash & The Crapenters still live and breathe that mutiny and unrest that refuses to subside, taking aim at the innate selfishness of humanity. Having been a notable presence on the punk rock circuits since their debut in 2016, Species Du Faeces honours their sound in its purest form. Packed with homages to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and Midnight Oil’s Species Deceases EP, this body-of-work from Crash & The Crapenters isn’t the easiest pill to swallow – but that’s the point.

“Species Du Faeces is about overcoming the inherent shitness of people, which in this day and age of social media, and the global political climate, has never been more evident, and not just accepting that the way things are, is the way things have to be,” said frontman Chris Carpenter. 

“It’s about looking deep within yourself and realising the part you yourself play in contributing to your own misery, and rather than being all “misery loves company” and dragging other people down to build yourself up, improve yourself in the areas you need to, and make a positive contribution to the world around you.”

For The Music, Chris takes us through the treacherous journey of Species Du Faeces, from criticising Australia’s culture of addiction, to the slog of life, to coming out of it all wanting to do and be a better person.

All Geared Up

All Geared Up is like a musical play in four acts, describing the evolution and progression of a big weekend bender on cocaine and alcohol (and whatever else)! 

Act 1 describes Friday night, when the weekend is ahead of you, you’re looking forward to getting liquored and drugged up, and not concerned about the consequences, because tomorrow is just some other time.

Act 2 is Saturday when you’ve had no sleep, you’ve been overly generous the night before, and used up all of your supply, but fear not, “we can get on with a guy I know, who lives in Little Bay!”

Act 3 is Sunday, all the drugs are gone, you’ve been awake for two days and aren’t even having fun anymore, but you don’t want to finish up and go to bed, because “when you wake up, you’ll feel worse than dead!”

Act 4, the songs coda, details the start of the following week, when you’re in the midst of a savage comedown, alone, with nothing but thoughts of regret and suicide, your body and mind affected and impaired by what you’ve put them through! Which leads to…

Depression (Smells Like Middle Aged Spirit)

Depression (Smells Like Middle Aged Spirit) is about how the ill effects of years of living through the cycle described in track 1, can ravage a person mentally, the consequence of spending too long immersed in the “nose beer” culture and how it can affect a person’s mind and mental health and nervous system in a way that can take years to work through and come good from! 

The Devil’s In The Detail

The Devil’s In The Detail takes the themes touched upon in tracks 1 and 2 and applies them on a more universal level. Talking about how when everyone is going through something, dealing with their own stuff, it’s difficult for people to be able to communicate and empathise with each other. When your world view is tainted, and your thinking is very black and white,  you can be so wrapped up in your own stuff, that you find yourself unable to trust and relate and empathise with other people, or see their point of view.

Off The Bricks

Off The Bricks is about doing whatever is necessary to pick yourself up off the ground. On a personal level, for me, Chris Carpenter, who wrote the song, it’s about the difficult undertaking of “doing the work!”. Whether it be talking to a therapist, or doing yoga, or cold exposure or breathwork or meditation to try and realign your vagus nerve and activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Relating that to the fact that it’s really difficult to change the world, but by doing the work, you can change yourself, and if enough people do the work and change themselves, maybe that’s how the world gets changed!