Why Stone Temple Pilots Need To Retire The Name And Exit Gracefully

It’s the celebration that’s so irritatingly, so sadly, has become a wake. The fifty years where the songs of The Easybeats retain their sheer perfection in the art of making three-minute masterpieces undercut by the loss of one of the men who masterminded them. The upcoming tribute record to some of their glorious nuggets of rock'n'roll now having the question of how you improve - or just even add something - to something like Friday On My Mind even more focused. The varieties of music in Lance Ferguson’s obviously crowded brain lead to some interesting angles in The Bamboos’ take on the Easys’ I’ll Make You Happy (Alberts/BMG). Having the sinuous tones of Montaigne as featured vocalist is one plus point, as the trademark soul-ly unfurling somehow keeps the foot-stomping insistence of the original as the brass blurts as it should and the title is delivered as a threat and a promise. Good work.

From that to a copybook example of how not to celebrate a fallen comrade. Replacing the lead singer, possibly the most fraught chance to take. It rarely works – the related-to-the-above AC/DC the one great exception to the rule, INXS’ revolving door of charisma-bypassed nobodies one of the many provings of it. Scott Weiland is gone, dead with the not-unusual trail of not-commercially available substances and fuckwittery behind him. Cue the Stone Temple Pilots to retire the band name and exit gracefully? No such luck. Enter, one Jeff Gutt. And while it’s not his fault, the eagerly-awaited-by-just-about-nobody comeback song, Meadow (Rhino) is the kind of generic hard-rock played by some band third on the bill at the LA Viper Room on a Wednesday. Play on by all means, fellas – but have some respect for a brand name that once meant something.

And while the rock traditions of cars and girls are still present, you can put some updated spin on it. The car’s an old Monaro, the girl is Jack River, and she’s behind the wheel through Fault Line (I Oh You). It’s that echoey folkie wordy stuff with electronic twist that makes her identifiable and individual. She hasn’t won the demolition derby yet, but from the heat-hazed sheer terrificness of Palo Alto on Ms River seems ever-closer to the song that will break her into the wider consciousness.

One trick is to keep taking turns nobody quite expects. Besides a title that you almost want suffixed with the words “…except that cunt Liam happens to be in it”, It's A Beautiful World (Sour Mash) is the next drip-fed sample of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds upcoming album of songs that seem a bit outside the fences you might have thought he might easily cavort within. It’s almost uplifting in its insistent drum pattern and soft march to a happy ending. Throw in an outbreak of spoken-word French from the world’s now best-known scissor soloist – no really, she is…go look – but just what is Charlotte Marionneau’s message to said world, Noel? “Well, none of us speak it – we don’t know what the fuck she’s on about...” Perfect.

There are indeed worlds we don’t even know about, even if they’re right in front of our noses. The Mis-Made are a nimble, tight-as/loose-as combo with members who have history with bands fondly recalled like Nitocris and Bitchslap. The contradiction is while they struggle for airplay and are playing corner pub gigs, they’ve built a following on the hard-rock/punkish circuit in parts of Europe, and can tour there for probably what it costs them to play here. Weird business. Outsider (Independent) rollicks along, with a bit of rattly and stumbling piano for a bit of variety in their usual tightly packed guitar racket. Look and listen before they’re somewhere else again.

Similarly, up on the NSW Central Coast the Hyland Brothers are making synth-based electro pop suitable for exporting to the world. With guest vocals from Rosa Morgan, their band guise of Little Earthquake - name stolen from an old Tori Amos album you’d think… - Human Connection (Independent) shows occasional mentoring from the likes of Pnau’s/Empire Of The Sun’s Nick Littlemore has served them well. Again, we default to the artist explanation: “It’s about a girl…it’s a journey of self-reflection.” Yeah ok, fine. Shoosh now, it’s got a beat and you can dance to it, kind of. Don’t overanalyse it.

Over the border into Queensland, and Golden Age Of Ballooning make Long Mover (Independent) harmonied and layered ‘60s-flavoured pop eminently suited for that drive north with your arm getting sunburnt from hanging out the window of the Corolla. The aforementioned Noel Gallagher may well approve. Song swings happily, and fades away as they find the parking spot close to both the path to the beach and the shop selling the pine-lime ice-blocks. All is good.