FEATURE: Hoodlum Shouts - 'Heat Island' (track-by-track)

Local four-piece Hoodlum Shouts returned with their anticipated new studio album recently. "For fans of honest, blue collar Australian rock", 'Heat Island' is the reflection of a band delivering only sincere music.

Put out by the good folks at Poison City, the full-length is now available to purchase and stream. Accordingly, Hoodlum Shouts' Josh Leyshon checked-in with Killyourstereo.com to give us a track-by-track summary of the new record.

The Way That You Are -

(Lyrics by J. Leyshon)

This is my favourite song, probably because it’s the newest but also because it’s a little different for us. Mike wrote it about four days before we recorded it, and most parts are completely fresh with barely any time to work on the ideas. Mike Deslandes (engineer) suggested the drum patterns at the start and I had about two goes to get it right. Um, no real meaning here apart from what seems obvious. I came up with the lyrics as Morgan was laying down the bass parts and fit them phonetically to Sam’s demo vocals, which were just ad lib noises. We did that a bit on this album and it worked really well. Sam came to me with only the last line and said, “that’s all I got, write the rest”. Ok bro. I totally love his vocal parts at the end.

Twin Cities -

(Lyrics by S. Leyshon)

This song was partly written with our ex bass player Luke Robert, who now plays in Canberra post punk band Agency. We wrote it in a weird little rehearsal space out the back of someone’s house in Albury. That’s where the name Twin Cities came from. Sam has a few words on it...

“This is a collection of short stories about death. The first verse is about bullying and suicide. The old lady verse is about euthanasia. The last verse, about the angel praying, is about how she is still swept away by the floodwaters. The choruses are about governments taking advantage of peoples ignorance. The first spoken word puts together the choruses about decisions being made for self-gain in politics. The last spoken word is about whatever complexes we create ourselves; Mother Nature will fuck us all. Twin cities is an idea that where we choose to live, ultimately creates the same stories. We are all in this together…”

Heat Island -

(Lyrics by J. Leyshon)

I’m interested/frustrated by the idea of people's beliefs getting in the way of reality, for example climate change denialists. The Heat Island effect is how cities emit more heat than their surrounds (exacerbated with global warming) and metaphorically, the political and social climate in Australia and the world at the moment, especially the relationship between politics and religion, the worst topics. The left needs to be honest about these issues and not censored by the current PC climate. Between the right wing bigots and the “regressive left” (coined by maajid Nawaz), there has to be a more balanced, honest view. This is echoed again in the rant at the end of Good Night And Good Luck, “If the left yields to the right then the trolls are set free”.  The reality of these issues seem to be really complex, and are obscured by the filter of what people want to believe or what’s popular, not what is true or right. We are willfully ignorant, myself included.

Split The Bone -

(Lyrics by S. Leyshon)

Another song penned by Sam about Australia’s inability to progress socially until we accept our past. I really dig the vocal delivery on this one, too. Morgan’s bass is a completely different style to how he normally plays and he nailed it. Mike just does that sweet thing he always does with big hanging chords. [I] love it. It’s a change in feel and pace, and I’m so glad we did it as the rest of the album seems a bit more relentless, there are not as many quiet and spacious sections like there was on the last album. Smell the glove.

Good Night And Good Luck -

(Lyrics by S. Leyshon)

Another change in pace, and a favourite of mine. Mike again came to us with a bedroom demo of just guitars and it had the best vibe. We sat on this song for a long time before it morphed into a more upbeat, songy sort of thing once the vocals came along. Sam really nailed the emotive vocals at the start. I wanted the drums to be wilder and more fills at the end, but studio time and my lack of practice wouldn’t allow too much experimentation. Mike Deslandes also plays slide guitar at the end and it absolutely made the song, especially alongside Sam’s trademark crazy man rant/rap.

Sam has a few words about it -

“This started off as a story about a shit Dad. It slightly morphed into a narrative from me. I think I do that a lot. Lots of hints about passing anxiety and trauma onto his kids. Thinking that by giving his name to his woman is enough for a somewhat successful relationship. But also having the heart and intelligence to see his errors, but finding it hard to change.”

Self-Medicating -

(Lyrics by M. Caruana and S. Leyshon)

Mike wrote this [track] not intending it to be a Hoodlum song, but we convinced him otherwise. It reminds me of Bob Mould era stuff, and it’s little different for us. That’s great, right?

Two Headed Dog -

(Lyrics by S. Leyshon)

This is a belter to play. It came out a little fast on the recording and we didn’t have enough time in the studio to do another take. We hope it still comes across well; we probably play it a little slower live so it breathes and rocks some more. The title is taken from the Roky Erickson song of the same name, a tip of the hat to a man with a tough life and the issues of mental illness. The story has two subjects of motivation, the other being the tragic murder of a friend of ours in Canberra. Unfortunately, the perpetrator, now in jail, is also a friend of ours in the music community. He suffers from Schizophrenia, which had a large part to play. It’s just a horrible situation for all. It really rocked the Canberra music community and this is our small tribute to him and everyone affected.

With The Sun On Our Backs -

(Lyrics by J. Leyshon and S. Leyshon)

Our epic song. Mike again wrote the music, as he does with the majority of our songs. The upbeat triplet feel is something we’ve explored before but we really lift the vibe with this one I think, it’s exciting to me. It also takes an unexpected turn and draws out with a tribal drum pattern and some great didge playing out the rest of the song by Sam.

Lyrically it’s about how the world is actually getting better in many ways. It’s not all doom and gloom. Inspired by Steven Pinker’s great book, The Better Angels Of Our Nature, there is less violence and more equality across the globe than ever before in human history and the data says so, which is in contrast to the media onslaught of negativity and bias. Again, what is true and what people believe seems to be a recurring theme for me. The example used here is specifically about equal rights for women and the progress the West has made, still a long way to go in some cases, but it’s about moving forward and finding out what we are actually doing right and do more of it.

Love Long At The Downer Club -

(Lyrics by S. Leyshon)

This is our love song to the earth

Thylacine -

(Lyrics by S. Leyshon)

This is inspired by the book, The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. Sam has a great interest in Australian Aboriginal culture and it’s an interesting idea that Aboriginal people could navigate the country using song as an aural map of the landscape. I don’t think their songs sounded like this one. You’ll only find this track on the CD and digital release.

'Heat Island' is available for purchase via Poison City and Bandcamp.