Spiral Stairs Unveils Brisbane Homage 'Pig City' Ahead Of Australian Tour

US indie-rock hero Scott Kannberg — aka Spiral Stairs — is on the cusp of returning to Australia for a seven-date tour of the east coast and Tasmania, and he's unveiled a pretty special surprise in the lead-up to his sojourn in the form of Pig City, an homage to his one-time stomping ground of Brisbane.

It was during a 2010 tour with his legendary band, Pavement, that Kannberg married his Australian sweetheart before the pair relocated to south-east Queensland. The man has a long and affectionate history with the country, but clearly the northern regions hold a special place in his heart, with Pig City backed up with a B-side titled Vultures Of Caboolture.

Pig City, inspired by seminal Brisbane outfit The Go-Betweens, takes its title from a 2004 book of the same name by respected journalist and author Andrew Stafford, itself named for a single by Qld outfit The Parameters. Musically and lyrically, it carries an obvious fondness for his former home — even if it's a fondness tempered by the area's less glossy sides.

"It's really just a log of my time spent in that beautiful part of the world which is south-east Queensland," Kannberg said in a statement. "That said … I really never want to go back to the Morayfield mall anytime soon, and if I ever see 'Can Do' Campbell, I might just headbutt him; isn't that what any good wannabe Aussie would do?"

The tracks appear on a bonus Australian-only 7" that accompanies Spiral Stairs' recent album Doris & The Daggers, released locally on Brisbane-based label Coolin' By Sound.

For his part, Stafford says that he was "absolutely knocked out" when he found out that Kannberg had named the song in honour of his book — "And even better, it was a great song," he said.

"It sounded like the best song The Go-Betweens had never made! Then when I got the 7" and heard him copping Chris Bailey's snarl for Vultures Of Caboolture, which sounds like the best song The Saints never made, I just started laughing. It was so perfect.

"The nicest compliments aren't direct endorsements of your work, but when someone actually takes a little piece of it and then creates something new. This is definitely one of the nicest compliments I've ever been paid, by a musician I've always held in high regard."

Spiral Stairs touches back down in Australia for his upcoming jaunt from Wednesday 6 December, when he gets under way at Melbourne's Northcote Social Club. He has additional dates in Sydney, Wollongong, Berry, Brisbane, Hobart and Ballarat, where he wraps up at The Eastern on Friday 15 December.

See theGuide for full details.

Doris & The Daggers and its bonus 7" are available now via Coolin' By Sound.