Melbourne heroes The Great Emu War Casualties have just released a delicious slice of indie-pop heaven, with new (incredibly named) single ‘The Australian Parma Crisis’. It’s an absolute nugget of goodness — distinctly Australian tongue-in-cheek witticisms are married with gleaming guitars.
“The song is… self-deprecating yet honest; it paints a realistic vision of life as a twenty-something trying to get by in Melbourne without the cloying Australiana cliches,” explains the band. “There’s this constant push/pull between “adulting”- being responsible, working hard, staying focused – and actually enjoying life.”
To celebrate the release of ‘The Australian Parma Crisis’ we asked the band to send us through a bunch of their Top 5’s. So pop on the track and get to know The Great Emu War Casualties.
Watch: ‘The Australian Parma Crisis’ – The Great Emu War Casualties
5 artist’s you are loving right now
(by Saskia the Bass Unicorn from TGEWC)
Meshell Ndegeocello
This lady to me is the best bass player of all time (no exaggeration) and just also happens to be a beautiful and perfectly unique songwriter who crosses all genre boundaries with a voice to turn all who hear it into a puddle of goo. Am I being too over the top…? No. I think I’ve seen her live in three different countries now. Seriously everything about her is just like… I don’t even have the words to describe it. Just listen to that groove in Greasy G (or actually pretty much anything she ever played bass on). Or the lyrics to Make Me Wanna Holler. Or the entirety of Comet, Come to Me. Or anything she ever did. Omg. That’s the real shiznit.
Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes)
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If there were one person that I could point to and say ‘SEE, ROCK STILL ISN’T DEAD!!’ it would be Brittany Howard. What a voice and what a presence and what a brilliantly understated guitar player she is. Unreservedly one of the best performers out there right now. How good is that solo in He Loves Me?? Goddamn.
Maryam Saleh (Lekhfa)
My friend in the UK got me on to this Egyptian indie supergroup/project called Lekhfa which Maryam is in and I’ve kinda been obsessed with them and also her ever since… it’s the most interesting and dark thing I’ve heard in ages and she simply oozes cool. She is a real feminist and Ekaa Maksour is a rally cry for revolution… which is as badass as it sounds.
Miyoko ‘345’ Nakamura (Ling tosite sigure)
Well I couldn’t not put 345 on here… she is actually my reason for picking up the bass (in fact my bass happens to be her signature model…!) I remember watching this tiny woman playing the bejeezus out of this massive bass and thinking it was just the coolest thing ever. I don’t play like her at all (I mean, I wish I could…) but I really took a lot from the way she was able to dance around the manic playing of the guys and be the backbone and focal point for the whole sigure sound.
Merrill Garbus (Tune-Yards)
I know Tune-Yards have been around for a while but I’ve been on a binge lately watching their live performances on Youtube incessantly. I mean, seriously… have you seen them…? Not only can she play like five different instruments at once in perfect syncopation but she’s also got an insane voice (of which she sings like three different melodies over the top of each other to boot). AND IT SOUNDS GREAT! Seriously underrated musician imo.
5 scariest things you have ever done
(by Saskia from TGEWC)
1. Ran across Hyde Park at night
I really don’t recommend doing this… but I went to a gig in London once (can’t even remember what it was now) and the place I was staying at was on the other side of Hyde Park. My phone wasn’t working and I couldn’t figure out any other way to get there. Did you know they don’t have any lights on at night in Hyde Park? I mean, really?? I seriously bolted all the way across assuming I was going to get murdered and trying to remember all those taekwondo lessons from back in the day…
2. Flipped out on skates
I also don’t recommend doing this… I used to skate back when I was a teenager (ha ha) and I thought it would be super cool and amazing if I could do a front flip off the ramp. Suffice to say it was a good thing I was at least smart enough to put a helmet on because I didn’t get quite far enough around and fell backwards onto my head… maybe that explains why I’m so spacey now…
3. Auditioned for a band in Tokyo
This one was mostly scary because a) my Japanese sucked and b) my bass playing sucked… so I was desperately trying to understand what the hell was going on (did you know a lead is called a ‘shield’ in Japan, for unknown reasons? I certainly did not know that then…) whilst also trying my best to keep up with the songs that were the hardest I’d ever played up to that point. Somehow I passed… I also accidentally told them that bottles of water cost $15 in Australia because I didn’t know how to say ‘$1.50’… lol.
4. Had a motorbike accident
Well… by ‘motorbike’ I actually mean scooter… when I was first out of school and had a proper job I bought myself one of those Honda PCXs which was my favourite thing ever until one day I was too busy daydreaming and not paying attention and went straight into the back of a ute. Totally my fault… it got smooshed into smithereens and I never saw it again… (I don’t have the most amazing riding record so it was probably for the best… I also almost went off a cliff whilst scootering in Thailand… but that’s a story for another time).
5. ‘Played’ on The Voice
Once I was asked to ‘play’ on that show The Voice (you know, with the chairs and whatever) but it was a super last-minute fill-in thing so I didn’t really know what was going on or what we were meant to be doing… but I learnt the song diligently and thought it’d be all g. I only realisedafter they’d squeezed us into these tight miniskirts and stiletto heels and ushered us onto the stage that actually by ‘playing’ they meant ‘pretending to play but mostly pretending to be sexy’. Cool… well… anyone who knows me would find that incredibly hilarious but it was obviously mortifying. The worst part was they had ‘real’ old men musos out in the dark somewhere like legitimately playing while they’d hired these female musos to mime out the front. I asked someone why they didn’t just have models and the answer was ‘because it looks more authentic if you can actually play the instrument’. Cool… welcome to showbiz I guess…
5 meals that you are gun at cooking:
(by Bibek from TGEWC)
1. Giblets
You need to boil the shit out of it. Then fry the shit out of it. If you are wondering how it taste like, imagine crunchy baby octopus.
2. Soup Dumplings
Making dumplings takes a lot of work. So just buy the frozen ones. The main hero of the dish is the soup. You would need sesame seeds. Grind them along with cooked garlic, tomatoes, onions. Also mix some lemon juice and heaps of coriander in the mixer.
3. Pakaudas (think it’s like onion fritters, I could be totally wrong)
You will need some chickpea flour. Mix it with salt, some chopped chillies and chopped onions. Mix all of them together with water. not super runny but kinda thick mixture. Then fry them. Great snacks.
4. Mustard Fish Curry
This is very simple to cook. All you need is river fish. The closest I could get in Australia is rainbow trout or snapper. Then you would need my secret recipe which I am happy to provide if you DM me.
5. Plain Rice
The best way is to use a pressure cooker with Indian basmati rice. Please don’t use Coles rice. It’s bad.
