Music
Straight Arrows and the DIY punk aesthetic
"Who gives a shit about what you do more than you?"
Passion has its limit and we’re not really the kind of band that’s going to make anyone heaps of money. So yeah, fucking do it yourself.
Straight Arrows have been proudly flying the banner of Aussie garage rock for years now. The Sydney band have two solid albums under their belts and a noteworthy touring notch count that has seen them play across Australia and overseas, including tours with the likes of Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall. With such impressive credentials, it’s no surprise that they’ve caught the attention of icons like Henry Rollins, as well as bands like The Sonics, who inspired them to make music in the first place. Ahead of the upcoming Red Bull Sound Select show in Sydney, Daniel Respall caught up with singer and guitarist Owen Penglis recently at his studio in Kings Cross, discovering that the DIY punk aesthetic is still alive and well.
Last year you supported genre stalwarts Thee Oh Sees on their Australian tour and now you’ve got dates lined up with them in America in November this year. How did this all come about?
It was just after we did the [Australian] tour. John, their singer, approached us originally to record a live album for him but that didn’t end up happening on this trip. He asked us to come tour with him anyway which is really nice of him to do. We’ve toured with them a few times here in Australia. The first tour was ages ago, it was really good. It was Thee Oh Sees, Eddy Current Suppression ring and us. Eddy Current had just put out ‘Primary Colours’ and it hadn’t clicked with people yet so we were playing places like Wollongong and Newcastle. People had no idea, it was great!
At the Wollongong show someone broke their arm stage-diving off the amps. Was that during your set or theirs?
That was Thee Oh Sees. We’d just finished. The band started and this guy goes, “Dudes, I’m going to jump off the speakers!” I was like, man, that’s pretty tall, I don’t think you want to do that. And he just says, “I’m doing it!” He climbed up and was signaling people to get under him, and then he jumps. He was a hefty fellow. People realized they were going to get crushed and moved. His mate picked him up and threw him into a car and took him to hospital. His arm was all floppy. I hear he’s better now.
Henry Rollins has been a vocal advocate for Australian music for some time now. Straight Arrows in particular often feature on his radio show on KCRW. Has his support given rise to any opportunities for you guys?
Aside from the obvious manner, not really! The first time we heard him playing our music on his show we were at a Ty Segall gig, who we were supporting. Ty comes out and goes, “You know Henry Rollins is playing your stuff?” I thought about emailing him but I wasn’t sure…it’s Henry Rollins, you know? Ty said to just email him, he’s cool, so I did when I got home. Twenty minutes later he wrote back! We thanked him for playing us on the radio and he goes [in a Henry Rollins voice], “Owen, thank you for doing me the favour of making cool music.” We sent him a bunch of other Australian releases and we’ve kept in contact.
Julia Wilson of Rice Is Nice recently said in a Bandcamp Daily Spotlight that Straight Arrows are “unique and authentic and will always be one of the best bands in Australia.” How is it being a part of the Rice Is Nice family?
It’s really lovely. You’ve got people like Julia who are amazing. She works really hard and is really passionate. She puts out good records and has good taste. Her and I started a label before Rice Is Nice called Juvenile Records and we did the first Straight Arrows record and a few records with some other people. Then I decided I couldn’t be fucked running a label. It’s definitely a thing you do for passion. During that time she started Rice Is Nice and manages to make a job out of it.
For years now you guys have been flying the flag for Australian garage rock. Are there any plans to move into other sounds?
It’s just whatever comes out. I never sit down and plan to write a garage album. I guess it’s always been fairly psychedelic or weird, not just a super straight record. The last one was odd as well, in a different way. It’s never the goal to sit down and produce a garage rock record because there are a lot of shitty garage bands out there. I like to think we’ve got some quality control.
Is it all recorded and mixed by yourself?
The first record was recorded by a friend of ours. SPOD and I mixed it together because I didn’t have a computer. The second was done here and we did it all on a tape machine.
You also recorded the first Palms album?
Yeah I did both of them. The first I did at my house because I didn’t have a studio. We just did it on a cassette deck because I didn’t have a good tape machine either. The second one we did in a studio in Leichardt and mixed it here.
Is there any new material in the works?
Yeah, definitely. We practiced last night and did a couple of new songs. It’s a slow process. I’d love to do more shit but I’m so busy working on other people’s records. We’ve got a bunch of shows coming up so we’re practicing a lot more and working on new stuff. Hopefully we’ll go to America and play a bunch of new songs while we’re over there, come back and they’ll sound really good.
Are you going to organize more dates to match with your Thee Oh Sees tour?
We’re putting a tour together, actually. Just two and a half weeks, not anything crazy. The last USA tour, I organized the whole thing and it was fucking ridiculous. There was at least one two-day drive.
You sorted out all the logistics yourself?
Yeah, everything. When you’re touring with no support you’ve kind of got to do things on the cheap. You get in the van, drive, and sell all your records while you play these shows that are a mix between cool, decent-sized venues, punk house shows and all sorts of shit. This time we’ve decided to get a booking agent [laughs].
Recently the band’s Facebook page shared a great short video from the 1980’s on Scritti Politti’s guide to DIY. Is the DIY ethic still very much ingrained in everything you do? Definitely. I record the music myself, we’re touring the US off our own money…who gives a shit about what you do more than you? The only reason other people would get involved is they’re super passionate or they’re getting money out of it, and passion doesn’t last a really long time. Passion has its limit and we’re not really the band that’s going to make anyone heaps of money, so yeah, fucking do it yourself. That’s the only way you can control what you do and have things come out your way. We obviously give a shit about how we sound and what we do, so who better to be in control of it than us?
Is DIY something that will keep happening moving forward, or does it exist as a necessity?
It started from necessity, in that when we began there wasn’t really any good shows on or good punk bands playing. There wasn’t much of a scene, really. We just started booking our own shows, recording ourselves, putting out our own records, booking our own tours, and through that period people would come along and help us out. The people we work with are people we trust and believe in. We’ve got a guy at Agitator label who puts out our records in the UK. Their label head is super cool and comes from the same place as us.
Does that kind of DIY view on the scene still ring true in 2016, especially somewhere like Sydney?
The funny thing is when we started there was a number of places to play, but there was a whole lot of shitty indie rock around in 2007. It sucked to watch live. Back then we were just doing our own thing and there weren’t many energetic bands around. The ones that were around would be into this crappy, electro-disco trendy shit that was generic in style.
Things have changed, venues have opened and closed. In maybe 2010 or so there was a lot of warehouse punk gigs. Bands like Royal Headache, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys, Eddy Current, stuff like that. They all kind of moved away from the venues and into warehouses, but they all got shut down. So now we are in a position where we’ve got…well, you don’t really get to play in the city anymore except for this show at Plan B Small Club. Everything is in Newtown. There isn’t as healthy an amount of bands playing as there used to be. There used to be shows on every night of the week and if you wanted to go see a band then you could. Now you can’t do that really.
You’ve got to be living in the inner-west for it to be a convenient thing.
Yeah, exactly. But even then, if you’re out on a Wednesday you’re going to be lucky to find something. Just thinking of places like The Hopetoun, they had bands on every night of the week and it was really cool environment to play. But you know, shit changes. Music adapts to it, the arts adapt to the changes and it will always work out.
Other members of the band are involved in other projects, most visibly being Al Grigg’s band, Palms. What do you spend your time on outside of Straight Arrows?
I did a weird gorilla-themed 7" called ‘Green Bananas’ and a song called ‘The Ape’. It just came out in England. The 45 came out and we’ve sold out of them all. I’ve always got bits and pieces I’m working on. Angie [Straight Arrows bassist] also just finished her third record.
What else is on the cards for the remainder of 2016?
I think we’re going to put out a new single in a month or two. Till then I think we just get our shit together before we go to America. Next year we’ll have another album out, tour again and keep rolling.
What’s it like to know you're supporting The Sonics later this year?
It’s wild. When I was sixteen I had a cassette with a track of theirs and it blew my mind. I went out and found their LP in a shop and now I get to meet them and go on tour. The fact that they are aware of us and specifically wanted us to tour with them…that’s fucking cool. I heard they were playing our album after their shows in America and would sometimes listen to it to get pumped up!