Ok look, you know as well as us that Yowie are proper fucked. It’s like someone fed ketamine to a cuckoo clock. So what happens when you get such eccentrics to cover rawk gawds AC/DC? That was the experiment championed by SKiN GRAFT Records.
SIDES 11-14 is the latest in SKiN GRAFT Records’ irregularly published series of tribute record and comic book sets published in conjunction with Gasoline Boost Records.
Yowie kicks this EP off, and the fact that they’re performing ‘Thunderstruck’ under the name ‘Drunderdruck’ should be enough for you to say ‘yeah ok, they’re probably not taking this rendition too seriously‘.
You’re halfway there. ‘Drunderdruck’ is trademark Yowie ruckus. But it’s far from flippant. “AC/DC is in some ways the antithesis of Yowie, and we had no intention of slopping something out,” the band were heard to remark, “so writing and performing something we felt good about, while still using the original compositions was extraordinarily challenging, both because the melodies, time signatures, and approach to percussion were so foreign, but also because the vocals, which are so prominent in the original, are not an instrument we use.”
Following ‘Drunderdruck’ is a wildly angular AC/DC medley from math rock stalwarts Colossamite. The off-kilter chord progressions on this cut are exceptionally delicious, slowly unfurling to a frenzy of noise rock. “Our song starts with Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution over Rising Power over Nervous Shakedown all at once, then into Shake a Leg into Breaking the Rules,” says Colossamite member Eric Rodriguez (also of Gorge Trio and Deerhoof).
‘SIDES 11-14′ is a four track EP out today over at the SKiN GRAFT bandcamp page. Nab your copy over here.