Melbourne modernist trio AM Reruns have announced their debut self-titled LP, due 9 August and on vinyl from 23 August.
Tomatrax caught up with Andy Campbell, the band's lead singer and guitarist, to ask a few questions.
We got together in mid 2016, and we rehearsed for about 6 months without a singer. I'd written a fair few guitar riffs by that time, but there were no words and no melodies. Quang Dinh from Little Red sang with us briefly before doing Moonlover . Then later tha t year I watched a Buzzcocks documentary where Pete Shelley spoke about taking over lead vocals after Howard Devoto left. That inspired me to try singing and fronting the band . It was a case of our music getting heard or not - I needed to take responsibility for the thing and start fronting it.
Where did the name AM Reruns come from?
'AM Reruns' refers to whatever is on T.V. or AM radio after midnight. The lower quality the programme the better. I like B -grade horror films. I think I was watching "Lust For A Vampire" on Gem at 3.00AM one night after a gig.
You ' re just about to release your debut album, how does it feel to have it finished and ready to go?Personally, it's an amazing relief to have it out. I feel freer. On a separate level, people are really enjoying it. It's getting a lot of radio play and people are even arriving at shows already familiar with some of our songs. I cannot believe that the vinyl release is only two weeks away. Seeing our first LP is gonna make me faint.
What made you decide to make the album self - titled?I love the act of having a self-titled debut album. "The Smiths," "Pretenders," "The Only Ones," "The Plimsouls ," "Blondie." It's a classic move!
How does the rest of the album compare with your debut single, L ooking F or A V ictim?"Looking For A Victim" is little more spacious and ominous, a bit trance-like (with that tremolo guitar effect at the start) compared with the rest of the album. But it's an eclectic LP. Some of it is protopunk, like "Vicious." "Dial-in Static" and "Thrill Me" have elements of power pop. But there is a clear musical lineage leading up to our record I think - you can trace the shared countercultural influences through 20 th century bands , from Smokey Robinson, the Everly Brothers, Cramps, New York Dolls, The Only Ones, The Smiths and so on.
Was is it ha r d to pick what went on the album?No - we had ten songs in our live set, and that's what we decided to release. There were other demos that never made it into the set.
You ' ll be touring round Australia soon, what can fans expect from your show?A very loud, loose and very passionate rock'n'roll show. Amazing haircuts, sharp outfits and a bit of showbiz.
Do you ever listen to your own music?
Yeah. I'm very proud of what we've released, and I can sit back and enjoy it. Obviously not every song makes it to this point though. We've got demos that lasted maybe 20 listens in the car before we had to abandon them.
What other music do you listen to?
Some things you'd expect - lately, RVG, Gold Class, The Only Ones, Hexdebt , the Flamin Groovies , a great Melbourne band called Bathhouse. But I also love Aphex Twin, Elliott Smith, Bert Jansch , and I recently bought the reissue of Snout's record Circle High And Wide.
W hat do you have planned after your upcoming tour?A lot of writing, and hopefully a lot more shows. We have about five new songs at the moment. We'll look at them, plan a release for next year, and start writing more.
Check out AM Reruns Facebook page to find out more!Wednesday 11th September 2019
Thursday 12th September 2019
Friday 20th September 2019
Saturday 21 September 2019
