Tuesday March 22, 2022
Australia has a long-standing tradition of producing notable and credible rock bands that are as singular and dissimilar as the land in which they’re born—think AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, and The Angels—bands whose sound incorporated the raw and unfiltered, and to a certain extent for some of them, utilized subtle humor to help reinforce their music.
A relatively new band on the block of this highly esteemed classic Australian rock genre is Suburbiasuburbia. With several singles and an album, Landfill, released since 2020, the band’s new release Bruce Hwy Elbow is another conspicuous addition to their output, a blues-rock hybrid set to an intriguing lyric.
The Bruce Highway is one of the world’s most dangerous highways and known as the ‘Highway of Shame’, the region’s number one crash zone and Suburbiasuburbia has now immortalised it in song. As the band says about the new release, ‘The song is about a couple of environmental sadists who are injured by a tree lopping exercise and hit the highway, driving north in search of something new. They reach a farm only to find a gas drill rigging operation gone mad and the farmer’s property drought-ridden and on fire.
As the smoke rises, they meet the owners, who now have nothing. Did running away change anything?’ The band, which comprises Tony Townsend (lead vocals), Alan ‘Kroc’ Lyon (harmonica and vocals), Rowie Riot (lead guitar), Noel Gardner (drums), Robbie ‘The Unit’ Dekker (rhythm guitar) and Robbie Jib (bass and vocals), utilise instrumentation and self-assured performances—from the smoky haze of the harp to the fiery guitar lines and rollicking drum attacks—to showcase the band’s core point of difference, atypical storytelling set to an easy-going, idiosyncratic rock style.
And remember, it’s illegal to drive in Australia with any of your body parts out of the car—and when it comes to the Bruce Highway, that makes sense. Suburbiasuburbia has cast a little light on this dangerous road and, in the process, created an effortless sounding rock experience.
