It’s just like those fabled London buses – nothing comes for ages then all of a sudden, two come at once. I guess I might be accused of trying to twist a well worn phrase into a review, but it was April since the glorious Victoria graced us with their presence with the single ‘S.C.R.A.P.’ (see my review here) and now all of a sudden we have a double A side pair of beauties from the supergroup who continue to create the most wonderful immersive material.
Victoria features members of Smudge, Youth Group, The Vines and Songs and epitomise the Marrickville Sound I always bang on about – veteran musicians from successful bands in the past getting together and creating wonderful music again.
The two new singles are each penned by a member of the band.
‘AK47’ was written by Max Doyle and is a punky brash noisy track filled with reverb and warbled singing that recalls Buzzcocks or The Sex Pistols, leavened by glorious harmonies, a frenetic pace and a swagger. The lyrics are clearly autobiographical and steeped in nostalgia:
This all started at a lunchtime gig at Selwyn College
Toy Love played man it’s still had to fathom
Chris Knox wrapped his head in tinfoil
Put it through the bass drum, I was sold
The Terrorways played at our local hall
There was a lot of fighting drinking man there were no rules
Til the riot police turned up to get some practice
For the Queen Street riots and apartheid protests
If I was there today, what would I say to me? I love what you love AK 79
Doyle says of the track:
I wrote this song during the first lockdowns when I was sitting around having nostalgic thoughts about my teenage years in Auckland, then AK79 started popping up online celebrating it’s 40th anniversary, so it was stuck in my head while I was playing guitar at home.
I was at Selwyn College in the late 70’s and we used to have lots of bands playing there, including one epic lunchtime gig from Toy Love, which blew me away and from then I knew I had to get a band going!
Being called a ponce in Ponsonby referenced how back then in Auckland, if you wore quirky clothes or had different looks you’d get chased around town by gangs of regular Kiwis who wanted to bash you for being flamboyant!! I had to do a lot of escaping!! The KC’s were the King Cobras who were a Ponsonby Polynesian gang who were put together to protect Ponsonby from all the other gangs trying to take over! They did a good job.
There is a joyous abandonment about the track, charting Doyle’s musical youth and awakening and it’s an exhilarating and pulse quickening blast of goodness:
‘Kids My Age’ is penned by Cameron Emerson-Elliott and thematically navigates the much same territory with a more jingle jangle reflective approach that recalls The Go-Betweens or The Apartments, replete with soaring melodies and a harmonic sweetness underpinned by an acoustic shine.
A thread of melancholia winds through the delivery. Emerson-Elliott says of the track:
I wrote the first few lines of “Kids My Age” in my head while walking home through the city after work one evening. I was standing at the corner of Campbell and Castlereagh Streets, watching a bunch of teenagers riding past on bikes.
People are always saying that kids of a certain age “don’t know any better”. I remember thinking: I’m just a big dumb kid too. I don’t know any better. I still dress stupid. I still wear band T-shirts and funny sneakers. I’m still messing around in bands. I don’t particularly want to grow up, although I’m increasingly aware of how conspicuous that can make me feel.
A few years later, my first real band were up the road at Studio 301, mixing our debut EP. Ten years after that, I was working nearby as the art director at Rolling Stone, walking up Castlereagh from Central in a pair of gifted promo bright yellow-and-black sneakers, listening to the Feelies on my old iPod, or talking on the phone to my friend Max about that same band.
And then I was back again. The same city, the same corner, the same slightly stupid dreams humming away in my head. Only different. More cracked and dry. More tender, and more weary.
There’s a throat-tightening beauty to the delivery, both lyrically and through the gentle music:
Kids my age don’t know any better
Kids my age won’t dress like this forever.
Summer’s grown tired of waiting.
Force fields die, can’t keep ourselves together.
Tonight. Tonight (I surrender).Tonight. Tonight.
Young bones and skulls, all scattered on the ground (kids surrender).
Their pleasure still – makes a piercing sound.
Under this fight.
You’re blind, waiting at the lights.
I’m blind, I’m waiting at the lights,
To take tonight. Tonight (I surrender). Tonight. Tonight.
Kids my age don’t know any better
Pure indie pop of the highest calibre:
Both tracks are out now and available to download and stream through the links above and via all the usual places.
There’s a delightful ying and yang to this double release – memories delivered as defiant and brash in ‘AK79’ contrasted by a hazy soft sweet nostalgia tinged with a degree of regret in ‘Kids My Age’.
You can catch Victoria playing at the Mixtape Brewery with the wonderful Hoolahan on 10 October – details below.
