The Wireless presents the premiere of The Transistors’ new video ‘On Cashel St’.
Following a little downtime, Christchurch garage punk/powerpop trio The Transistors have reemerged with a new EP, Cuppa Jarra Brossa.
The sound hits pretty much right on the mark of what we’ve come to expect from the band. Made up of Olly Crawford-Ellis, James Harding and Colin Roxburgh, they’re now following up the release with a video for their latest single ‘On Cashel St’, easily one of the high points from the five-song project.
“I’d been living on Cashel St [in Christchurch] for a while and still do,” says Olly. “This song was an attempt to capture the combination of bizarre and banal that is life in the Inner City East. It’s all about real people and events, and features a shout out to [New Zealand poet and journalist] Allen Curnow too.”
Ben Dodd, who also worked on the band’s last single ‘Confidence Man’, directed the clip and the end result showcases a weird range of influences, some expected and some not so much.
“Bonafide culture vultures that we are, this video was inspired by a huge range of different things but mainly 90s Weezer videos. Specifically ones where they play music inside a house. But the plants are a hat tip to those great Jonathan Richman live clips of him playing amongst pot plants on a rooftop, and the kitchen sink I would like to say refers to the works of [English playwright] John Osborne,” says Olly.
Photo: Supplied
The band recorded Cuppa Jarra Brossa straight to four-track in a bach in Manuka Bay, North Canterbury with the help of Joe Sampson, the man behind DIY label Melted Ice Cream and a prolific musician himself who also plays in T54, The Dance Asthmatics and Salad Boys. Olly says Joe was wonderful to work with, and he ensured that the whole process was relaxed and fun for all involved. The name of the EP, in case you were wondering, is supposedly derived from the Old Church Slavonic language and translates to “to sup with companions”.
Right now, The Transistors are in the midst of a tour with Auckland band The Situations, and they continue on this week with shows in at Golden Dawn in Auckland on Friday and Raglan’s Yot Club on Saturday. From there, they’ll continue with focusing on a follow-up to 2013’s full-length Is This Anything?, and they say they already have dozens of songs written and ready to be recorded.
“At this stage, because we have such a multitude of songs and ideas, the album is looking like being a sprawling double album à la [Hüsker Dü’s] Zen Arcade,” says Olly.
“I really think it’s going to be the best thing we’ve ever done.”