One Ring To Bind Them
If you have heard a critically acclaimed Aussie rock album in the last year or two, Mikey Young would probably have been involved with it; both as a player and as a producer. But being in EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING is what he is best known for, and given that Eddy recently put out an anthology of singles, B-sides and rarities called So Many Things, there were so many questions to ask.
One always imagines a sense of pride from an act once they put out an anthology of singles and rarities – a marker that the band has grown over time, and that new fans would actually be interested in a catch-up. Mikey agrees. “I think we just wanted to make things available that weren't so easily available. The first few 7"s are hard to come by these days and some of these songs are on compilations that came and went so we thought it was justified to compile them and get 'em out there. It's not meant to be a best-of or anything. It is interesting to hear it all together though. It sparks funny memories of recording and releasing all the stuff on there, and it's a good reminder of how many fun things we've been able to do.”
Had they left off any tracks or, more importantly, was there particular favourites he got on there? “I can stand by everything on it I think," Mikey says. "I'm mainly glad people can hear the title track. It's the first thing we did and it sounds pretty different to everything we did afterwards. We considered never putting that song out but I'm really glad we did - it has a ridiculous spontaneity that is impossible to recreate!”
Over the last year or so, bands like Royal Headache and Straight Arrows have released albums that everyone is paying attention to, kind of a throwback garage rock style, and I ask Mikey if this surprises him or not. “I think it's growing but maybe not as much as people think. Australia has always had a ton of 'throwback' garage bands since the mid '80s or so and it just seems to be at the point in the cycle where people are paying attention again. Soon enough, the majority of listeners will get sick of a certain sound and move on but I'm sure bands will keep playing it.”
With Mikey playing with his band Total Control, Brendan Suppression putting out “rad 7s with Boomgates”, Brad doing some solo stuff, and Danny keeping his head down, I garnered no inkling as to when ECSR will be playing around again. So Many Things gives us all a chance to learn the words to the songs we didn't know in the meantime.
So Many Things is out now on Goner Records.
