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E.P Bottlegreen Sky (Seawitch Music 2001)
This six track e.p. was originally released by Ill Starred Captain under then name of the Scott bassham band (they having not yet settled on a name, or even a solid structure as a band) and was recorded and engineered by Dave Lokan at Bigsound Studio at Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills. The six track e.p. was recorded immediately after Scott and Justin had returned from a tour of Western Australia, which had been a very tough trip, and the whole thing was done in a very short space of time. Infact, they missed a days recording when their tour van broke down on the way back from Perth. When they arrived at the studio the –pressure was on, as they had almost no budget and very little time.
The resulting recording is interesting for many reasons and really represents Ill Starred Captain at a point just before the true nature of the band became set. At the time, the band was in the process of trying out bass players and even though they didn’t have anyone to fill that role, Scott played bass on all the songs, assuming that someone would eventually come along and learn the parts, so it remains the only Ill Starred Captain release with bass (though the bass is very subtle).
The track listing is quite a mix, with a distinctly ‘power pop†flavour on songs like “Bottlegreen Sky†and “The Wreck ‘O’ the Hesperus and a folk feel on “On Winters Hillâ€, a wistful acoustic piece which deals with life and memories growing up in a small coastal town. The remaining three songs are darker and harder, and all quite different from one another adding elements of thumping funk aggression (Bitch Dust), to a sense of oceanic alienation (Seawitch and Long fingered Handâ€).
The bands isolation from the “industry†and inexperience meant that “Bottlegreen Sky†pretty much sank without trace, and yet it still attracts new fans and the songs haven’t dated at all. It is well worth checking out this undiscovered gem, and it is a great starting point artistically, for anyone wanting to trace the always interesting musical path of Ill Starred Captain. Interesting fact. The recording was finished on 9/11/2001 the day the Twin Towers fell, a fact which gutted the band right at the moment that they should have been celebrating the completion of their debut recording.
Recorded September 2001 at Bigsound studios (Lenswood Adelaide Hills) on analogue recording equipment
Engineered and recorded by Dave Lokan
Produced by Scott Bassham Justin Francis
Mixed by Dave Lokan, Scott Bassham & Justin Francis
Mastered Dave Lokan
YEH NAH (released 2005), Seawitch Music / Greasy pop records
In March 2003, Ill Starred Captain Hooked up again with engineer Dave Lokan at Big Sound studio in Adelaide, to record the band’s first full –length cd “Yeh Nahâ€. The†Life situation†the band was in at the time, with Justin Francis living mostly in Ireland while Scott Bassham was based in Port Lincoln South Australia, meant that a lot of work had to happen in short bursts of time. Despite this, Ill Starred Captain had been maintaining a very full touring schedule around Australia, and fitted in three tours of Ireland and the U.K., playing a mix of venues and beer barns as a pretty much, totally unknown band.
All this “cross hemispherical†journeying certainly found it’s way into the fabric of “Yeh Nah†with a definite Irish Feel in the music and subject matter of some songs, while other tracks were definitely born out of the immense, powerful landscapes of Australia, across which the band had spent the last few years traveling. The song on which the Australian sound collided with the Irish most is without a doubt the instrumental track “Devil Jumped Up†which was equally inspired by Irish trad innovators Planxty and Australian punk rock legends The Saints. Other songs, like Whistling down the wind and Silver Top Cane Blues occupy a sparser and more desert like space.
For the first time, the record really reflected the sound of Ill Starred Captain live, with the songs captured mostly live in the studio. Despite sharing a two piece set up with bands like the White Stripes and the Black Keys, Ill Starred Captain’s sound began to take on a form of it’s own that is very different from those bands. The musical influences on display on Yeh Nah range from the moody spaciousness of the Triffids, the trash punk of the New York Dolls and the edge of feedback guitar scapes of Texan band Lift to Experience. The Celtic spirit is reflected on ballads like One Day in the summertime and the nostalgic roll of Irish Hitch – Hiking, both songs reflecting the emotional and musical connection to Ireland shared by both band members.
After scrapping the first attempt at recording Yeh Nah, due to extreme poverty and drunken – ness at the sessions, the band put in a focused effort, locking themselves in the studio for a couple of 3-5 day sessions, and just tried their best to capture all the music and madness of their first three years of existence. The band signed a product and development deal with Adelaide’s legendary Greasy Pop records and released “Yeh Nah†in 2005. Unfortunately the release turned out to be difficult, with band / record company disputes aplenty and many lessons learned. Yeh Nah however is an album that the band is proud of, despite all the trauma of its birth, and is becoming a much loved addition to music collections all over the world.
Yeh Nah is available on Seawitch Music.
Recorded March – May 2003 at Bigsound studios (Lenswood Adelaide Hills) on analogue recording equipment
Engineered and recorded by Dave Lokan
Produced by Scott Bassham Justin Francis
Mixed by Dave Lokan, Scott Bassham & Justin Francis
Mastered Dave Lokan
These albums are available at Waterfront Records, which can be reached at the link below.
Waterfront Records