WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.439 Welcome to the deep dive. We are really excited 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:04.960 you're joining us today because we are looking 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.320 into something totally fascinating. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:09.919 It's one of those stories that just it really 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:13.699 grabs you. Right. So I want you to imagine starting 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:17.660 a rock band, but you decide to just ban the one 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:19.780 instrument that tells everyone in the audience 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.539 how to move. Yeah, the rhythmic anchor. Exactly. 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:26.879 No snare drum, no cracking backbeat at all. Just 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:30.960 raw screaming. analog guitar noise, a heavily 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:33.859 distorted bass, and a kick drum pounding away 00:00:33.859 --> 00:00:36.140 in the dark. Which, I mean, on paper sounds like 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:38.460 a recipe for a total train wreck. Oh, completely. 00:00:38.899 --> 00:00:42.299 But in 1994, in the absolute geographic isolation 00:00:42.299 --> 00:00:45.280 of Hobart Tasmania, a band did exactly this. 00:00:45.579 --> 00:00:47.539 They kicked the foundation right out from under 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:49.780 the music, and somehow the whole structure stayed 00:00:49.780 --> 00:00:53.039 standing. It's really the absolute definition 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.439 of an artistic high wire act. Yeah, that's a 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:56.840 great way to put it. Because when you look at 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:58.619 the mechanics of how under - background music 00:00:58.619 --> 00:01:01.840 scenes actually evolve, it's rarely because someone 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.099 bought the best equipment or moved to the biggest 00:01:04.099 --> 00:01:06.299 city. It's usually the opposite. Exactly. It 00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:08.739 is almost always a story of severe constraints. 00:01:09.819 --> 00:01:12.980 And this band, Sea Scouts, they are just a perfect 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:16.060 case study in how being completely cut off from 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:19.260 the global pop machine forces you to invent a 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:22.579 totally idiosyncratic sonic language just to 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:25.109 survive, really. So our mission today is to track 00:01:25.109 --> 00:01:27.269 exactly how that language was built, right? How 00:01:27.269 --> 00:01:30.989 it broke down and how it mutated. Because if 00:01:30.989 --> 00:01:33.450 you're looking to discover hidden gems, or if 00:01:33.450 --> 00:01:35.909 you want to understand the life cycle of pure 00:01:35.909 --> 00:01:38.930 unadulterated noise rock, this is the blueprint. 00:01:39.170 --> 00:01:41.510 It really is. So let's drop right into Hobart, 00:01:41.569 --> 00:01:44.609 1994. A musician named Tim Evans has just seen 00:01:44.609 --> 00:01:47.090 his former band, Mouth, fall apart. Which is 00:01:47.090 --> 00:01:49.140 always a tough spot for a musician. Yeah. But 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:51.239 instead of packing it in, he starts jamming with 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:53.599 Zach von Bomberger. And Zach had been the front 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.500 man for another local outfit called UFO. Which, 00:01:56.780 --> 00:01:59.560 amazingly, stood for Unlimited Friendly Objective. 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:01.480 I love that name so much. But anyway, right out 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:03.719 of the gate, they are a two piece. They are fusing 00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:06.219 these thick, rough, analog guitar noises with 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:08.900 what they called hidden melodies. Hidden melodies, 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:11.310 yeah. and their rhythm section at this point, 00:02:11.469 --> 00:02:13.289 it's literally just a mechanical drum machine. 00:02:13.449 --> 00:02:16.169 Which immediately sets up this very specific 00:02:16.169 --> 00:02:18.530 visceral tension. I mean, think about what happens 00:02:18.530 --> 00:02:22.039 when you combine... raw, unpredictable analog 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:25.699 guitar feedback with the rigid, unfeeling pulse 00:02:25.699 --> 00:02:28.520 of a drum machine. It's a clash. A total sonic 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:32.139 war zone. It's the organic, messy chaos of a 00:02:32.139 --> 00:02:34.539 human being fighting against the perfect mathematical 00:02:34.539 --> 00:02:37.500 timing of a machine. Right. And it requires a 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:39.979 massive amount of physical energy from the musicians 00:02:39.979 --> 00:02:43.319 to make a two -piece setup feel full and commanding 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:46.099 in a live room. You have to fill all that empty 00:02:46.099 --> 00:02:49.979 sonic space with sheer frequency and, well, And 00:02:49.979 --> 00:02:52.699 their very first artifact as a duo perfectly 00:02:52.699 --> 00:02:56.280 captures that DIY messy ethos. They put out an 00:02:56.280 --> 00:03:00.300 EP called $100 ,000 Mammal. With Mammal intentionally 00:03:00.300 --> 00:03:02.479 misspelled. Yes, exactly. Just the one M. But 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:04.800 the physical release itself is what fascinates 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:08.120 me here. It was a polycarbonate only pressing. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:10.080 Oh, wow. Yeah. Now for anyone listening who's 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.240 used to just streaming music or even buying standard 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.719 vinyl, a polycarbonate record sounds like something 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:17.000 out of a science experiment. Well, it essentially 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:20.460 is. Because standard vinyl records, they're pressed 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:23.199 in a factory using a metal master stamp. It's 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:26.120 an industrial, relatively pristine process. Yeah, 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:29.520 it's uniform. Exactly. But polycarbonate records, 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:32.159 on the other hand, are often lathe cut. This 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:34.439 means someone is literally using a cutting needle 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:37.000 to carve the audio grooves directly into a sheet 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.419 of plastic. Like, by hand. Sometimes one by one, 00:03:40.699 --> 00:03:43.800 in real time. It is significantly cheaper, incredibly 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.860 DIY, and, truthfully, it sounds physically rougher. 00:03:47.099 --> 00:03:49.900 Oh, I bet. The audio fidelity is way lower, and 00:03:49.900 --> 00:03:52.120 the record itself degrades faster the more you 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:54.710 play it. It is basically audio brutality in physical 00:03:54.710 --> 00:03:57.310 form. That is wild. But it perfectly mirrored 00:03:57.310 --> 00:03:58.990 their live shows, right? Yeah. Because those 00:03:58.990 --> 00:04:00.930 early gigs were pure chaos. They were sharing 00:04:00.930 --> 00:04:03.750 vocal duties, wrestling with feedback, and just 00:04:03.750 --> 00:04:06.250 writing these incredibly heavy, repetitive loops. 00:04:06.430 --> 00:04:07.949 Yeah, building that house without blueprints. 00:04:08.189 --> 00:04:10.509 Exactly. But here is where the story takes a 00:04:10.509 --> 00:04:14.080 massive left turn. Shortly after that polycarbonate 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:16.839 EP drops, they realize they want a human element 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:18.740 back in the rhythm section. So they bring in 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:21.319 a drummer named Monica Fickerall. And when she 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:24.180 joins Sea Scouts, she plays her entire kit with 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:27.300 a complete absence of a snare drum. Which fundamentally 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:30.000 breaks the rules of modern music. It really does. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:32.040 I mean, to understand why this matters, you have 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:34.879 to look at the anatomy of a rock song. The snare 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.699 drum. That sharp, high -frequency crack that 00:04:37.699 --> 00:04:40.740 usually hits on beats two and four, it's the 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:43.199 backbone of Western popular music. Oh, it's the 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:45.699 backbeat. Right. It is the punctuation mark at 00:04:45.699 --> 00:04:48.199 the end of every musical sentence. It's what 00:04:48.199 --> 00:04:50.819 tells your body to nod its head. Exactly. The 00:04:50.819 --> 00:04:53.100 snare cuts through the low -end rumble of the 00:04:53.100 --> 00:04:55.060 bass and the mid -range wash of the guitars. 00:04:55.259 --> 00:04:58.139 It's like, it's the beacon. Precisely. So to 00:04:58.139 --> 00:05:01.019 deliberately remove it isn't just a quirky, stylistic 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:04.420 choice. It is stubborn. It's disobedient, really. 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:06.600 Yeah, contumelius is the word that comes to mind. 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:09.060 Exactly. Without the sharp attack of the snare, 00:05:09.579 --> 00:05:11.620 the low -end rumble and the high -end feedback 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:14.639 just swirl together. It creates this massive, 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:17.360 minimal, but surprisingly dense wall of sound. 00:05:17.660 --> 00:05:19.939 But mechanically speaking, what does that actually 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:22.620 do to you as a listener? Like, if you are standing 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:25.899 in a sweaty club in Hobart and the backbeat is 00:05:25.899 --> 00:05:28.620 just gone, what are you actually listening to? 00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:31.860 Well, you are forced to listen actively. rather 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:35.040 than passively. Your brain naturally wants that 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:37.540 snare crack. We're conditioned for it. Exactly. 00:05:37.819 --> 00:05:40.839 So when you deny the brain that resolution, it 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:42.779 starts frantically searching the rest of the 00:05:42.779 --> 00:05:45.819 sonic landscape for structure. Taking away the 00:05:45.819 --> 00:05:48.899 snare forces the listener to dive under the distortion. 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:51.139 To find those hidden melodies. Yes. You have 00:05:51.139 --> 00:05:53.459 to focus on the driving pulse of the bass or 00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:55.259 those hidden melodies buried inside the guitar 00:05:55.259 --> 00:05:57.300 noise. The melody suddenly has to do all the 00:05:57.300 --> 00:05:59.709 heavy lifting to propel the song forward. It 00:05:59.709 --> 00:06:02.930 is a brilliant, totally counterintuitive constraint, 00:06:03.550 --> 00:06:05.949 but there is a fatal flaw in relying entirely 00:06:05.949 --> 00:06:08.769 on sheer force of will to hold your music together. 00:06:08.910 --> 00:06:11.889 It's exhausting. It is physically and creatively 00:06:11.889 --> 00:06:14.550 exhausting. The initial burst of energy sustains 00:06:14.550 --> 00:06:16.990 them for a few months. They do a short punishing 00:06:16.990 --> 00:06:19.370 tour of the Australian mainland, but then Ficker 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:21.389 leaves the band. And about six months later, 00:06:21.449 --> 00:06:23.990 the entire project folds. It just burns out. 00:06:24.110 --> 00:06:26.490 Yeah, it burns out. Which is really the classic 00:06:26.490 --> 00:06:29.269 life cycle of these intense experimental projects. 00:06:29.750 --> 00:06:32.930 When you build a sound based entirely on provocation 00:06:32.930 --> 00:06:35.550 and tension, it naturally has a very short half 00:06:35.550 --> 00:06:38.750 -life. But, you know, a truly weird idea rarely 00:06:38.750 --> 00:06:41.730 stays dead. That's very true. We had a conceptual 00:06:41.730 --> 00:06:45.910 pivot point in roughly 1996. Tim Evans decides 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:48.750 he has to reboot the band. So he brings in a 00:06:48.750 --> 00:06:51.480 bassist named Alex Pope. OK, so a new lineup. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:54.800 Yep. And then initially, they revert right back 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.980 to the original blueprint, just the two of them 00:06:56.980 --> 00:06:59.100 writing new material and reinterpreting the old 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:01.399 songs over a drum machine again. Back to the 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:04.079 machine. Right. But then they recruit a new drummer, 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:06.939 Andy Hazel, who used to play in UFO with Zack. 00:07:07.019 --> 00:07:09.019 Yeah. And when Andy Hazel sits down at the kit, 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:11.379 he brings the snare drum and the hi -hat back 00:07:11.379 --> 00:07:14.480 into the mix. Oh, wow. That is a massive shift 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:16.240 in their sonic architecture. Okay, wait, I have 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.100 to push back hard on this. When I saw this in 00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:20.139 the sources, I immediately thought, doesn't that 00:07:20.139 --> 00:07:22.620 completely ruin the experiment? Well, they built 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:26.040 this entire identity around being the weird snare 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:28.699 -less noise band that defies the rules of rhythm. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.899 Adding a snare and a hi -hat back in, doesn't 00:07:31.899 --> 00:07:34.860 that just mean they gave up? Hmm. It sounds to 00:07:34.860 --> 00:07:37.180 me like they smoothed out their edges just to 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:39.579 become a standard rock band and get more gigs. 00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:42.319 I completely understand why it looks like a capitulation 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:45.100 on the surface. But if you look at the mechanics 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:48.860 of how a band survives past its first year, this 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:51.680 isn't a sellout. It's a necessary evolution. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.879 Really? A necessary evolution? Absolutely. The 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:57.379 snareless setup was a fantastic grenade to throw 00:07:57.379 --> 00:07:59.819 into the local scene, but it was also a severe 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:02.600 boundary. You can only write so many songs within 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:04.939 that specific void before you start repeating 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:07.060 yourself. Okay, that's fair. By bringing the 00:08:07.060 --> 00:08:09.240 snare back, they didn't become a standard rock 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:11.980 band. I mean, they still sounded incredibly abrasive. 00:08:12.459 --> 00:08:15.399 But they expanded their canvas. They gave themselves 00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:17.579 the structural foundation they needed to build 00:08:17.579 --> 00:08:20.779 a taller, more complex building, so to speak. 00:08:20.899 --> 00:08:23.220 So they needed a new vessel for the noise. Exactly. 00:08:23.579 --> 00:08:25.160 If they were going to survive and grow, they 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:27.740 had to adapt the vessel. And it seems that structural 00:08:27.740 --> 00:08:30.319 evolution kept rolling, because Hazel's tenure 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:34.080 is actually really brief. Later in 1996, he's 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:36.740 replaced by Sarah Mae Libero on drums. Oh, right. 00:08:37.220 --> 00:08:39.500 And she continues a fascinating trend the band 00:08:39.500 --> 00:08:43.240 had. She plays the drums standing up. She's explicitly 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:45.720 compared to Moe Tucker from the Velvet Underground 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.320 in the source material. Which changes the entire 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:50.600 physicality of the music. Oh, so. Well, think 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:52.500 about the mechanics of drumming. When a drummer 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:54.940 is sitting down, They are using their ankles 00:08:54.940 --> 00:08:57.600 and wrists to play complex, subdivided patterns. 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:00.139 But when a drummer is standing up, everything 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:02.899 changes. It's more full -body. It is primal. 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:05.279 You are using your entire body weight to strike 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:08.059 a floor tom and a snare. You aren't executing 00:09:08.059 --> 00:09:10.940 rapid -fire drum fills. You are hammering out 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:14.980 a hypnotic, driving tribal rhythm. Oh man, that 00:09:14.980 --> 00:09:17.620 visual just standing there hammering away. It 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:19.700 visually and sonically perfectly complements 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:22.679 that thick wall of analog guitar noise. It turns 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:25.690 the rhythm section into an anvil. I love that. 00:09:26.230 --> 00:09:28.669 So with this reinforced lineup, Evans, Pope, 00:09:28.769 --> 00:09:31.389 and Libero, they finally lock in and record their 00:09:31.389 --> 00:09:34.009 first full -length album in 1997. It's called 00:09:34.009 --> 00:09:36.990 Pattern Recognition. A great title too. Yeah. 00:09:37.309 --> 00:09:39.570 And the way they recorded this is basically a 00:09:39.570 --> 00:09:43.190 masterclass in the 1990s DIY underground ethos. 00:09:43.690 --> 00:09:46.470 They recorded the entire thing on a four -track 00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:50.070 cassette recorder, and the label, Chapter Music, 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:53.009 released it exclusively on vinyl. Which again 00:09:53.009 --> 00:09:55.049 fundamentally shapes what the listener ultimately 00:09:55.049 --> 00:09:57.840 hears. A four -track cassette recorder is exactly 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:00.100 what it sounds like. You only have four distinct 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:02.580 lanes of audio to work with. Right. Which sounds 00:10:02.580 --> 00:10:05.080 impossible for a full band. If you have drums, 00:10:05.539 --> 00:10:08.860 bass, vocals, and two guitar parts, you are already 00:10:08.860 --> 00:10:11.240 out of lanes. Exactly. So bands had to bounce 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:13.500 tracks. You'd record the drums and bass on tracks 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:15.700 one and two, then mix them together and bounce 00:10:15.700 --> 00:10:17.840 them onto track three just to free up space. 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:20.659 That sounds incredibly stressful. It is. And 00:10:20.659 --> 00:10:22.799 every time you bounce analog tape, the audio 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.679 quality degrades. You get more tape hit. you 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.720 lose high -end clarity so it literally gets grittier 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.519 it does but more importantly it forces permanent 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:34.220 creative commitments once you mix those drums 00:10:34.220 --> 00:10:37.000 and bass together you can never unmix them you 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.259 can't fix a slight mistake later you are committing 00:10:39.259 --> 00:10:42.480 to the raw performance Wow and then releasing 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:45.600 it exclusively on vinyl amplifies that commitment 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:47.820 for the audience, doesn't it? Oh, for sure. Because 00:10:47.820 --> 00:10:50.259 vinyl demands an active listening experience. 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:52.700 You can't just hit shuffle and walk into the 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:55.399 other room. You have to physically drop the needle, 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:58.179 listen to the sequence exactly as the band intended, 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:01.100 and then physically flip the record over to hear 00:11:01.100 --> 00:11:03.860 the rest. Right. You are actively engaging with 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:06.700 the physical artifact. It creates an intimacy 00:11:06.700 --> 00:11:09.639 between the band and the listener that digital 00:11:09.639 --> 00:11:12.750 formats often lack. Well, speaking of digital 00:11:12.750 --> 00:11:15.870 formats, that collision is about to happen. Because 00:11:15.870 --> 00:11:19.669 right around 1997 and 1998, this highly localized 00:11:19.669 --> 00:11:22.789 Tasmanian sound starts breaking out of its geographic 00:11:22.789 --> 00:11:24.830 bubble. They start touring more, right? Yeah. 00:11:24.889 --> 00:11:27.409 Sea Scouts are touring the major mainland cities 00:11:27.409 --> 00:11:29.970 like Melbourne and Sydney. And they aren't just 00:11:29.970 --> 00:11:31.970 playing tiny dive bars anymore. They are landing 00:11:31.970 --> 00:11:34.590 massive support slots for major international 00:11:34.590 --> 00:11:38.490 indie acts. We're talking pavement in 1997, archers 00:11:38.490 --> 00:11:41.899 of loaf in 1998. the ultimate stress test for 00:11:41.899 --> 00:11:43.840 an underground band. Oh, absolutely. I mean, 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.919 when you are opening for a band like Pavement, 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:49.720 who were essentially indie rock royalty at the 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:52.899 time, you are stepping onto a massive stage in 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:55.299 front of thousands of people who did not pay 00:11:55.299 --> 00:11:57.100 to see you. Right. They're just waiting for the 00:11:57.100 --> 00:12:01.379 headliner. Exactly. It tests whether that localized 00:12:01.379 --> 00:12:04.100 abrasive Hobart noise can actually translate 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:06.799 to a cavernous room and win over a skeptical 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:09.740 crowd. And during this crucible, the lineup shifts. 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:12.919 Yet again, Sarah Mae Lubera leaves and their 00:12:12.919 --> 00:12:15.139 original snare -less drummer, Monica Fickrell, 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:17.620 rejoins the group to jam a newer set of songs. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.480 Full circle. Totally. They are gearing up for 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.080 their second album, Beacon of Hope, which they 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:26.179 record in 1998 for Unstable Ape Records. But 00:12:26.179 --> 00:12:28.419 there is a detail from these recording sessions 00:12:28.419 --> 00:12:30.980 that is just brilliant. Exactly. While recording 00:12:30.980 --> 00:12:32.940 the new album, they deliberately went back and 00:12:32.940 --> 00:12:35.539 re -recorded their first album, Pattern Recognition, 00:12:35.580 --> 00:12:37.600 and their stated goal for this re -recording 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.299 was to make a version that was intentional. Oh, 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:42.759 right. They used the exact phrase. They wanted 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:46.559 it to be less scabby, specifically for a CD release. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:49.720 Less scabby is such an incredibly evocative phrase. 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:53.299 I love that. So good. And it perfectly captures 00:12:53.299 --> 00:12:55.879 the massive technological tension that underground 00:12:55.879 --> 00:12:58.620 bands faced in the late 90s, you know, the format 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:01.940 wars. Okay, break that down for me. Why did moving 00:13:01.940 --> 00:13:04.360 to CD force them to change how they played their 00:13:04.360 --> 00:13:07.620 own songs? Because the medium dictates the message. 00:13:07.769 --> 00:13:10.350 Think about cassette tapes and vinyl. They have 00:13:10.350 --> 00:13:13.570 a natural noise floor. They have tape compression 00:13:13.570 --> 00:13:16.289 and vinyl warmth. That warmth acts like a sonic 00:13:16.289 --> 00:13:19.190 glue. It masks slight mistakes. It blends harsh 00:13:19.190 --> 00:13:22.370 frequencies together. A raw, abrasive noise rock 00:13:22.370 --> 00:13:24.450 band sounds right at home there because the medium 00:13:24.450 --> 00:13:27.299 itself is slightly dirty. It's forgiving in a 00:13:27.299 --> 00:13:30.740 way. Exactly. But a compact disc, a CD is binary. 00:13:30.820 --> 00:13:33.620 It is ones and zeros. It has a massive dynamic 00:13:33.620 --> 00:13:36.240 range and pristine digital clarity. So if your 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:38.240 guitar sounds like a dying lawnmower, the CD 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:40.740 is going to replicate that dying lawnmower with 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:43.659 terrifying microscopic precision. Exactly. It 00:13:43.659 --> 00:13:46.059 exposes every single frequency. It strips away 00:13:46.059 --> 00:13:48.960 the protective dirt of the analog tape. So re 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:51.779 -recording your songs to be less scabby is a 00:13:51.779 --> 00:13:54.299 literal mechanical smoothing over of your abrasive 00:13:54.299 --> 00:13:57.700 origins to survive audio demands of a new, unforgiving 00:13:57.700 --> 00:14:00.860 format. That makes so much sense. Think about 00:14:00.860 --> 00:14:04.259 any time you've had a wild, chaotic, brilliant 00:14:04.259 --> 00:14:07.120 idea, but you have to present it to your boss 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.059 at a corporate meeting. You know, if you go in 00:14:09.059 --> 00:14:11.000 there screaming and throwing paint, they'll kick 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.080 you out. Right, you have to adapt it. So what 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:15.200 do you do? You put it in a PowerPoint presentation, 00:14:15.419 --> 00:14:18.059 you smooth the edges, you make it less scabby 00:14:18.059 --> 00:14:20.059 so the wider audience can actually digest it. 00:14:20.100 --> 00:14:22.080 That is exactly what Seascouts were facing. And 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:25.570 the translation worked. By 1999, they are operating 00:14:25.570 --> 00:14:28.230 on an international scale. They put out a seven 00:14:28.230 --> 00:14:31.110 -inch record on a Californian label called Zum. 00:14:31.690 --> 00:14:34.669 The two tracks are Word is a Weapon and Destroy 00:14:34.669 --> 00:14:37.529 Your Local McDonald's. Great titles. Yeah. And 00:14:37.529 --> 00:14:39.970 amazingly, they were re -recordings of two songs 00:14:39.970 --> 00:14:42.909 from the band's very first incarnation back in 00:14:42.909 --> 00:14:46.220 1994. It really shows how cyclical the creative 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:49.000 process is. You start with this chaotic foundation, 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:51.720 you evolve, you learn how to translate your sound 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:54.299 for bigger rooms and clearer formats, and once 00:14:54.299 --> 00:14:56.679 you have that platform, you reach right back 00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:58.960 to your rawest beginnings and ship them to California. 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:01.740 And their physical reach matched their sonic 00:15:01.740 --> 00:15:05.940 reach. In 1999, Sea Scouts embarked on a massive 00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:08.820 tour of North America and Europe. They even joined 00:15:08.820 --> 00:15:12.059 an Australian band called 99 for a string of 00:15:12.059 --> 00:15:15.039 shows in Eastern Europe. Wow. Going from jamming 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.200 with a drum machine in Hobart to hauling gear 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:21.080 around Eastern Europe is a staggering trajectory. 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:24.759 It really is. But the problem with operating 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:26.799 at that level of intensity, especially doing 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:29.460 it DIY without a massive crew or major label 00:15:29.460 --> 00:15:32.080 support, is that it takes an immense toll. Right. 00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:34.460 A grenade eventually has to explode. The intense 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:36.940 burn of a noise rock band almost always comes 00:15:36.940 --> 00:15:39.259 with a strict expiration date. They just can't 00:15:39.259 --> 00:15:41.919 sustain it forever. Exactly. So they return home 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:44.720 later in 1999, and the decision is made to call 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:47.179 it quits. They play their final local shows in 00:15:47.179 --> 00:15:49.440 Hobart, returning to the very rooms where it 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:51.940 all started. That's fitting. And then they wrap 00:15:51.940 --> 00:15:54.320 up the entire Sea Scouts journey with a grand 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.379 final show at Melbourne's Corner Hotel on February 00:15:57.379 --> 00:16:00.240 18th, 2000. A literal end of the millennium closing 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:02.960 of the book. But the truth is, the story of Sea 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:05.860 Scouts does not end on that stage at the Corner 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:08.399 Hotel. Because Sea Scouts weren't a dynasty, 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:11.840 they were a grenade. They went off and the shrapnel 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:13.860 hit everything the Australian underground for 00:16:13.860 --> 00:16:16.299 the next two decades. Oh, the diaspora is incredible. 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:19.340 It is. When you trace the DNA of this band through 00:16:19.340 --> 00:16:21.720 the projects these members formed afterward, 00:16:22.179 --> 00:16:24.679 it totally redefines how we measure success. 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.159 Take Tim Evans, for example. He moves to Melbourne 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:30.620 and forms a band called Bird Blobs, releasing 00:16:30.620 --> 00:16:33.620 an EP and two albums. Right. Then he takes that 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:36.320 raw energy to New York City, forming the bands 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.419 Degreaser and Bogandust. He drops a solo album 00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:42.679 in 2016 called Wretched Wings. He even does a 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:45.259 stint on vocals for the legendary noise band 00:16:45.259 --> 00:16:48.299 Venom P. Stinger. He essentially carried the 00:16:48.299 --> 00:16:50.519 Hobart blueprint across the world. And the other 00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:52.840 members took that chaotic training and applied 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:55.200 it in entirely new directions, too. Yeah, tell 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:57.299 me about Alex Pope. Well, look at the bassist, 00:16:57.419 --> 00:16:59.879 Alex Pope. He takes the abrasive, relentless 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.659 energy of Sea Scouts and applies it to a completely 00:17:02.659 --> 00:17:05.819 different extreme genre. He forms a highly regarded 00:17:05.819 --> 00:17:08.599 black metal band called Ruins. Black metal? Yeah. 00:17:09.140 --> 00:17:11.940 He took the noise ethos and weaponized it in 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:14.630 a new way. That's brilliant. And Zach von Baumburger 00:17:14.630 --> 00:17:17.450 goes on to found bands like Gojjan or everything. 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:21.029 Monica Fickerle applies her driving primal rhythms 00:17:21.029 --> 00:17:23.829 to bands like Love of Diagrams and Baseball. 00:17:24.049 --> 00:17:26.309 And this is why we have to look past the idea 00:17:26.309 --> 00:17:29.049 that a band is only successful if they last for 00:17:29.049 --> 00:17:31.789 20 years and sell out stadiums. Oh, absolutely. 00:17:32.250 --> 00:17:34.289 Sea Scouts only existed as an active touring 00:17:34.289 --> 00:17:37.430 unit for about six years, but they functioned 00:17:37.430 --> 00:17:40.279 like a creative crucible. The intense heat of 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:43.119 that collaboration forged these musicians. They 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:44.839 learned how to build something out of nothing. 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:47.259 Right. How to play without a safety net. How 00:17:47.259 --> 00:17:50.200 to survive the format wars. And then they scattered, 00:17:50.660 --> 00:17:53.059 populating and influencing an entire underground 00:17:53.059 --> 00:17:55.599 ecosystem. And the bonds forged in that crucible 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:58.819 are essentially permanent. because in 2021, over 00:17:58.819 --> 00:18:00.940 two decades after that final show at the Corner 00:18:00.940 --> 00:18:03.660 Hotel, Tim Evans and Monica Fickrell actually 00:18:03.660 --> 00:18:05.660 reunited. Did they really? Yeah, they formed 00:18:05.660 --> 00:18:08.119 a brand new band together called the Misanthropes. 00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:10.779 I love that. When you have shared that kind of 00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:12.779 foundational experience, when you have stood 00:18:12.779 --> 00:18:15.980 on a stage playing complex, brutal noise without 00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:18.880 even a snare drum to anchor you, you develop 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:21.539 a musical shorthand with that person that never 00:18:21.539 --> 00:18:24.230 really goes away. It's hardwired into you. It 00:18:24.230 --> 00:18:26.569 is. It's just incredible to trace the footprint 00:18:26.569 --> 00:18:29.670 of this one short -lived Tasmanian experiment. 00:18:30.369 --> 00:18:32.809 But as we finish unpacking their history, there 00:18:32.809 --> 00:18:36.190 is one detail buried in the archives that I cannot 00:18:36.190 --> 00:18:39.400 stop thinking about. What is it? Well, we talked 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:41.839 about their transition from polycarbonate to 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:43.880 cassette to vinyl to CD. We talked about all 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:46.400 their releases. But the records show that in 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:48.839 1999, right before they broke up, Sea Scouts 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:51.640 made further studio recordings. Really? Yeah. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.259 It was a combination of older songs and completely 00:18:54.259 --> 00:18:57.019 new material. And to this day, those recordings 00:18:57.019 --> 00:19:00.059 have never been released. Wow. It's a genuinely 00:19:00.059 --> 00:19:02.160 haunting thought, isn't it? It is. I mean, we 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:03.759 live in a digital age where we operate under 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:05.460 the assumption that everything has been archived. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:08.299 We assume every thought, every song, every photo 00:19:08.299 --> 00:19:10.559 is instantly accessible, uploaded to a cloud 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:12.960 somewhere, ready to be streamed on demand. But 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:15.940 it isn't. Somewhere out there, sitting in a cardboard 00:19:15.940 --> 00:19:18.740 box in a closet or buried on an obsolete hard 00:19:18.740 --> 00:19:21.819 drive is an entire collection of music from an 00:19:21.819 --> 00:19:24.240 internationally touring band. Just waiting. It 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.339 has been sitting there, totally unheard, for 00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:29.579 over 25 years. It forces you to ponder the nature 00:19:29.579 --> 00:19:32.500 of lost art, you know? It's a potent reminder 00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:34.839 that not all of our cultural history has been 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:37.039 digitized and smoothed out yet. Some of it is 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.529 still scabby. Exactly. Some of it is still scabby, 00:19:39.750 --> 00:19:42.309 still raw, and still waiting to be discovered. 00:19:42.549 --> 00:19:44.250 Maybe building that house without a foundation, 00:19:44.549 --> 00:19:46.250 kicking out the snare drum, and screaming over 00:19:46.250 --> 00:19:48.950 the noise was all they ever needed to do. But 00:19:48.950 --> 00:19:51.970 somewhere out there, hidden in the static, is 00:19:51.970 --> 00:19:55.029 a final masterpiece canvas that no one has ever 00:19:55.029 --> 00:19:57.289 seen. Thanks so much for joining us on this deep 00:19:57.289 --> 00:19:58.490 dive. We'll catch you next time.