Ahead of their spring UK / EU tour, we spoke to Aussie band Press Club about what makes them the band they are.

Red Bull

At our current rehearsal space in Port Melbourne there’s a fridge so full of Red Bulls that it’s hard to tell where the Red Bulls end and you begin. At first we rejected the idea of drinking heaps and heaps of them. We try to remain as healthy as possible, which can be pretty hard on the road; with our collective love of service station food. However, after we gave in that first time, we came to truly love the panicked and frantic music people on seven Red Bulls each can create. Other bands can keep their illegal drugs, we’ll stick to these silver and blue cans of liquid migraine.

Fans

Melbourne summers get swelteringly hot. The kind of dry heat that saps your body of all liquids the moment you step outside. Air conditioners break down in that kind of heat. The temperature of tap water goes up to that of a freshly made tea. The only thing you can really do is find a cheap fan, turn it on, point it at yourself, then wait.

This was the environment in which we recorded. While we tried to remember to turn off the fans while tracking, the summer heat cooked our brains and I feel certain most cuts on Late Teens have fans singing their siren song in the distance.

We’re Coming Out – The Replacements

This whole album has been a huge influence for a long time. It’s the kind of album that you can keep going back to and find things you didn’t hear before that completely blow your mind.

For example, it was only recently that I realised that the solo on ‘We’re Coming Out’ might be the most distressed guitar solo i’ve ever heard. I wonder if that guy had drunk a few Red Bulls?

Red Rooster

A uniquely Australian fast food outlet. Banished to the outer suburbs of all Australian capital cities, Red Rooster is by all objective measurements completely inedible. The food comes straight from the kitchen sweaty and stale. The roast chicken they serve tastes like plastic. I had a friend who worked there in high school called Timor who sweared that all the food was pre-cooked and then microwaved for a couple of minutes before getting sent to the counter, even the lettuce.

But the chips are great, best you’ll find outside of a fish and chip shop. Also, i’d kill a chook with my bare hands to have them make me a ten pack of cheesy nuggets.

For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) – ACDC

I feel like you can’t get away with using the word ‘Rock’ in a rock song anymore. As soon as you do that you immediately typecast yourself. It’s like mentioning the name ‘Bob’ in a reggae song, yet more gratuitous.

Despite multiple offences of that crime, this ACDC track is most brilliant. Some true ACDC fanatics might criticise me for listing a song made after Bon Scott’s passing, but I think this song cements Brian Johnson as one the world’s most hair raising vocalists. My cousin tells me they closed on this track on their last stadium show in Melbourne, the thought of that truly sends shivers up my spine.​