For the self-proclaimed “shittest band in Newtown” Scabz sure are not shit.
The group haven’t as much emerged onto the Sydney scene as they have exploded into it, dropping fuzzed-out and fucked-up singles like ‘Beach Song’ and ‘Victoria Bitter’ and playing raucous shows that always seem to teeter on the very edge of utter collapse.
Given the scuzzy, skulking nature of their music, it feels fitting that they formed almost on a whim. “We formed Scabz at Q Bar one night when we realised that we all played instruments and should start a band,” says lead singer and guitarist Siobhan Poynton. “We started rattling around odd song ideas and promised to all wake up early the next day to start working on them. We enlisted our good mate Naomi right there and then to be our manager, ’cause we wanted a lift with all the gear and she is the only person we know with a car. About six months later we finally had a jam.”
Though the trio haven’t been making music for very long, they have known each other for some time, and the band’s rhythm section go way back. Scabz’s drummer Lara Chrystal and bassist Loz Wylie started playing together in high school. “Sometimes they bring out old pictures for a laugh, and then realise they still have the same hair cuts and I laugh,” says Poynton. “It’s a great time.”
Perhaps also as should be expected, the band have a singularly unstructured approach to writing material, and they work in a free-form fashion. “Most of the tracks I write and finish and then take to Loz and we figure out a sick bassline,” says Poynton. “Then we play it for Larz [Chrystal] at rehearsal and she gets the feel and comes up with a beat. A few tracks are born out of think tanks, when we just banter at the pub and just chuck it over a riff. There are so many 10-second think tank bangers yet to be released into the wild.”
“Bangers” being the operative word. One of Scabz’s great strengths lies in their ability to fashion singularly catchy melodies, albeit the kind that will have you singing lyrics about beer and the woes of falling in love with straight girls rather than anything more radio-ready. Indeed, one of their finest works to date, ‘Beach Song’, pivots on an ear-wormy hook, even as Poynton sings lyrics about crushing skulls and bones over the top.
“‘Beach Song’ was pretty much the first song we ever finished,” she explains. “I wanted to write a fun, surfy song, then I figured I may as well just sing about the beach and kinda made the lyrics up on the spot by taking cues from words and stuff around Lara’s room. [The song] kinda ended up coming super true a year later, so maybe I’m a prophet or something.”
Even if ‘Beach Song’ might feature a set of abstract lyrics, Scabz are a band rooted in realities, and their song ‘Locked Out’ directly references the restrictions strangling our fair city’s lineup – Poynton often introduces the song by dedicating it to “the dishonourable Mike Baird”.
“Watching venues like Q Bar where we started dancing to Blink-182 at four in the morning disappear is fucked,” she says. “But the most fucked part is this inflated sense of power the police have been given. Anyone having fun is a criminal. If you work in a bar you are a delinquent. And mandatory sentencing can get fucked.”
So far the band have only released one clip, a distinctly lo-fi video for ‘Beach Song’ that features the band stuffing themselves at a particularly gloomy looking Sizzler. But though the piece perfectly complements the spasmodic pleasures of the track, it was only conceived of after another idea fell through.
“We actually had a totally different plan for the film clip,” Poynton says. “Lara and one of our mates had planned this hectic synchronised swimming video. We woke up on Saturday after all getting belted the night before, roped in manager Naomi to drive us to the location and set out on the road beyond Newtown. I called our friend who was the choreographer and whose house we were meant to be filming at as we aimlessly drove around Kogarah trying to look for the house. Eventually we pulled into Sizzler, and were just like, ‘Fuck it, let’s film ourselves eating heaps of food instead.’”
Scabz are nothing if not a group ready to roll with the punches then, and they’re evidently on the path for spectacular things, as their live shows well indicate. “I reckon our best gig would be a tie between King Street Crawl and our first ever show in the ’Gong at Rad Bar,” says Poynton when asked to pick a favourite show.
“King Street Crawl was awesome ’cause it was so packed, and I’m pretty sure every person we know was there having a laugh and a beer. Rad Bar was great ’cause this guy said we were the best band in Wollongong.” There you go then. Scabz have transformed from the shittest band in Newtown into the best band in Wollongong. How’s that for a story arc?
[Scabz photo by Brianna Elton]
Coven Presents: Howlers, featuring Scabz, Billie Rose and Imperial Broads, happensThursday September 22 at Red Rattler.
