Image by Zo Damage //
A punk postcard from lockdown in Melbourne.
Having earned a reputation as unwavering champions of Australian pub-punk over the past three years, it should come as no surprise to hear that Melbourne’s Private Function have decided to push through and release their record in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Somehow it’s hard to imagine the angsty jokers twiddling their battered thumbs waiting for the market to recover and normalcy to return before beginning their “album cycle”.
It’s a move that their swelling fanbase will have appreciated greatly, with the quintet having dropped the relentless ‘I Don’t Want To Make Out With You’ and insta-classic ode to small-town Australia, ‘Albury Wodonga’. While we can’t get out and catch Private Function in their natural habitat: blackened venues with years of sweat and beers cakes onto every surface, we at least have a cracking video to feast our eyes on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twvWc8g5t0g
We pinned down bass player Joe Mennell for a chat just last week, check it out below and head here to pre-order Whose Line Is It Anyway, out Friday 28 August via Damaged / Caroline:
Firstly, how are y’all coping with lockdown? What’s been the biggest challenge?
It’s been weirdly okay. We’re lucky that we had a bunch of banked content that we created right before lockdown with the album – songs, film clips and whatnot. Not playing live shows sucks a lot, and it’s hard seeing venues we really like struggle and shut down. The future of live music looks pretty murky and boring. Personally, I’m an introvert borderline agoraphobic so it really hasn’t affected my life more than normalise my routine behaviour.
Have PF picked up any new skills since locking down?
I learned how to read. I hadn’t read a full book since 2015. It’s okay, I think university studying ruined my attention span/will to read long texts.
You’ve recently signed to Damaged. How has life changed for you guys? Was it difficult finding a new house that could accommodate your growing jetski and vintage car collections?
Don’t forget the Faberge egg collection. But seriously, Chris is in love with the mustang and although it technically belongs to the bank at the moment, he still takes care of it every day. It’s safe to say the vintage mustang has become his lockdown companion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZiyLsIdfcE
Tell us why Albury-Wodonga is Australia’s most underrated twin city?
Are there other twin cities? I honestly don’t know, I’m not Australian. If there are other twin cities there’s no way they’re as good as Albury-Wodonga. Or maybe they are, I won’t know until I visit them. Maybe in like five years I’ll have seen enough twin cities to properly rate them on a scale. I guess I would then need to compare my personal rating to a qualitative analysis of Australian twin cities’ general perception among the Australian population to come to a proper conclusion.
If you were the mayor of Albury or Wodonga, what would you do to pump up tourism to the place?
Make local magic shop owner Dane Certificate head of tourism. He is really funny and could lead the twin cities into a renaissance of art and comedy.
You recently appeared on the local A-W news. Are we expecting a key to the city(s) next? How would you feel about accepting such an accolade?
While we cannot speak to that at this moment, the municipal governments understand that we are always open to any form of accolades. However, if they don’t have the time due to the current border crisis, we understand and can take things into our own hands in regards to key ceremonies.
Your forthcoming record ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’ is coming in a mere 12 or so months after your ‘St Anger’. What’s your secret to writing records so quickly? Is it connected to the title somehow?
Trade secret: We recorded St Anger in 2018, and by the time we released it we had already written a decent chunk of the new one. Aidan and Chris are songwriting machines. It blows my mind how often they message us voice memos of incredible songs that I couldn’t imagine writing. Joe focuses his attention more and writes solid hit songs on every album. This is the first album we have with PJ playing on it. He’s American. He always adds so much to all the songs and he’s a much better bass player than me. I wrote a song about dogs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmh58vTFp6k
What are you most excited for your fans to hear? Anything on the record that you think will surprise them?
I can’t wait for people to hear ‘Sleep Paralysis’. It’s such a fun song to play and sounds cool. Joe also wrote this song called ‘Stop Liking What I Don’t Like’ which is so funny and anthemic and reflective of our feelings on music and things in general.
How do you see the rest of 2020 playing out for PF?
Probably the usual boring music cycle stuff. Another video clip, some pre-recorded performances, desperate attempts to stay relevant despite our age and being part of a dying industry. On the less depressing side of things, we have a musical in the works, a contest involving Sonic the Hedgehog, and I’ve been collecting garbage I find on the street for a secret not yet to be revealed.
