Bluebottle Kiss - Perth - Milk Bar

Schedule

Fri Nov 25 2022 at 08:00 pm to 11:45 pm

Location

Milk Bar | Perth, WA

Described by AllMusic as ‘challenging, rugged, dramatic rock with folk tendencies woven intricately into its coarse fabric’, Bluebottle Kiss were a Sydney based group who existed over a number of line-ups between 1993 and 2007. They released six critically acclaimed albums and countless eps and singles before disbanding in 2007.
One of the finest ferocious and tender, experimental rock albums this country has produced, Patient (1999) is a sublime collision of melody and visceral guitars that was easily the equal of contemporary acts such as Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, The Afghan Whigs and Swervedriver, and one that would set a tantalising and inspiring benchmark for the band’s subsequent albums over the next seven years.
Now, for the first time in 20 years, in association with Sound As Ever (Australian Indie 90-99), the seminal line-up of Jamie Hutchings, Ben Fletcher, Richard Coneliano and Ben Grounds return for a run of headline shows celebrating the new vinyl & digital reissue of the album that cemented their place as a much loved Australian indie rock band of the 90s and 00s. The latest addition to the tour is a show in Perth at Milk Bar on November 25th, with support from The Leap Year – presented by Bespoke Touring.
Love As Fiction Records are also currently reissuing the band's 1997 EP Somnambulist Homesick Blues on vinyl.

"Firing up Patient again gave me goosebumps – the moment the band kicked in I was back in 1999, touring together with BBK, watching them strangle guitars and spray sweat around the stage night after night. Half the crowd would be totally transfixed, the other half would stand slack-jawed in disbelief; all of them stunned that three guys could muster such beautiful chaos!”
Tim Steward of Screamfeeder.
In the winter of 1998, Sydney trio Bluebottle Kiss entered Charing Cross Studios to record their third album. Previously they’d worked with producers Wayne Connolly (Knievel) and Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney) but now they would produce themselves, confident and in control of their musical vision for the ten songs that would comprise the grand statement that is Patient.
First released in 1999 on Citadel Records, the firm fan favourite has been completely remastered for its first ever vinyl release on the Come To The Dark Side Luke Music label.
As the 20th century drew to a close, indie and alternative rock were taking stock after the grunge wave bottomed-out and major labels abandoned their frenzied short term investments. “Whilst the budgets on our first few releases were modest for a major label, Patient was genuine shoestring stuff,” explains songwriter, singer and guitarist Jamie Hutchings. “As a result, we decided to take a very performance-based approach to capture the band as quickly, (and subsequently, as inexpensively!) as possible. Whereas formerly we’d had the luxury of putting things together piece by piece, on Patient we did almost everything at the same time.“
Bassist Ben Fletcher also recalls the minimal cost approach to the recording of Patient. "The album sounds lo-fi when I listen now. Especially compared to the following albums (Revenge Is Slow and Come Across) that followed. I don’t remember us necessarily going for a lo-fi sound though. Without the major label dosh we just did what we could to make things work."
BBK had done the hard yards with heavy national touring to promote their albums Higher Up The Firetrails (1995) and Fear Of Girls (1996) and Patient would vividly capture that shared experience of controlled volatility that comes from three musicians sharing stages and touring vans, while chasing their dreams with uncompromising creativity and drive.
Hutchings vividly remembers the road trips to far flung venues and how that permeated the sound of Patient. “Most of it was paid for by endless low-budget gigs. Yawning drives from Adelaide to Sydney, empty gigs at places like Ballarat and Bendigo. You can hear all those long spooky drives on the album, the feeling of living a life outside of everything else.”
Listening to Patient in 2022, one is struck by the churning melodicism of opening track and first single ‘Return To The City Of Folded Arms’, the lilting sway and heady swoon of single ‘Girl Genius’, the whisper to a pummel widescreen dynamics of 'Homeless Blueless’, the breakneck rattle, strum and chime of ‘Give Up The Ghost’ and the weighty howl and dissonant churn of ‘Six Wheels'. There are samples and abstract field recordings that add mystery and allure to the hypnotic and serene sections and the surrounding explosive atonal rock sounds. The common thread amid the chaos and calm is Hutchings’ voice, the songs delivered with impassioned heart-on-sleeve emotion.
Prior to joining the band in 2001, Patient was bassist Ben Grounds' favourite album of the time. "There's something on reflection that Patient seemed to allow, which was muscle fused with tenderness. It gave you a bear hug whilst whispering comforting advice in your ears. I could never play it too loud."
With strong support from both community radio and triple j, the band played numerous shows on the back of the success of Patient, sharing the stages with contemporaries such as Pollyanna, Art of Fighting and Screamfeeder.
As Matt Handley of Pollyanna recalls, “Listening to the record is still an emotionally raw experience. Feelings of loss, of regret, of seemingly simpler times where for weeks at a time you would drive to towns playing your songs to whoever would come. Importantly Patient perfectly captured the ragged beauty of BBK’s shows… the intense flailing of Fender vibrato arms, the brittle cutting squalls of their guitars, Jamie’s wine-soaked vocals, Ben’s rich counterpoint on bass, guitar and vocal, Richo’s impossibly tasteful drums propelling the songs.”
Looking back, Fletcher considers the album a pivotal moment for the band. "Patient is definitely an album where everything changed for us after its release. We got signed to a US label (an insane story from start to finish), we did a US tour and I moved from bass to guitar after the release of the record. It was a very transformative time for the band."

Where is it happening?

Milk Bar, 981 Beaufort St,Perth,WA,Australia

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Host or Publisher Milk Bar

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