The Thousands

Screw journalistic objectivity I’m just going to say it: Total Control are the best and most exciting band in Australia. Apologies to Royal Headache and Eddy Current Suppression Ring but when it comes to the pure visceral and primal thrill of live rock and roll I can’t see anybody coming close to this Melbourne five piece.

To see them perform live is what I imagine Joy Division, Negative Approach or the Birthday Party in their early days would have been like. An edge. A dark, agitated, snarling punk edge that is both captivating and unsettling in its intensity. Daniel Stewart stands on his toes with mic lead wrapped over his shoulders as he lurches into the songs. James Vinciguerra pounds the kit while Mikey Young, Al Montfort and Zephyr Pavey exchange furtive glances across stage as they try to keep rein on the musical attack. It’s under control but only just.

Their debut LP Henge Beat is full of seething disdain and power. They have also become a touring machine, having travelled the USA with Thee Oh Sees, the UK for All Tomorrow’s Parties and now both Laneway and Golden Plains. I spoke to drummer James from somewhere in the USA.

Tim Scott: Hey James. Where are you right now?
James Vinciguerra: Memphis.

TS: Have you seen many Confederate flags?
JV: (Haha) I haven’t really been looking.

TS: So I’ve heard that Ryan Gosling is a fan of Total Control!
JV: Well I wouldn’t so much say that he’s a fan of Total Control.

TS: But he came to one of your shows right?
JV: He came because we are touring with Thee Oh Sees and they are going to be in this film or something. I think Ryan Gosling is going to play their manager so he came along to the Fun Fun Fun festival to check them out or something like that.

TS: The ‘Gos’ studies method?
JV: I don’t know. He’s affluent and attractive. He’s an actor. He’s a confident guy. He does what he wants when he wants.

TS: Has anybody famous or semi-famous come to a Total Control show in Australia? Matthew Newton?
JV: No, we are not really at that stage and I don’t think we are going to ever reach that stage. Actually we don’t want to reach the stage where Matthew Newton comes to our shows.

TS: Fun Fun Fun. That’s a fairly confident and ambitious name to be calling a festival.
JV: It was a cool festival. The people organising it were really cool. Our stage manager was Timmy who does Chaos in Tejas festival and had booked shows for Eddy Current before, so Mikey knew him. Danzig headlined on our stage the night we played.

TS: What was Danzig like?
JV: There was a bit of kerfuffle around that. He refused to go on stage because he’s a dick. Then when he did come out on stage his voice was terrible. You couldn’t go near side of stage unless you had Danzig credentials.

TS: Danzig ‘lammies’?
JV: I left after two or three songs. It was a pretty pitiable performance.

TS: How about your own performance? Are you playing songs from the new split with Thee Oh Sees?
JV: Yeah we are playing three of the four songs because Al sings on one and he is not touring with us at the moment.

TS: What’s the song ‘Rogue Abortion’ about?
JV: Oh God! Let me go get Dan, hang on a second [leaves the phone to get vocalist Dan Stewart].
Daniel Stewart: Hey.

TS: Hey Dan, what’s the song ‘Rouge Abortion’ about?
DS: I was trying to write a short story about a guy who was driving through a traffic jam trying to buy some beers for his daughter’s birthday but I couldn’t really handle the short story. It was shit and I gave up on it.

TS: Do you persevere with lyrics more than you would a short story?
DS: Lyrics are a lot easier because there is no real form they have to fit into aside from the song structure. But I’ll put you back to James because I’m in the kitchen cooking.

TS: Hey James. You are heading to the UK next to play All Tomorrow’s Parties. What’s your favourite British cultural stereotype?
JV: Well it’s not really a stereotype but I’ve noticed we’ve been falling into English accents a lot because we’ve been hanging out with Brigid from Thee Oh Sees who is English.

I once tried to go on a date with a girl in Berlin who was British and her brother wrote a book about chavs called Demonisation of the Working Class. It was where I first heard about the English Defence League. It’s a pretty interesting book. It’s a bit like Jim Goad’s The Redneck Manifesto.

TRACKLIST
1. The Shirelles – Please Go Away
2. The Pointer Sisters – Send Him Back
3. The Alter Boys – Piles
4. Baby Huey – A Change is Going to Come
5. Steely Dan – Dirty Work
6. Coil – The Anal Staircase
7. Skatt Bros. – Walk the Night (12″ version)
8. Psychic TV – Stolen Kisses
9. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Ramble Tamble