{"id":81505,"date":"2023-05-10T21:08:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T19:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=81505"},"modified":"2023-05-15T21:02:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T19:02:31","slug":"review-of-hoo-ha-by-bad-dreems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2023\/05\/review-of-hoo-ha-by-bad-dreems\/","title":{"rendered":"KITCHEN SINK DRAMAS – Bad Dreems’ ‘Hoo Ha!’ Offers A Nightmarish Vision Of Urban Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s hard to resist an album with a title like Hoo Ha!<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>so I was, ahem, naturally keen to find out what all the fuss was about.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The fourth album by Adelaide punks Bad Dreems<\/strong>, it’s the latest in an Aussie guitar renaissance, that’s seen bands like The Chats<\/strong> and Pist Idiots<\/strong> getting international attention.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Spearheading this new wave are the mullet- headed Melbourne Bogan Blondie Amyl and the Sniffers<\/strong> whose producer Dan Luscombe<\/strong> takes the controls on Hoo Ha!<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bands share a similar energy and humour though Bad\/Dreems are angrier in their love\/hate portrayals of the Ocker Aussie working class male experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often compared to fellow Antipodeans AC\/DC <\/strong>and The<\/strong> Go-Betweens<\/strong>, on this evidence Bad\/Dreems sound more like early Damned<\/strong>, with the political sensibility and anthemic choruses of The Clash<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a fair bit of Paul Westerber<\/strong>g’s Replacements <\/strong>thrown in for good measure as well.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"HERE'S
HERE’S BENNY! – Hoo Ha! album cover art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What sets them apart is the strength of songwriting partnership Ben Marwe<\/strong> and guitarist Alex Cameron<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The characters Marwe embodies may not always be admirable, but they are complex, well-rounded and rendered with genuine authenticity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with previous albums there’s a preoccupation with the seamier side of life Down Under, the danger lurking behind the facade of suburban middle class culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Waterfalls<\/em><\/strong> an angry character prowls the streets, spouting streams of consciousness, but is he malevolent, or just hard done by? It’s up to us to decide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band weave in less salubrious elements of Australia’s history into the mix – railing at the whitewashing from school text books of Aboriginal and First Nations heroes on Jack<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a similar vein, Malle<\/i><\/b>e<\/em><\/strong> looks at the ugly side side of early days of the colony ‘a race to the bottom’ with ‘massacres of the mudflats’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mansfield 6.0<\/em><\/strong> probes the more recent past, with riots against Covid-19 restrictions taking place even as an earthquake strikes in September 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"BAD\/\/DREEMS