Self-described as 'offensively average', last month Sydney pop punks SoSo dropped their debut EP titled 'I Wouldn't Call This Success...But It's Close Enough'.
A band who only came together last year (its members having being in other bands for years but not 'reaching the levels of satisfaction they had wanted'), SoSo recorded the EP at Electric Sun Studios in Sydney with producer Stevie Knight (Stand Atlantic, Yours Truly) as well as James Paul Wisner (Stand Atlantic, Saosin).EP track 'The Great Escape' sonically represents the band's collective spirit of having another crack at making it.
"I guess you could say 'The Great Escape' just encapsulates the big ol' Hail Mary play of having one more go at cracking the music industry," SoSo says.
"The same kinda play as bringing Michael Clarke into bowl late on Day 5 of a Sydney Test match, needing three wickets to win. . . and we all know how that magical moment went."
Despite the various lockdowns currently impeding interstate travel, SoSo are swinging a baseball bat at COVID with a six-date tour that will visit Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Central Coast, Sydney and Brisbane late August into early September. Good luck fellas.
Here, the band's vocalist Rhys de Burgh shares five albums that shaped-influenced the 'I Wouldn't Call This Success...But It's Close Enough' EP.
Rancid - '...And Out Come The Wolves'
'...And Out Come The Wolves' was my introduction to punk music and the first album I remember ever listening to. One of those few vivid memories of being a kid. It wasn't even a CD – this was a cassette (damn I'm old).I probably picked it out of Dad's cassette collection because I thought the cover art was cool, but every single song on this album absolutely slaps, and still does today. It's dirty proper punk-rock with enough ska influence to make things interesting without wearing a pork pie hat and a Hawaiian shirt.
Blink-182 - 'Take Off Your Pants And Jacket'
Right in the middle of the golden age of Blink-182 (fight me), 'Take Off Your Pants And Jacket' was the first album I owned.Being an angsty teenager, it is 100 per cent imperative to listen to 'Anthem Part Two' on repeat because "If we're f...ed up, you're to blame" just hits different when you're 15 and your mum takes the batteries out of your Xbox controller or whatever because you didn't take the bins out.
If the kids of today are out of control and sucking nitrous out of whipped cream charges, it's because their parents didn't buy them this album as an outlet.
Green Day - 'American Idiot'
You'd be hard pressed to find an album more era-defining than 'American Idiot'. Even just for its contribution to fashion in the form of heavy eyeliner and red ties. Apart from that, the music itself is just as iconic.It's an album that brought politically-charged punk to the mainstream and proved that you don't have to be Tool to write a nine-minute banger. Following up this album was always going to be a big ask, so in my mind this is the final album Green Day released. I think it's better that way.
Avenged Sevenfold - 'City Of Evil'
Some albums are timeless – they're just as good today as the day they were released. 'City Of Evil' is definitely not one of them. Listening back to it now, it's pretty cheesy. The lyrical themes, the stage names, even the album art are all giving off big 2005 energy.Regardless, DAMN these boys can shred. Listening to this album for the first time was such an eye-opener into what's actually possible to do with a guitar. Sure, I still can't do any of those things, but it's cool to know that someone can.
Stand Atlantic - 'Skinny Dipping'
Without this album, SoSo probably wouldn't exist. After a few years of trying to find a home in the prog genre, three-fifths of what eventually became SoSo decided that our hair wasn't long enough, and we didn't play enough Dungeons and Dragons to really make it work.We all grew up with punk and pop-punk, but the genre was going through a dark period with just really average, paint by numbers kind of music. When Stand Atlantic released 'Skinny Dipping', we had a sort of moment of realisation that pop-punk can still be really bloody good. So, the new direction for our musical endeavours was chosen and SoSo was formed.
SoSo 2021 Tour Dates
Fri 27 Aug - Leadbeater Hotel (Melbourne)Sat 28 Aug - The Rhino Room (Adelaide)
Thu 2 Sep - The Basement (Canberra)
Fri 3 Sep - Oceanview Beach Club (Central Coast)
Sat 4 Sep - Manning Bar (Sydney)
Sat 11 Sep - O'Skulligans (Brisbane)
