When Tex Perkins says, 'The Ape is the album I was born to make; it is the album that Richie - the president of the Tex Perkins fan club - has been waiting for; it is an album bursting with swing and grunt, and is easily the best thing I have ever done, or ever will do,” you got to start wondering how much better things can get.
Comprised of Spanish riff legend, Raul Sanchez (better known as the guy shredding strings for Magic Dirt for over a decade); Gus Agars behind the pigskin (former drummer at The Dark Horses); Pat Bourke, the style king of Dallas Crane fame, slapping bass; and Tex Perkins himself, the leader of the shrewdness... The Ape.
Although their debut album came out last year and they have barely toured Australia as a group, The Ape was well and truly under development for a long time before now, Bourke explains. “I played bass on some demos for Tex about eight years ago and a lot of it is the material that The Apes just recorded,” he says. “It just kind of got shelved due to various record label shit then we all just started doing other stuff.”
In the eight years that The Ape was in it's beginning evolutionary stage its members stayed sharp and busy in the Australian scene playing with names as influential as themselves. Bourke for instance has been involved in a number of different projects since he left Dallas Crane, “I've been playing with The Apes, which has been great,” he says. “I've also been playing with Paul Dempsey, when ever he does his solo stuff I play bass for him, and I'm about to record an album with a girl named Alitia which is very exciting.”
Just as well they were still earning their chops 'cause it wasn't too long until time had done its thing and the dawn of the band of The Ape was upon us. “Tex rang up one day and said, 'do you want to play bass on this project called The Ape?' Bourke says about the bands long-awaited birth. “I've played with Gus in a few bands so we all had a friendship and a musical relationship already and we went into the studio and the album just kind of clicked and it all went from there.”
“Tex had a bunch of those demos that we all played on, and more stuff that was pretty well formed. I think he may have had a vision for the album but there were no strict guidelines, it more just get in there and see what happens: a 'here's the idea, here's a bunch of songs and everyone does their own thing' type situation.”
You can hear it in the album; the songs seem improvised but polished; unrehearsed but so tight; distorted and messy but still sharp and crystal clear. A sign of musicality and professionalism, without showing any signs of musicality and professionalism – a true sense of musical evolution, trust The Ape to show us how it's done. And it's that instinctive rock and roll atmosphere on the record that translates to a primitive and animalistic live show; like a zoo overrun by impromptu ape rockstars... the most modest kind of impromptu ape rockstars.
“There's certainly no kind of supergroup feeling going on, it's just a band chemistry,” Bourke says about the amount of talent The Ape possesses. “This is a lot of fun; that's the main thing. There's a certain chemistry we have as a unit and we're not a band that goes on stage and does the same thing every night. Every night is different; we let it go and feed off each other and just see what happens.”
After The Ape head to Adelaide tomorrow, they play the Bramble Bay Bowls Club in Brisbane and then head across the country for their first invasion of the west coast. And then, well, not even the band know after that...
“We are working on some new material. I'm pretty keen to record another album,” Bourke says. “I'm assuming that everyone is keen to make another record; the last one was just heaps of fun and turned out really great and everyone is really happy with it so why not do another one.”
The Ape debut self titled record is available now.
Tex Perkins Tour Dates
Saturday 26th July – The Gov, AdelaideSaturday August 2nd – Bramble Bay Bowls Club, Brisbane
Friday August 22nd – Astor Lounge, Perth
Saturday August 23rd – Mojo's Lounge, Fremantle
