With their new album, Melbourne band Grindhouse wanted to create something iconically Australian... and what's more Aussie than a half-naked Peter Russell-Clark flipping you the bird?
Seriously: the cover for Grindhouse's new album, 'Can I Drive Your Commodore?', features the beloved TV personality wearing nothing but jeans, a helmet and a smile, giving us the finger. I truly love this country.
Grindhouse vocalist/ guitarist Mick Simpson explains how what may be the album cover of the decade came to fruition via a mutual friend. “We hit [Peter] up and he came down,” Mick says.
“It was the first time I ever met him and in the first five minutes we had him down to his jocks and we had him putting the helmet on then some jeans for the photo shoot, and he didn't even bat an eyelid.
“So he's like the fifth member of Grindhouse because there's not many 80-year-old men who'd take their pants off within 2 minutes of meeting a rock & roll band from Melbourne, but that's Peter Russell-Clarke.”
A true child of the '80s, Mick says that with 'Can I Drive Your Commodore?' he wanted to make more of a rock & roll album and have the lyrics reflect the classic iconography of growing up in Australia.
“[I wanted] a bit more about the Australian culture that I grew up in during the '80s when it comes to television shows and iconic Australian cars, and generally just having a good time,” he laughs.
“There are a couple more songs you can sing-along to, would be the best way to describe it; I tried to work in a couple of cheeky little moves in the lyrical content for sure.
"[There's] a little bit more thought behind the songs as opposed to our last album 'Crazy Pussy' where we just banged them out and the songs wrote themselves easily and quickly. This time around we put a bit more thought into it and that included lyrical content too.”
Mick says 'Can I Drive Your Commodore?' has also been their most successful release so far in terms of the live response from audiences. “This album's done a whole lot more than any of the other albums have done on the back of a bit of hard work,” he says.
“The sum of all parts make a whole and [we've] put out a record that has taken off to a degree where people are into it and they come to the shows and are requesting songs off the new album, which we haven't really had before.”
Grindhouse bring their new album to Dicey Riley's as part of an ongoing tour that runs until October, and as a Wollongong boy, Mick says he's particularly looking forward to this show.
“They're good, fun shows and we're getting some good people down so we're happy; you can't ask for more than that as a rock & roll band. If you don't expect anything more than that, you'll have a great time.”
As for their next album cover, Mick is thinking of taking iconic Australian imagery to the next, logical level.
“If we can get Sgt. Gilroy from 'A Country Practice' out in the backyard with Peter Russell-Clarke playing totem tennis while Warwick Capper cooks a barbecue, that would be the best album cover of all time,” Mick laughs.
Grindhouse Tour Dates
Sat 1 Sep - The Tote Hotel (Melbourne)Fri 14 Sep - Dicey Rileys (Wollongong)
Sat 15 Sep - Marrickville Bowlo (Sydney)
Sun 16 Sep - Lansdowne Hotel (Sydney)
Sat 6 Oct - The Tote Hotel (Melbourne)
