An indie band from Melbourne, Useless Spaceman are a quartet of rockers serving up an eclectic musical meal that traverses punk rock with folk, grunge and psychedelia influences and what they term 'anti-gravity pop'.
After releasing their self-titled EP in 2018 followed by the single 'Brunswick West' the subsequent year, the band have remained dormant until today which marks the release of their debut album, an eight-track LP titled 'The Marlboro Man Rides Again'."'The Marlboro Man Rides Again' is an album about dissociation with everyday life, about finding yourself in a world or life that you're uncomfortable or tired with, and, at times, dreaming of a way to leave it behind," the band says.
"The subject matter presents itself in different ways across each of the tracks, covering themes of alienation, anxiety, addiction, paranoia, guilt and regret, utopia and dystopia, and just maybe a faint glimmer of hope for the future.
"We've definitely found our stride as a band in recent times, so while we wanted to keep some consistency with our previous releases, we also wanted to tap into some of our more eclectic influences and branch out a bit stylistically.
"We'd been working on some of the songs for quite a while, but when Mike brought in the title/ closing track (which started its life as a dark poem he wrote well before the band came together), we really began to bring the songs and themes together, and the album sort of started to form around us.
"The majority of the tracks were recorded at home with our own gear, to give us that degree of freedom and comfort, and room for some experimentation.
"The result is a tapestry of a galaxy both foreign and nostalgic, past and future, tangible and ethereal.
"From the doomsday prophecy atmosphere of opening instrumental 'When You Leave Planet Earth' and closing epic 'The Marlboro Man Rides Again' to the radiant, pop-infused 'Safe And Sound' and 'Space Farm', our debut LP spans various genres of rock, from punk and folk, to grunge and psychedelia."
Here, the band share a few stories and background behind each of the songs that feature on 'The Marlboro Man Rides Again'.
When You Leave Planet Earth
The ambient intro track is an immersive soundscape that establishes the album's themes of alienation and disassociation, exploring the loneliness of travelling through the infinity of space with nothing but memories of a time before the apocalypse.Don't Let Them In
This song tells the story of a toxic relationship between two people who both lack any capacity to care for each other.The musical arrangement builds gradually, starting off with unhurried, spaced-out basslines and floating guitar lines, and eventually culminates with a punk-rock explosion of high-energy riffage and hammering percussion.
It's a big two-parter and was a no-brainer as the first track to lean into the album with a kick.
Alligators
As the title suggests, this one is about 'alligators. . . all wrapped up in human skin'. This grungy, rock song is written from the perspective of a narrator who is experiencing a heightened state of anti-social paranoia, and is fuelled by head-banging riffs and unstoppable drums. It's a bit different to most of our previous tracks, so we really had a chance to get creative with the instrumentation on this one, and it's heaps of fun live.Space Farm
This is a folk-rock ballad that ponders the future of the human species and our cyclical tendencies towards sex, worship and mass consumption.The song features original string arrangements written and performed by members of the band, complemented with some delicately ethereal backing vocals. Despite the gentle sound of the song, there are some brilliant, witty lyrics in here; an album highlight for sure.
Safe And Sound
The album's lead single, 'Safe And Sound' is a snappy, percussive, pop-rock song about the dying days of a doomed relationship.The track features melodic lead guitar work that gradually builds up to a wild, thrashing solo. It's the most upbeat song on the record, so it made sense to be the first taste of the album.
Stratosphere
'Stratosphere' is an ode to bad decisions that lead to worse ones. And soon enough, the cascade of chaos can lead to only one thing – launching yourself thousands of kilometres above the Earth's surface, through chemical or other means.The musical arrangement features elements of our eclectic influences in funk, folk, and jazz.
Woody's Song
This track is about that feeling of drifting further and further from home until you can hardly recognise what home even is anymore.It's a tale of looking back to the stories of your childhood to keep you grounded through the madness of adult life, told over a bed of droning synths.
The Marlboro Man Rides Again
Finally, the band's magnum opus! The miniature symphony opens with an exceptionally creepy excerpt from a vintage Marlboro radio ad, then unfolds into a Philip Levine-inspired stream-of-consciousness poem about sin, fate, greed, desire, and the grand designs of Satan himself.After a five-minute crescendo, the song transforms into an immense, baroque-style melodic theme over relentless drums, bass, strings and synths. It's our most experimental song yet and really set the course for the whole record as we were putting it together.
Useless Spaceman launch 'The Marlboro Man Rides Again' at The Gasometer Hotel (Melbourne) 7 May.
