Considering they describe their own music as “psychedelic reggae ska doom metal punk rock from hell”, the only safe bet you can make when going into a new Bennies album is to expect the unexpected. Sure enough, their latest offering Natural Born Chillers is an erratically wild ride across genre and mood, with the only consistent being that these boys know how to have fun.

Although the album stays true to the band’s rock n’ roll roots, across the 20-odd minutes of Natural Born Chillers we hear The Bennies sliding seamlessly between bouncing ska and anthemic punk with everything in-between, fuelled by their ferocious energy and charm. Pounding drums and blistered guitars are a staple, but they’ve always got more to give - warped synthesisers drop in and out, there’s some excellent Beach Boys-esque vocals at times, and when the mostly spoken-word ‘Trip Report’ rolls around we’re only surprised that it didn’t come earlier. It’s a manic journey, but considering the album opens with a frenzied scream that announces “this is a musical transmission from Melbourne to outer space - aliens, come and take me away!”, it might be the only way for a Bennies album to really make sense.

We couldn’t resist exploring what influences lie behind the chaos, so we got in touch with the band to get a closer look.

One of the first compact discs I ever owned was a best of by Hendrix. Basically he's my hero, people can argue til they're blue in the face but Hendrix had it all, style, charisma and voodoo guitar chops. His influence is almost spiritual, every time I hear a guitarist I compare them to Hendrix, including myself and every guitarist falls short of the Hendrix high water mark.


De La Soul - 'Stakes is High'

This album is my favourite hip hop record of all time. It's free of all bullshit, the production is on point and the lyrics have a point. Still relevant to this very day, De La Soul have survived an industry that has a habit of cannibalising talent. I hope that I can grow up to be a De La Soul one day, they're the laces in my shoes.


Ween - 'Freedom of 76'

The only band that matters. You either love them or hate them, I fucken love Ween. Defying convention, truly original (in a rip off kind of way), Ween have evolved from two high school kids jamming to drum machine to becoming a full, tour de force world class act. Without Ween, I am nothing.


Blondie - 'Hanging on the Telephone'

Blondie supplied my teenage brain with a healthy dose of punk attitude mixed with disco, mixed with all kinds of sex appeal. I'm on hold at the moment to Optus so I guess that's why I picked this particular jam. The band wasn't afraid to try different musical styles and they also knew how to dress, a valuable thing to learn on the road to rock n' roll.


Divinyls - 'Boys In Town'

I saw the Divinyls at the Forum a few years back before Chrissy's passing and they crushed it. More energy and sass than half the shit that is released today and it's over 40 years old. Mark McEntee is a wizard on guitar, his riffs are lessons in taste. Definitely learnt a lot about song structure and dance power from this pioneering act.