After a solid year of blasting crowds with their self-described rosé-rock, local punks Porpoise Spit have finally dropped their debut EP God Yeah! and it was well worth the wait. GOD YEAH! kicks off with ‘Public School Lino’ and following a gentle opening, the track asserts itself as a garage rock belter - packed with raw guitars, crafty ocker harmonies and a heap of charm, it’s a perfect introduction to Porpoise Spit. EP highlight ‘2SXC4THASPRMRKT’ is up next, with its jangling guitars and steady groove, before it blasts into a huge chorus full with the band’s endearing wit.

The pace switches with ‘Dull’, a emotive punk-ballad of sorts, that opens with muted guitars and co-vocalist Elle Hewitt’s passionate voice, before the song builds and explodes open with poignant intensity. ‘Milk Teeth’ follows suite but hits just as hard, with its down-tempo saunter leaving the perfect amount of space for co-vocalist Mill O’Sullivan to take the spotlight with their powerful lyrics and delivery, while the band chug along beside them.

GOD YEAH! wraps up with ‘Karl Stefanovic At The Logies Drunk’, an anthemic tribute to the Australian icon. Full with blown-out guitars, unrestrained group vocals and hilarious tongue-in-cheek lyrics, it’s an excellent way to round out the EP and shows off Porpoise Spit’s unique ability to blur comical and sincere with complete ease.

It’s an incredible impressive debut release for Porpoise Spit, full with poignancy and character, and ahead of the band’s enormous launch show this Saturday and the Tote, we caught up to find out a little more about each of GOD YEAH!’s tracks.

Public School Lino

‘PSL’ (Public School Lino) was the first song that Elly and Mill wrote together and has been a staple in the Porpoise Spit live set from very early on. When we first started talking about making God Yeah! (the EP, for you fans at home), ‘PSL’ came up as a clear favourite for opening track. 

For all intents and porpoises, it is a hyper accelerated course in all things Porpoise Spit. It features the monolithic voices and soaring harmonies of Elly and Mill, the sometimes crushing/sometimes delicate/always dynamic rhythm section of Dom and Ivy, some of Melbourne’s best, future Pulitzer Prize winning lyrics, as well as some Holy Moly Precision-Shredding™ from Mill (and some Golly Gosh Impromtu-Shredding™ from Dom).

Inspired in equal parts by our awe inspiring Public School system, the game-changing design of legionnaires hats, and a thrifty shoe-fixing teacher, ‘PSL’ is a total HUMDINGER and a great intro to the band and the EP.

 - Vince (producer/Mum).

2SXC4THASUPRMRKT

'2SXC' was the first song we ever played live that people sung back to us and that felt VERY weird and cool. It’s never failed to pick up the set, even if we’re having a shit show. It’s just so much fun to play. 

This track came about because someone said that Elly looked “2 sxc 4 tha suprmrkt” and Mill was outraged that anyone would ever say that. So they wrote a song about it, which is fast becoming a way to deal with any and all of our problems. 

It’s a fun, fast tune addressing the really fucked up issue of sexual harassment and victim blaming. You are NEVER asking for it based on what you’re wearing. Wear what the fuck you like!

When tracking the band, this only took three takes to get down. The “you’re too sexy!” scream I do just before the solo took 14 takes. Then we spent the next hour doing an Australian Idol-style elimination round of all the various screams. Elly has never laughed that hard. 

- Dom (drums/14-take-screams)

Dull

‘Dull’ was penned directly after the breakdown of a long term relationship as a way to channel some of the confusion, relief and desperation of having to rely solely on oneself for the first time. It is a song about not feeling good enough, about the endless attempt to find gratification and the eventual understanding that self worth is something fragile that needs to be nurtured or else will dim. The original version of the song was written in under five minutes. I was sitting on a mattress on the floor after my bed base had well and truly imploded underneath me. I was exhausted and feeling sorry for myself and thought it might be constructive to write out my feelings. 

‘Dull’ was the first song I ever wrote that I felt articulated something I couldn’t express in just words. Originally it was a song born of the one-note anger of rejection that was flipped on its head when Mill told me to “pull back and start lighter”. From there, the song only grew as Ivy and Dom contributed to its slow and heavy build up. The recording process for ‘Dull’ was simple and sombre, the vocal used on the record is actually the original scratch take, giving it its raw quality. 

Because ‘Dull’ is a song that P- Spit having been playing since the beginning, it has been an interesting lesson in how songs and their meaning evolve over time, and how as musicians we must find new ways to connect to material that we have played to death.

- Elly (guitar/strummaster/vocals)

Milk Teeth

‘Milk Teeth’ is a really personal tribute to people living on the fringes. It more broadly speaks about how a lot of marginalised and oppressed communities are neglected by our mental health care system and so resort to self medicating to get through the dark days. As a transgender activist, it is also a big shout out to the trans community who are frequently barred from these services at the get go, pushed to the outer suburbs and forgotten about.  

Recording ‘Milk Teeth’ was a really special process. We turned the lights off and played it live and no one spoke before or after. We just did the take. and then had a big old hug. It’s a really binding song for us. 

It’s also full of nostalgia and speaks to growing up in sweaty Melbourne summers, making mistakes and learning how to navigate being a teenager, a queer person, a woman, a lover, a friend, an enemy, a witness, a cog.

- Mill (guitar/shredlord/vocals)

Karl Stefanovic At The Logies Drunk

Karl Stefanovic neatly personifies the internal conflict many Melbourne millennials share - how can we broker peace between our love of the boisterous and problematic maverick, who'll ruff you up playing Aussie rules and then plant a good smooch square on your noggin’, and our politics? 

Karl pioneers a true Australian quality for which I definitely have a love-hate relationship: the virtue of the apology. 

Australia is haemorrhaging from the disconnect between our love of the ‘terminal crazy’ larrikin, crass and absurd, and our desire to check our privilege; how can we do better by the people at our margins while still protecting our birthright irreverent humour? ‘Karl Stefanovic at The Logies Drunk’ shows us the way. 

Bound irrevocably by shared life goals, such as smashing pints and winning gold, Elly and Mill deliver us the narrative of one man who can have it all.

- Ivy (bass/fuzz/vocals)