By 2013, The Frowning Clouds had already established a cult following, and were successfully turning most of Geelong, Melbourne, and more broadly Australia, onto the sounds of 60’s garage. However, following on from the revivalist dream that was 2010’s Listen Closelier, Whereabouts had the band both acknowledging their undeniable beat influences while beginning to experiment with the boundaries of their sound - seemingly admitting that was the idea on early highlight ‘Shoe Suede Blues’, as they sung “doing something that’s been done/copy cats start having fun”.

‘All Angles’ was a blitz of an opener, as chiming 12-string guitars reined supreme over a racing rhythm section, instantly hitting harder than anything the band had done before. Moments later, they were verging on acid-folk with tracks like ‘Into the Ground’ and ‘Dreamtiming’, with their slower tempos and heady melodies, or openly embracing psychedelia on the warped ‘Beetle Bird’. It was also the first time the Clouds would lean into the weirder sensibilities they would continue to herald as they moved onto new projects - like the irreverent charm of ‘Heaps Deep’, the spiralling hooks of ‘Propellers’ or the unexpected mixture of wah pedal and synth to make the dizzying album closer ‘Product of the Peanut Butter Company’.

Having previously covered similar terrain to the Clouds with a string of 60’s nuggets to their name, 2013 was a fitting time to The Living Eyes to unleash their debut full-length. However, the self-titled album quickly revealed they couldn’t be lumped in as 60’s revivalists too easily. This time, the guitars were muscular, the vocals sneering and the hooks tighter than before - beneath their once adorned mod get-up, The Living Eyes were clearly a punk band.

From the opening stomp of ‘Sittin’ Sick’ through to the raucous solo that rounds out ‘Cry In Shame’, The Living Eyes was a barrage that barely let up. ‘Down and Out’ and ‘Ways To Make A Living’ were instant hits with their sticky melodies and frenzied barre chords, setting the mood perfectly for the visceral hit of punchier tracks like ‘Slave Labour’ and ‘Economy First’. Even at their more relaxed moments, like highlight ‘Up And At Them’, the band still felt wired and agitated, giving the entire record a thrilling energy that was hard to come down from.

We chatted with The Living Eyes’ Billy Gardner and The Frowning Clouds’ Zak Olsen to see what they remember about the time.

TJ: Considering all members of both bands, there’s been a lot music released from the bunch of you since 2013, so this must be a pretty rare occasion that you get to look back instead of moving onto the next thing. How do you feel about the albums seven years on?

Z: Yeh I think this is the first album I’ve had anything to do with which has been rereleased so many years after. I had a listen and a good time, though maybe a tad long? Heh

B: Yeah it’s been sweet looking back - was fun digging through old pics to create the Eyes insert, and an interesting experience in itself re-listening to the record.  

Can you remember what was going on at the time of writing and recording the albums? What were you both up to?

B: Yeah, Eyes record was recorded late 2012, I was just washing dishes in a cafe a couple days a week. I had a cold at the time we recorded and my vocals came out even more nasally than usual hah. Mitch and I drove to Mikey’s place in Rye to mix it and ran out of petrol half way there. 

Z: Clouds had just got a new drummer (Jamie) and lots of songs were coming. It was a good time for the band, things felt new again.

Best and worst songs from your album?

B: Ha! Maybe ‘Down n Out’ best. ‘Cry In Shame’ worst. 

Z: My faves would be ‘Through Me’ and ‘Into The Ground’. Least fave ‘Human Being, Human Doing, Human Going’.

(Note: Zak ain’t lying when he says he can’t even remember his own records, because there’s no song called ‘Through Me’ on Whereabouts - think he might mean ‘Going Stepping’ though).


Same question but for each other.


Z: All hits for Eyes. ‘Ways To Make A Living’ was a breakthrough hit in Geelong.

B: There’s no duds on Whereabouts - but my favourite has always been ‘Much Too Much Too Soon’.

Is there anything on either album that you wouldn’t do now? Or is there anything you’ve done now that you would’ve hated back then?

B: The guitar tones are funny - def turned up the gain a bit since then. But the clean tone kinda works with the songs I suppose. And the cover - would definitely try and come up with a better cover!

Z: I think I’d like to make it a touch shorter. Besides that all good I reckon.


You’ve both been in a heap of different projects since, but these two bands must’ve been pretty formative experiences for you. How important were they for getting you into making music?

B: Yep and we still play - we’re a 10 year old band now lol. But yeah it was definitely important - even just playing in a band with Mitch was important, we’ve done a few bands together since. 

Z: Clouds obviously take a lot of influence from 60s music and that’s something that has stuck with me since. Peel back anything I’ve made and there’s a 60s song underneath heh.

It was also relatively early days for Anti Fade, but now as one of the bigger punk labels in Australia, it must be pretty exciting to shine a new light on your older projects seven years on. Did you feel like you were onto something special at the time?

B: Yeah was definitely the early days for the label too. I dunno if it felt special, more so necessary, cause if I didn’t make a label to put out my own band then I didn’t think anyone else would. Looking back on it I must say, the two records did feel a bit distanced from each other. Eyes came out April, Clouds in December. That eight months did feel like a while apart and I was kinda surprised when I realised they were both 2013. 

I remember hearing there was talk of including the sheet music to ‘Dreamtiming’ in the Clouds LP - any chance that’ll make the cut this time around?

Z: That’s news to me! Dunno who would actually put that to use?

Any other albums from 2013 that you think deserve a reissue now - friends or otherwise?

Z: I can’t remember most of my own records and definitely can’t recall what was coming out around then, but did UV Race’s Homo come out then? Classic.

B: Wasn’t an album but it should have been - THE CLITS! Best band.