Live At The Pleasuredome
by The Southern River Band

I spent my teens living in Thornlie (my parents still live there), went to Thornlie High and Gosnells (now Southern River High) and have seen the band live around 30 times!

I picked up the vinyl copy of this album after a chance meeting with the bass player. After our brief chat, I hopped online that night to listen to the song Through the Forest and the Trees on MySpace. Wow, I knew all the street name references from my misspent youth as a regular at Thornlie local, the Lakers. The song was catchy as hell, and the solo rocked. I sent the song to my brother and mates from back in the day and ordered the album.

It arrived a week later, signed by Callum Kramer, apparently the 17-year-old creative force behind the album.

The artwork on the album is awesome - full of Thornlie references and a gatefold to boot.

What an album. It starts with a drum solo! Audacious! Chock full of rockin' hammering tunes. From then, I figured this band were set for stardom. I didn't think it would take this long, but stardom will be theirs soon! Favourites: the above is a special song for me as my folks still live close to Thornlie High, Chasin' After Love, Let It Ride, Two Times a Fool, Little While. They all rock.

Some Might Say the songs lack subtlety and, ala ACCADACCA, and are all a tad similar, but I Beg to Differ. For me, there's more melody happening in these tunes - more songwriting craft and charm.

Take Chasin' After Love ('ll Burn a Hole in Your Shoes). It's a classic and builds to a sing-along WELL THE WOMAN THAT YOU LOVED AINT THE GIRL THAT SHE IS - an apt response to the Hunters' Aussie classic 'You Don't Make Me Feel Like I'm A Woman Anymore' that we used to sing when seeing H&C back in the day! The background vocals are awesome, and, despite newer versions of the song, this is the best. In better times, when the masses looked to music rather than the WWW for their soul, it would have been a number 1. (Imagine SRB on Countdown!).

How a 17-year-old masterminded this classic is beyond me. The audacity of youth? Expert assistance from master craftsman/producer/and now fully fledged member of the band, Dan Carrol? Maybe Cal did a deal with the devil when missing the 212 bus to Thornlie and ended up where Beelzebub reigns - on the green and white for the Canning Vale prison!

They followed the album with Rumour & Innuedno - another raucous classic! A book should be written about the video for Second Best. It's a classic! (Title: One Night in Thornlie!)

They haven't yet beaten this first album - it's the most complete, cohesive album. Maybe it's the inter-song banter and the running order and the feast of songs! I'm sure another classic album is around the corner.

I planned to catch them live as soon as I could. They seemed to be touring all the time. But life got busy, and then COVID hit - a major blow for the band, who were one date into their first national tour supporting the Darkness. It also came after a regrouping with a complete line-up change, including the arrival of the aforementioned bass player and awesome back-up singer Pat Smith, who I'm indebted to for the introduction. The bearded beast - guitar player, Dan Carrol, joined to consummate the match made in heaven with CK. They recorded a live studio album during COVID, wrote more killer tunes and made plans!

I caught them after COVID at the Charles - the night the Socceroos faced Argentina in the World Cup. They blew me away - so much I uncharacteristically surged the stage to shake Cal's hand at the end of the gig.

Shortly after that gig, Tyler, aka Hawk, joined, and the line-up was complete. His drumming strengthened the band and thy were prepared to take on the world one seedy bar at a time.

Sadly, the world remained largely ignorant, with no Aussie radio support and little interest from record companies, who were focused on the next TikTok sensation.

Advice to Civilians, their record company, get these guys on the ARIAS, nay the Grammys, the AFL grand final, nay the Superbowl...Regardless, it's going to go exponential any day now. They have the chops...but more importantly, the songs.

For now, there will be more shows, more killer tunes, hilarious social media starring Cal and Carlos, his deadpan dad, reeling in fans one at a time, as they say.

Still, criminally underrated, they continue their pursuit 666 percent rock’n’roll with songs full of "liquor, women, drugs, killing…”.

Cal recently lamented from the stage the lack of record company support for a 10-year reissue of the album. If they are really that dumb Fuck 'em - I'll support a local Thornlie release!!! (Imagine Thornlie Green Vinyl!).

Travel from wherever u are to see 'em at a show in Gosnells that's no doubt coming soon before there's a queue round the block. Maybe check out the Lakers, the Thornlie roads (pop in on me and Cal's M&D ) and that bus while you're in the neighbourhood. Deals await ya...

Best release of the last decade...and from my hood....WOW!