Duneeater Premiere “Pleather Sex” From Turned to Stone Chapter 5 Split with Planet of the 8s
Ripple Music‘s split series continues Aug. 5 with Turned to Stone Chapter 5, pairing Australian heavy rockers Duneeater and Planet of the 8s. And while many splits set themselves up as a blank-vs.-blank scenario, like a (usually friendly) competition between the bands involved, the Victoria and Melbourne, respectively, outfits make sure everyone knows they’re both playing for Team Riff, setting up the tracklisting between the two so that the bands not only share the release, but indeed some of the music that makes it up. Duneeater, who released their No Gas No Good debut LP in 2019, begin side A with “Dusk Part 2.” Planet of the 8s, whose Lagrange Point Vol. 1 (review here) came out last year, end side B with “Dusk Part 1.” So immediately the vinyl has a wraparound effect from these two riff-led interludes.
They do something similar with the middle. Duneeater‘s “Devil Dodgers (Dawn Part 1)” caps their five-song portion by dedicating its last 50 seconds and fadeout to pulling off a quietly complex rhythmic turn into the riff that will also serve as the fading-in foundation of Planet of the 8s‘ minute-long “Dawn Part 2” — they also work some fun stops into the end of it before digging into their two main songs, which are longer than the two between which they’re sandwiched. There are stylistic similarities and differences between the bands. Duneeater are more straightforward, back to the roots of heavy, fuzzy, desert-style rock as shades of Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Mondo Generator, “Twin Voyager” nodding directly at the Californian desert while “Pleather Sex” (video premiering below) echoes Sungrazer‘s “Common Believer” in its riff and pairs that with a Valley of the Sun-style grit and Songs for the Deaf-style crunch that would make Ruff Majik blush.
Familiar terrain? Maybe, but Duneeater do well with it and know the style they’re playing toward. It might be splitting hairs to liken “C.O.B.R.A.” to Hermano for its mellower tempo and general tonal fullness, but they still have plenty of brashness to work with and “Devil Dodgers (Dawn Part 1)” jams more uptempo calling back to early Fu Manchu in its backing vocals and almost punkish approach to its own fuzz. One wonders a bit about the decision to keep “Dawn Part 1” in “Devil Dodgers” itself, rather than list it as its own track, but if you’re listening to the vinyl it doesn’t matter. Planet of the 8s fade in playing the same progression, putting their own spin on it while introducing the shift in production that side B brings, the tones hitting a little fuller than the pivot-ready desert looseness of Duneeater.
As they launch into “Raised by Night” and “Gravity,” it’s worth noting that neither Lagrange Point Vol. 1 or their prior two LPs only had one track over seven minutes long, which both of these are. Coming from the 2021 release, Planet of the 8s still embark on a fuzz-led journey including guest spots, but where on Lagrange Point Vol. 1 there was a different singer on each song — which were arranged around an intro and outro; not dissimilar from Turned to Stone Chapter 5 — the cuts here are inherently less disjointed in their presentation, and even more than 2019’s Tourist Season album, they seem to use their relatively extended length for more progressive shove, the melodies of “Raised by Night” met by fervent hits and a building tension as they move into the song’s back half, some of Elder‘s nuance meeting with a Forming the Void-ish nod. Tourist Season had some glimpses of Wo Fat influence as well, and that’s not necessarily absent from “Gravity,” but there’s more prog happening, more angularity, and the layered vocals add to that individual edge.
But here’s the thing: “Gravity” is still heavy, fuzzed, desert rock, it’s just got a different bent, so however much you want to dig into Turned to Stone Chapter 5, Duneeater and Planet of the 8s are ready for it. Ripple‘s series has felt decidedly curated in the past and does here as well in this pairing of countryman units by John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution, as their complementary mission is brightly successful as “Gravity” prog-psych-embiggens its way into the count-in and bassy boogie of “Dusk Part 1,” which fades out hypnotically to let the rawer instrumental bite of Duneeater pick up with “Dusk Part 2” on the next spin. Before you know it, you’re back to “Twin Voyager.”
And that goes to underline the sheer listenability of Turned to Stone Chapter 5. It is the converted offering a righteous preach to the choir, and each side has a bit of sermon to it as well. If you’d worship an altar of fuzz, they’ve built one here.
The video for “Pleather Sex” is suitably sleazed-out, but Mr. Pleather gets his in the end to some extent, though he still spent the whole day getting laid, which I’m officially old enough to watch and think that seems exhausting. Alas, the things we do for riffs.
Enjoy:
Duneeater, “Pleather Sex” official video
Duneeater on “Pleather Sex”:
Pleather Sex is all about men and woman alike who love their muscle cars and rootin’ in the back of them. Mike Foxall was approached to do the animation for the clip (after seeing the work he’d done for Grindhouse, we knew he was the dude!)
The brief was, capture our passion for old School Aussie classic cars, take the piss, keep it humorous and throw the band and our own personal cars in the clip. Mike came up with the concept of Pleather man – a goofy 70s stud type, a mixture of Alvin Purple, Ron Jeremy, and Denis Lillie, who runs rampant like he’s back in the days of the sexual revolution. But it’s not just about blokes having all the fun. Collectively we came up with a way to make sure the ladies got their fix too.
Pleather Sex almost never happened, sitting on the cutting room floor for a long time. It was written before we had the full band line up, after a few jams it wasn’t working and therefore shelved. The years pass, Covid comes along and our time to work on new material is limited. So we start dredging through the DE vaults and stumble upon Pleather Sex. This time we had the vibe of the whole band. With Josh now on drums and Robs on lead guitar adding their flare, the song’s groove hit another level and… Voilà! Pleather Sex hits the streets, restored and ready to roll.
“Turned to Stone Chapter 5: Planet of the 8s & Duneeater” out August 5th on Ripple Music. Preorder: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
Tracklisting:
1. Duneeater – Dusk Part 2
2. Duneeater – Twin Voyager
3. Duneeater – Pleather Sex
4. Duneeater – C.O.B.R.A.
5. Duneeater – Devil Dodgers (Dawn Part 1)
6. Planet Of The 8s – Dawn Part 2
7. Planet Of The 8s – Raised By Night
8. Planet Of The 8s – Gravity
9. Planet Of The 8s – Dusk Part 1
[…] Watch Duneeater‘s cartoon video for “Pleather Sex” here: https://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2022/06/10/duneeater-planet-of-the-8s-turned-to-stone-chapter-5-revie… […]
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