By ALANA MITCHELSON
Local blues/rock outfit The Murlocs have big plans for 2016, with an overseas tour on the agenda and the release of a new album.
It’s been a long time coming since The Murlocs released latest single Adolescence last summer, but lead singer Ambrose Kenny-Smith said a new album was to be released very soon.
“We’ll be releasing a new album by the start of next year and I’m hoping we’ll finally take our tour overseas,” he said.
“There’ll be a lot happening next year.”
The majority of the quintet grew up on the Bellarine Peninsula. Kenny-Smith, guitarist Callum Shortal and drummer Matt Blach had known each other since their school days at Ocean Grove.
Kenny-Smith fondly recalled The Murlocs’ first gig when the band was granted a slot at Ocean Grove’s Piping Hot Chicken Shop as part of Queenscliff Music Festival.
“People are clueless to the fact that so many bands come out of the Geelong music scene,” he mused.
“I’ve moved to Melbourne now but it’s always really nice to come back to Geelong and play a show at the Barwon Club.
“I usually spend a lot of the night catching up with people I haven’t seen for ages.”
Kenny-Smith said the band was quite collaborative in its approach to making music.
Shortal usually created the music and Kenny-Smith wrote the lyrics, he explained.
But in crafting their second full-length album, the songwriter found himself picking up the guitar and strumming melodies much more than usual.
Now preparing for the tour, Kenny-Smith said things always seemed to go wrong when The Murlocs were on the road.
“Just recently our bass player had an allergic reaction to antibiotics,” he said.
“We all rushed him to the hospital during peak-hour traffic and had to race back to play a show as a four-piece. It gave us a bit of a scare but he’s fine now.
“We just seem to have a bit of bad luck on tour. Hopefully we’ve had all the bad luck we could possibly have for one year and luck will go our way next year.”
The Murlocs play at The Barwon Club Hotel tomorrow, with supports Hills Hoist, Zig Zag and Orb from 8pm.
