Album Review: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Sideways to New Italy

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever formed in Melbourne in 2013. At the heart are three guitarist songwriters Fran Keaney, Tom Russo and Joe White. To complete the sound, they settled on Joe Russo bass, and Marcel Tussie drums.

Three lads, sons of the Stone Roses and the Jesus and Mary Chain, were playing around, jamming in their suburban Melbourne garages. “Let’s have a listen to some Dad Rock, at least it might be good for a laugh”.

Three hours later, and appropriately spaced out, one says, “Hey, there’s this Kinks, Monkees and Turtles stuff.”

The guitarists took time to forge the distinctive, ringing,”in the jingle jangle morning” sound, staying well within the confines of Power Pop. The vocals slide in behind, very pretty indeed.

Talk Tight was their first EP and it got noticed. They signed to Indie label Sub Pop, and what followed was a second EP French Pass. Then came the highly successful and critically well received debut album Hope Down.

The boys say they wrote these songs after a lengthy time of road travel, appearing at sell-out shows in Europe and America, including extravaganza’s like Coachella.

There were stresses and tensions, the difficulty of being on the road, relationship problems and the threat of a band break-up. They channelled this into riff jams, from which they then worked inside the music to pull out its components and refashion them into the ten songs we now hear.

Little Italy is a tiny town in Northern New South Wales with origins from Europe. The boys’ own family background, and of many people who live in Melbourne, are Southern European. It helps makes Melbourne the most continental of Australian cities.

While all the songs sound similar, they all have nuances and details which stand out upon repeated listens. This is in the tradition of great “it all sounds the same” bands like the Ramones, the Smiths, AC-DC, the Rolling Stones from Exile on Main Street on.

Lyrics when they surface can be observational. “There’s whiskey in the jar, old man at the pawnshop,” from Beautiful Steven with a Smiths guitar sound and Morrissey humour.

Falling Thunder, She’s There, Cars in Space, three singles released from the album, all bright and sparkling with diamantes.

Cameo is a change of pace, a slow vocal introduction similar to Ray Davies from the sixties, before it revs up.

Similar with Not Tonight, but its Morrissey again. “Every Saturday I wait for the footfalls in the hall.”

In Sunglasses at the Wedding, another change of tone. Acoustic guitars and what sounds like one being played with a slider.

This is a very likeable and addictive sound which strengthens on repeated listening.

Looking forward to hearing them live with a good, sweaty, heaving crowd (when will that be? expletive deleted). I promise to be suitably spaced out if that helps.

Sideways To New Italy
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Album out 5 June 2020 through Ivy League Records
Available to pre-order here

Sideways To New Italy tracklisting:
1. The Second Of The First
2. Falling Thunder
3. She’s There
4. Beautiful Steven
5. The Only One
6. Cars In Space
7. Cameo
8. Not Tonight
9. Sunglasses At The Wedding
10. The Cool Change

Rev Orange Peel.