Spazzys - 'Aloha! Go Bananas' (2004)

Versions:
CD
CD+DVD
DVD

Tracklisting:
1. Zombie Girl
2. Surfen Bird
3. The Sunshine Drive
4. Action City
5. Hey Hey Baby
6. Steal A Kiss
7. Paco Doesn't Love Me
8. Shake & Twist
9. My Boyfriend's Back
10. Cigarettes
11. You Left My Heart In The Garage
12. Zatopeks
13. My Car Doesn't Brake
14. I Wanna Cut My Hair Like Marky Ramone

Best Tracks:
Zombie Girl
Zatopeks
Paco Doesn't Love Me

Currently listening to: CD

Has it really been 10 years since Aloha! Go Bananas?

My, how time flies.

I first heard The Spazzy's when their demo was played on 3D Radio in Adelaide some time in the early 00's. My best mate and I were immediately interested, based on their name. We thought it was a fucking great name for a band. The first song I remember hearing was 'Let's Get Spazzy'. I instantly loved it. I remember downloading their demo CD from their (Angelfire-hosted) website, which included 'Let's Get Spazzy'. I played it a lot.

The first time I remember seeing them play was supporting Gerling at Fowler's around 2003. My mates and I went only to see The Spazzy's. And, they were a lot of fun. We saw them once or twice more before they put out Aloha! Go Bananas (I do seem to recall that they released the Paco Doesn't Love Me single first, although I could be wrong). The gigs were always energetic and fucking fun.

I was pretty eager for Aloha! Go Bananas when it first came out. My initial reaction was disappointment - it didn't have 'Let's Get Spazzy'! Regardless, I really dug the album. 'Paco Doesn't Love Me', 'Zombie Girl', 'Zatopeks', 'You Left My Heart In The Garage' and 'The Sunshine Drive' were my favourites.

They played two nights in Adelaide about a week after the album came out. One night at the Crown & Anchor, and the next night supporting Magic Dirt at The Gov. Both gigs were fantastic. I remember being a little tipsy and (accidentally) talking to Kat and Ally. They were really nice, if not a bit dubious about the drunk guys that happened to be sitting next to them (it was in the old foyer at the Cranker, when they'd have the fire going. It was actually unintentional, I promise). I told Kat that 'Let's Get Spazzy' was my favourite song and that I couldn't believe they left it off the album. She seemed surprised that I actually liked it, telling me she'd written it as a throwaway, just to get the band's name on the radio. They then played it for me at the gig, which was sweet.

The weirdest thing about this album was that 'My Boyfriend's Back' became something of a hit single (Wikipedia tells me it hit #24 in the charts). At the time, I was still working at Target, and they put it on the promotional DVD we had to play on the TV's in the store (even Magic Dirt never made it to the Target TV's!). Which was a bit surreal. There was another song I liked on the DVD, so I'd play Spazzy's and this other song on a loop. It was great, if not a bit weird.

Listening to the album tonight, for the first time in a long time, has brought back a lot of memories. Primarily, the smell of beer and cigarettes in the Cranker band room. And, hangovers and ringing ears. Despite, the obvious nostalgia, it's still a pretty good album. I must admit, it's way better than I anticipated.

I ended up with a few copies of the album. I re-bought it when they re-released it with a DVD. I then got a copy of the DVD, since they sent it to people who already bought the album (which I found out after I'd already bought it). All you had to do was email their record label the barcode from your CD and they sent the DVD. Pretty cool.

The last time I saw The Spazzy's was Big Day Out in 2007. Kat had broken her arm and Davey Lane from You Am I played guitar for them. I think they may have played in Adelaide once since then. I don't give The Spazzy's much attention these days. I still haven't bought their second album. I kept meaning to import it, since it was only released in Japan. When it was finally released in Australia a few years ago, I still never got around to getting it. I enjoyed Aloha! Go Bananas so much tonight, I might need to seek it out. I know they still play around Melbourne (and I think they recently toured Europe), I hope I catch them live again some time.