holley4734
Hi, Thanks for the opportunity to chat today about the Lost Dogs Of Ultimo and the current project. I’m Pauli and I live in Melbourne Australia.
In 2020 during the lockdowns, I thought it would be a good idea to engage with some of my old musician friends, artists and activists from around the country. I wanted to make music as soundtracks to my street art photography that I was doing at the time.
This summer here in Australia I was looking for a new challenge to engage myself and anybody that was able to be involved. I thought back to the beginning when I started out as a Busker learning my instrument and performance. The songs I used to play were and still are fantastic. I wanted to celebrate the Bands and artists that inspired Me to pick up a guitar and play.
Bands Like the MC5, The Clash and X Ray Specs came to mind. I loved the energy, the raw edgy sounds and lyrics. The song that really stuck in my mind was X Ray Specs Identity with Polystyrene. They were an incredible artist and vocalist who sadly died from cancer. Identity is a song that had the punch I needed.
I wanted to retain that edgy feel but shift it a little sideways to where I am now. So I changed the feel of the bass line to a Ska Reggae vibe but kept a heavy guitar sound – reminiscent of that 79/80s punk sound. I also tried to keep the energy of the song by recording it as live as possible with very few retakes.
I asked Madam Nightingale, a Melbourne artist to collaborate with vocals. She has an incredible range. We used some of that range to take the part of the Sax used in the original song and mix it up with the vocal track.The result for me was incredible. It was a pleasure to celebrate an artist and to acknowledge those that inspired me and Madam Nightingale as artists.
We released the single Smells Like X Ray Specs Identity / Make People Happy in May 2023.
Lost Dogs of Ultimo Links
