NEW SINGLE: Sydney rock band The Gin Palace introduce themselves with the elegant dark rock sound of their debut single 'Burn Your Heart Out', taken from their forthcoming 2023 album The Year Of The Dog, via DRW Entertainment.
This is a song that pulls no punches as it paints an unsettling picture from the POV of a would-be suicide bomber. The scene is set in the verses – the event is planned, wheels set in motion, while the inevitability of the chorus hits with a devastating melancholic melody, both sad and wistful. "I wanted to tell the story without judgement that would lead to a chorus we could share in and commune in," says Peter Fenton.
"The song in its most simple compositional core is an exploration of faith and violence, and the laundering of love to hate through some ideological jujitsu we can’t comprehend," explains Peter. "I wrote the song thinking about young men in particular that constructed bombs to use as backpack filled rockets to a promised land. How I hated that carnage and the assumed twisting of the bombers innocence to perform such an act of allegiance that remains both astonishingly grotesque and impossible to process."
Musically the song possesses a dark rock grace, the kind of bruised beauty that bands like The Bad Seeds and The Afghan Whigs do so well – courtesy of textured guitars, expressive keys, tumbling drums and a melodic bass style, recorded at producer Paul McDonald's Blue Mountains studio.
The Gin Palace have been circling each other for many years, deciding on when was the right time. Having a deep history, sharing the same stage and often the same bands in the flourishing early 90’s Sydney indie scene, bouncing from the Annandale to the Sandringham to the winter groove of Melbourne’s Fitzroy and St. Kilda scene and the brilliant glare of Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, it was bound to happen eventually.
Peter Fenton is the focal point as singer and guitarist (they have three of them) and will be known for his work as a musician, actor, filmmaker and writer, and went from Crow, one of the most important Australian bands to come out of the 1990s, to lead roles in the critically-acclaimed film Praise, adapted from the Vogel Award-winning novel by Andrew McGahan, and the ABC series Love is a Four Letter Word.
Paul McDonald (guitar) and Marc Lynch (bass) come from indie darlings Glide, the once feted great hope of the guitar noise assault brigade that for a while there shook things up across this country. Paul has also been the creative force behind Charlie Horse while Marc is a current member of JOEYS COOP. Brad Christmas is playing piano/hammond with his Copperline bandmate Gareth Richards on drums and joining on yet another guitar is Mark Tobin, previously from 90’s goth electro overlords Scarlet and Caligula and currently the frontman for The Finalists, filling out this widescreen sonic soap opera.
To add to the mystery of this band, it is of some note that several of the band members have been moonlighting in Steve Kilbey of the Church’s band and touring nationally. Paul and Brad have been recently working as musical directors and musicians for several orchestral productions including the nationally touring Bowie Orchestrated shows and sneaking some time with Peter doing a run of Tom Waits classics.
With invitations to perform alongside notable acts such as The Charlatans, The Clouds, Bluebottle Kiss, You Am I and Magic Dirt, the band are excited to be taking these new songs to stages across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Wollongong in the lead-up to the release of their debut album.
'Burn Your Heart Out' is out now via Bandcamp, streaming services and AMRAP for our community radio friends across Australia.