Skunkhour were everything I was looking for in a band when they came to my attention in ’93.
They played the funk music that’d started shaking Sydney with hiphop influences and a distinctively Australian delivery.
I think the Larkin brothers, Aya and Del, are criminally overlooked as lyricists, and Del also did beaut illustrations for releases by other bands in their cohort, such as Swoop and Juice.
The self-titled Skunkhour debut showed they were able to sing about admiring arses (‘Bootyfull’) and also to consider gender roles (‘A Cow and a Pig’), as well discuss the heroin epidemic of the early ‘90s (‘Horse’).
Then the follow-up album Feed in 1995 expanded their focus musically and lyrically.
‘McSkunk’ was released as a single well in advance of the album and runs through a critique of capitalism exploiting natural resources. (It’s a theme they would later explore as the ballad ’Tomorrow’s Too Soon’ and that’s one of those songs that I love for making my eyes water.)
The track ‘State’ then slipped out on an EP and, as a first-year Philosophy student, I appreciated the parallels with Plato’s writing for comparing divisions in the soul with those in society.
I’d begun writing for Canberra’s BMA Magazine and spoke with guitarist Warwick Scott for a couple of interviews, as well as having opportunities to quiz the band after their shows.
Ahead of the release of the album Feed I got a promotional three-song cassette, which included ‘Treacherous Head’ and ‘Strange Equation’.
The former addresses our human impulses and their potential to undermine our best intentions, while the latter rhymed the song title with “race assimiliation” to discuss the hollow words that “all men are created equal” in the United States Declaration of Independence.
‘Green Light’ is a phenomenal track to hear live as the Sutherland brothers lock in their bass and drum parts.
’Sunstone’ speaks of driving Australia’s back roads with wry observations that feel like an aural equivalent of a Russell Drysdale painting.
I’m also a fan of Skunkhour’s album Chin Chin with ‘Weightlessness’ another great dance song and the opening lyrics for ‘Childish Man’ are often quoted by me:
“If reality is ‘sposed to be the safest, why is everyone in some way an escapist?”
