Polish Club's Sophomore Slump

A SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE OF SOMETHING THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN...

A sad and pathetic Tom manages to get in touch with an Australian rock hero; Rob Hirst - songwriter and drummer from Midnight Oil, The Backsliders, and more. JH fans out, and talks drums for a whole hour, but the real question is... what's it like to make rock music that matters? And what next?

Novak eats pasta. ||

Visit Rob Hirst's website to check out all the content discussed in this episode, and follow updates for Midnight Oil's 2020 release(s) on their website.

After a podcast hiatus - to make room for their tour with DZ Deathrays, and enough time to get back in the studio to write new music, and launch a big final show at the Polish Club in Ashfield - Novak and JH debrief with Tom about the last few months, and what's next on the Polish Club agenda. (Season 2, perhaps?) || And listen to the brand new song, Countdown, as well as six cover songs, on the new megamix: nye_2020_megamix.exe available on Spotify and all streaming services.

Ash Grunwald rounds out the advice Polish Club have received so far, with the wisdom of someone who has been through it all, and come out the other side, several times over. || Ash's new book, Surf By Day, Jam By Night is available from Pantera Press, and his new album, Mojo, is available everywhere. While you're at it, check out Ash's own podcast, Soulful Conversations!

Home after their tour, Polish Club have announced they're getting back on the road... this time supporting veterans DZ Deathrays. So they talk to Shane Parsons from the band about what to expect down the road, and about... their... favourite songs... by Live? || Get tickets to the tour at DZDeathrays.com, where you can also get the album Positive Rising, Part 1. For that fake Red Hot Chili Peppers song from the 2014 Superbowl, visit RHCP2014.com. To see part of the Smash Mouth Bread Incident, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF4hPwDlZtw. Lemon Party is, thankfully, no longer available - but it was worse than your imagination. The song that played during it, that JH sang, was Jimmy Soul's "If You Wanna Be Happy".

With the band away for the final leg of their tour, Tom had the studio to himself and took things into his own hands, by interviewing Julia Jacklin - probably the one person in the world least associated with a sophomore slump of any kind. Alas, Tom flew too close to the sun. || Novak plays a cover of Julia's "Don't Know How To Keep Loving You". Visit JuliaJacklin.com to get her album, Crushing.

Polish Club talks to someone who is actually stoked about releasing a second album; Montaigne. After getting out all their anxiety about touring and having a relationship with your audience, the conversation naturally bends towards John Mayer. Then, in an attempt to reframe the meaning behind the album 'Iguana', Tom gets Novak and JH face-to-face with an actual iguana. Things are... nice. || Visit www.Montaignemusic.com.au for links to Montaigne's album, 'Complex', where you can hear the song 'READY' from this episode. Huge thanks to Taronga Zoo! King was a champ. ||

Now the overthinking and self-analysis is over, it's time to actually show the world what they've spent a year putting together. On the verge of their national tour, Polish Club talk the weird and wonderful side of touring with Georgia Mooney and Elana Stone, from All Our Exes Live in Texas.

Listen to 'When We Fall" by All Our Exes Live In Texas, available on all streaming services. http://www.AllOurExesLiveInTexas.com / https://www.instagram.com/allourexesliveintexas

Novak & JH debrief with their producer Wade Keighran, about the Iguana recording process, in the hopes that things couldn't have been as bad as they remember. Turns out, it was even worse than they thought.

Novak & JH feel like they've been hit by a Bhuja Mix delivery van. They're exhausted from making the album, and they haven't even started touring it yet. They don't know what happened. It wasn't supposed to be this hard. And, goddamn, don't podcasts need a theme song?

Polish Club's JH & Novak call their manager, Charlotte Ried, for a podcast production meeting. || Polish Club's Sophomore Slump will launch Wednesday 7 August. Subscribe now for first access!