July 30th, 2010
so many hip hop tracks

we have a total of 33 tracks in production at the moment. an hour and 44 minutes and eight seconds. this figure might change... it will probably get bigger.

we've gone from three singers to eight singers. six song writers to eight song writers. one jayden kenny to about twelve jayden kenny's. possible double album. but not the shit 'stadium arcadium' kind of double album. more like the 'white album' kind of double album. which we're totally capable of because we have twice as many members as the beatles... right?

we have a dead line. we've booked our album launch for friday the 19th of november at cherry bar. hopefully its finished by then.

we still need a name. so if any one has any ideas just wing us an email at: bookings@thodcountry.net

we might even give you a free CD if we like your idea.

our next show is at the warrandyte mechanics hall on saturday the 7th of august. apparently its sold out, so if you don't have tickets then too bad.

we've also organised a video launch for 'Wanted Man'. the video's posted above, so you can check it out. written and directed by aidan mcdonald. our friends the revels and the messengers will be joining us. it should be a great night. more details to come!

thats about it for now. we'll probably post a rough edit of a new song up here soon!

so long.

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July 14th, 2010
wanted man - the video clip


written and directed by aidan mcdonald
d.o.p michael ryzhikh
starring dave mckinnar, the thod and friends

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July 13th, 2010
on catharsis - by daniel mcdonald

act one: the music

there's something cathartic about making music.
no-- wait-- that's not true. there isn't.
it takes too long. 
it takes too long to write, practice and record.
it's too many hours spent with james pasinis on stages and in tiny, dirty rooms.

act two: monday night

catharsis exists only for an instant. 
at best, it's there for one strum of the guitar,
or one decent smack of the tambourine. 
but as soon as it comes it is overwhelmed by hatred for james, and the things he forces you to do each day.

act three: la mort

to stab a person with a knife would be cathartic.
but his blood would surely spurt all over your clothes,
and by the time you got clean you'd be enraged again:
enraged by the act of cleaning;
enraged by the jamesy colour of the stains that remain on the soles of your shoes.

epilogue: one week later

i need catharsis again.
i pick up the knife and thrust--
but james is already dead.

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July 7th, 2010
captains log - the thod recording lorfe




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July 4th, 2010
captains log - forgot how to count

too many early mornings. staying up to watch the soccer all night while drinking wolesely wine and smoking excess cigarettes. all while recording anything we can. including a revamped ' the thod can do oz hip hop' renamed 'if ur not from diamo'. its pretty rude. will post it on this website as soon as possible as it won't be on the album...

everythings running smoothly. though we've lost track of what day we're up to. jayden kenny seems to have gone awol... so if any one sees him, tell him he is dearly missed. and if anyone would like to tell us who won between ghana and uruguay that would be greatly appreciated.

and a happy birthday to alastair matcott. may you climb the highest tree and destroy the wildest of beasts.

should report back soon with something interesting, true?

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July 1st, 2010
captains log - day two

too much free wine. despite the lack of band members that have been recording we've still managed to get a good start on it all. 10 songs so far. some of which are just guitar or bass tracks. some are almost finished. heres a rough list:

- - brand new glasses
- - another empire
- - go ahead and die
- - your tears make me happy
- - don't care if i die
- - old man
- - off into space you go

at last count we have another 18 songs to record. but the list is just gonna keep getting bigger. there might be some footage up soon. if we deem it viewable. and hey, maybe even a bit of music too.

in other news, we've got a couple of different tracks up on our unearthed profile. one of which is an old recording of a new song. one that features in the above list, infact.

also, we're playing a deaf sessions show at cherry bar on friday the 9th of july with buried feather (ep launch) & cordyceps. heres the facebook event for more info.

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June 29th, 2010
captains log - day one

we have finally commenced recording for our next album. due to some minor hiccups we've had to change location of our state of the art, amazing makeshift studio to a small house on a big highway next door to a noisy BP in st. hell(ena).

we're going to be keeping this space regularly updated. so maybe keep an eye on it if you're keen on how we're going. we're gonna upload more media than you can take. it will hurt. our technologies are not advanced yet. we are still in the dark ages. we are not ripe. we have only discovered picture:

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June 28th, 2010
lessons learnt in the smoking area

life is a game, a game in which you try and successfully blend into various situations, whether they be social, occupational, romantic or creative. all the time though, our identities and behaviours are formed within a societal context.

to try and make the game more interesting, try giving yourself a disadvantage. by altering your physical appearance or ability to your detriment, by society’s standards, you put a higher onus or responsibility on the performance of your personality and intelligence to blend into various circumstances. common negative characteristics chosen at performances of the thod include: denim shorts or ¾ pants, a cravat*, the mullet or blonde-tips. 

another way, arguably of higher difficulty but of higher reward once mastered, is to alter your mental capabilities or personality by using mind altering or inhibiting substances and trying to resume daily activities as per the norm or indeed try and attract a mate. this will stress your problem solving and skills of adaptation. thinking quickly on your feet whilst in the haze becomes important to the smooth running of your social interactions or work commitments, and especially when dancing with acts of romance. once returning to normal cerebral levels these skills of social adaptation are often, but not always, left intact or at a higher working rate as a result. common choices in the smoking-area include toohey’s platinums, jagerbombs and often some form of narcotic or smokeable plant.

by giving yourself an obstacle to overcome every once in a while you can better yourself in the ways of the game.
now, we hear from queen:

this is your life, don’t play hard to get.
it’s a free, free world, all you have to do
is fall in love, play the game,
everybody play the game…

currently, I am winning the game**…

booglz


*some blessed individuals look reasonable in a cravat, but not many.
**those people having not had the pleasure of meeting adam anthony ‘mundine’ ‘VaV’ vavlitis, category a – boss of the game before… just lost the game.

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June 15th, 2010
the thod - immortalised forever in the halls of academia

The communities of practice (CofP) framework is a relative newcomer to sociolinguistic research which demonstrates great promise as a means of analysing and better understanding both the functioning of groups and the individuals that comprise them. To date, however, the body of research in the area is small, and consequently, the parameters that govern the framework are largely undefined. While potential communities suitable for analysis are limitless, previous studies in the field have typically concerned pedagogical scenarios, gender-based groups, or institutional communities‘ (such as office workers). Specifically, it seems that there is a lack of CofP-based research where unstructured social communities are concerned.

Following a review of the development and current findings of the CofP approach, I present a small-scale case study of a semi-structured community comprised of musicians (The Thod) and their core fan-base. Key findings concerning group structure, trajectory, language brokering and linguistic change within the group are then discussed with reference to contemporary literature. This discussion highlights the successes and shortcomings of the CofP framework as a means of analysing communities with structures thus far unaccounted for by CofP research.

Duke: 'We say [cheeky in falsetto] because of when [a member of the group] got really bent – remember, he kept giggling and going ―pass the cheeky (in falsetto).' Sammy: 'Degs came from me and The Wierce, talking about the movie Snatch, where he‘s like—where Brad Pitt‘s like, ―you like degs? Yeah, I like dogs. And so me and The Wierce, we‘d go out for a dick (obsolete word for cigarette), and then we called it a dart (also obsolete), and then we started calling it a degs.'

CLICK HERE to download the full paper written by dan carraway

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June 2nd, 2010
gig review - anzac day

ding dong lounge anzac day review from the au review.

Proudly heralded as 'cultish goon-bag rock' The Thod followed with the kind of set they've become famous for in all the best and dingiest pubs around Melbourne, proper bluesy rock  with a beat you can dance to. The eight piece sports five guitars (along with the usual blues accouterments of keys, harp and tambourine) and it's a small feat of magic that it works so well. They may not be reinventing the wheel but once they start those jams your feet will start moving of their own accord and you'll have no choice but to groove along.

read the whole review here!

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June 1st, 2010
a few things...

we haven't exactly been keeping this site as up to date as we'd hoped, but what can you do. no ones paying us to do it.

firstly, a big thanks to En Tout Cas, Tehachapi, Ancient Slate, The Messengers, The Alcorettes, Sean Ainsworth, The Solomons, Bravado, The Routines, Dozers, The Beat Disease, & YIS for joining us for the royal derby residency. also thanks to everyone who came down and made it enjoyable.

we're taking a break from gigging for a while, but will be returning july 9th for our first gig at cherry bar. we think it will be a tonedeaf thing, but we're not entirely sure yet. playing with buried feather (its their CD launch) and cordyceps. more info will come soon.

behind the scenes we've been keeping relatively busy. aidan mcdonald has taken it upon himself to make a music video for our number one hit single Wanted Man. you can check out some photos from the shoot taken by matt fazio in our brand new 'pictures' section. also here is a very vague idea of what the video is about:

the video should be done in the not so distant future, a long with a video launch gig, if all goes to plan.

at the moment we're writing some new numbers for our next album which we'll start recording in the next couple of months at an undisclosed location in the middle of no where. exciting times... good things to come.

so long.

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May 16th, 2010
we are turning political

a great number of australians are unaware that voting in the federal election isn't compulsory. If you're already enrolled, then YES, you are required to attend the polling station. but voting? nope -- nobody's forcing your hand.

this has nothing to do with any political party or ideology -- and it doesn't contradict the values of any major political group in the country. many nations already have a 'none-of-the-above' option on the ballot. we do not -- and lobbying to get one printed is probably a bit out of our league (for now!)

and just so you know, we're not anarchists. we simply believe that by raising awareness of the law, some of the people who don't want to vote will choose not to. and we believe that this will lead to an election result far less contaminated by the 'donkey votes' that preference candidates at random. this makes every informed, legitimate vote just that little bit more powerful. 

hey -- it can't hurt, right? (at the very least, there'll be less people voting for family first on the basis of their lovely party name.)

all we're asking of you is two things:

one: go to the link below -- spread the awareness to your friends!

two: think about whether or not you wish to cast a vote. If you feel uninformed, apathetic, coerced by mass-media marketing ... whatever your reason ... simply know that nobody's forcing you to choose.

CLICK HERE

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May 15th, 2010
tha messengers are so dope

hello out there. if you haven't heard them already, we'd like to introduce you to the messengers - one of our favourite melbourne bands. next chance you get to see them, do it.

oh, and add them on facebook (tha messengers) and they'll even talk to you.

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May 11th, 2010
steezin' footage

scarnon! we've finally got around to uploading some pretty live footage to the internets (scroll down a bit), some of which includes the end of our album launch at world bar during our sydney tour. sooner or later more footage from that tour will be posted, including our literal album launch and possibly a step-by-step guide on how to catch possums.

the other piece of video is from the end of a recent show in the good town of warrandyte for their annual festival. sadly, we're missing a wild sam batty as he had radio duties to adhere to. but thanks to those kids who invaded our stage. it was a party.

theres a bunch of other junk in our youtube account too. some of it good. some of it not so good. and also, if you go here you'll also find some other thod related media and just some cool stuff in general.

remember! this friday at the royal derby w/ the messengers, the alcorettes, and sean ainsworth. steezin' lineup.

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May 9th, 2010
beige fashion

well we’ve come to that part of the decade again, the part where it becomes painfully obvious that the fashion back and forth between neat and ‘i just don’t give a damn’ is just gonna keep on keeping on. see, the last decade, the 00’s, were a neat decade, the emo crowd, hipsters, indie and even main stream fashion types (think paris hilton) wore ironed clothes, did makeup (both genders) and matched accessories.

the 90’s had the baggy jeans hand full of hair gel look where skateboards were legitimately cool and metal heads went through another shaggy period. the 80’s look, while horrifying in retrospect, would have taken time to master and reproduce, copious amounts of money was spent on hair and wearing different clothes every day mattered.

the 70’s, while neater than the 90s, were messier than the 80’s and having the summer of love hippies holding on to pot and kombi vans, without the masses to support them, had a strange smell to it, it also had brown suits and expectations that a world run by robots would do everything for them in the coming years, hence the laziness.

the 60’s had real hippies, but they were all the way hippies, those rainbow vans and tye-dye tee’s looked legit, with the space race everything was sleek and silver, plus business men kept the style of the 50’s but with the technology to keep their clothes clean, pressed and plentiful, yep, mass production made everything new again. i could keep going back but it would strain my memory. the point is that this decade is going to be messy, real messy.

so this pattern continues, the youth of the 2010’s won’t be worse people, but they sure will seem that way. fashion will be all about looking like you’ve got more important things to do. want proof? backwards hats are back – backwards freaking hats – if you saw some douche wearing their hat backwards in 2009 you’d point out to them that they were using the hat in the most inefficient way, and this could lead to skin cancer. skinny jeans have now gotten to a point where men are rolling them up above their ankle, with pulled up socks tucked into them. yeah, so high socks are back, thick moustaches, and shaggy hair. this decade is gonna have a funny smell about it.

last decades charity hippies succeeded in letting everyone know about climate change, poverty and cage chickens, which means we’ve got 10 years of ‘feel-good hippies’, the people that keep preaching so not to miss the boat on an ego boost and a good image for telling everyone how x, y and z are dying. if you want to see this decade, look at the 90's but imagine younger people trying to pull that shit off.

hopefully, unlike the 80’s and the last decade, anguish and mental health will stop being cool and there will be a lot less winging by the younger generation, which will clear the airwaves for generation jones to be heard complaining again, and it’s about the time that gen-x will start telling every current affairs program that will listen how today’s youth is weak.

the internet will become stronger, and all those who claimed it would turn us into grimaces will forget how much they hated it. someone will try to ‘crack down’ on crime again and australia’s political parties will continue to pretend they have something which they disagree about.

there will be no conclusion,
- the beige

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May 9th, 2010
we're pretty good at this "blog" thing...

Alistair
yo dude
Me
heyy
Alistair
suppin?
Me
not much. we need a blog entry for the website.
Alistair
we do.
Me
beige can't write anything. donno where dan is. whaskins won't write something pretending to be dan because she'll just end up saying he's gay.
Alistair
you write something.
Me
i don't write things! you do it.
Alistair
gah! paint a picture then and post that.

royal derby this friday. come celebrate someone's birthday and watch a sweet line up. peace.

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may 2nd, 2010
a sam batty party...

sam batty's always been able to throw a wild party. all throughout high school his parties all had numerical titles. as well as emphasis on the location of the party. namely diamond creek. or, casually put; diamo.

you always knew when attending a sam batty party that shit was gonna go down. so it was no surprise that when sam announced his 21st, everyone got a bit excited. especially when they heard sam's plan for a freestyle rap battle tournament (a la 8 mile) to be the party's main event.

shit was tight. booglz (luke diffey) won the fierce and ferocious competition. sam's staunch uncle tim (pictured) probably won the crowd favourite award.

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here's a video from the competition, it's sammy b bringing the heat to mc spliff. dope rhymes. dope beats. dope party. happy birthday sammy.



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May 1st, 2010
hypnotic brass ensemble

everyone should aspire to be this good at life...



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April 30th, 2010

hello!

this is our new website. here's how the damn thing works:
_- directly under 'the thod' banner are randomly generated 'thod facts'.
every time you refresh the page a new one will be displayed. they are all pointless.
_- below that is somewhat of a short story written by a person. you should read it.
_- 'shows' is where all our shows will be listed. as you can see our royal derby residency is listed. if you come to all of them we'll give you a free CD. and if you do come to any of them, feel free to join us in the drug van. goon is supplied.
_- 'downloads' is where you can download a bunch of junk for free. including our first two albums and heaps of 'b-side collections'. just click one of the pictures. we're gonna keep posting new content, though some of it is really messed up.
_- 'video' is where we display videos. go figure. it should be updated regularly but probably won't be.
_- 'links' is where you'll find many things related to members of the band, eg. side projects, local bands we dig, amazing animations, etc. which we will be constantly adding to. you'll also find links to our myspace, facebook, etc. if you're into that kind of thing.
_- and finally, the 'blog' which is what you're reading right now. this will be updated constantly (if all goes to plan) and will not be just about us, but anything else we feel like posting.

so, point is you should all come back soon.

peace,
-the thod