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EXCLUSIVE: Winston Surfshirt tear the house down once again in Pt 2 of Live at Moonshine

Last week we were given the honor of presenting part one of Winston Surfshirt’s mental Live at Moonshine series. A sweat-soaked, groove filled clip featuring Winston Surfshirt tearing the house down at Manly’s Moonshine. Part one featured a couple of new tracks from the band’s forthcoming debut record Sponge Cake and one from 2014 EP Sticky Date (fuck, I’m hungry). This time round they delve deeper into Sticky Date, plus they pull out a few classic bangers.

Winston Surfshirt Live At Moonshine

Watch part two of Winston Surfshirt’s Live At Moonshine series as they blast through a few tracks off their Sticky Date EP, plus a cheeky classic cover or two.

Like I said last time, I first saw Winston play in a tiny converted public toilet in London, back when it was just the solo project of Winston himself. There were elements of hip-hop in there back then, but the project could have gone either way. Everything revolved around the guitar and it could have easily become a psych-funk band when Winston returned to his Northern Beaches home. Enter the bitchin’ beats of Bustlip.

With the masterful production of Bustlip backing Winston’s considerable songwriting skills, Winston Surfshirt became a fully-fledged, beat-driven, funk addled, hip-hop beast. Throw in a couple of horns and keen guitar and you have perfect party arithmetic. These Moonshine shows encapsulate everything that Winston Surfshirt is about, sleazy lighting, sex-driven tunes and a sweaty as fuck crowd. Cinematographers Thomas Austin and Jack Shepherd placed cameras brilliantly, highlighting the fiddling fingers of Busltip as he flicks at buttons, on the neck of a bass and the slide of trombone.

Winston flicks at a guitar as he grooves across the stage, his vocals meandering between croaky rapping and crooning as he belts his way through Sticky Date standout, the laconic, druggy Papa T. A party band isn’t complete without whipping through some hip-hop classics, and Winston Surfshirt know what classics please a crowd. The whole of Moonshine absolutely lose their shit to Pharaohe Moche’s Simon Says and Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Shimmy Shimmy Ya, and naturally, there is a stage invasion or two. It’s just one big party.

Winston has said Sponge Cake is almost finished, with plans to head to London to put the final touches on it;l “I’m heading to London in August to finish the record off with Mi K. We’ll record the vocals there with the same guy we did the last EP with Jim Friend, and then get it mastered. And there’s some shows lined up while were in town. Release date still to come but well be putting a single out in the next couple months“.

These videos will definitely tide you over until then.

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Check out Winston Surfshirt on our list of best new Australian bands in 2016.