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Music

Wagons

Now here’s a wagon Lee Marvin would gladly paint, and paint it good. With an equally gravelly voice and as much outlaw country swagger as Marv, Wagons have toiled away for the last 15 years, lassoing up a handful of albums and carving for themselves a large and loyal fanbase. Having put the polish on their latest record, they’re poised to hit the road once more and bring their country rock and roll to the people.

wagons bandSuper fresh off the release of their latest effort, Acid Rain and Sugar Cane, Melbourne’s Wagons are back, better than ever.

Hailing from Melbourne – a town fortunately big enough for these six cowboys – the group started out as a noise band for which the scene proved “impenetrable” and too much of a clique. Fronted by Henry Krips – the grandson of Nazi-era refugees and self professed nerdy philosophy student – the enigmatic singer-songwriter decided to call a few gunslingers from his old school and start Wagons.

Literally hitching said wagon to himself, he renamed himself Henry Wagons, and whilst not looking like your typical rockstar, he has earned himself the reputation as one of the most engaging frontmen going round, a fervent showman and performer with a larger-than-life personality.

Driven by a broad range of influences, each is evident in the musical style and performance of Wagons. Noting legendary influences from Vegas-era Elvis to Cormac McCarthy novels, and rather imaginative self-descriptors such as “Johnny Cash’s dirt on his gravestone” and “Roy Orbison’s driving habits”, they range from tender to menacing with the delivery of Nick Cave.

Having recently played around the world with the likes of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros and Calexico, and having graced the stages of SXSW, Big Day Out and Laneway Festival, they’ve just released their latest effort Acid Rain and Sugar Cane. Promised to be packed with electric licks, high pitched choirs and exaggerated brass (provided by Saskwatch’s horn section) it is sure to be their most dramtic, emotional and charismatic foot-stomper to date.

Produced by former Bad Seed and PJ Harvey collaborator Mick Harvey, Henry says he wanted to include some “cinematic epic punctuation”, conducting “full force Morricone-esque orchestral arrangements” amongst the tales of the “strange, uncomfortable, awkward, exhilarating journeys” of touring the globe.

Whilst he commands the fore, Wagons endearingly points out that his band’s music is for other people; “I write it alone, but with the idea of playing it for other people”. You can get your share as they tour every state and territory of Australia throughout the rest of May and June. Tickets here!

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