Mary Trembles

Written on the 21st of September 2008 by The Professor


Mary Trembles left me breathless. Oh. Mah. God. Stage presence is a term that I usually find too wanky to use, but in this case there is nothing that better explains the electricity that flows outward from the stage during the set. If you forced frontman Skritch to stand still you would still be hearing a really tight live band, but it’s the enthusiasm pouring out of him and drummer Damon Cox (who’s also in Intercooler) that grabs you by the head and won’t let go. The epitome of a tight three-piece using every sound to their advantage, they produce an enormous noise – particularly Skritch’s growling guitar tone. Some things never go out of style, and there are so many of those elements in this band that you simply have to see them – rock, enthusiasm, antics and some serious noise. I hope for everyone’s sake the release of their new album ‘Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes’ propels them into the airwaves. Don’t walk, run to the next show and witness one of the tightest, most electric and engaging bands you’ll see live.
- tsunami magazine

TIME OFF Magazine ALBUM OF THE WEEK Sept 10 2008
BORROWED EARS, BORROWED EYES

"Rock is an amorphous beast that is so many things to so many people that it’s hard to ascertain what it is that makes it so captivating and what makes the sound that belongs in the stadium any different from what resides in basements across the land.

The above conundrum is a small part of the equation with this Brisbane three-piece, this debut album leaving an instantaneous impression of cavernous arenas filled with the soaring melodies and cathartic releases of rage washing over masses of people. And why? Because these 11 songs are completely flawless! That’s right, there’s not one note that shouldn’t be there or one chorus that won’t rouse you inside - every song on Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes is perfect! And again, that’s what makes this recorded document different from the live experience, for whilst the songs are immaculate and the sharp-dressed individuals on time every time, there’s grit on stage that’s missing from this album. It’s beautiful rock music with its fingernails kept clean and, while strange at first, there’s every chance that same grit would probably detract were it present here. This is music that could not only stand side-to-side with that of bands like the Foo Fighters, but easily betters the last 10 years of their recorded career. The unique caterwauling of singer/guitarist Skritch is both compelling and convincing - the impassioned screams in ‘Jump Like You Wanted To’ is like a triple-hook into your ear, while the explosive guitar throughout ‘Grand Central’ is dam-busting and Tanzie’s bass sucks ‘Molasses’ straight down into Kyuss territory.

There’s some strange and awesome shadows cast by songs such as ‘Ugly Song’, with its frenzied and distorted Nirvana-esque mood or the repressed beauty of ‘Eating Through The Debauchery’, but ultimately an album brimming with this much confidence and skill can hardly be believed to be a debut."

4 1/2 stars
- TIME OFF

There’s lots of ways to make it in today’s amorphous music industry, but one which is fairly well utilised is just to gig like crazy till you’ve built up a following, and then drop your first album. Brisbane’s Mary Trembles are one such band. If you’re a gig-goer in Brisbane, you’ve almost definitely seen these guys supporting the likes of Urge Overkill, Dinosaur Jr, Beasts Of Bourbon, The Mess Hall, and many more, or playing one of their own headline shows. Now, their debut album Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes has been released, and although it’s been a long time coming, it’s been worth the wait – these three local lads have put together a corker of a record.

The mood is set early; Geranium’s opening sees frontman Skritch (Tex Perkins’ Dark Horses and Gota Cola) laying his vocals, which are equal parts high wail and moody foreboding, over guitar riffs and excellent drum work of Damon Cox (Intercooler, An Horse). The song starts relatively softly, but rushes into post-grunge action, with Tanzie providing solid bass rhythms. The epic Jump Like You Wanted To follows, with more power chords and dark angry swirling compositions – Skritch doesn’t exactly sing like an angel, but his vocals never become so dark that they become overbearing.

First single from the album Tiargo is a slightly poppier number, built around an Interpol-like riff, while Grand Central takes the foot off the accelerator for a quieter number. Elsewhere, the near-spoken-word first half of Ugly Song grates, but the second half explodes into power rock riffs. Why O Why’s frenetic pace borders on rockabilly, and Please Don’t Scream, I Hate The Noise begins with Skritch singing softly over gentle guitar strums, before it devolves into a guitar and drum composition that’s primal and visceral. And final track Hold Your Breath For Jesus is just Skritch on the acoustic, slowly exhaling as the album winds down to a relaxed finish.

Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes is a diverse compilation of tracks, demonstrating the variety of skills from Mary Trembles’ three band members. Cox’s drum work is fantastic as always, and Tanzie does good work on the bass. But it’s Skritch’s dark brooding personality that infests this album, without ever causing the music to become too dour. There are power rock chords aplenty to keep the listener’s attention, and between this cracker of a debut record, and a live reputation that swells with every show, Mary Trembles are set to become a force to reckon with in Australian music.

Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes is out now on Plus One Records through Shock.
- www.fasterlouder.com.au

Mary Trembles - Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes (Album)

Mary Trembles have delivered us their first full length album. Hot on the heels of their first EP titled PS....Situation released in 2006, the new album promising to live up to expectations. The Brisbane trio's new album titled Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes takes us on another unique journey mixing mature pop with rock as well as throwing quirky loops into the musical mix. The uniqueness of Skritch's (Tex Perkins' Dark Horses, Gota Cola) vocals, takes us from haunting, sultry vocals to sexy rock, all within the same song at times! Mixed with Damon Cox (Intercooler) on drums, who fuses the music with high and low beats and Duey Coert (recently replaced by Tanzie) on bass.

The first track Geranium starts off in an almost sickly voice then quickly fuses with drum and grunty bass to become a fantastic rock song. This is a great solid start to the album. Songs like Jump Like you Wanted To and Grand Central have a haunted eerie feel enriched with heavier riffs and menacing slick vocals. Tiargo opens with knocking on a door and delivers us those sultrier sexy vocals. Tiargo is a mature deep song with guitar instrumentals and solid riffs. This song could define them.

Unseasonably High has an acoustic start, then slides into heavier guitar riffs and becomes smothered in drum beats and a liquid like bass sound. Skritch sings "So temptingly fine, so temptingly mine" with confidence and perfection. Other songs like Molasses have dark and mesmerising lyrics joined with smaller drum beats. This song heads into a heavier direction then into darker alternative beats. Then, just when you thought you'd heard it all, songs like Eating Through the Debauchery (perhaps this song is an autobiography?) and the aptly titled Ugly Song, take you into a new realm of music not to be forgotten quickly.

This album is an album of taste. If you like your music to have a mixture of pop and a quirky, dark genre of sound then this album is for you.
- thedwarf.com.au

"Another testament, if any more were needed, to the tenacious flexibility and power of the rock trio (no, Mary is not a solo act, but a band) as a vehicle for any songwriter with the wit and tensile melodic sensibility to master it. Skritch, who has been seen around town in his other guise as one of Tex Perkins' Dark Horses, has obviously done just that, ably abetted by Intercooler drummer Damon Cox, who has a broad enough vocabulary to keep things rhythmically interesting under Skritch's power chord guitar chunking and Duey Coert's sinewy bass lines. Edgy vocals, intelligent use of harmonies and enough melody to keep it all hanging on; this is seriously good."


- DRUM MEDIA, Sydney. July 2006

"This debut mini-album by local trio Mary Trembles was recorded before the band had even played a gig, but is nonetheless a fine introduction to an extremely talented outfit. Frontman Skritch has played a variety of roles in the past with such luminaries as Tex Perkins Dark Horses and the much-missed Gota Cola, but in Mary Trembles he takes the reins and handles guitar, vocal and songwriting duties with aplomb.

The rhythm section of drummer Damon Cox (Intercooler) and Duey Coert on bass combine together wonderfully, giving Skritch a propulsive bed on which to lay down his edgy tales of despair and redemption. Opening tunes Scene From Below and Not My Fault bury themselves in your brain and refuse to leave, their catchy melodies and memorable riffs earmarking them as surefire radio fodder.

Elsewhere pumping instrumental track Emergency Signs For Motorists and the trance-inducing Emotional Calligraphy show a breadth of scope quite remarkable in a band who had only been together for such a brief time when the songs were put to tape.

In the intervening months Mary Trembles have played and toured extensively and are already showing signs of taking it to the next level, making this a superb snapshot of a potentially excellent band finding their feet."


- TIME OFF Magazine, Brisbane. August 2006:

"Brisbane’s greatest emerging artists Mary Trembles provided the crowd with an appetiser before Chicago's Urge Overkill took the stage. Playing tracks from their seven track mini album 'ps...situation', the crowd imbibed the rock and roll raw energy that the three-piece emitted in an almost flawless performance. Mary Trembles opened their set with the fervid and powerful Not My Fault. These guys gel so well as a band and have some intense creations up their sleeves. Their sound is distinct and cannot be described under any particular genre. It’s symmetrically written, ballsy, exact and hypnotic. Playing their high JJJ rotation melodic track Scene From Below, they concluded their set in jaw dropping rock star fashion."


- FASTERLOUDER.COM.AU

Brisbane’s brooding rockers unleash debut full-length album

Mary Trembles already have something of a local (and indeed national) reputation for their fiery live shows, a suitable showcase for the talents of singer/guitarist Skritch (one time drummer with atmospheric dub combo Gota Cola) and tub-thumper Damon Cox (Intercooler). Their first full-length album Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes quite successfully captures MT’s grasp of both raw no-frills rock and a kind of angst-ridden grandeur. There is an epic rock quality to Jump Like You Wanted To and the faintly Tool-styled riffing of Grand Central, but despite the brooding nature of the band’s sound, it’s not all brow furrowing and chest-beating emotion. For instance, there’s a lightness of touch to Tiargo, that makes it resemble a kind of spooked take on power pop, and an art-punk angularity to creeping indie anthem Unseasonably High. The album, recorded by Skritch and Brisbane music stalwart Jeff Lovejoy, has an impressive ability to stick to a consistent sonic template (thumping drums, haunted yet melodic vocals, thick soupy guitars, crunching bass lines), while at the same time boasting an admirable diversity, from the stormy metal punk assault of Ugly Song to the oddly stirring sludge rock of Eating Through The Debauchery.


MATT THROWER - rave magazine

Some unforeseen line-up shuffling finds Spencer P. Jones failing to board his flight and Le Friken Hecks plugging the gap in his absence. Guitar, bass, drums, violin and the occasional female voice comprise their sound, which flitters curiously between interesting and repetitive. The skeletal rhythm section of Control draws attention to the guitarist’s mesmerising progression across twelve-odd minutes. Effectively My Disco on downers. Strangely compelling.

Butcher Birds eschew more melodic tracks, such as their Stranded offering Tiger Paw, in favour of harder-edged creations in an apparent attempt to better match the sound of tonight’s headlining act. Their gamble pays off: a set comprised largely of new material is well received by the mostly-reclining audience, who are content to sit and watch power chord shapes slide across fretboards. The three gals and new drummer Donovan possess that effortless ‘90s alt-rock swagger, but their appeal wanes after 45 minutes.

Mary Trembles step up to the plate for their second album launch – July’s show was several weeks before debut Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes was released – and send any lingering doubts about the band’s potential flying out of the park. Sauced pirates from The Island’s charity cruise materialise and vocally announce their presence as the trio work through album opener Geranium. They’re in fine form tonight: Damon Cox is forever a demon behind the kit, Tanzie’s four strings produce a gloriously crunchy sound, and Skritch’s dual guitar rig is handled without fault. The cracking pace of Why O Why and the shattered, No Anchor-esque rhythm of Please Don’t Scream I Hate The Noise are exceptional; the soaring chorus guitar phrase during Scene From Below has never sounded better. Their debut album pokes at the boundaries of their biting rock sound while embracing every melodic opportunity; their live performances continue to impress. Home run.

ANDREW MCMILLEN - rave magazine