Premiere: SCABZ drop the clip for Feel Good Summer in the midst of AU tour
They're currently in the middle of a big ol' national tour, with plenty of dates still incoming.
When we get press releases sent our way, they're often loaded with the usual spread of superlatives we've come to expect from over the years: "the best band ever!" would probably read one, while elsewhere, you have bands calling themselves "great" and "amazing" and every other positive reinforcement there is (and to be fair, good on 'em - that's the kind of positivity we need in our music scene). Yet, there's Newtown punk group SCABZ, the self-proclaimed shittest band who have that saying spread across all their social media and biographies - which I think says about enough.
In fact, SCABZ are really anything but. Over the last three years, they've become somewhat of a defining force of Australia's growing 'underground' punk scene, with a consistent stream of work since their debut EP back in 2016 placing themselves as a band just as light-hearted and fun as they are deadly serious and fierce, mirroring song titles like Brett Lee's Got No I.D. (And He Can't Get Into World Bar) with tracks that teeter with a slight political edge - necessary almost, considering the roots of the genre from which they rise.
Feel Good Summer, their first track for 2019 and their first since that aforementioned ode to Brett Lee's ID (poor bloke), is a song that really captures the energy and strength of SCABZ, and why we've come to love them over the years. It's a searing and ferocious punk-rock tune thick with their distinct viciousness and fierceness, including a nice ol' 'fuck you' to the people ruining the planet, as they sing the chorus: "I just wanna have a feel-good summer, fuck the planet long live December!".
Today, however, we're premiering the single's official video clip. Shot throughout Wollongong and the Port Kembla Steel Works, the self-directed and self-made video clip contrasts the beauty of one of the country's best seaside cities with the distasteful, smoke-billowing industry centres that sit right alongside it, doubling down on the single's climate theme as frontwoman Siobhan Poynton plays the character of a climate change denier.
"It’s so beautiful down in the ‘gong’ but there’s always the looming yukiness of the steelworks, which has been an influence on the direction of the track," Siobhan explains on the track and its official video clip. "We tried to show what the world might be like if we don’t fix some things. For example, a holiday for the kids in the future might be taking them to see where coal is made cause there won’t be anywhere left to go camping etc. We tried to act out the character the song is about as well, someone who has all the gear and no idea that the world is dying around em."
Arriving in the midst of a national tour, it's a really great moment for the band, and one you can check out below alongside their remaining tour dates:
Tour Dates:
FRI 1 NOV | VINNIES DIVE BAR, GOLD COAST QLD
THU 7 NOV | THE CAMBRIDGE HOTEL, NEWCASTLE NSW
FRI 8 NOV | SLY FOX, NEWTOWN NSW
THU 14 NOV | TRANSIT BAR, CANBERRA ACT
FRI 15 NOV | YAH YAH'S, MELBOURNE VIC
WED 27 NOV | UNI BAR, WOLLONGONG NSW
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