Muscles has been known to the whiteboydancefloor community for a while. Apparently he made some scathing comments on one of the other guys posts back in the foundation years but hey, I wasn't there and instead choose to regale you with my own personal experiences with this man.When Guns, Babes, Lemonade was released in 2007, Triple J were absolutely HAMMERING 'Sweaty' (as well as 'Ice Cream' and 'One Inch Badge Pin', but it was Sweaty they seemed to have the addiction to). Anyway, the first time I heard this song, and this is the honest truth, I switched to AM radio. I must have been in an electro-phoic phase at the time and the multiple, absurd vocal tracks were intense and spontaneous, another quality I don't really associate with electro either. Given that my old car only had a tape player it was with the radio I stuck and over the next few months I was slowly able to wean myself into the track, with the bassline and the unbridled fun of it all eventually taking precedent. Coming back from overseas later in the year I got a casual job at JB Hi-Fi and it was the first CD I bought with my delicious staff discount. So essentially, in the space of a few months, I went from HATING it with a passion to loving it and not knowing why exactly. The album itself if brilliant, surprisingly diverse, well told lyrically and just a whole bunch of fun. Next on the cards was to see the man live, which led to two great and different experiences.
While I caught him at Splendour in... 2007(?) and liked the set, we were WELL up the back and the atmosphere was a little bit lacking. It was a cautionary viewing and I liked what I saw. The next opportunity to watch him presented itself later in the year at Homebake. Attending with two good friends, one in particular who had become a fan like me, we got ridiculously munted on narcotic substances (ahh how I miss the good ole' days) and basically assimilated ourselves to the atmosphere. It was an hour of amazing fun which ended with a collective and completely unhomosexual removal of clothing to 'dance with our shirts off'. While that may lead many of you to go 'so? I take my shirt off at festivals all the time', and that says alot about you, due to my slight manboobage and general hairiness I try not to do such things in public. Undressing because you're caught in the music is definitely a FTW moment. Would I have done such without drugs? Yes.
That experience sold me on the man and his music, and the next opportunity I had to catch him was supporting Daft Punk as they came out on the Alive 2007 tour, supported by a bucketload of Australian acts like Van She, Cut Copy and, performing stuff from their upcoming album Apocalypso, The Presets. A tough bill to stand out on, and the shit weather really didn't help. Muscles came out onto the stage at the start of his set proclaiming 'Hi, my names Muscles and when I play the sun comes out'. It didn't, initially. The set was still great and all but then, upon closing with 'Hey Muscles, I love you', true to his word the Sun made its first appearance of the entire day, he pointed to the sky as it crept from behind the clouds and the crowd went absolutely bananas. It was truly one of the most memorable, magical moments of live music I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Given that Muscles doesn't have access to HAARP it may well have been entirely coincidental but its moments like that which will stay with me forever. And I've seen Rammstein from the front. AND I wasn't even on drugs, which I liked to do alot back then. A truly magical moment.
So why am I regaling you with all these stories about one guy? Am I a closet homosexual? Am I stalking him? The answer to those last two questions is NO. The answer to the first one is because Muscles is playing SPLENDOUR! Which means I get to see him for the first time in a loooong time. He's releasing new stuff and headed around the country again.
Muscles - Koala (2011) by musclesmusic
I've spent today regaling you with my awesome memories . My recommendation is that you go and see the man live and make some of your own.
Tickets for Splendour are STILL AVAILABLE. Get them HERE
You can also get your filthy mits on Muscles new 'Koala/I'll Follow You' DOUBLE A-SIDE single by following the link to his site - Muscles Music
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