Last Friday, The Easybeats were celebrated on record with the release of a tribut EP entitled REBEAT. Bringing the music of the iconic Australian band into 2017 and the hands of some of the country’s favourite soul, indie and dance/electro artists, the work of the Sydney rock group has been reworked to excellent effect.
But what has it meant for the artists involved to be tasked with the job of recreating the likes of “Friday On My Mind” and “Good Times”? Crossing over generations, it would be easy to assume that a band such as The Easybeats may not hold as much reverence with the likes of KLP or San Cisco in today’s Australian pop climate, but as we found out recently, it’s not true.
“My dad actually worked as a songwriter at Alberts with Vanda & Young,” KLP notes. “[It was] kind of after Easybeats era, but it still meant I grew up listening to a lot of similar music.”
“It was always about the songs, melodies, lyrics, stories – so I constantly had music focusing on that around me.”
For KLP, the experience of working on The Easybeats’ “Good Times” provided some more personal moments.
“It was about the process of being able to re-create a classic song and work on it with my dad, as he played bass guitar for me.”
Says San Cisco’s Jordi Davieson, the impact The Easybeats had on the course Australian music was charting at the time was nothing short of momentous.
“As one of the early Australian pop acts that were writing their own music, they definitely put Australian music on the map. Also being before the internet it is impressive to see how much of an impact they made on a international level.”
Getting into the studio to work on their cover of “Friday On My Mind”, Davieson explains how the process made San Cisco further appreciate the songwriting craft.
“It was very interesting spending time learning and breaking down the song.” he says. “Understanding how all of the intricacies come together to form such a well written pop song was a great exercise. The song arrangement, chord progressions and melody are very different to anything we usually do as a band and I think overall, it was a great learning experience for us.”
The REBEAT EP is out now.
———-
