Last Dinosaurs - Andy

Remember how we interviewed Last Dinosaurs a while ago? Well, they've gone from strength to strength since then, and some time touring the UK (playing The Great Escape, London, Manchester, Liverpool Sound City, Scotland, Amsterdam and Field Day Festival) has seen them win fans at The Guardian, The Sun and NME. 

Here's their new clip, which draws upon Andy Warhol's art. The animations are hand-crafted, containing an organic jitter that you only get from frame-by-frame work. Each frame was hand-drawn over and separately animated using a graphics tablet.

The band are still in the UK at the moment and will be returning to their homeland in time to play at Splendour In the Grass.

Getting To Know... Last Dinosaurs

Sam from Last Dinosaurs talks to Bobbysix.com about their album, Brisbane and D'Angelo:

Last Dinosaurs are four fellas from Brisbane trying to make a name for ourselves out there in the world. We write indie pop rock music and rehearse in a storage warehouse. We came together over a mutual love of rudiments, riffs, climbing shit, jumping off aforementioned shit, Phoenix, bikes and The Strokes.

Our debut album, In a Million Years, is being released on March 2nd. We spent three weeks in July 2011 in Sydney's (now extinct) Big Jesus Burger studios recording songs we'd written over the previous two years. We brought in our buddy Jean-Paul Fung in to co-produce and engineer the record then sent it off the Elliot James in the UK for mixing. We're all stoked with how it's turned out and can't wait to unleash it on people.

Brisbane is doing really well right now in terms of bands. We’re best mates with a heap of the bands coming up (Gung Ho, Dune Rats, The Cairos, Millions, Mitzi, The Jungle Giants, the Medics, DZ Deathrays and I’m sure some I’ve forgotten). We've developed a really supportive culture with all bands looking out for one another. Triple J has been flogging heaps of Brisbane bands recently. It's a great feeling to see all of our mates doing as well as they are!

You should come to our launch shows because it's basically a chance for us to party and celebrate the release of our first record. We've spent two hard years writing this bad boy, so all the excitement has been building up to these three gigs.

It might surprise people to learn that Dan, Lach and myself have formed a D'Angelo cover band. We call ourselves The Soulquarians 2.0

In the future, we've got aspirations to get out there and see the rest of the world. We're headed to the UK for three months from May which will be an incredible experience that we are all frothing over. We're also planning to head to the US later this year and Japan is another country we can't wait to spend some time touring in (the other three boys are all half-Japanese).

The launch dates are: 
Tuesday 28th February - The Toff, Melbourne 
With special guests Them Swoops 

Wednesday 29th February - 2012 Spectrum, Sydney 
With special guests Toucan 
SOLD OUT 

Thursday 1st March - Cobra Kai @ Oh Hello, Brisbane 
With special guests The Jungle Giants 
SOLD OUT


Last Dinosaurs are also embarking on a massive Australian tour in April. Deets can be found at the Facebook event page.

Interview by Bobby Townsend. Follow Last Dinosaurs at their Facebook page. 

The Grates at The Metro, Sydney

THE GRATES 
LAST DINOSAURS 
THE MEDICS 
The Metro, 12/11/11 

Hairy four-piece The Medics opened the night with sweeping rock songs that had a melodic heart before Last Dinosaurs provided indie-pop tunes which, while not breaking too many boundaries, were really rather fine. The Brisbaners' sound had a distinct British edge to it and – helped in no small part by jangly guitars and tambourine – was delightfully perky.

Opening with Science Is Golden, The Grates had the crowd dancing like loons from the get-go. Amid a typically high energy performance from the trio, Aw, Yeah prompted a huge reaction from the crowd, as did Trampoline and Turn Me On. Their set was especially impressive in that it offered a well-balanced collection of songs that showed both sides to The Grates' sound. On one hand, there was simple throwaway pop, such as the irresistible singalong fun of 19-20-20, while, elsewhere they showed a heavier tone. Several of their songs had a distinct post-grunge feel to them and offered ruminative depth which nicely counterbalanced the more lightweight moments.

Of course, The Grates are largely defined by their iconic front-woman. In Patience Hodgson they boast one of the most appealing lead-singers in the business. She announced her arrival on stage by bouncing up and down on the spot like an over-excited kid at Christmas and was crowd-surfing by the conclusion of the second song. Looking splendiferous in a sheer blue blouse and red skirt, the front-woman constantly engaged the audience in banter, accepted roses from besotted fans, handed out glow-stick bracelets and got members of the crowd to make out. It was impossible to take your eyes off her. During songs, she bounded around the stage and danced like the biggest dork in the world, her limbs flailing in every direction. It is very apparent that Hodgson just wants to have fun, without caring a jot about being cool. And that, of course, makes her cooler than most.

As Young Pricks brought the set to a frenzied end, the band's performance demanded an encore, which closed with the giant sweary singalong of Inside, Outside. With the beguiling combination of infectious pop, meaty post-grunge and a singer that owns the room with her utter lust for life, tonight once again proved that to see The Grates live is to best understand them.

Review by Bobby Townsend. It first appeared in Sydney's Drum Media.