The Offtopics eight-track self-titled EP, the culmination of their Back On The Zine project, was a massive undertaking the Melbourne soul band. Not just in the fact that the bring the EP to fruition, the eight-piece funk group released three acclaimed singles, complete with comic-style covers in the lead-up, but mainly for the 18-month period it took to record the 12-inch. That experience in the studio – marred in part by a departing band member and a restructure of plans, a stint of ill-health – has helped carve out the final sound for the EP, punchy upbeat, funky, soulful and the ultimate party, pretty much everything that the Offtopics stand for in their live show.
It is fitting then that The Offtopics went into the studio with the aim of recording the songs and arrangements as close to their live shows as possible. Lead singer and funk dynamo Polash Larsen says they just wanted to create the entire release ‘live’. “The idea was that the rhythm section, comprising of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards would lay down a bed over which we could put our horn parts, special solos and vocals,” he says. “This could be sweetened with some percussion and handclaps if we felt like it. This is usually my rough and ready approach.”
Things didn’t quite pan out that way – losing their guitarist mid-recording meant a lot of the recording wasn’t done in the order initially planned. Polash instead took the pragmatic approach of keeping the project on track and decided they would record all the guitar parts within the next two weeks, and took on all the guitar duties, ensuring the recording sessions went ahead and the sound the band wanted was achieved.
Leading into their studio time to lay down the eight tracks for the EP, The Offtopics needed to whittle down the tracks they wanted to record for the EP, which in itself was another process. “I think a band’s first recording has to be a kind of statement that encapsulates the musical identity of the group,” says Polash. “By the time we were set to record there were 20 songs (mostly original) that had been played live by the group at one point or another. The EP wasn’t really written for, as the process was more reductive in that it was about letting the most appropriate songs choose themselves. I’ve never had the luxury of writing a bunch of songs specifically for recording so usually it’s about culling. This is one part of the process I tend to struggle with so I open it up to discussion. Everyone in the band has been or still is currently, the leader of their own group so their opinions on what’s a ‘good’ song counts for a lot. This culling process is usually informed by recording a very rough run through of everything that’s on the table. We then go away and listen to it before working towards a consensus.”
When it came to deciding where to record, Nick Herrera at The Grove came highly recommended. The band had already recorded some demos in a lounge-room mobile studio set-up, but didn’t want to pursue this avenue for the final tracks. Nick was no stranger to recording with big bands, and came with a reputation of having worked with brass bands, something that was appealing to Polash. He engineered Hiatus Kaiyote’s 2016 Grammy-nominated single Breathing Underwater. “Nick could record at both the band hall where we rehearsed and at his studio The Grove,” he says. “In the end I opted for working at The Grove as Nick explained that he could work more efficiently there and he had access to more equipment. He was also willing to work in a piecemeal way over an extended period fitting the sessions around everyone’s commitments – which was just as well!”
The EP was mastered by Joe Carra at Crystal Mastering, and all comic artwork was created by Melanie Miles at Hybrid Expression. The vinyl for the singles and the EP was pressed at Zenith Records. For Polash, the finished product is more than what he hoped for and a release that he and the band are proud of. Due to the effort that went into the EP, the band wanted it to be more than a one-off release – they wanted it to be something truly special. “It’s a far more polished sounding product that what I originally had planned,” he says. “I had always aspired to make a vinyl pressing but I hadn’t really thought too deeply about the implications of that or what would be involved musically – Nick’s sonic knowledge was really crucial here. CDs are becoming less important in inner-city markets. While a single song on mp3 doesn’t seem all that special to me, a proper seven-inch vinyl with an A-side and a B-side with kooky cover art does. A vinyl 12-inch for me evokes all the positive nostalgia that I get when I remember ‘discovering’ my parents’ record collection. Eight songs presented an opportunity to be repackaged as two-plus-two-plus-two and then six-plus-two equal eight. Working further along I imagined what these releases might look like all together. Around the corner from my house was a small comics studio and I hatched a plan to devise artwork that would create a narrative going from cover to cover to be resolved on the final release. The fold-out poster helps the covers hang together but also reflects the local focus of the project. The songs were written, rehearsed, recorded, mixed, mastered and the covers designed on locations somewhere on or just off the edge of that map.”
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Plans in motion, a thought ain’t worth nothing, unless you
do something – for someone...
Penned on a Melbourne tram (the #70 to be exact) in the 1990s, Plans is the kicking off point for the EP – a call to action so to speak. Scribbled in a cheap notebook that lead singer Polash Larsen used as a diary, journal and sketchpad, he recalls the lyrics as being “barely more than a rhythmic reminder that words are meaningless without action”. The EP’s version of Plans was the third recording of the track and the one that helped the song find its right home.
“Musically, there’s not much behind it,” says Polash. “I think, in all honesty, the song marks the point at which my fingers learnt the minor 9th and major 7th chord shapes. This iteration has some excellent muted trumpet by Howard (Norseletter: trumpet). We went through a number of mutes before settling on the Harmon, but I think the real star of the show may be Tim’s (Webb: bass) percussive triangle in the chorus. The studio didn’t change this song much. It still sounds like Johnston Street in the 1990s to me. Linc (Yow Yeh: drums) instinctively punctuates my vocal phrasing. Howard throws himself into creating the scene: a smoky bar full of eavesdropped conversation.”
lyrics
PLANS
Verse 1
Em9 Dm9
Going down the GB talking bullshit in the
Em9 Dm9
corner with the regulars
Em9 Dm9
That’s ok ‘cos that’s the way we’re gonna
Em9 Dm9
Get out all that tension from the week.
Chorus
Cmaj7 Dmaj7
And I’m hearing lots of plans
Fmaj7 Gmaj7
Baby but, uh, no real man’s
Fmaj7
Gonna sit back. Expect some pat on the back
Gmaj7 Bb Am7 – riff into next verse
For an idea without action
Verse 2
Plans in motion
A thought ain’t worth nothing
Unless you do something – for someone
Might be anyone
Might be me – could even be you.
Chorus
Verse 3
Concealed emotion.
Hey old laddie boy
Struggling to do most everything
Nestled up against the edge of coolness
Trying to avoid that nothingness
He’s displaying some signs of dependence
Chorus
Guitar solo over Am7 and conclude with solo over chorus.
credits
from The Offtopics - "Back on the Zine" EP,
track released November 2, 2018
Polash Larsen: Guitars, Lead vocals
Mark Bretherton: Keyboards, Backing vocals
Linc Yow Yeh: Drums, Backing Vocals
Tim Webb: Bass, Percussion
Omid Shayan: Saxophones
Howard Norsetter: Trumpet
Mixed and engineered by Nick Hererra at The Grove Studios, Coburg
Mastered by Joe Carra of Crystal Mastering, Thornbury
Cover art by Melanie Miles, Hybrid Expression
Pressed by Zenith Records, East Brunswick
From Bourbon Street in New Orleans to Memphis and Jamaica via the bars of Brunswick, The Offtopics deliver infectious songs
that will make you tap your feet and bring a smile to your face. Fronted by funk dynamo Polash Larsen, these are some of Melbourne’s most talented musicians working their basses off to show you a good time....more
