The Drones - Gala Mill

Good haunting dust bowl rock for those days spent sitting on a log swigging whiskey and drinking beans out of the can.<br/>

Album Review by Ali Maloney | 12 Nov 2006
Album title: Gala Mill
Artist: The Drones
Label: ATP Recordings
When Nick Cave's film, 'The Proposition', transported the western gun drama to the Australian outback, it seemed an obvious move, and it would make sense for a band to conjure the high-plains drifter rock with that same sparse Australian space. Throw in some elements of the raw violence of Cave's earlier group, The Birthday Party, and you have The Drones. Recorded in a supposedly haunted mill on an isolated farm in Tasmania, 'Gala Mill' sounds like the landscape stretching off uninterrupted to the horizon in every direction, save for the pursuing sheriffs. This is a vibe that is maintained on both the furious circles of song they kick up and the down tempo contemplative sand storming blues. One particular highlight is the call-and-response subversion of the traditional hot-day work song, as a sultry woman sings "work for me". Good haunting dust bowl rock for those days spent sitting on a log swigging whiskey and drinking beans out of the can. [Ali Maloney]
Gala Mill' is out on October 2. http://wwwthedrones.com.au