Back in April I reported that I’d been following the progress of Fauves are the Best People, a podcast about Mornington band the Fauves, for a couple of months.

I also mentioned that Jon Bampton, who produces the podcast, contacted me recently via this website (probably in response to this post about the band’s early EPs) and asked if I’d like to guest on an episode or two.

Well, we’ve now completed hot takes of three songs the Fauves recorded for a compilation album, entitled Dress Ups (also released in 1992). Actually, it was just a single conversation, but Jon spliced the audio to make separate episodes for “Angst Grinder” (a Fauves original), “Regrets” (a cover of a song by the Glory Box) and “Spent” (a cover of a song by Pray TV).

The Glory Box and Pray TV also contributed original songs to the EP and, in the spirit of dress-ups, covered two Fauves songs as well: “Ghosting the Road” and “Fracture In the Sky”. I bought a copy of the EP when I was a student, possibly at Waterfront Records in Sydney, or else via the Fauves’ website.

Recording the three episodes was a pretty straightforward affair: Jon and I met up on Zoom; I used my own digital recorder so that we could isolate our respective audio tracks, and we spent just over an hour talking about the words, the music and my personal memories of seeing the band in the early 1990s.

It can be difficult to listen to one’s own voice, especially when you know a recording is going to be available to the general public. I had my fair share of cringeworthy moments in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a spoken word poet in Melbourne, so you could say I’m reasonably accustomed to the phenomenon.

The truth is, however, that I can’t even really bear to go back and listen to these episodes now. The cringe is just too much. Particularly when it comes to my on-the-spot invention of my rock-critic alter ego, Les Fauves.

And on reflection, Les’s pseudo-“analysis” of the songs in question was pretty rough around the edges. I mean, I/he hadn’t even listened to these tracks for over 30 years, and they really weren’t that good to begin with.

Anyway, I’m just going to embed the episodes here for anyone who’s interested.

Les Fauves, out.