The Sand Pebbles

Side 2, Track 4: Honey Rush

I am an artist, a very good liar. I talk about the gods, I’m a non-believer.

It was inspired by something author Ursula K. Le Guin once said.

The music has its roots in a De Wolfe Music library track, Viva La Tamla Motown, recorded by The London Studio Group that consisted of Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page.

Track 3, Side 2: Russian Ending

A Russian ending, in literature or cinema, is where it all goes pear-shaped, and the protagonists die/suffer some disastrous end. Like, say, in Bonnie & Clyde, The Wild Bunch, Romeo & Juliet.

The song touches on the Titanic as a disastrous meet-cute between ice and ship. It also speaks of an incident that occurred in Oregon in 1970 where a beached sperm whale was filled with dynamite and blown up to dispose of it. All that happened was that onlookers were covered in burning blubber. A real Russian ending for that beautiful creature.

Not to be confused with a French kiss, a French exit, or a Dutch Treat.

Luna’s Britta Phillips duets with Andrew.

Track 2, Side 2: Self-Talk

The stories that you tell yourself are the most lurid. Sorry, the most important. This album is full of unreliable narrators telling stories to soothe and entertain.

Here, there’s a touch of Verlaine, a touch of Byrds. Gareth’s cello adds splendour, but my favourite moment is Malcolm McDowell’s 12-string solo. It’s overlooked that Lou Reed played a 12-string for much of the Velvet Underground’s career.

Track 1, Side 2: Elemental Thing – Sand Pebbles (The Antagonist LP)

“It all started by mistake” is a keen opening line. A real scene setter for a film or a song. Mistakes = opportunities etc.

Music-wise, the bass line is a thumper, the opening cello riff has a bit of the Echo & Bunnymen’s ‘The Cutter’ about it. Malcolm’s 12-string drives it along. Leroy’s drums erupt in the middle.  

Track 5, Side 1: Sweet Tenderloin – Sand Pebbles (The Antagonist LP)

Now here’s an amoral tale with an unreliable narrator. Inspired by the San Franscisco Tenderloin district and set to a different rhythm for the Sand Pebbles. There’s a bit of Os Mutantes ‘Bat Macumba’ in there. A bit of Santana. A bit of Lou Reed’s hair.

Track 3, Side 1: The Light (Slow Reveal) (The Antagonist LP)

To my ears this sounds like a Michael Rother track from one of his solo late 70s albums. Instrumental. If it was used in a film, it would montage some real introspection, someone craving transcendence and a sense of connection.

Track 2, Side 1: Field of the Lord – Sand Pebbles (The Antagonist LP)

A stomper. A self-aware stomper. An existential, self-aware, a little self-obsessed stomper.

The title comes from a 1965 novel by Peter Matthiessen, At Play in the Field of the Lord, which was turned into a film starring Tom Berenger and Daryl Hannah. James Cameron has said he used that film as a basis for Avatar. Ben wrote this song and has taken the phrase and used it in a whole different context.

Track 1, Side 1: Sometimes a Great Notion – Sand Pebbles (The Antagonist LP)

Is it too much? Too hard an opener? Should it finish a side rather than start it? We’ve copped some criticism for it. This is a Ben Michael X special and a real line in the sand, a scene setter. And it does open an album called The Antagonist.

The inspiration comes from Ken Kesey’s 1964 novel, Sometimes a Great Notion (which Kesey had pinched from the Leadbelly song, ‘Goodnight Irene’).

And when we play this number live it is goodnight Irene. A real blast. An audio interrobang. 

A prismatic trip through Sand Pebbles album art extravaganza!

#11: The Antagonist, released on Kasumuen Records / Career Records, 2024

Finally, the here and now.

The artwork for The Antagonist takes its inspiration from a print that’s hung in my parents’ place since the early 70s. It’s by a family friend, artist John Gordon. A hell of an image, which Dan Milne has fashioned into a classic looking record.

Bold and seductive.

As charismatic as the classic cinema antagonists - Warren Oates in Two-Lane Blacktop or Cyd Charisse in Singin' in the Rain.

So, we’re celebrating The Antagonist this Friday night (April 12) at George Lane, St Kilda. If you’re keen to talk artwork or music or anything, would love to see you.

A bracing trip through Sand Pebbles album art extravaganza!

#10: Pleasure Maps, released on Kasumuen, 2017

Pleasure Maps. The title came from a malapropism my son shouted as we were playing a pirate game.

It was the first Sand Pebbles album in six years with a new line-up including Malcolm McDowell on guitar, Gareth Skinner on cello and Leroy Cope on drums.