Photo: Rik Saunders
Forty-two degree is too hot for pints. When the beer is getting warm before you finish, it's pots or schooners only. Matty Took's new track "42 Degrees" nails the sting of a hot Australian summer day when a cold beer needs to be just that.The song appears on a new Christmas compilation released by Dinosaur City Records. Knowing that Christmas songs aren't for everyone, DCR asked a bunch of artists to write/record an original tune based around the holiday season. The 15-track tape features contributions from Body Type, Gauci, Big White, Sweater Curse, Planet and more.Took, who also plays in Sydney band PLANET, says that his contribution comes from summer road trips to visit his grandparents home in Shoal Bay, a little less than an hour north of Newcastle."It's about driving up the coast in a crowded Tarago as a kid from Sydney to Shoal Bay," he explained via email. "Passing by the back-burnt trees on the side of the freeway and getting out of the city to have Christmas at my grandparent’s place. I remember there being a massive jacaranda tree next to their driveway. It was stinking hot all day and you needed to be close to water. I remember constantly getting smashed by mozzies in the evening and cicadas humming loudly all night."The song, which was written at Took's grandparents home and recorded at his Redfern bedroom studio even includes the sample of the sound of cicadas. Anyone who has spent time in Australia during a heat wave can surely relate.
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Dinosaur City Records Christmas compilation is available now.Dinosaur City Records celebrate the launch of the comp at their annual Christmas party Dec 22 at the Lansdowne Hotel with e4444e, L.A. Suffocated, Gauci, Spike Vincent and Tees.