The Whitlams are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their fourth studio album, Love This City, with a national tour later this year. But with celebrations also come ruminations, and if singer Tim Freedman had his time again, there are a few things he would have changed.
Love This City got to #3 on the ARIA Albums Chart upon its release and certified double platinum – not bad, right? The follow-up to 1997’s Eternal Nightcap, which featured the triple j Hottest 100 smash hit, No Aphrodisiac, was always going to be challenging to follow in some way, and Tim Freedman confirmed that in a new interview.
Discussing all things Love This City ahead of the national tour later this year with The Music’s Steve Bell; Freedman revealed that if he had his time again, he would have ensured that Blow Up The Pokies went out as the first single.
At the time, he insisted on releasing Chunky Chunky Air Guitar as the first single—not a bad move, but one that would have baffled some fans after No Aphrodisiac.
“It was a real novelty,” Freedman said of Chunky Chunky Air Guitar. “I was a big fan of – and very close to – the Machine Gun Fellatio boys, and it was essentially a Machine Gun Fellatio song which I loved and said, ‘Can I try and record it?’. So that’s a lot of their palette with the synths and stuff.”
Freedman told The Music that he loved that song so much that he “really went in to fight for it as the first single,” going against the wishes of record label Warner Music Australia. However, in hindsight, Freedman says the label was correct “because you should probably follow up with something that’s one step ahead of your audience but not two.”
Reflecting further, Freedman explained that he “didn’t realise” it was a sensitive time for the band after experiencing surprise success with Eternal Nightcap—the band had its detractors already, but they became inflamed by Chunky Chunky Air Guitar.
“It came out in that funny time and became sort of a theme song to The Whitlams backlash,” Freedman said. “If I had my time again, I just would have put out Blow Up The Pokies first, and it would have gone bang, but that’s the benefit of hindsight; I would have put Chunky Chunky Air Guitar out third when it didn’t matter so much, and it was more just a breath of fresh air instead of a weird song that’s a little bit cheeky to put out straight after No Aphrodisiac.”
You can read the rest of the interview here.
For the Love This City tour, the band will be accompanied by a brass section to add “power and sparkle” to the beloved songs. The Whitlams also revealed that they’ll be joined by special guests Charm Of Finches on all dates besides Melbourne, where Kim Salmon & Ashley Naylor‘s Tag Team Classic will open the shows.
