This comes from my alternative country phase in the middle to late nineties. I was introduced to the music of Wilco through Paul Thomas who played lead guitar on the Little Murders "First Light" album. He was sitting on the couch at Audrey Studio (when it was a bungalow in Elwood) banging out this song called Casino Queen. Then he tried to get me to go halves on a Rickenbacker 12 string guitar he found in the Trading Post.
I went out and bought the album and couldn't stop playing it. I wrote a song or two for the album which were heavily influenced by Wilco. I could hear shades of bands like Big Star and Tom Petty in the songs. Jangling chords and rich harmonies. Gritty rock and roll. Not country as I knew it. Just great songs. Suddenly I was digging out Gram Parsons records I'd bought and hardly listened to. Sunny afternoons spent listening to alternative country. I bought the next album Being There and sat in the car park behind Cosmos Bookshop (now Readings) in St. Kilda just listening to it.
I actually got a write-up for the album for the Little Murders "First Light' album in Mojo, a UK music magazine. A line in it says we are a mix of The Clash, The Jam and Wilco. It must have been something I said at the time.
I went and saw them at the Forum a few years back. Good band but they played forever. Too long for my concentration.
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