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Music

Black Vanilla Are Ready to Challenge Some Musical Complacency With New Track "Smacks"

Listen to and get a free download of their latest track.

“Fuck ‘chill beats’ and flimsy giddiness”, says Marcus Whale of Black Vanilla. It’s a sentiment that rules the Sydney three-piece’s approach to music and live performance. For Black Vanilla it’s about the sweat, the dance and the performance. More shake than giddy.

And Black Vanilla have been cooking. Whale, also known for his work in Scissor Lock and Collarbones, Lavurn Lee (Guerre, Cassius Select) and Jarred Beeler (Marseilles) have just returned from a performance at Splendour in the Grass and released their new single “Smacks” as a free download. Consider it a precursor to their upcoming EP on Club Mod in September.

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All three weigh in on the new track which you can listen to below.

Noisey: Smacks. So the song is about hitting kids?

Marcus Whale: No. Don't perpetuate cycles of violence. Use your words. In our case, we're using audio to punish our audiences.

Parts of "Smacks" have heavy bass and shouty vocals that make it seem like dancehall. Other parts sound like broken furniture.

Marcus Whale: For sure we're currently inspired by a lot of aggressive music, in particular we like to mention how much we like our friends Making a Sydney band whose energy is so large it's usually too big for the DIY venues they might play. “Smacks” is really our expression of hatred towards the complacent, middle-of-the-road atmosphere of this goddam privileged city. Fuck "chill beats" and flimsy giddiness. We'd like to raise the temperature a little.

Live Black Vanilla are quite physical with lot’s of movement. What was Splendour like?

Marcus Whale: We aim to confront, confound and stimulate audiences and I think we succeeded on some level in transforming the incongruous setting. We're grateful for the support given by those people who were in attendance. Who was the highlight? Africa Hitech and Lorna Clarkson's sets were astounding. We usually abstain from drinking because it makes most people act fucking basic. But I was happy. I was so happy. It was a full and enhanced worship of some of our city's strongest artists.

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Jarred you need to start Life Aquatic up again!

Jarred Beeler: I'm no longer interested in blogging I'm afraid. It was once enjoyable, although I can't imagine myself ever touching it again. Thank you though.

Give us three facts about Black Vanilla. Two of them true and one of them made up.

Lavurn Lee: Black Vanilla isn't an R&B group. Black Vanilla isn't sensual, it’s sexual. Black Vanilla isn't gender bias.

Grab a free download of "Smacks" here.

Catch Black Vanilla later this month as they head out with Collarbones

August 22 – Adelaide at Cats

August 23 – Melbourne at Liberty Social

August 29 – Brisbane at Alhambra Lounge

August 30 – Sydney at Astral People Party

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