Unity Floors and Chook Race Split Gig Money, Riders, Cabs and Now A Record

They’re from different parts of the country but you get the feeling that Unity Floors and Chook Race would hang out all the time if they lived in the same city. When either band is in Melbourne or Sydney that’s what they tend to do. Airport runs, crashing on each others floors, playing gigs together and sharing the rider has lead them to become good friends. There’s also the fact that they share a similar approach to lo-fi, good time pop music. So it makes sense that the first release on Gus Hunt’s (one half of Unity Floors) new vinyl label Mystic Olympic would be a split 7” between the two bands.

The Chook Race side, “Numb” recorded by Tom Hardisty (Woollen Kits, Nun), features drummer Carolyn Hawkins (who also plays in Melbourne bands Pronto and School Damage) taking care of some sweet vocal duties while the Unity Floors number “Hold Music”, recorded in a living room weaves in a bit of Harry Nilsson magic.

On the eve of the label’s first release we had a chat to Gus about the split and label.

Noisey: Mystic Olympic sounds like an Athens motor lodge. Do you get the name from Lonely Planet: Greece?

Gus Hunt: Maybe, I was visiting Greece last year, real nice place. Perhaps it came subconsciously?

You describe the label as ‘econo-DIY’. Is that a fancy way of saying that you are broke?

Bingo. It's a subtle way of letting the bands know not to expect any money (sorry Chooks). That, and we’re trying to do stuff at a low price. These are tough times in 2014 and we want to make the record available for the common people .

Who in Chook Race do you like the least?

John.

Your track on the split, ‘Hold Music’ sounds a little less raucous than the previous album Exotic Goldfish Blues. Is this just a slight change of pace or are you moving into a new direction?

Honestly we have no idea what we're doing. We tracked another couple of songs at the same time that are a little bit faster, so it's a bit mixed up.

You manage to drop in some Harry Nilsson. Are you fans?

Yeah I back him. I think we were just playing and I was ad-libbing some lyrics and it seemed to work. I just really like that song and thought it would be kind of funny.

What do you have planned next for Mystic Olympic?

We just finished recording some tracks with Point Being, Sydney’s newest hit makers. Keep your ears peeled

The split 7” will be available August 28 on Mystic Olympic.

Both Unity Floors and Chook Race launch the record in their respective cities:

September 6 in Melbourne with Old Mate and Tam Vantage at Hugs and Kisses

September 12 in Sydney with Community Radio at the Standard Bowl.