Psychedelic Porn Crumpets with Grocery Bag

Take the trail out of Perth via Leederville and keep on driving, and you might just stumble across an old horse shed – one where weirdness roams free. Across the bridge from said shed, house parties rage until the early hours and beyond, while around the corner there’s a sky-high pile of trash that acts as a makeshift home for the local rat population. It’s here, amongst jam sessions that would last six-hours plus, that the wacky, sprawling sound of Psychedelic Porn Crumpets was born.

“It had a tin roof, so it was really nice when it rained,” reveals the band’s frontman and ringleader Jack McEwan – an idyllic image that’s quickly scrawled over when he recounts a tale of said roof tearing off in the wind one night. “I used to have to wake up at 3am and spray myself with bug spray,” he adds with a shrug. Composing songs on an old, out-of-tune piano, and hooking up projectors to their amps to beam warped imagery around the clapped-out barn, their wonky approach to music-making took root amongst the hay. “We got too many noise complaints,” he admits, revealing that they’ve since decamped to a seaside home where they can make as much racket as they please. “It got into fine territory, but I don’t think we ever paid one, so it’s fine.”

Originally formed as a uni course solo project for McEwan, who moved to the barn while “trying to live the bohemian life… until I ran out of internet”, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets’ night-long jam sessions and unconventional abodes are just the tip of their iceberg of happy accidents. He and fellow bandmate and guitarist Luke Parish met through a “local courier”, while their upcoming record ‘High Visceral’ – a riotous stomp of psych-rock escapism – was inspired by the most unlikely of situations: their time as tradies, working on building sites. The two then teamed up with Danny Caddy & Luke Reynolds, completing the line-up.