Auckland band Roulettes have released a new EP of gloriously melodic guitar rock called “Rocket to You”, dedicated to Andrew Brough (The Orange, Straitjacket Fits, Bike) who died in February, at the start of this very strange and darkly dislocated year. Tempting as it is to play the title track, which somehow manages to combine hints of Bolan’s T Rex and The Beatles, it’s “Ordinary Glories” that perhaps channels the greatest Brough-factor.
Roulettes are Justin McLean and Ben Grant with help on this EP from Davey Porter on Drums and Damon Grant on various instruments.
“Ordinary Glories” is born out of a period of reflection and loss. “When you lose someone you love you look back and realise that all relationships are finite. What seemed mundane and ordinary was in fact all too brief. Ordinary glories are the moments you spent together, never to be reclaimed, that are now memories to return to“ McLean explains.
Members of Roulettes, and contributors to the EP recordings, are geographically spread around Oceania and South-East Asia meaning the EP was recorded in three locations just before pandemic lockdown took hold.
Each of the 5 songs (plus a remix of the title track) is a cracker of melodic, reflective guitar pop. It’s a fitting tribute to the kind of songwriting Andrew Brough was renowned for. Andrew was Justin Mclean’s stepbrother, and a musical mentor for bassist Ben Grant and Justin in their first band Funhouse in Dunedin in the 1990s, producing recordings and giving them invaluable advice.
The Roulettes duo of Justin McLean and Ben Grant is augmented for a Dunedin show at the Crown on 11 July by drummer Darren Stedman (The Verlaines, The Prophet Hens) and bassist Tenzin Mullen (Heka, The David Lynch Mob)
Pop Lib 