Pinky Beecroft & The White Russians (Album Launch)

with The Inches

Blazing a trail through the Australian music scene of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, with tracks like Mutha F----- on a Motorcycle, Rollercoaster and Pussytown through to the brilliant Unsent Letter, The Girl Of My Dreams (Is Giving Me Nightmares), My Ex Girlfriend & Troublemaker – Machine Gun Fellatio were a veritable juggernaut. With flashing lights, twirling tassels and a staggering list of hit songs, their 2002 album Paging Mr. Strike went double platinum (140,000 sales), earning them a chapter unto themselves in the annals of Australian music.

Because the thing about MGF, was that when you stripped away all the nudity, controversy, prop gags, glam-porn and party threads for which they were infamous, at the bones of the band was one core strength, without which, all would have amounted to naught. Namely, the songs themselves were brilliant.

Introducing Pinky Beecroft & The White Russians
Pinky Beecroft was the frontperson, singer and primary songwriter of Machine Gun Fellatio; following his departure in 2005 the band split up. Says Pinky: “I guess Unsent Letter was indicative of the Beecroft part of MGF, and there was only so much room for that sort of intimate, personal song. Particularly in the last few years … I got to the point where I felt we'd explored a way of sounding, and I wanted to explore some other ways, just for myself. The White Russians is the band I dreamt of as a kid: a rockin' little 4-piece. In some ways, for me, the MGF experience was a strange side-project – a very strange & weirdly successful side-project.”

The White Russians
The White Russians are guitarist Nick Stewart (co-founder and guitarist of the critically-acclaimed, multiplatinum-selling george), former MGF roadie Christian McBride (drums) and Monstars bassist Ben T. According to Pinky, "I never knew much about george, the band. I met Nick kind of by accident, and invited him to come to a bit of an informal mess-about session. I'd already tried out a number of guitarists, and I'd pretty much decided on somebody else. To be honest I thought Nick was a nutter, and besides that, he lived in Queensland, which I knew would make things ten times harder, trying to coordinate rehearsals/recording in Sydney. I was living in Melbourne at the time and just getting together for a jam was an exercise in logistics. Here's this interstate nutjob from this band that I didn't know much about, and I just thought... it's all too hard. But then he started to play... and his playing was unbelievable. Truly. He was at a whole new level. I just thought, well... I can't not have this person in the band." Pinky adds: "And he turned out to be a very nice fellow. For a Queenslander."

The Album - Somethin’ Somewhere Better
In Pinky’s words: “With the White Russians I wanted to be able to do a song like "Sunflowers," which is a bit of an epic, and something I never would've attempted before this, it's a murder mystery in six parts - and then leap from there into something incredibly delicate like "Fabulous Driving," and then suddenly shift gears and howl my way through a full-on rockin' tequila-fuelled blitz like "This Hangover"... to have all of that make sense, all on the one record - that's what I wanted, a band that could pull that off. Somethin’ Somewhere Better was recorded live, in a hot, airless room, with piano wire and sticky tape. I wanted to hear the piano wire, and feel the sticky-tape. For some reason this was important to me. I was actually trying to re-create Cold Chisel's East, but with Angus & Julia Stone both playing the role of Jimmy Barnes. The White Russians record is what happened on the day. I love the feel of it – like it might've been recorded a long time ago, or yesterday. Who knows? It was recorded in a way totally different to what I'd done previously. It was organic and earthy and non-computerised. It was – much of the time – me stumbling around looking for an answer to questions like: how do I want to sound? What happens if I write songs just for myself? What would those songs be like?”

"The most surprising thing at the end of it all is the fact that despite initial tendencies towards the past, this Pinky Beecroft project is clearly fresh and a step in a whole new direction. Who are MGF again?"
FasterLouder

“If you are expecting the kind of off-the-wall fluro freakout, horns-a-blazing and gyrations that made Machine Gun Fellatio great, you are way off. Though this latest effort is a far cry from any MGF madness, it has brilliant qualities all to its own. The band’s tunes are often delicate, even more often catchy and hilarious”.
Live review – The Dwarf

“ 'unsent letter', thats where it all began for me. it kept coming on the radio and i liked the melody. then my friend saw the band and said it was the best fellatio she'd ever experienced (and they don’t say that lightly my friends) and i got curious, even though i didnt think any of their other songs would be as good as unsent letter. i was right, none of them were. but then pinky did a solo gig at the hoey in 2001 and i heard all these other songs, … and i finally understood......”
Forum Entry On Pinky’s Social Networking Site www.pbrectangle.ning.com

www.thewhiterussians.com / www.pbrectangle.ning.com / www.myspace.com/pinkybeecroft

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