Distort X Eddy Current Suppression Ring I

On surprise ECSR new release after 5+ years... and a walk down memory lane...

Cool Death CEO Coco approached me a couple weeks ago with a couple of song files and a heads up they were releasing an exciting new record and would I like to write a couple words for Reverse Evolution on announce.

Over the past almost 20 years I have written a lot about Eddy Current Suppression Ring and my first impulse was to drag it all out and collage it together alongside the multiple interviews I’ve done with Mikey.

I’ve spoken many times about first seeing the band play, when Straightjacket went to their second show because we heard a member of ECSR worked at a pressing plant… a pressing plant who were dragging out release of our first 7” and we wanted to try and intimidate some kind of resolution from the guy or at least make fun of his band… only to find they were the coolest band in Melbourne… immediately we became friends and resolved to play shows together…

Then, all those early shows, watching them blow up and write song after song of intimidating quality and their pressing plant hookup didn’t hurt them spitting out a handful of singles in rapid succession…

Then the game changing moment of that first LP… the inspiration behind The UV Race, who Mikey asked to release a 7” on his label after hearing our practise room demo and who ended up recording most everything we did…

And thinking now of so many shows in those early days with Straightjacket Nation when we were also finding our form, including tours to Sydney and Adelaide and a split 7” of cover songs that heralded Mikey and I starting to make music with Total Control…

And the years we spent together with Total Control as Eddy Current Suppression Ring came in and out of hibernation...

And now, a new single!

In 2019, ECSR released their All in Good Time LP, aptly named, and released in Mikey’s preferred manner: no fanfare, no hype, no teasers, no singles, no warning, no justice, no remorse, no mercy for the weak.

6 years later that is echoed with their new 7” Shapes and Forms, out now on Cool Death Records. Without further fanfare, hype, tease, etc. It sounds like ECSR. Listen.

Photos by Trent Bedley