Lichen Pole Cocktail Coon

Rip It Up, Issue 219, 1 November 1995, Page 9

Lichen Pole Cocktail Coon

One of Wellington band Lichen Pole’s more unusual gigs was an unplugged set at vocalist Broc Oliver’s parents’ twentyfifth wedding anniversary in rural Taranaki. Apparently it went down a treat with the old timers, suggesting that if the rock thing doesn’t work out, there may be a future for Lichen Pole on the cabaret circuit. "We know what’s involved,” says Broc. “We know a few Elvis covers. It’d probably be quite good money.” Lichen Pole have just released their debut CD, the tastily named cocktail of sound Ebola Cola. Like fellow capital bands Breathe and Short, Lichen Pole completely financed and coordinated the release of the CD themselves. Broc — whose vocals range from an antipodean drone to a loopy half rap somewhere between Les Claypool and Mark E Smith — says releasing the CD has taken a lot of time and organisation. The seven song sampler (which has been released on the Lichen Pole-created label Immune) has an eclectic mix of styles, bringing together the four members’ various musical backgrounds. Half the band were previously in goth-industrial group Devoid, but this doesn’t often come through in Lichen Pole’s sound ,which is a lot less dark and much chirpier. As for the pleasant title, Broc says it comes from “the idea of disease meeting refreshment... oh, and it sounds kinda cool.”

DOMINIC WAGHORN