Bio :
In 2013, four, once young men, travelled to the beachy back blocks of Morisset to relive and, in some ways, revive a groove, after a 25 year hiatus.
Had it not been used so much, one could probably say they were - "getting the band back together". Though, of course, it is, so they won't. And, well, reunion just conjures up images of .......images!
It had been long enough, far too long, between gigs. The fellas where there to play, to rekindle, that feeling of magic they once shared.
Sounds a bit like a love story and, in some ways, it probably is.
They were Brothers, still are, always will be; who played up to the confines of total freedom. A freedom that was often spent making music, any chance they got! That's what they loved and that is what, essentially bought them back together after nearly three decades apart.
The four - Michael Maiden, Dan Lindon, Troy O'Brien and Scott Cochrane, hadn't played together as a group in all those years but had continued playing in various other bands post 1988.
Maiden - Guitar, bass and vocals played with different groups around the Sydney area, recording some stuff along the way. Lindon - guitar, played in a Barnes/Chisel tribute band with Cochrane - vocals in 89-90 then with grunge bands in the 90's through uni ect, before starting a family and settling on the central coast. Cochrane tinkered around in various cover/blues bands before joining the, 6 piece rock band - Rumour Hazit.
He later turned his attention to percussion in the late 90's joining rockabilly/boogie band - Col Ray and the Scary Cats. They recorded original material and found chart success in Germany. It was on the second album - feather, that Cochrane penned his first recorded work.
O'Brien - drums, guitar and vocal, gigged around Wagga for a brief time before selling his kit to focus on family.
It wasn't till Cochrane and O'Brien reacquainted as punters in 2012 at a Red Hot summer tour concert, that O'Brien got the bug and bought himself a set of drums again.
The time felt right! They jammed in each other’s shed's dragging out old cover's and new originals from Cochrane's growing catalogue.
The coming together at the old Morisset showground hall, had all the power and emotional grunt that the band had enjoyed all those years before, but, really, this coming together, was the catalyst for the beginning of a new, somewhat, overdue chapter.
While the others were talking stretched truth's around a fire and drinking cheap Aldi beer, Cochrane was penning new material and trying to focus through the crap being spoke. He sang out "Bitter F...in Shoosh please" and a name presented itself. The original name for the band - "Hot Ratz", coined by the band's mentor, great sage and school teacher - Ron Hunt, was created in desperation prior to the bands, first real, performance at the school awards night. Teacher's fought hard for the right to host the first high school rock band that night, ensuring to the principal, there would be complete control and order. Cochrane walked on stage with a bottle of Vodka!
......the new chapter, though, meant moving forward. The energy was there, the planet's had aligned - the time was right but for Lindon and Maiden, the distance from the central coast to Wagga would be too great to travel to rehearse.
Cochrane was writing a song a day at this point and wanted to record.
They enlisted, Uranquinty native and accomplished guitarist - Dylan Martens to play bass with them. Martens took Bitter Shoosh's original material to new levels, introducing sophisticated riffs and lively runs, pushing Cochrane and O'Brien to conform.
Wagga’s Relay for Life in October 2013, bought about the band’s first gig, comprising a set of 100% original material.
Martens, soon after, left the lineup opening the door for, well known bassist - Steve Price. The seasoned performer slotted in well, playing a couple of gigs with the band but, as Bitter Shoosh were focused on recording and studio work with their originals, Price left in pursuit of more paying gigs.
With Bass player’s in short supply, Cochrane and Obrien continued rehearsing the growing list of original material, with their sights still fixed on getting into the studio.
A chance encounter at Bunnings with – 5th Ave bassist – Jason Ip, got Cochrane asking, would he be keen?
Ip, though, was dubious about an originals band, with no runs on the board and with, seemingly, no future work lined up.
Ip, a Melbourne native, taught himself to play guitar, while on break, during his engineering degree at university. The academic did what most don’t, he read the book first! As a result, his music theory was first class.
He was getting bored with the same old covers with 5th Ave, though, and wanted a new challenge. After listening to some rough shed recording’s, he called Cochrane and said he liked what he had heard and was interested to see where it went.
By mid 2014, the trio had recorded a three track Ep, launching it at the inaugural International Blues Music Day concert at Wagga in August.
Various gigs around the Riverina allowed Bitter Shoosh to raise the necessary funds to continue recording; starting a kitty solely for that purpose. When they had enough, they booked studio time.
Melbourne native - David Wilson engineered those first recordings and had exceeded the bands expectations, with his professionalism and overall sound quality. He was a veteran of 25 years in the music industry at the point and knew what he was on about and not just as sound engineer. He had studied the industry and offered his knowledge to the band on many levels.
He heard something special in the band in those early days and new they were serious about what they were doing.
One track, in particular, caught Wilson’s ear during those first sessions. A number Cochrane had penned after journeying out West in search of his birth Father.
A powerful and moving Rock ballad, based around what he had found in the small town of Tullamore.
Another, long time, Sound Engineer from the Riverina – Grant Luhrs, had heard some of Cochrane’s early compositions too saying - “The songs are strong, they stand on their own.” This was further evidenced in later works too. Like his reaction song – The World sang La Marseillaise, a stirring anthem written after the Paris bombings of 2015; bringing together Musicians, multicultural councils and various ethnic groups from across the City of Wagga Wagga, in a project of peace. The song and video clip were sent to the president of France as a show of support and solidarity for the country.
Bitter Shoosh played some support gigs for bands like – The Badloves and 1927 in 2016 but aside from a hand full of other shows, concentrated on studio time.
It wasn’t till late 16, when Cochrane was told the story of a local war hero - Robert Bruce Meiklejohn. The WW2 bomber pitot selflessly, gave his own life to save those of his crew and the small town in Belgium of Hamont-Achel.
Aside from the Meiklejohn Family, very few people new anything about the heroic act in 1941.
Cochrane, initially wrote it because it was a good yarn. But it wasn’t till the Australian Defence Force heard of the song, that things became serious, leading the band on a 7 Month project, culminating in the launch of the song
and supporting video clip – Captain and 366, at Wagga’s RAAF base on the 21st April 2017. Cochrane was invited to attend the 75th anniversary commemoration service for the crash of EF-366, to perform the song in 2018.
After initially deciding not to be an album’s band and to just continue recording new material any chance they got, the band made a conscious decision to backflip. It is thought, the material recorded over the last few years will act as a stamp in time for the Riverina based band and good opportunity to release some of their early works.
With all members now writing material, the new songs have an evolving sophistication and maturity about them.
“It just makes sense, now, to catalogue the last couple of years into an album…if you will. It’s not just me throwing songs into the hat now. I have to compete (laughs). Jase and Troy have become bloody good writers and, really, that is pushing all of us to bring better material to the table.….It’s exciting and healthy at the same time” – Scott Cochrane.
