PRESENTED BY
With a knack for warm storytelling and glittering electrics, Quality Used Cars sound instantly endearing.
The soft side of Australian rock garners attention from incredible storytellers like Courtney Barnett and The Whitlams. Now, add to that list Melbourne 5-piece Quality Used Cars. Their latest release Ripoff Merchant sounds plenty comfortable and plenty original.
Ripoff Merchant, a single from their forthcoming LP Good Days/Bad Days, begins by layering a gentle soundscape of glittering electrics, reserved drumming, and colourful chords. The production is clean and inoffensive, leaving the lyrics to capture your full attention. And that they do, with a blend of humour, gutting realism, and incredible maturity for a band just starting out.
Good Days/Bad Days by Quality Used Cars
Lead singer Francis Tait reminisces on the strange experiences working at his father’s record store before it closed in 2017. The detailed personalities on the customers ooze personality into the track. Tait, amidst other eccentrics, recalls a face-tattooed man that “talks the dangers of smoking and the classical piano career he abandoned” and a girl that “avoids eye-contact as she buys all our Lindsay Lohan.”
You just can’t make that shit up, and it’s that distinctive authenticity that makes Quality Used Cars so interesting. The relaxing and endearing Ripoff Merchant is a certainly a worthy contender for the Needle In The Hay. Lovely stuff guys.
Their Good Days/Bad Days LP is set to release via Spoilsport Records 12th February. Check them out here.
Needle In The Hay is a competition run by Happy Mag, giving one artist the chance to win 250 copies of their single on 7-inch vinyl. To enter or find out more, click here.
All Needle In The Hay entrants will receive a voucher to upload their first single for free for the first year to all major music platforms via Spinnup. Find out more here.
Photo: James Whiting
