There’s a lot of bullshit tied up in Australian pub culture. For many, it seems inextricable. It’s savagery; brutal and unforgiving to anyone that doesn’t fit a mold. Aussie pubs are littered with racism, misogyny, and homophobia, but Byron Bay outfit Mini Skirt are channeling this savagery, warping it, and hurling it right back at the backward pricks that often occupy our barstools.
The purpose of this article is to premiere their latest music video, but I really like this band, so fuck it, I’m going to spend a bit of time telling you my thoughts on them.
Byron Bay pub-rock dissenters Mini Skirt are back with a new music video for Pretty; two minutes of pure vitriolic madness.
Mini Skirt’s music is rough and raw; free of pretension and bullshit, brimming with an earnest kind of rage. It’s pub-rock that actively attacks pub-centric bigotry. I was first pointed in the band’s direction when they released their Taste EP in 2016. The first listen kinda felt like a punch in the stomach. Frontman Jacob Boylan’s voice grinds at your guts—but it’s excellent. Their lyrics and assaulting sounds leave you no wiggle room. They corner you.
The following year, they dropped Dying Majority; a scathing indictment of the aforementioned pub-dwellers who “still manage to learn the names of every new player in the NRL” but “can’t seem to grasp the idea that perhaps we don’t own this country”. I don’t want to harp on too long about past releases, but it was here, I feel, that Mini Skirt started to develop their identity as a band. They began to develop a method of communication that cuts through the vapid squall of modern discourse, calling out shitty behaviour without looking down at people with opposing views to themselves.
Dying Majority was accompanied by three other tracks on a four-track EP, 7, which was then followed by another double single, Hello Possums. Across this space of time (which wasn’t really very long) the band refined their brutal but conscious brand of music, building themselves steadily as one of Aussie rock’s most beloved new acts.
And now, with that brief history lesson behind us, it’s my absolute pleasure to be premiering the new video for their latest single, Pretty.
Pretty is an anthem for our absurd modern times. “Give the whip to the whistleblower / Get your facts from the phone,” Boylan growls. “Millions glued to the UFC, won’t you leave me alone.” While pub culture isn’t directly tackled lyrically in this new tune, the band’s music still sounds as though it’s being played from a room laid with beer-soaked carpet. And the headspaces they conjure and attack are still largely those of past generations (or present generations with outdated views).
Clocking in at just under two minutes, the track stomps forward relentlessly from start to finish, attacking ears with violent guitar stabs, pounding percussion, and gritty, vitriolic vocals. If you’re already a fan of Mini Skirt, this new single captures everything you love about them. If you’re new to the party, this new single will pull you straight into unwavering fandom.
The track arrives alongside a new music video, directed by Ben Portnoy (C.O.F.F.I.N, White Dog, Research Reactor Corp). Shot during the band’s most recent King Street Crawl performance, you’ll see a sunny Kelly’s On King packed with punters. The beer-soaked carpet is still there, but the bullshit is absent. There’s no room for your dickheadery at a Mini Skirt show, and there’s no room for any dickheadery in Mini Skirt’s music. Pretty, of course, is no exception.
Do yourself a favour and watch the new clip above.
