Spotlight On: TACO LEG

(a photo of American John Sharkey standing next to 2/3 of Perth's TACO LEG)

A while back, I went on a trip to a real crappy country called Australia. My gracious hosts introduced me to some world-class curiosities. The Carlton Blues? Vegemite? A measly pot of beer? Blundys? These things were new to me. I had heard of a strange town surrounded by the ocean and thick jungles, but nothing could prepare me for Perth. It's a place where the locals communicate by a secret system of head nods and all the liquids are carbonated. All of it. The orange juice, the milk, the water in the toilet, everything. Some thoughtful townies flew in a flat bottle of Makers Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky to calm some American nerves. The music in this place? Well, Rupture were some lege cunts and they have a wing at the Perth Folklore Society. These days? Taco Leg is it. They've got a wild shirtless drummer, the greatest one-fingered guitar player in all of Australia, and a singer whose stage demeanor alternates between running in place and standing perfectly still. They just released a fine single on the Fan Death label and they performed some Black Flag tunes recently. Learn more about them here and give a listen to that Flag set over here.

All questions answered by Andrew and Richard. Thanks Heaps.

So what the fuck is a Taco Leg?

A band from Perth. A stupid butthole surfers reference. A joke that became a reality. An excuse to do a lot of awesome/stupid things.

Is that song "Freemason's Hall" a love song?

Yes. It’s about my love for a building that was demolished before I could visit it. We don’t have many love songs. They are mainly about TV shows and buildings I like.

Are you trying to tell me that Perth has some outstanding architecture?

Yeah it does, but as a lecturer once said, Perth has a lot of great architecture, you have to adjust your definition of what 'great' is. During the 50s and 60s I think we produced some of the best modernism in the country, Council House is a fantastic example. We have done pretty well for a country town, although we have nothing on Philadelphia..

So you guys played a bunch of Flag tunes off of Damaged. How did all that come about?

We got asked to play this show on a Sunday night at a restaurant, where the bands are usually background type muzak. For some reason we got asked, and were told to cover a whole album. We chose Damaged because we know it, it’s easy and it is good. We only had 2 practices to learn it. It was a lot of fun; all these power violence dudes came down and yelled out all the words. Someone was bleeding by the end of it. It was really just an excuse to live out our hardcore dreams.

True or false. Perth is kind of weird.

True. Very weird. It is good fun though most of the time. It is really hot at the moment, 40 degrees. That is pretty weird.

Perth is also super incestuous. If you have lived in Perth your whole life then you don't meet 'new' people, you just meet people that someone you know already knows. There is only one degree of seperation between everyone in Perth.

Is every magpie a fucking asshole?

Probably, I haven’t met them all. Mick Malthouse is, traitor. Every magpie that swoops is. I got swooped by one walking to school. True story.

Have you guys played out of Perth much?

Never. We are going on tour for the first time in February. We are going to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney with Golden Staph. If we can get a grant, we are going to America as well.

What can the world expect from TACO LEG in 2010?

A split tape release with Constant Mongrel, the above mentioned tour(s), and a video clip that Fan Death made for us! Hopefully we release some other stuff and play more shows.