10 shots of sadness and violence from Australia’s best secret!

"I heard this for the first time in Australia. Within five minutes I had tears streaming down my face. It is one of the most emotionally accessible albums. It gives me feelings I can tap into outside of myself because I can’t quite tap into what is going on inside. That for me is most precious."
Karen O. ('Yeah Yeah Yeahs') ‘The Best Thing I’ve Heard All Year’. MOJO Magazine. 2003.

"The Devastations are all about silence. Holes; big enough and empty enough to fill The Grand Canyon. Silence and how you fill it. And how much you fill it, and what you fill it with, and when? And the answer to the last part of that puzzle is song. And song is where The Devastations come in. Messrs. Standish, Cran and Carlyon are life-long devotees of song. And you can hear it, a whole history of song. They neither sound like the past or this year’s fad. This is timeless, because it is of the heart, and the soul is always timeless.”
Rowland S. Howard. (The Birthday Party)

The Devastations’ eponymous debut album was released in Australia in mid-2003 to wide critical acclaim. After touring Australia with bands such as The Dirty Three, Cat Power and Black Heart Procession, they set off to Europe in September 2003 and embarked on a totally self-funded and self-managed four month tour. Amongst many other things, this saw them play a extensive Eastern European tour with UK band, Tindersticks, as well as collaborating and recording film soundtracks with Alexander Hacke of the legendary German band, Einstürzende Neubauten.

The band is very proud to have Munster Records release their debut album. With another album already in the pipeline, the future is looking promising for these three men.

THE DEVASTATIONS BIOGRAPHY
The Devastations formed in September 2002 in Melbourne, Australia. They emerged from the ashes of the Australian underground cult act Luxedo. Consisting of three friends, Tom Carlyon (guitar, piano), Hugo Cran (drums) and Conrad Standish (vocals, bass), they played a handful of shows around Melbourne, and very quickly released their debut album on an independent Australian label in mid 2003.

The critical acclaim quickly started flooding in. Legendary Birthday Party guitarist, Rowland S. Howard, was moved enough to write an insightful and lengthy article about the band in the Australian press. He has also been known to join the band on stage from time to time.

So, The Devastations make their debut with a suite of songs that deal with the gamut of romantic experience. Sorrow, surrender, lust, trust and everything in between… These songs were recorded in an old concert hall in Prague and finished in the trio’s hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Much of this material was written on the road - in trains and hotel rooms and the back of a van.

After touring Australia with bands like The Dirty Three, Cat Power and Black Heart Procession they set off to Europe in September, 2003 and played (amongst other things) an extensive tour with UK band the Tindersticks, as well as collaborating on film soundtracks with Alexander Hacke of legendary German band Einstürzende Neubauten.
As yet, they haven’t gone home.

The band is proud to call Munster Records it's new home and looks forward to what is to come, with one eye on what has come before.

SOME PRESS REVIEWS:
“With their vast swirling voids, The Devastations might seem simple, but it takes genius to make it look this easy.”
- Victoria Durham - Rock Sound, London - August 03

“Imagine ‘Getaway’ hosted by Leonard Cohen or Serge Gainsbourg. The highlight, the gorgeous ‘Previous Crime’ with the violin of Martin and the dramatic snare of Cran giving the lyric extra resonance. It’s not all crying into the Budvar though. ‘Hold Me’ builds to a crashing squall with Carlyon’s spazzy guitar. Ultimately though the slower pace and lonely lyrics make this a perfect album to curse love at 3am while drinking - alone.” - Tim Scott - Beat 11/06/03

“This is an exceptional record; highly ambitious and a sheer luxury to listen to (recalling a cross between the darkness of Tindersticks, The Dirty Three and middle period Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds crossed with various European folk music and even Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra, especially in several duets between lead vocalist Conrad Standish and ex-Luxedo member Emilie Martin see the Sand-esque Love Doesn’t End Like That or Loene for example saucy French there, Em). The material lingers in the memory like cigarette smoke and red wine stains, recurring with its survivor stories of dashed love affairs like a narcotic dream (Previous Dreams is a great example).” - Nazz (gga) - Rip It Up - Australia.

ROLLINGSTONE Nr. 20 December 03, by Wolfgang Doebeling
The Devastations / Loene 7 `single
Two wonderful, melancholic tinted, woven tracks from the australian trio. The b-side "Lena" get´s under the skin even more. Catch them live!

TINY MIX TAPES. 2003, by Sherman Fleischer
The Devastations' versatility emerges not through deliberate eclecticism, but through their ability to make a slow ballad scorch you like a barnburner - and that is a rare ability indeed.

THE MELBOURNE AGE by Michael Dwyer
Partly recorded in a Prague concert hall, the debut by Melbourne's moody Devastations simmers with old-war drama. They set the scene with a cinematic flourish, He Wasn't Like That When I Knew Him echoing the tragic denouement of a spaghetti western. The other instrumental, Ausencia, is pure eastern European street music. From the sobbing violin of Previous Crimes and You Can't Reach Me Now to the slow, tremulous yearning of We Will Never Drink Again, the ominous Berlin albums of Iggy Pop and Nick Cave are other obvious reference points. There's a similar air of murderous intent on Hold Me Tonight, and Conrad Standish has that kind of crushed baritone, as well as a healthy respect for Lee Hazelwood, if his sweetly forbidding duet with Emile Martin, Love Doesn't End Like That, is any indication. Martin takes the ingenue role beautifully on a few tracks, and she and pianist Tom Carlyon manage to sound like a scaled-down Tindersticks on the album's more orchestral moments. All sombre beauty and waltz-time restraint , this is like an arthouse flick for the ears.

OOR MAGAZINE, The Netherlands by Nanne Tepper
With minimal instrumentation and striking reserved singing the ecstasy gets to the listener and just as you're almost swayed to apparent death a raw guitar lick bursts out in the middle of a song. Written on the road, recorded in a concert hall in Prague and mixed in Melbourne. This is universal spleen.

Rock Sound, London - August 03 by Victoria Durham
With their vast swirling voids, The Devastations might seem simple, but it takes genius to make it look this easy.

Tim Scott - Beat 11/06/03
"Imagine 'Getaway' hosted by Leonard Cohen or Serge Gainsbourg. The highlight, the gorgeous 'Previous Crime' with the violin of Martin and the dramatic snare of Cran giving the lyric extra resonance. It's not all crying into the Budvar though. 'Hold Me' builds to a crashing squall with Carlyon's spazzy guitar. Ultimately though the slower pace and lonely lyrics make this a perfect album to curse love at 3am while drinking - alone."

"What are the media saying?" (Download PDF)

ON TOUR
01.11.04. Belgium. Bruges - 'Music In Mind'.
08.11.04. U.K. Belfast - 'The Pavillion'
09.11.04. U.K. Belfast - 'Aunty Annie's'
10.11.04. Ireland. Dublin - 'Whelans'
11.11.04. Ireland. Dublin - 'Whelans'
12.11.04. Ireland. Dublin - TBC
15.11.04. U.K. Manchester - 'Big Hands'
16.11.04. U.K. Manchester - 'The Star & Garter'
19.11.04. Swiss. Luzern - 'Boa'
20.11.04. Swiss. Zurich - 'El Lokal'
25.11.04. France. Paris - 'La Guingette Pirate'
27.11.04. Germany. Berlin - 'Zentrale'
28.11.04. Germany. Dresden - 'Starclub'
30.11.04. Germany. Hamburg - 'Welbuhne'
02.12.04. Italy. Gradara (PU) - 'Theatre'
03.12.04. Italy. Genova - 'Milk'
04.12.04. Italy. Schio (VI) - 'CSC'
07.12.04. Italy. Ravenna - 'Charles Bronson'

www.thedevastations.com