Cordrazine, the ’90s Melbourne indie pop-rock enigmas – who we last heard from back in 2022 when they celebrated 25 years since their brief but impactful initial existence with a rare performance and the first-ever vinyl releases of both their debut EP ‘Time to Leave’ and ARIA Top 10 debut album ‘From Here to Wherever’ – are back!
With their first new music in 15 years – the single Hey Man – OUT NOW, and a single launch set for April 27 at the Northcote Social Club, Cordrazine have set the ball rolling for what will be a busy couple of years.
“It feels like that time again”, Hamish Cowan says. “Once every 10 years or so, seems about the right pace to record and release music. Though the truth is, music is never out of my life, it just takes me a while to get around to sharing it”.
Cordrazine first appeared in Melbourne with their 1996 EP Time to Leave. Introducing the exquisite voice of Hamish Cowan and four beautiful, classic pop songs with flourishes of gorgeous Fender Rhodes, subtle jazzy hues and powerful moods, the EP set the scene alight.
The band released their debut album, ‘From Here To Wherever’ in 1997. The world was soon to learn however, the band had already parted ways prior to the album’s release. Nonetheless, the album rocketed into the top ten of the ARIA Album Chart on the back of phenomenal reviews, vast radio airplay and a raft of television appearances. ‘From Here To Wherever’ features the still astonishing ballad Crazy.
The raw emotion and open-a-vein honesty provoked the kind of obsessive fan reactions, journalistic intrusions and forced self-reflection that Cowan admits were actually too much for him to deal with. “I was being asked questions about aspects of my being in interviews, I’d not considered myself. Interviews were more like psychoanalysis than a conversation about the music I’d written”.
So, then it happened. After countless Australian tours, an Aria chart Top 40 EP, an album ready for release and ARIA Award nominations, whilst on tour in the USA, with no formal announcement, Cowan called time on the band and shrunk away, before they could even fully break through. Cordrazine undeniably had so much more to offer.
Hey Man is the first Cordrazine release in almost 15 years. An epic production including a 28-piece string section, Cowan feels like the track is a natural expression of all of the influences that have shaped he and the band. Though he confesses, “As long as we don’t sound like we are bereft of ideas, I will be happy. I don’t care if people hate it, I just don’t want people to be bored and unaffected – hatred is better than indifference”.
Hey Man will be the first of a series of releases scattered throughout 2024 and 2025, culminating in an album release toward the end of 2025. To celebrate, the band has a number of shows planned throughout Australia, the first at the Northcote Social Club on the 27th of April 2024– with Autohaze, Blackchords, and Simon Langdon joining the northside line up. Though, given the history of Cowan and this band, who knows. Every show could be the last.
Cordrazine‘s new single Hey Man is out now through Rubber Records
https://orcd.co/heyman
Cordrazine will launch Hey Man on Saturday April 27 at the Northcote Social Club, with special guests Autohaze, Blackchords and Simon Langdon. Tickets are available here
Thanks to Dave Laing Publicity
