First Listen: Cosmopolis – Pushin’ Too Hard

Cosmopolis are set to release their new single titled ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’ this Friday (August 5th). Gritty between the beat with a bit of dirt sprinkled about for a bit of hair on the dancefloor. Part rock with a bit of the original left for homage. This is way more of an update of the original 1965 version by The Seeds. While retaining that snark that made the original oh so delectable, Cosmopolis take the essentials and, not only amp them up, but make them original in their own right.

Slowing the groove and highlighting the rhythm and bass, Cosmopolis turn the ’60s anthem into a slow burn meant for modern times and highlight the hidden hook with an original vibe. This is a new song with a new meaning.

About ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’

‘Pushin’ Too Hard’ is our 5th single release, and the first which we haven’t written ourselves.

We’ve always liked those dumb 1960s garage tunes where the (presumably teenage) hero moans about how terrible life is. Two classics of this genre that we considered covering are ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’ by The Seeds and ’96 Tears’ by ? And the Mysterians. They no doubt informed a lot of the later rock and pop music that was happy to showcase a certain rough simplicity (Iggy Pop, for example), as well as some of those later post-punk bands who wrote similar angst-ridden paeans to teenage love but with tongue firmly in cheek (Buzzcocks, Orange Juice, Devo, B-52s). This sort of music was very influential on us growing up – it was unpretentious, and archly recognized the essential triviality of its subject matter even as it pretended it mattered more than anything.

Once we’d worked out both the chords to Pushin’ Too Hard, we thought we should try to reinterpret it. The first idea was to change Sky Saxon’s histrionic vocal to one which was bored and disengaged rather than angry (Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto inspired us here). Some cheap drum machine sounds kept the garage feel, as did some nice 1960s-style organs, while much of the rest of instrumentation kept it simple and driving. As we started to play it together, we wondered if an unholy mixture of 60s garage and Can/Neu! might be interesting, so we added some pulsing synths, and we made sure the bassline played as few notes as possible.

We liked reinterpreting this song, and we like playing it together, because we can see how it connects us to 60 years of popular music. We hope you like it too.is our 5th single release, and the first which we haven’t written ourselves.

We’ve always liked those dumb 1960s garage tunes where the (presumably teenage) hero moans about how terrible life is. Two classics of this genre that we considered covering are ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’ by The Seeds and ’96 Tears’ by ? And the Mysterians. They no doubt informed a lot of the later rock and pop music that was happy to showcase a certain rough simplicity (Iggy Pop, for example), as well as some of those later post-punk bands who wrote similar angst-ridden paeans to teenage love but with tongue firmly in cheek (Buzzcocks, Orange Juice, Devo, B-52s). This sort of music was very influential on us growing up – it was unpretentious, and archly recognised the essential triviality of its subject matter even as it pretended it mattered more than anything.

Once we’d worked out both the chords to Pushin’ Too Hard, we thought we should try to reinterpret it. The first idea was to change Sky Saxon’s histrionic vocal to one which was bored and disengaged rather than angry (Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto inspired us here). Some cheap drum machine sounds kept the garage feel, as did some nice 1960s-style organs, while much of the rest of instrumentation kept it simple and driving. As we started to play it together, we wondered if an unholy mixture of 60s garage and Can/Neu! might be interesting, so we added some pulsing synths, and we made sure the bassline played as few notes as possible.

We liked reinterpreting this song, and we like playing it together, because we can see how it connects us to 60 years of popular music. We hope you like it too.’

Pushin’ Too Hard is our 5th single release, and the first which we haven’t written ourselves.

We’ve always liked those dumb 1960s garage tunes where the (presumably teenage) hero moans about how terrible life is. Two classics of this genre that we considered covering are ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’ by The Seeds and ’96 Tears’ by ? And the Mysterians. They no doubt informed a lot of the later rock and pop music that was happy to showcase a certain rough simplicity (Iggy Pop, for example), as well as some of those later post-punk bands who wrote similar angst-ridden paeans to teenage love but with tongue firmly in cheek (Buzzcocks, Orange Juice, Devo, B-52s). This sort of music was very influential on us growing up – it was unpretentious, and archly recognised the essential triviality of its subject matter even as it pretended it mattered more than anything.

Once we’d worked out both the chords to Pushin’ Too Hard, we thought we should try to reinterpret it. The first idea was to change Sky Saxon’s histrionic vocal to one which was bored and disengaged rather than angry (Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto inspired us here). Some cheap drum machine sounds kept the garage feel, as did some nice 1960s-style organs, while much of the rest of instrumentation kept it simple and driving. As we started to play it together, we wondered if an unholy mixture of 60s garage and Can/Neu! might be interesting, so we added some pulsing synths, and we made sure the bassline played as few notes as possible.

We liked reinterpreting this song, and we like playing it together, because we can see how it connects us to 60 years of popular music. We hope you like it too.

About Cosmopolis

Cosmopolis is a trio of musicians producing dark, edgy and often beautiful music, drawing on a wide range of influences ranging from the Velvet Underground, through Radiohead to Massive Attack. It is music in the art rock tradition, played with guitars and drums, but also drawing on electronic influences and the many possibilities offered by today’s technological tools.

Cosmopolis operates in a new kind of way. The three core members – Gavin Kendall, Nicholas Platten and David Hussey – are based around the world, in Australia, Belgium and England, making music together, sometimes physically and other times virtually.

Brisbane-based Gavin Kendall is the singer and lyricist as well as a talented multi-instrumentalist. Drummer and percussionist David Hussey lives in Canterbury, England, whilst guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Nick Platten works from his home studio in Brussels, Belgium. The songs are recorded in multiple locations and are arranged, mixed and mastered in the cloud.

After a couple of years of enforced remote collaboration due to the pandemic, the summer of 2022 sees the group reunited and working on new material in a rural farmhouse in Eastern France.

LINKS:
https://cosmopolismusic.com/
https://cosmopolis.bandcamp.com/