Pinky Beecroft & The White Russians

QUICK LINKS

http://www.thewhiterussians.com

The White Russians are a difficult thing to pin down. The original line-up featured Nick Stewart (George, Jon Lord) on guitar, Cameron Bruce (Paul Kelly, Washington) on organ and Christian McBride on drums…. together with Pinky Beecroft, the eccentric Melbourne singer songwriter storyteller and irregular TV guest ('The Glasshouse') who allegedly once fronted Machine Gun Fellatio, although he refuses to confirm or deny this.

Their debut album, Somethin' Somewhere Better, was a stripped-down rock-out affair built around driving guitars and Hammond organ…. it was a little bit like early Stones, and it also featured a stunningly down-beat, melancholy version of Blondie's Call Me, played as a graveyard ballad, as well as an unexpectedly fast, summery version of Beecroft's own Unsent Letter.

The second album, Pretty Black, was a collection of semi-acoustic stripped-to-the-bare-bones almost-folk tunes, notable for some heartbreakingly beautiful melodies and deeply personal/autobiographical lyrics. It was Bon Iver long before Bon Iver had crawled out of his cabin of misery, and frankly it was way better. For this second album the line-up had completely changed, with Beecroft being the band's only constant. Included on Pretty Black were also a couple of totally oddball moments, some found objects, and some muted trumpet. All very strange and marvellous.

The new pbWR CD is a four-track pop-punch-rock thing called Rock Boots, which features an accompanying roller-girrrl film-clip. It's riff-heavy, instant-fun, accessible. Included is a classic punk version of Beecroft's erstwhile acoustic hit, My Ex-Girlfriend's Boyfriend's Got A Band.

And so The White Russians continue to evolve, and defy categorisation. Whatever else this band is, it's a radical departure from Beecroft's days in MGF - this is, in the main, quite stripped-back and raw. But, because it's Beecroft, it's also supremely eclectic and unpredictable.  The live shows especially are a lottery: at times acoustic, achingly pretty, while at other times it's all dirty guitars and rockin' rhythms.

With some brilliant lyrics in the mix, this is indeed a beautiful thing. We wait to see what arrives next from planet Beecroft.