Wash

About the album

Wash were early 90s shoegaze flagbearers in Perth, Western Australia, the most isolated capital city in the world. Original members were Rolf Farstad (guitar, vocals), Alan Matthews (bass), Courtney Babb (guitar), and Mark Bryceland (drums).

"We were probably one of the few shoegaze bands in Perth at the time, if not the only one," says Rolf. "So we'd play with punk bands, you'd play with rock'n'roll bands. Even if you didn't really like the other bands you'd still support them, cause there was only a few of us doing it at the time."

Drummer Mark reportedly owned every Creation record released up to that point, and Rolf had been mailordering records through his local store since the late 80s, scouring NME and Melody Maker for tips and growing up on a diet of Dinosaur Jr, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, the Pale Saints and Ride.

They released just one 8 song demo cassette in 1991 and contributed a track (Klunk) to the very first Chapter Music release, 1992 compilation cassette Bright Lights Small City. They also had a track (Overhead Noodlehouse) on another 1992 compilation cassette Habitués, released by local recording studio Initiation.

After the tape release, Jamie Hamilton (also a member of grunge gods Benji and later Flashing Tablet) replaced Mark on drums. By that point the band were listening to a lot more Sub Pop records and their sound was getting rockier. The band were over by 1993 but their recordings reveal a sense of space, dynamics, melody and innovation far more than the sum of its parts.