Reaching for a star

Warrnambool Standard 4th March 1999 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard 1999.

 Rock group Thirteen is moving to Melbourne in a bid to climb the ladder of success.‘We’re in it for the long haul, we just want to work as hard as we possibly can’. Warrnambool Unearthed winners Thirteen, having just released its debut EP, is the latest local act to take on the Melbourne music scene. The alternative rock four-piece will move to the capital over the next few weeks and hope to take the next step towards commercial and live success. Guitarist Rosli Wheelock says the move was one the band — which originally met in Broome in Western Australia — had been planning all along. “We made that decision when we first moved (to Warrnambool), we knew we wouldn’t be here forever,” Wheelock says. Warrnambool was a good place to get started, but the members of Thirteen are confident they’ve got what it takes to make it in Melbourne. “We’re in it for the long haul, we just want to work as hard as we possibly can,” says drummer Scott Ryan. The four — including bassist Jay Chesson and singer-guitarist Jason Aldersea — said they were constantly writing new songs and had developed musically since recording their self-financed and produced EP No Future In A New Wave. Once in Melbourne they hope to record a single. “We’re looking forward to spending a bit of time and money on one song, hopefully that will get us a bit of airplay.” But the focus, as always, will be on the band’s dynamic and intense live act, which they hope to bring to a wider audience. “We have a work ethic to play the best we can play each time,” Wheelock says.

Thirteen’s six-pack a promising drop

IT’S not hard to spot the influences of Warrnambool’s Thirteen — Nirvana for one — but the debut EP from this alternative rock four-piece also shows a great potential to break the garage-band mould. The talented four-some have certainly mastered the rolling barrage of guitar sound, but they’re also not afraid to tone it down occasionally and that’s when the uniqueness of their style shows through. Highlights of the six-track CD include Cupid, the track unearthed by ABC Radio station Triple J and Bleed which contrasts some rocking guitar with a gentler sound that lets Jason Alderson’s throaty vocals shine. Get out your air guitar for the final track, Not Hip, where Thirteen really crank it up and go all out — a song well suited to the band’s dynamic live show. Thirteen, who originally met in Broome, Western Australia, say people in the Warrnambool music scene considered them“blow-ins” for a while, but if this EP is anything to go by Warrnambool may one day be proud to say this is where the band got its start.