They’re hardly the most credible rock instrument, yet the bagpipes have featured on perennial Australian singles including AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)”, John Farnham’s “You’re The Voice” and Jebediah’s “Fall Down”.
For Melbourne act Motor Ace, the Scottish pipes seemed like a perfect fit for their single “Death Defy” on 2001 album Five Star Laundry.
“It was always an idea we had, since there are those classic Aussie tracks like “You’re The Voice” and “It’s A Long Way To The Top” which include bagpipes,” frontman Patrick Robertson recalls. “It was a bit of a homage to that, so putting the bagpipes on the song seemed fitting, but it was hard to find a bagpipe player – particularly one who really rocked. I think Steven Smith, the guy who ended up doing it, was actually the bagpipe player on “You’re The Voice”.”
Two decades since Motor Ace formed, the band’s Triple J-approved debut Five Star Laundry has now been remastered for vinyl release. As an audiophile, Robertson was excited to hear the results on LP.
“We’d spoken to a couple of people at Warner about doing it ourselves, because we’d originally recorded the album in analogue and were conscious at the time that it might be our last opportunity to make a purely analogue production. I’m pretty nerdy when it comes to that sort of stuff, so was surreal to be able to get up and put (Five Star Laundry) on my record player.
“We originally mixed the album in London and mastered at Abbey Road, which was pretty cool. Damo and I got a pic on the Abbey Road zebra crossing on a throwaway camera, so it was a surreal experience to be there. I remember there being a vinyl lathe there in the mastering suite – they would actually cut the vinyl there, so we really should have pressed a (vinyl) copy back then!”
Despite being a favourite at the ABC’s youth station, making appearances in the Hottest 100 in both 2001 and 2002 with Five Star Laundry tracks, Robertson doesn’t recall feeling any real affinity with other Triple J bands at the time.
“I always felt like a bit of a grump and was always pretty self-absorbed,” he admits. “For better or worse, that was probably who I was at the time. We had an affinity with bands we toured with, such as New Zealand bands like Shihad, but I never felt bound by the Triple J thing.”
As well as Shihad, Motor Ace also shared tours with acts including Oasis (who watched Motor Ace’s set from the side of stage) and Foo Fighters.
“We did three or four club shows with Foo Fighters, which included the Metro and the Melbourne Hi-Fi,” Robertson says. “We were playing with The Hellacopters as well, which are one of my favourite bands of all time. There wasn’t too much craziness on tour but Dave Grohl was always pretty friendly, as you could imagine. Oasis were also pretty professional and kept their shenanigans out of our view.”
Despite mixing with some of the giants of the rock scene in the new millennium, Robertson sounds somewhat disenchanted about Motor Ace’s musical path.
“Looking back, one of my regrets is probably I should have been more the carefree guy, but I was pretty serious at the time. I was just focused on our band and making great music. To a degree I had an obsessive personality, so I was very focused on that with high expectations of what we were doing.
“I think we were a reasonably good band – or at least that’s what people told me,” Robertson chuckles. “At times we could definitely nail it, but I found it difficult. I’m definitely a studio person and I enjoyed that process a lot more, so touring took its toll on me at various times. I’m a fairly low energy person so being on stage every night, I found it quite difficult. On reflection, I’m glad I did it and I had a great time, but it certainly wasn’t the greatest moment of my whole life.”
Robertson suggests the balance of appeasing both fans and radio was particularly difficult for the band, who broke up after releasing third album Animal in 2005.
“I don’t want to sound negative, but it’s difficult to navigate the perception of the band and what your fans expect with each release. How far do you push each new album in a different direction while pleasing old fans and radio? In Australia the pay-offs aren’t high enough to sustain a career if you alienate large portions of the public as the market’s too small. Having to cater to Triple J, who are equally elitist as any other record station, it’s almost impossible to navigate that. Looking back, it would have made sense to relocate the band to Europe or somewhere so that there’s a bigger market for your niche. Australia is such a small market it can be really frustrating working within those constraints. By the end I didn’t know if I was trying to appeal to these people or those people or myself.”
Despite the disappointments which led to their demise, Robertson has found enjoyment in once again hearing the “hope and energy” of his younger self on Five Star Laundry. It might even be enough to stir interest in Motor Ace performing together again.
“We are talking of doing something,” Robertson reveals. “I have a new band Nighthawk and we have released a couple of songs with an album out mid to late this year, but after that we can talk about Motor Ace and see if we have the energy to do it. If we did it I think it would just be the old stuff and a few dates in the major cities. We all have busy lives so we wouldn’t make it a long tour, but putting this album out is something of an incentive.
“I probably hadn’t listened to Five Star Laundry for 10 years, but I was happy with the energy we had at the time. It’s far from perfect but I could see what we were doing – it was nice.”
Limited edition remastered copies of Five Star Laundry are available here. The full Start Your Ear Off Right range is available here.
