The Pictures - Pissin'With The Catman

Fri 20th May, 2005 in Music Reviews

For many guys around the world, there are no better stories than those that involve urinating next to someone famous. There’s something about standing next to someone you admire (or have at least seen on the television) during one of their many necessary everyday bladder emptying sessions. Personally, I once pointed Percy at the porcelain next to Kev Mitchell from Jebediah, a story I love to announce to people after a few drinks if the small talk dries up.

So the pride a man can take in taking a slash next to someone of merit is certainly worth naming a song after, precisely what The Pictures’ Davey Lane did after hearing the tale of the band’s live mixer meeting Peter Criss, the drummer from Kiss, while at the urinal.

For the uninitiated, The Pictures is the side project for You Am I guitarist Davey Lane – a three-piece rock and roll band delivering a sound that is not unlike Lane’s better known band.

Unfortunately the song has absolutely nothing to do with urinating, or Peter Criss, but that doesn’t really matter. Pissin’ With The Catman is the first single from the band’s debut long-player Pieces of Eight and, while there’s nothing ground breaking about the song, it’s a cut above a lot of their “new-rock” Australian contemporaries.

Starting with a big intro, the song is three and a half minutes of slick, catchy and ultimately exceptional pop rock. The country/blues licks that are littered amongst the somewhat typical pop progression give it an edge that, while it may sound like a lazy comparison, honestly makes the song sound like something that may have come out of You Am I’s Deliverence sessions.

First b-side You Don’t Care Much is a simple, rollicking bluesy number driven by a simple but solid beat from drummer Johnny T and flavoured with some boisterous harmonica breaks in between the verses and chorus.

The single’s final track Downhill From Here moves away from the rock and roll tone the first two tracks set to an eerier sound akin to a band like Augie March. After hearing the single’s previous songs, you could be forgiven for having doubts about the direction this one heads in – however Lane and his band pull it off effortlessly.

Don’t go expecting The Pictures to change the world, but if you want something to sing along to this winter, you won’t go too far wrong with Pissin’ With the Catman.