no more long blondes

The Long Blondes have split. Read about it here.

So, there's bands I've fallen in love with and there's bands that have completely consumed my life. First, it was Blur and Pulp, back when I was about 12 years old - I spent all of 1997 listening to either "The Great Escape" or "Different Class" and it's defined my musical tastes ever since.

Then, come about 2001, Belle & Sebastian and The Lucksmiths entered the fray and I transformed into a little pop lady, dancing about, painting lines and sleeping in bus stops, wondering how I got my name and what I was going to do about it.

Come late 2006, I heard The Long Blondes' "Weekend Without Makeup" on the radio, and really dislike it. I'm not sure why - it just didn't rub me the right way. However, as soon as I heard "Once and Never Again", my thoughts changed entirely - I remember thinking, "What are they doing playing proper pop songs on the radio? It doesn't make sense!" It sounded like it had dived straight off the C86 compilation that was playing in my car at the time and into my embracing ears. I loved it - more than loved it, even.

Their debut album Someone To Drive You Home took up permanent residency in my car in 2007. It still hasn't left, nor will it ever as long as I'm driving Coldplay down the highway. There isn't a better album to keep me awake at 3am as I'm driving past the Caltex service station at Carseldine, singing along at the top of my voice to "Lust In The Movies" and "Swallow Tattoo". "Couples" has taken up residency too, as will "Singles" when I buy myself a copy very soon.

I was lucky enough to see them twice. Firstly, here in Brisbane - every single one of my friends bailed on me, so I bought myself a gin and tonic and danced the night away like no other. I ended up really dancing the night away like no other, because I met the boys in the band afterwards and talked new wave, britpop and a whole lot more with them after the show. Best night in Brisbane ever, hands down, no further questions. The second time was earlier this year, in Munich, where I flew over for two days just to see them play. That's my dedication to the band. It was a brilliant performance, and I had a crazy night drinking German beer and getting lost walking back to my hotel after the show.

It was awful to hear about Dorian's illness back in June, mainly because I had got to know him after the Brisbane show. When you hear their lyrics, it's hard to fathom how one boy could write such sassy, witty songs that pretty much summed me up.

Here are ten of my favourite Long Blondes lyrics:

1. "Now all I've got is a postcode to go on, and that won't get me laid" ("The Whippet Fancier")

2. "You fill me with inertia, but I still want to jump your bones" ("Swallow Tattoo")

3. "Looks are the first weapon, charm is the second, I reckon that she doesn't have much of either" ("Only Lovers Left Alive")

4. "Can I get it on credit or something?" (also "Only Lovers Left Alive")

5. "If you want to know me, watch how I dance" ("Fulwood Babylon")

6. "I'm still classic girlfriend material, and I'll do better than you" ("Who Are You To Her")

7. "Some boys will never have me, it's of no consequence" ("My Heart Is Out Of Bounds")

8. "I may never have a daughter because I've far too much to tell her and far too much to answer for" ("Nostalgia")

9. All the spoken word bits in "You Could Have Both" ("I feel like CC Baxter in Wilder's Apartment") and "Fulwood Babylon" ("...who want to introduce them to illicit Russ Meyer films and dance til dawn to old Kinks records...").

10. "A sweet young thing, dressed to the nines in Cacharel, oh I'm under the weather, my heels click together and following her is hell" ("Lust In The Movies")

So it's hard to take the news that The Long Blondes are no more, but I also feel incredibly lucky that I have this cache of brilliant, brilliant songs to listen to forever. And really, I still wish Dorian all the best in recovery, because really, that's the most important part of all this. xx