THERE’S some shockers when it comes to country and western song titles, including I Flushed You From the Toilets of My Heart, and I Wanna Whip Your Cow.
So, All Our Exes Live in Texas isn’t so bad.
Then again Elana Stone, Katie Wighton, Hannah Crofts and Georgia Mooney weren’t expecting to use the band name for more than a single show.
The four friends were invited to form a band for an Oh Brother Where Art Thou tribute show and needed to come up with a name in a hurry.
“We googled the worst country titles of all time…potentially we would have put in more thought if we thought it would stay,” Mooney says.
• All Our Exes Live in Texas. Photo supplied
Last month they were touring the US with Midnight Oil, and previously they toured with the Backstreet Boys, Passenger, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, not to mention Australian icons Mama Kin and Kate Miller-Heidke.
They were shortlisted for the Vanda & Young Songwriting competition and nominated for four National Live Music Awards.
Their Tell Me film clip is an hilarious take on the modern break up, which made it into the top 10 film clips of 2014 by Double J.
The no-holds-barred story is told through a soccer match, with the Exes on one side and their exes on the other.
“We were all playing soccer at the time and the world cup had just come on—I was obsessed with soccer,” songwriter Mooney says.
Play the Devil’s Part, by Hannah Crofts, took the group in a new direction: “We were aware we have a tendency to sound a bit twee…and were experimenting with spookier sounds,” Mooney says.
There’s nothing “twee” about the song, or the clip with its mix of occult and murder.
“Hannah was watching a lot of crime and cult docos and had become fascinated with the Manson girls,” Mooney says.
“But it’s really a song about making bad choices in love.”
The Exes are touring Australia with their debut album, When We Fall.
A testament to their musical strength, it’s a sweet and potent lament on love.
You can catch All Our Exes at Babushka (Leederville Hotel) Saturday June 24, and at Fremantle’s Fly By Nightclub, Sunday, June 25. Tix at http://www.allourexesliveintexas.com.
by JENNY D’ANGER