Ocean Alley’s Studio Jam Session Turns Up on “Tombstone”

Australian rockers Ocean Alley are not of this time—and it works. Nearly nine years after forming, and since their 2016 debut Lost Tropics, the band, which started by hanging out and jamming in a backyard shed, continue to pull out more effortless, classic rock grooves. Even some of their videos play like a hynoptic, psychedelic art rock poster come to life. 

The band has already released three singles, including “Stained Glass,” a slow, psychedelic build, and also the first track they wrote since the release of their second studio album, 2018’s Chiaroscuro, and “Infinity,” a more laid back jam.

On their latest, “Tombstone,” Ocean Alley pick up the pace from previous singles. Pieced together as the six-piece works on their their third album for 2020, the track, which speaks to a special place of refuge now turned into a wasteland—while somewhat somber in meaning—plays out into a soulful jam session, layered in beats and harmonies, all balanced with Baden Donegal’s lush vocals.

“We wanted the overall tone of track to be fat and smooth, sort of futuristic soul/funk vibes,” producer Callum Howell tells American Songwriter. 

Working with Howell, the band, which also includes keyboardist Lach Galbraith, bassist Nic Blom, and drummer Tom O’Brien, crafted “Tombstone” by jamming through it. Guitarists Mitch Galbraith and Angus Goodwin wrote the chorus on guitars in the lounge room, with the song came together over a couple of days from there with jams and demoing at Rockinghorse Studios in Byron Bay.

“Angus was trying to find a lead part for the chorus while everyone was jamming it together, but nothing seemed to work,” says Howell. “After trying a heap of ideas for a while we ended up reverting to what we’d heard him play in the lounge room, and that’s what ended up on the record. We then went to The Grove on the Central Coast of NSW (New South Wales), [and] did all the tracking there, except for some backing vocals…we preferred the demo version.”

Moving ahead, the band is scheduled to perform at the 2020 Electric Forest Festival, June 25-28 in Michigan.