After serving the Melbourne music community for a decade, Dougal Shaw is finally bringing an end to Marthouse Records.
The DIY label was responsible for introducing listeners to some of the best independent Australian bands of the last 10 years: Hideous Sun Demon, Bench Press, Rolling Stone AU/NZ favourites Gut Health, and Shaw’s own outfit Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice.
The last 10 years have seen the label release over 40 records and tapes, not to mention 100s of digital releases, but Shaw may just have saved the most special release for last.
Shaw is the latest guest on Making Music, Making Ends Meet, our series focused on ANZ musicians during the cost-of-living crisis.
When asked to name a highlight of the Marthouse Records years, he had a story for us.
“My dad, Phil Shaw, had a band in Brisbane in the late ’70s/early ’80s — The Saints/Go-Betweens era when Joh Bjelke-Petersen was waging war on art and culture in QLD — [called] The Billy Mummys. Driving, goth-y new wave à la early Cure or something.
“They made some recordings, but he followed his girlfriend at the time back to Amsterdam, was away for a couple of years, and the band had dispersed by the time he got back to Brissy. A few years later my older brother came along and then me. He was always strumming a guitar but never had another band,” he told us.
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“Dad’s always spoken about the-record-that-never-was, unfinished business, for 40-plus years.
“This year I’ve been quietly sourcing and digitising his old cassettes, tracking down his old bandmates on socials, and whatnot, an old gig poster his bassist Andrew Massie made, a set of photos from a gig that his late best friend Sheena Dunn took.
“I’ve made it my mission to press the long-lost record and gift it to him before the label wraps up. My pal Erik mastered it last week. I’ve just been on the phone to Paul at Zenith, and he’s hustling to get it over the line.”
Get it over the line, they did. The Billy Mummys’ A Date Not to Forget is being released by Marthouse Records on Friday, July 31st.
The LP will be released digitally as well as in a limited edition (100) 12″ vinyl (pre-order here).
“C’mon, that’s a highlight,” Shaw said.
Read Shaw’s full Making Music, Making Ends Meet feature here.
