Love Bros

he last Australian politician to reference a band was trade minister Craig Emerson. He stood on the greens of Parliament with a boom box at his feet. On cue, a member of his team pressed play, and Emerson began bopping along to the intro bass line in Skyhooks' Horror Movie, in what is arguably the most god-awfully awkward 30 seconds in Australian political history. Now, while nothing quite so cringeworthy happened to British band Drenge, they were inadvertently thrown into the political sphere thanks to retiring UK MP Tom Watson who, in his resignation letter said: “if you want to see an awesome band, I recommend Drenge.”

“It's amazing that anyone likes our band in the first place,” says singer and songwriter Eoin Loveless, who fronts the band while brother Rory smashes out the drums, and is on the phone from the UK. “It's just weird when music meets politics in the UK. Writers here spend most of the day writing about politics and then when someone suddenly mentions a band – they go a bit weird.”

Loveless is talking ahead of the release of their self-titled debut album, which has already spawned two successful singles, Backwaters and Bloodsports. Describing themselves as “2 brothers. guitar & drums” on their Facebook page, Loveless is touchy when obvious comparisons to The Black Keys and The White Stripes are made: “Well, we get compared to a lot of two-piece bands because we are a two-piece. But when it comes to songwriting, we like to listen to bands outside of the two-piece, like Nirvana or Queens Of The Stone Age.” That said, the same gritty, raw lo-fi sound made so popular by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney hurtles towards you on Drenge, a bone-shaking 12 tracks that showcase the brothers' total, violent synchronicity. “It's really easy playing with my brother,” Loveless admits. “Considering, you know, you talk to some people and they're like, 'I hate my brother,' or 'I hate my sister.' Sure, I mean Rory and I don't get on all the time, but at the same time I love my brother.”

The creative process for the pair is rather ad hoc but curiously methodical. “The songs just come from me figuring stuff out on the guitar, and then trying to come up with some kind of song structure with Rory. Then I'll play the song loads of times to get it just right before writing lyrics.” Lyrics that include darkly witty song titles like, People In Love Make Me Feel Yuck and I Want To Break You In Half. “I try and make the words compliment the music, and I want the words to be about something that isn't in the music.” For the brothers Loveless, however, the real magic is wrought during their live performances. “When your full-time job is a muso, and a touring muso, and you travel from city to city and spend nine hours in a van or longer – you day ends up revolving around a 45-minute set.”