The Troubadour

THE THIN KIDS In early 2008 Everett True announced his arrival to the Brisbane music scene with an open letter to the local industry titled “23 things I’d change about the Brisbane music scene”. Aside from naming and shaming venues and musicians that True didn’t like, the letter paid special attention to one Edward Guglielmino, who True described as “Brisbane’s answer to Robert Smith, minus the tunes or talent”. Allegedly, Edward Guglielmino (Lost of Love, The Show) had ejected True from The Troubadour one night for harassing the band Flamingo Crash, unaware of his cultural status as the man who once got sacked from the NME for “bring unable to write”.

The letter was scathing of Guglielmino’s music, and concluded: “move him five feet underground or to Sydney, but please, rid this town of Edward Guglielmino…”

Guglielmino was enraged, and sent an equally deprecating letter to the local street press entitled “True lies about the legend”. Unfortunately, the local street press failed to print it, mistaking it for slasher fan fiction about Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was unfortunate. In the letter, Guglielmino alleged – among many other claims – that True didn’t invent grunge, that it was in fact invented in Perth in 1973 by a couple of sea-faring drunkards. (Interestingly, a similar claim had been printed in Seattle’s The Stranger 10 years before, except that one went even further, alleging that Gavin Rossdale of Bush actually wrote the first two Nirvana albums, via a demo tape that True had passed illegally along to Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop Records.) This sparked an email war between the two of them which went on for four months, up until the Big Sound conference of 2009 where True and Guglielmino both sat on the panel, “How to get famous, on a small budget, using tags and Google”.

Sitting at opposite ends of the table, the discussion rapidly degenerated into a full-scale argument between True and Guglielmino, with moderator and noted local philanthropist Margaret Collins desperately attempting to separate the pair – to no avail. True threw the first punch and all hell broke loose. As the sound of sirens started filtering into the Judith Wright Centre panellist Scotty Regan (The Gin Club) got Guglielmino in a headlock and wrestled him out of the room. The fight was over.

 Outside, Collins (The John Steel Singers) suggested that the pair should go for a drink and make amends at local hostelry Ric’s (RGs). True and Guglielmino talked, while Regan and Collins meditated. After about 40 beers (Guglielmino) and two glasses of tap water (True), the pair found a common bond: they were both embarrassed by Australia’s status as “the fattest country in the world”.

The Thin Kids debuted on MySpace on 2nd December, 2009 – receiving over 1,000 hits in 24 hours. Amazed at their popularity, True sent the recordings to the Head of A&R at Domino Records (Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand) Tony K, who promised to give them a listen “in the next five years or so”.

The Thin Kids plan to tour nationally in 2010. Look out for them at a venue near you!