01 November 2024 - 0 Comments

It's the 1st of November (already!), and hot off playing a sold-out show with noise-pop buddies Haiku Redo, today Tāmaki Makaurau five-piece Ocean Beach launch Tower of Babel. It's the fifth song in their "first of the month" series leading up to the release of their album The Long Road Home.

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Songwriter Gary Dalhousie says of Tower of Babel, "This is a bona-fide knee-slapper about Jones and Sam Chin’s Dunedin pub The Crown. These guys have dedicated most of their lives to ensuring there’s a good live venue in Ōtepoti Dunedin.

When I studied at Otago, a bunch of us used The Crown as our second, sometimes first, living room. There was a pool shark named Wayne who domiciled on the first floor – he had an OG mullet in 1998! Mongrel Mobsters would sometimes call in to play the pokies.

There were grouchy old Otago rugby supporters and always a bunch of weirdos like us (it was the Star Wars bar – a hive of scum and villainy). The Jukebox was unparalleled and so, this song celebrates great live venues, your favourite watering hole – and our Tower of Babel."

The Ocean Beach "first of the month" singles so far have certainly made waves, and they have clocked up 22,000 streams to date.

On July 1st Ocean Beach released Boys' Club, the first single in this series, which was played across the Student Radio Network (SRN). On August 1st they dropped Come Around, which charted on the SRN Top Ten, reached No. 2 on the 95bFM Top Ten two weeks in a row, and was No. 6 on the Radioscope Alt airplay chart. September 1st saw the release of Omnism, which also hit the SRN Top Ten and the Alt airplay chart, and spent three weeks in the 95bFM Top Ten. October 1st saw the band release Be Together, a gorgeous ode to meditation.

The story of Bryan Ferry and Steve Malkmus’ Tongan love child Gary Dalhousie – the cheese monger who learned to play the guitar – will culminate in the release of Ocean Beach's album The Long Road Home in early 2025.

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