The Smallgoods

Last time we met The Smallgoods, it was way back in the misty yesteryear of 2012. We watched them ride off into the sunset in a cloud of dank smoke, whistling tunes we’d grown to love, but sensed we would never hear again.


Almost 7 years since their final show, The Smallgoods came out from the wilderness with a fresh set of legs, a batch of new songs, and melodies to burn and released a new album Down On The Farm in 2019, which was followed by Lost In The Woods in 2021 (both on Lost & Lonesome)

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Meet The Smallgoods!

Shags: keyboard/synthesiser

Shags is a psychedelic mastermind, a Portasound virtuoso, and is on the cover of the latest edition of Thongs and Socks Monthly.

Ben Mason: vocals/guitar

Ben is a sucker for Sunday mornings. He always matches his shoes with his shirt. He can never decide what facial hair to sport.

Ben Browning: bass

Ben is the brother everybody never had. His dance moves are as slick as his dress sense, and his bass lines are always on the money.

Lachlan Franklin: vocals/guitar

Some say that Lachlan received a higher than recommended dose of coastal air when younger. Is sometimes dreamy and likes to surf tangents. Avoids funk like the plague.

Gus Franklin: vocals/drums

Gus enjoys Stones green ginger wine and concept albums. He’s that guy that keeps popping up in the middle of a dance floor, leading the handclap orchestra.

Someone smart once said that the best bands are gangs.

The Smallgoods fit this description, consisting of two brothers, their best friends from childhood, and someone they all met later in life and found a musical bond with immediately.

The Smallgoods formed at the end of 1999 and have been impressing Melbourne music lovers ever since. Their music is a blend of sweet three-part harmonies over feel-good psychedelic pop, with more melody than you can poke a stick at! The Smallgoods have enjoyed playing with such illustrious groups as Mid-state Orange, Architecture in Helsinki, Snout, Even, the Icecream Hands, the Lucksmiths, The Brunettes and The New Folk Implosion.

The Smallgoods’ anticipated debut album Listen To The Radio hit the stores on Monday, November 3rd 2003 through Half A Cow Records. The album is a celebration of the airwaves. It skips along like your favourite radio station where every song is one you want to hear. ‘Good Afternoon’ was released as a promo single and instantly earned Melbourne and interstate community radio airplay. It has also made its way to a national audience through Triple J rotation.

The album demonstrates a high level of song crafting with an emphasis on melodies and harmonies. Testament to this is Melbourne’s Inpress magazine bestowing Single of the Week status upon the song ‘Abraham Lincoln’, which appeared on a split 7″ shared with New Yorkers, The Essex Green. The single was released as part of the Singles Club collective, through Low Transit Industries.

Listen To The Radio was recorded over 2 years with the help of Melbourne producer, musician and all-round good guy Paul Thomas. Paul has been in bands such as The Huxton Creepers, Weddings Parties Anything and Custard, and recorded Tim Oxley’s stunning debut album, It’s All About Love.

Buckle up ’cause you’re in for a meandering ride along the Smallgoods psychedelic pop highway in the sunshine with the top down, listenin’ to the radio!

Listen to the Radio will be distributed in Australia by MGM from November 3rd and is available on HAC’s mailorder now.

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July 04:

August 9th sees Melbourne’s most pop-tastic quintet The Smallgoods releasing their new EP This Is The Show (hac110), the highly anticipated follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut album Listen To The Radio released last November through Half A Cow/MGM.

The EP is a stunning performance of three part vocal harmonies, soaring guitars and bouncing synth lines resulting in some feel-good-psychedelic-pop! This Is The Show EP includes the JJJ radio favourite ‘Round and Around’ and also features Even frontman and all-round good guy, Ashley Naylor trading guitar licks and rock postures with the band in the title track.

showtime!

August 04:

Thu 5th The Prince of Wales supporting Ben Kweller (USA)

Wed 25th the Zoo, Brisbane w/ Dappled Cities Fly & Balls Falls (Canada)

Fri 27th Spektrum, Sydney w/ Dappled Cities Fly & Balls Falls (Canada)

Friday 10th September Corner Hotel (Melbourne EP Launch)

June 04:

Fri 11 Prince Of Wales, St Kilda w/ The Panics & RedSunBand

Fri 25 Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney w/ Even & City Lights

Sat 26 Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney w/ Even & City Lights

July 04:

Sat 3 Criterion Hotel, Warrnambool w/ Ground Components

Fri 9 Rob Roy, Fitzroy w/ The Zebras

Feb 04:

The Smallgoods debut album, Listen To The Radio, is currently being adored by those who are listening to it. Print reviews are taking turns in praising a very strong debut from one of Melbourne’s most creative pop bands and we’re thrilled with the local and national radio support. We’re also proud to report that Listen To The Radio is receiving a very healthy amount of airplay on college radio in the States.

Half a Cow Records are very pleased that Listen To The Radio has just gone into repressing, as the first run has sold out since its release in November.

Shows coming up…

February 04:

Thu 19th Front Bar of the Espy with The Rumours, The Hovercrafts

Sat 21st Ding Dong, Melbourne w/ The Zebras (Brisbane)

Sun 22 the opening of the Port Fairy Skate Park!

March 04:

Fri 5th Pelly Bar, Frankston w/ the Pictures

Sat 6th Espy, Brunswick w/ The Pictures

Dec 03:

The Smallgoods are currently enjoying some healthy JJJ rotation and warm love from community radio stations across Australia including RRR (Mel), PBS (Mel), FBI (Syd), 2SER (Syd), 3D Radio (Adel), 4ZZZ (Bris) and RTR (Perth) to name a few. The good folk at FBI in Sydney have deemed Listen To The Radio a Feature Album and we love them for it. Melbourne folks are encouraged to check out the finest Melbourne indie record stores Polyester, Gaslight and Missing Link as they are all featuring different Smallgoods window displays, each one hand painted and sewn. Red Eye Records in Sydney is sharing the Smallgoods love and will have a display up soon too.

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This Is The Show

Listen To The Radio

Discography

Listen To The Radio (hac108)
released November 2003 on cd (Half A Cow Records)

  1. Intro
  2. Get Up
  3. Capricorn
  4. Good Afternoon
  5. Enough Said
  6. Junior
  7. Abraham Lincoln
  8. Travesty
  9. Baby Grand
  10. A Bad Case Of The Wilsons
  11. Take Your Bow

This Is The Show (hac110)

released August 2004 on cd (Half A Cow Records)

  1. This Is The Show
  2. Round And Around
  3. Who’s Never Seen The Sun?
  4. Spending The Morning
  5. 8 Times
  6. This City’s Lights
  7. This Is The Reprise

Shags – synthesisers, keyboards
Ben Mason – singing, guitars, bells
Gus Franklin – singing, drums, tambourines
Lachlan Franklin – singing, guitars, whistles
B.B – bass guitar, grand piano

additional players:

Ashley Naylor – improvisational guitar (This Is The Show/Reprise), best boy
Paul Thomas – guitar, recording engineer, stage manager

overview:

This Is The Show is a journey of styles ranging from psychedelic wig-out rock, to wall-of-sound Spector pop, to synth-driven drone expeditions tied together by the Smallgoods’ trademark sing-along 3 part harmonies. Book-ended by the mini-album’s title track, the Show plays like a stage musical number, complete with over-zealous man-choir and shonky local theatre style piano.

the programme

Act 1. This Is The Show – Good evening! Please find your seats, and sit back as Gus welcomes you all to the show! Even’s Ashley Naylor pops in briefly then realises he’s on the wrong stage. Things get nasty and a guitar duel ensues between he and Ben. And keeps ensuing…

Act 2. Round and Around – Ben takes us on the rock-roundabout as the Show gets underway. Shags flexes his slacker-synth muscles and Gus plays his type-cast role of the girl.

Act 3. Who’s Never Seen The Sun? – B.B sets the mood and is joined by Shags, whose synth gets set to drone. Lachy asks the pressing questions of the audience.

Act 4. Spending the Morning – The Smallgoods go to the beach. Spector is recalled, castanets rattle and Lachy lends the melancholy melody while Gus and Ben sing along.

Act 5. 8 Times – The quiet lovelorn ballad every theatre production requires in order to be a Broadway hit. Gus pulls the heart-strings while Ben plucks the guitar strings. Please find complimentary tissues under your seats.

Finale. This City’s Lights – All the Lights, smoke machines and special effects come out for this finale. Ben takes us to rock city. The lights come on and just before things get shimmery the audience is eased into a spacious smoke-filled wig-out.

The Reprise… Just when you think the show is over, the curtains open again, and we find the guitar duel still ensuing. Shags takes one mighty walk down his keyboard and puts an end to the titanic struggle. The players take their bows, graciously accept their flowers and standing ovation, and disappear from the stage…

Down On The Farm (LL043)
released August 2007 on cd (Lost & Lonesome)

  1. Intro
  2. Sadness and the City
  3. Driving Song
  4. Traipse Through the Valley
  5. 100 Red Buttons
  6. Campfire Song
  7. Willow Tree
  8. Jeune du Fille
  9. No-one’s Listening to My Baby
  10. Now I See the Stars
  11. City Full of Sky
  12. Home Song
  13. South of the River
  14. You Got a Friend

The third and most ambitious Smallgoods album to date, Down on the Farm offers an escape from hectic city life by finding solace in the country through jaunty folk songs, eerie spacious epics, dark ballads and gentle psychedelia, whilst not completely belying their harmony-laden Byrds-esque pop roots. First single ‘Traipse Through the Valley’ is a dark, misty psych-folk ramble that recalls Simon and Garfunkle on some weird shrooms, and has been picking up favourable reviews in the press as well as Triple J and community radio airplay.

Lost In The Woods (L&LV120)
released September 2021 on vinyl (Lost & Lonesome)

The Smallgoods are Lachlan Franklin, Gus Franklin, Ben Mason and Ben Donnan

With guests:

Janita Foley: vocals on track 7 and 9 and percussion
Matt Walker: guitar on track 10
Patrick McMullen: piccolo and Bb trumpets on track 9
Bridget Graham: violin on track 9
Josie Graham: cello on track 9

Recorded and produced by Gus Franklin and The Smallgoods, August 2017 at Langside, Sassafras, Victoria. Additional tracking, editing and mixing 2018-19 at Electric Dreams and Sheahan Drive. Assistant mix (Satellite, Where’ve You Been, The Mirror, The Hours) by James Cecil for Supermelody World Studios. Mastered by Adam Dempsey at Deluxe Mastering. Artwork design and layout by Warren Taylor.