Eddy Current Suppression Ring (Australian garage rock band)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring (often abbreviated as ECSR) are an Australian garage rock band originating from Melbourne. Formed in 2003, the band consists of Daniel Young p.k.a. "Danny Current" on drums, his brother Michael Young p.k.a. "Eddy Current" on lead guitar and keyboard, Brendan Huntley p.k.a. "Brendan Suppression" on lead vocals and Brad Barry p.k.a. "Rob Solid" on bass guitar. They have released five studio albums; Eddy Current Suppression Ring (October 2006), Primary Colours (May 2008), Rush to Relax (February 2010), All in Good Time (December 2019) and In Light of Recent Events (May 2026). At the ARIA Music Awards of 2008, Primary Colours was nominated for Best Rock Album. It won the Australian Music Prize of $30,000 for the band in March 2009. Rush to Relax peaked at No. 20 on the ARIA Albums chart and was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums (2010). At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 it was nominated for Best Rock Album and Best Independent Release. Eddy Current Suppression Ring (ECSR) formed in late 2003 in Melbourne, when brothers Daniel and Michael Young began jamming at a Christmas party at the Corduroy Records vinyl pressing plant in Highett, where Michael was employed. A colleague, Brendan Huntley, was encouraged to ad-lib vocals into a tape recorder. The subsequent tape provided "So Many Things", which became the B-side of the band's first single, "Get Up Morning" (2004), released via Corduroy Records. The band were later joined by Brad Barry (Rob Solid) on bass guitar. The band is named for an electrical component of a transformer which subdues eddy currents after Eddy recalled their pressing plant's handyman explaining about fixing the eddy current suppression ring. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, observed they are a "new breed of no-frills garage punk groups that played by their own rules." Their sound is influenced by the Troggs, the Standells, X and the Pagans. Tim Scott of Mess+Noise refers to the band's Australian delivery, "their brand of proto-punk doesn't pretend to be anything that it ain't. Just good old-time Aussie rock, sans the gimmicks." In 2004, they started to build a dedicated fan base at venues such as Pony, Town Hall Hotel and The Espy, and during Streetparty nights at One Six One and The Stage. Their debut single, "Get Up Morning" was described by Natalie Salvo of TheDwarf.com.au, "[they] showcase music that sounds like the Buzzcocks going surfing." While its B-side, "So Many Things", which was recorded by the three-piece line-up (before Rob Solid joined), is "a mostly spoken, bile-infused poison pen to an ex-lover and it brims with fuzz." "It's All Square" (2005) is the group's second single, which Lachie of Youth Central declared was "a punky blast that features an insanely catchy refrain... this is one band which you don't mind having stuck in your head." Their first major performance was at the Meredith Music Festival in December 2005. In October 2006 the group released their first studio album, an eponymous effort for Dropkick Records and distributed by Shock Records. They had used Caulfield Rehearsal Studios on 25 February 2006 to record it in four hours. It received critical acclaim: AllMusic's Mark Deming noticed, "[it's] dominated by tough, hooky tunes, no-frills musicianship, and Brendan's broad Australian accent" while his associate Rick Anderson rated it as three-and-a-half stars out-of-five, "The world can always use another blast of clattery, rusty-razor-edged, two-chords-is-plenty-thank-you punk rock." Lachie of Youth Central determined, "[they] play 60s/70s-influenced punky garage rock, and play it well. Live, they are catchy, raw and full of a refreshingly innocent energy. On record, they are much the same." The band performed at the Big Day Out festival in Melbourne in January 2007. They attended the inaugural Golden Plains Festival in March of that year, followed by a gig at Cherry Rock in May. "Demon's Demand" was written for the independent film, Constructing Fear and was issued as a single in September. Phil of TheDwarf, an Australian music publication, described the song as, "a working class tale, part grunge, part industrial, part Sex Pistols-esque geezer punk." In May 2008 the band released its second studio album, Primary Colours. It was recorded at Sing Sing Studios, Melbourne on an eight-track tape machine for Aarght Records/Shock Records. Although it did not reach the ARIA Top 100 Albums chart, it peaked at No. 13 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums chart. Deming writes, "[it] became an unexpected crossover success", while his associate K. Ross Hoffman rated it as four-out-of-five stars, "[they] tap in to the primal, fun-loving energy of frill-free rock & roll, a spirit that feels every bit as immediate and relevant as it is familiar and timeless." Also in May 2008, ECSR and fellow Melbourne band, UV Race (Tom Hardisty, Al Montfort, Georgia Rose and Daniel Stewart) performed a live set at Missing Link Records' local store, which was later released in July as a split album on a music cassette, Live at Missing Link, via Aarght Records/Stained Circles. It was re-released on CD and vinyl LP in 2012 by the U.S. label Almost Ready Records. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2008, Primary Colours was nominated for Best Rock Album – their first ARIA nomination. In October it was nominated for the J Awards, as a candidate for the radio station Triple J's Australian album of the year. In November Primary Colours was named Best Independent Hard Rock/Punk Release at the AIR Awards of 2008. In March 2009 the band won $30,000 with Australian Music Prize for Primary Colours. In January 2022 Rolling Stone Australia listed the album at No.41 of its 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time. Rush to Relax is the group's third studio album, which appeared in February 2010 and was recorded live-in-the-studio with Mikey Young producing. Mikey (Eddy) and Huntley (Suppression) spoke with Triple J's Zan Rowe about their recording session: they used a double-booked rehearsal space for six hours at zero cost. They explained that song writing and preparation occurred before entering the studio and post-production mixing at Mikey's home was minimal. It peaked at No. 20 on the ARIA Albums chart. Nate Knaebel of AllMusic scored it at four-out-of-five, "unexpectedly loose, protean feel of Rush to Relax makes for a wholly satisfying step forward from one of Australia's finest bands." In October Rush to Relax was listed at No. 45 in the book 100 Best Australian Albums (2010). The authors observed, "[it] took [them] beyond their DIY attitude... [and] transcends what was already appealing about their prior work." At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 it was nominated for Best Rock Album and Best Independent Release. It was also short-listed for the Australian Music Prize. After an album launch attracted 1800 people, Mikey reflected, "I had to question whether I'd want to go see a band like mine at a show that big... I was humbled, but a bit weirded out at the same time." The group went into hiatus while individual members undertook side projects (see below). After their five-year hiatus the band reconvened in September 2015 prior to headlining the Golden Plains Festival in March 2016. Initially it was expected to be a "one-off" show. Mikey Cahill of The Herald Sun caught their performance, "[they] are the finest, fiercest garage rock band in the world — equally dumb and smart." In a review of Bad//Dreems' album Gutful (April 2017), music journalist Andrew Stafford bemoaned ECSR's absence from the music scene, they are "sorely missed" in these "lean times for guitar-based rock music" and the "rise of Donald Trump." Stafford finds "the influence of Eddy Current is palpable... on a few songs." ECSR resumed jamming in 2018 and decided they would start writing material for their fourth studio album, All in Good Time, which was released in December 2019 on Castle Face Records. It was recorded by Mikey (Eddy) on 19