Anthony Axon
Elvis Presley – Return to Sender

We filmed a fictitious news show for a Year 8 English assignment called “Kanga News”, which was a sneaky reference to the then popular “Reverse Kanga” toilet prank. On the day of filming, prompted by an Elvis cassette in the shed, I came up with a story of a terrorist who sent an explosive package in the mail only to have it “returned to sender”. It was done entirely for the absurdity of having a bright pop song immediately following a story of horrible accidental death. The tape kept rolling as the music played and everyone ended up dancing. Anthony has always had an Elvis like swagger too, so this song always reminds me of him.

Tom Winship
Rage Against the Machine – I’m Housin’

Tom, a drummer by trade, always used to pick up my bass and play the intro bass riff for I’m Housin’ by Rage Against the Machine. He was the person who introduced me to the full Rage Against the Machine catalog after I expressed interest – which was as a result of having my mind blown by ‘Guerilla Radio’ on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 soundtrack. He introduced me to many things along the way like: avocado, Mountain Dew and how to kick a conversion in rugby. But any time I hear that intro bass riff, I always think of him pressing unnecessarily hard on the frets with all fingers at once, squeezing out the opening notes then having a rest when the final note in the riff is ringing out.

Glenn Giacometti
Rage Against the Machine – Down Rodeo

Glenn was always going to be on this list, given our vast musical history together. Out of the hundreds of shared monumental moments doing gigs or attending concerts that could have cemented such a link to a song in my brain, it was this particularly obscure one that really stuck.

I hadn’t given this track off Evil Empire much attention, but in May of 2012 I really took notice of it. I was unpacking for an outdoor gig at the Lara Primary School Fair when Glenn came rolling into the gravel car park, car windows down and this song turned up to 91. There was something about the whole juxtaposition of happy primary school kids joyfully running around in the sun and an absolute face blasting song spitting about capitalist disgust and social/racial ignorance, that struck me as highly amusing. For me, the duality of this moment somehow perfectly captured Glenn – he is angry at the machine and general stupidity of mankind while simultaneously being one of the most fun-loving and joyous people I have ever had the fortune of calling a friend.

Russell Tarbett
The Offspring – Americana

One night we were at our neighbours house for some sort of party (perhaps a birthday?) and this song was blasting from a hi-fi in a darkened lounge room with a black slate tiled floor. You may ask why the tiles are relevant? Well, they’ve since been removed and renovated into a hardwood floor, but the visual memory of them on that summer night still sits strong in my mind. I think they somehow added a new level of darkness to the room which almost felt like a freedom through anonymity. Hence, the room was full of kids going nuts, dancing and jumping around. It was a great song for doing that. We loved the track even more as we were still of an age where we found swearing to be hilarious because it was widely prohibited by our collective parents. If any parents caught wind of the chaos and language that filled the room, they would have surely shut the whole thing down or ruined it by turning on the lights or something. Not Russell though. Always up for a good time, he raved on with the all the kids. Any righteousness took a passenger seat to having a good time and an embracing the moment …and that sums him up just perfectly.

Matt Leoncini
Powderfinger – These Days

Matt and myself have enjoyed numerous musical collaborations: from one night of karaoke singing the entirety of Blink-182’s 2001 album “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” to the musical stylings of our high school band, The Mudge. His influences are mostly punk, and this song is a departure from his favourite genre, but it reminds me of him because together we slayed this song the morning after a big party at his auntie’s house on Playstation Sing Star. It was a near perfect score that was never to be repeated. When I hear it these days I think how we both were when we had no idea what the future would hold.

Jasmine Errey
Hunters and Collectors – Holy Grail

This one is a bit unique as I don’t think there was a time or place where me, her and this song were all together at the same time, yet it reminds me of her completely. A big Geelong Cats supporter, she did mention that she liked the song one day at school and with it being an AFL anthem (based loosely on the Holy Grail being the AFL Premiership Cup) it made good sense. Although it was a great song, it was almost not as much about the tangibles as it was the excitement and anticipation for the footy finals season – particularly if the Cats were involved! Her like for the song came up in conversation when were standing at the bus stop where we hung out before school one morning. This song always takes my mind back to high school days and memories of standing outside in the snapping cold with my like “fluro-handed due to poor circulation” buddy. With that, she gets the award for strongest connection by means of skating on the ethereal plane of association.

Katherine Branch
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising

Everyone laughed when Katherine sung “…there’s a bathroom on the right!” during Bad Moon Rising but she didn’t get why it was so funny. I joked about how the song was very hospitable. Later, when we discovered that she was being serious and truly believed they were the actual lyrics, we laughed even harder! Thinking about it now, it’s perhaps not so crazy to make yourself at home when there are earthquakes, lightning and hurricanes outside (assuming they are non-metaphorical). Katherine often insists on being right, yet my most persistent memory of her is this clanger.

David Paterson
The Killers – Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine

In the mid-2000s, the popular music scene was straddling an awkward time between a post-pop-punk world and the emergence of contemporary R&B. I was in the early years of learning to play bass at the time, and this scene gave no real inspirations or aspirations for a bass player. Then one day Patto introduced me to this absolute bass-belter it was the first time I had heard bass featured in a song by a new-on-the-scene ‘popular’ band in such a prominent and cool way. We were at Beck’s house, in the pool room, when he put the CD on. When I hear this song today, I still think of the little David Hyde Pierce dance he did when the first bass riff kicked in. We were from different places with different upbringings, but when we met, we had no problem quickly finding commonality in the appreciation of the good things in life (like a good fat bass riff!)

Maxine Kiss
Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way

This was one of the many songs we played together in our cover band OSCAR. I loved playing it because the chorus bass line is integral to the body of the chorus sound and it’s lots of fun to play. We played it successfully for more than a dozen shows, but then later at one practice session we just couldn’t get the verse timings right (the vocals kind of come in ‘late’ through the chord changes). From that point onward we were kind of scared to play it live again in case it got out of time like it did in that practice.

Then after she died in June of 2016, it seemed to play everywhere. There were days where I heard it 2 or 3 times, despite it not being on any of my music devices, phone, playlists etc. There was one instance where I drove to the shops and it was on the radio in my car, then I went into the shops and it stared playing again over the loud speaker. The song always reminds me of the fun we had as a band and the kind of strong independence that Maxine embodied.