When they formed Tangled Shoelaces on the cusp of the 80s in a small suburb of Brisbane, Australia, brothers Stephen (guitar/vocals), Lucy (keyboards/vocals) and Martin Mackerras (bass) were, respectively, 14, 11 and 10 years old. old, and besides barely knowing how to play their instruments, they had no idea how cool they were.
Influenced by the punk and post-punk that they listened to on the local community radio (4ZZZ), the three brats and family friend Leigh Nelson (drums) decided that, when putting together the band, they would not follow the easy path of the caves and would make original music. Imbued with the do-it-yourself spirit, they began recording songs independently and later with the support of a teacher who gave them their own equipment; These records became a demo with six songs that reached the M Squared label, which gave the kids the opportunity to record professionally.
After several trips to Sydney for this endeavor, between one presentation and another, finally the EP Falling objects would see the light of day in 1983, but M Squared closed its doors and left Tangled Shoelaces alone. However, the Mackerras brothers didn't give up and continued their indie journey, which led them – get this – to open for Dead Kennedys and John Cooper Clarke.
They recorded another tape (In the land of the lollypop men), a couple of songs for a compilation of bands from the region and played a bunch of shows until in 1984 the family's boys moved on to play in other bands, Lucy decided to dedicate herself to studies and thus the short history of Shoelaces came to an end .
They remained practically unknown until in 2021 Chapter Music compiled everything the kids recorded – including unreleased material – under the name Turn My Dial – The M Squared Recordings And More, 1981-84with 22 tracks that attest to the statement that ends the first paragraph of this text: they were awesome. Very cool!
Post-punk and new wave, experiments with tapes, psychedelia and pop, a musical broth that has in its mixture of Television Personalities a B-52's, de Raincoats a Swell Maps e Chromeall with a certain air of innocence, after all we are talking about a band made up of children. Strange and way ahead of their time, but still children.
Find out. Or rediscover. But listen closely!
Source: https://pequenosclassicosperdidos.com.br/2024/10/09/tangled-shoelaces-turn-my-dial-the-m-squared-recordings-and-more-1981-84-2021/
