Sand Pebbles recorded live at 3RRR FM, Melbourne, playing a version of the 13th Floor Elevators “It’s You [I Don’t Ever Want to Come Down]” on The Skull Cave. July 3, 2009. Shot by Adam White.

Sand Pebbles live on ABC TV, Marngrook Footy Show playing “Wild Season” off the Double Feature album, A Thousand Wild Flowers.
October 6, 2011

Got a spare 11 minutes? Sand Pebbles recorded live at 3RRR playing “Black Sun”. July 3, 2009. Introduced by The Ghost, Stephen Walker. Shot by Adam White.

Big Green!

HOWZAT!

By Jeff Jenkins

SAND PEBBLES ON INTERNATIONAL SHORES

Melbourne flower punks The Sand Pebbles have signed an international deal with Double Feature Records, the label run by former Luna members Dean Wareham and his wife, Britta Phillips. Dean discovered the Pebbles when bass player Chris Hollow did an email interview with him for the Pebbles webzine, Tarantula.

“I didn’t really give him the time of day at first,” Dean recalls, “but he asked some interesting questions and then he started suggesting tracks he thought I might enjoy, like Toxic by Britney Spears and Wade In The Water by Harvey Mandel, and we started sending mp3s back and forth, which we still do.”

Chris also sent Dean a copy of The Sand Pebbles’ Ghost Transmissions album. “I was shocked by how good it was. They reminded me of the Beach Boys, Stones or Spacemen 3 – psychedelic but with tightly constructed songs, great rhythms, handclaps, and backing vocals.”

The band’s first release for Dean’s label is a compilation album, A Thousand Wild Flowers, which is also being released locally through Shock. The disc also features tracks recorded live at RRR and PBS and a cover of the 13^th Floor Elevators’ I Don’t Ever Want To Come Down.

The Sand Pebbles are launching the album at the Toff on Saturday. The guys are notoriously travel-shy, but Dean is keen to get them over to the US. “I would love for them to at least play New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Texas, but I know from my own experience it’s hard to cover those expensive plane tickets. Perhaps the Australian government could step in with some support. The Sand Pebbles would make fine ambassadors.”

 Dean and Britta will be here for the Melbourne International Arts Festival in October, playing their “13 Most Beautiful” shows at the Malthouse. It’s a homecoming of sorts – Dean spent seven years of his childhood in Australia, after being born in New Zealand. “I lived in Sydney from 1970 to 1977 and used to watch Countdown every Sunday night. The big bands were Skyhooks and Sherbet, and I certainly remember AC/DC doing It’s A Long Way to the Top and Jailbreak on that show. And right before I left for New York (August, 1977), I remember seeing the Saints on TV. They frightened me.”