By Casey Neill
A rocking tribute could breathe new life into the once-vibrant Dandenong Hub.
The ’90s-influenced four-piece rock band Big League called its debut EP Dandy Hub as a tribute to the Langhorne Street arcade.
The postcard-style album cover features a photograph of the hub’s food court.
“The record itself, the songs are social commentaries on observations of suburbia, our society, and for better or worse really I thought the Dandy Hub summed that up nicely,” guitarist and vocalist Travis Velthoven said.
“I wasn’t sure what to call the EP.
“I hadn’t been back to Dandy Hub for some time.
“The place, it didn’t look like it changed since it was built, which looks like the ’70s judging by the decor.
“It was deserted.
“It seemed like a waste.
“This is a cool shopping centre that seems like it’s always been kept in reasonable shape, but no-one goes there anymore.
“It got old and boring.”
Travis said plenty of his friends grew up in Dandenong and surrounds.
“It’s always been considered somewhere that’s a bit rough around the edges, somewhere you wouldn’t necessarily want to be after dark,” he said.
“Personally, I never really thought that.
“I grew up in Narre Warren North. Dandenong seemed like going to the city. It was always quite exciting.”
Travis and partner and bandmate Marie (bass and vocals) went to school in the Pakenham area.
“I went to Beaconhills and Marie went to Pakenham High,” Travis said.
“We both met in a record shop, at Leading Edge Music in Fountain Gate.
“We both worked there, in my late teens.
“That’s how we met and formed a bond.
“About the same time I started getting into vinyl.
“Radical Records in the Dandy Hub was the first proper record store I’d ever been to.
“I got a copy of (Pink Floyd classic) Dark Side of the Moon in there.”
He no longer lives in the area but still works for his family’s business, Dandenong Garage Doors.
Travis described Big League’s sound as “catchy, dirty, rock pop”.
“We’ve been performing for a bit over 12 months. Mid-2014 I guess we formed,” he said.
“There’s some REM in there, some Blur.”
The band lists Archers of Loaf, Guided by Voices, Pavement, Teenage Fanclub, Jebediah, Custard, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth and Nirvana as other musical influences.
Michael Clarke recorded the EP at Soundpark Studios in Northcote and Mikey Young, who’s worked with Eddy Current Suppression Ring, mixed the tracks.
The band described lead single So Long, UFO as “an energetic tale of the perils of exploring unknown planets”.
Big League launched the five-track Dandy Hub EP at Yah Yah’s on Friday 4 November.
The band will continue to showcase the release at a Christmas Party at Off The Hip Records in Melbourne on Friday 9 December and at The Reverence Hotel in Footscray on Saturday 17 December.
