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The Noviciate

from A Decade Into Darkness by Shock Octopus

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If ‘Deer Caught In The Headlights’ was our signature song in the early days, and ‘Frustrated Crustacean’ the centrepiece of our live sets, ‘The Noviciate’ was the song that everyone held out for and turned our live sets into a rave down.

Performing this song felt like a possession by a live wire of burning hot electricity – there was some gigs where I almost fainted from the frenzy produced.

Most of our songs were more or less pre-written by one band member however ‘Noviciate’ was unusual in that it originated out of a jam instigated by David and Scott. We all chipped in to develop and hone it over time, cranking the intensity with each rehearsal and throwing in a repeated passage from an interpretation of the Rabindranath Tagore poem ‘Gitanjali’. I think we were hoping that we could write more songs in this fashion, but it ended up being a fluke.

Noviciate was one of six tracks recorded for the ‘Crisis’ sessions in Melbourne in 2014. It ended up as part (a) of the final track, a medley entitled, well, ‘Suite.’ Part (b) was the much more languid and serene ‘Live a Normal Life.’ The two songs were often played side by side without pause in the live sets so we wanted to recreate that yin and yang flow in the recording. The song was later released as a double A-side with ‘In A Box’. It’s funny how ‘Noviciate’ would never be heard on its own, for some reason.

The original band was actually very nervous about recording ‘Noviciate’ for fear of losing the kinetic energy that it had live, but by the time we got around to recording it, David Sayers had moved on. So I feel very fortunate that Bill Presser, who worked with me on the record in his home studio as well as playing guitar on the song, did an amazing task at recreating much of the energy. I do miss the unique feedback squalls that David played at the end of the track - the secrets of which, to this day, no-one could ever replicate.

- Michael Bayliss
Shock Octopus

credits

from A Decade Into Darkness, released May 29, 2021
Music: David Sayers, Scott Andrews, Shock Octopus
Lyrics: Excerpt from an interpretation of the Rabindranath Tagore poem ‘Gitanjali’

Scott Andrews: Drums
Michael Bayliss: Vocals, Keyboards
Bill Presser: Bass, Guitar

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Shock Octopus Perth, Australia

Contemplative, Existential, Art Rock.

A collective stream of consciousness and social commentary by Michael Bayliss, David Blair and Scott Andrews.

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