Total Control

Total Control originated in 2008 as a project that included some of the strongest germs in Melbourne, Australia's garage punk scene. UV Race drummer Dan Steward and Eddy Current Suppression Ring guitarist/producer Mikey Young joined forces at that time through a mutual appreciation for wiry '80s punk heroes such as Devo, Gary Numan, and the Screamers. Although both remained occupied with their primary bands, they devoted available intervals to Total Control experiments and ultimately produced a punky self-titled debut 7" before the year ended. For several years afterward the group's output appeared chiefly as limited 7" singles that sold out rapidly, among them Paranoid Video and the cold-wavey Pyre Island. On these successive releases the duo, occasionally augmented by additional musicians during recording, executed abrupt stylistic pivots. Listeners and critics alike remarked that Total Control grew steadily more minimal with each change, integrating further electronic elements as the discography expanded. Henge Beat, their first full-length, appeared in late 2011 and assembled the range of cold styles already threaded through the earlier singles. Steward and Young recruited accomplices from the Melbourne punk underbelly to assist with both the album sessions and subsequent live performances. The band also completed a successful tour of the States at that juncture, supporting San Francisco garage favorites Thee Oh Sees.