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On An Unhistoric Night

by Best Bets

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited edition Black Vinyl LP with insert.

    *US orders ship from Portland.
    *European and rest of the world orders ship from Spain.

    Shipping rates for orders of 2 or more records from our catalog are very cheap (worldwide)!

    Includes unlimited streaming of On An Unhistoric Night via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
2.
You sacrificed yourself in the name of yourself And no-one else Lost in the scree of an icy peak You went looking for fame on a package holiday But it never came Dogged by belief in a fantasy Now you're lying in state in a crystal mausoleum No name above the door Lying in state in a crystal mausoleum No-one was looking for a new conquistador Not anymore Lost in a cloud of your own mystique You came and spent some cash and left a mountain of trash And never came back Your bucket list is a game of futility Now you're lying in state in a crystal mausoleum No name above the door Lying in state in a crystal mausoleum Lying in state with no name above the door
3.
4.
Up until now we thought he was a joke A five dollar Warehouse DVD footnote But then it turns out, he was an athlete, he was a singer, he was a winner and not just a dope I guess there's more to him than meets the eye Ooh ooh look at him go He's an Olympic sprinter now Ooh ooh look at him go Nothing's gonna slow him down Then he broke his leg, he couldn't run anymore He said that's OK, I've got a music career in store They said "you can't dance", he don't care about that He's got a moustache and a great leather hat And he's going straight to number nine Ooh ooh look at him go Yeah he's a New Jack Swinger now Ooh ooh look at him go Nothing's gonna slow him down He's not a hero for any age And he may have written his own Wikipedia page But he's done things I can never do Even a laughing stock can make their dreams come true Ooh ooh look at him go He's an Olympic sprinter now Ooh ooh look at him go Nothing's gonna slow him down Ooh ooh look at him go Yeah he's a New Jack Swinger now Ooh ooh look at him go Nothing's gonna slow him down He's an Olympic sprinter now Yeah he's a New Jack Swinger now He's Olympic sprinter, he's a New Jack Swinger
5.
King Cnut 03:36
6.
7.
Whataworld 02:43
Oh what a world it is, oh what a time Oh what a world it is, I can't survive Oh what a world it is, oh what a time Oh what a world it is, barely alive Tell me when it's over
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

about

“On an unhistoric night at the historic hall,
Hearing sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before.”

A salute to amateur songwriters making music for the sake of dedication to the craft, the opening line of centerpiece The Minor Leagues is perhaps an apt introduction to the band Best Bets and a glimpse into what makes them good. Yes, this is a band with day jobs. They’ve not yet had a hit. The album was made on a shoestring budget in a lock-up in Ōtautahi Christchurch. They care about writing great songs, doing it themselves, and defining their own style whether or not it’s the sound of the week, or the year, or the decade.

The duo of Harding/Crawford Ellis is one of those timeless songwriting partnerships penning a number of classics and future classics on both this album and as previous output from Best Bets and punk band Transistors. While both songwriters have distinct styles (Crawford Ellis loves a good story; Harding is more often wearing his heart on his sleeve), the shared history between the pair gives a chemistry and cohesion of songwriting that can only come from doing it for a very long time. The lineup of Best Bets on this record has been rounded out with Joe Sampson (Salad Boys) on bass, and Matt Phimmavanh, making Best Bets one of Christchurch's most essential live acts.

Perhaps this album could be described as a series of homages; a bunch of ballads, some tearjerkers, with a few earworms thrown in. ‘On An Unhistoric Night’ talks about New Jack Swing artists who were formerly Olympic athletes; 11th century monarchs; Italian sports cars (and car salesmen); Open Polytechnic ads of the late 90s; Whose Line is it Anyway?; Subbuteo champions and Elvis impersonators. It explores hubris, hopelessness and purpose in life, pop culture detritus and everyday ennui underpinned by humour, guitar heroics and catchy bloody hooks.

The album is a hi-fi effort by producer Brian Feary, who notably has worked with a number of excellent Christchurch bands - Wurld Series, Salad Boys and The Dance Asthmatics to name a few. You might like this album if you appreciate bands like The Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Buzzcocks, Big Star and The Go-Betweens.

credits

released April 29, 2022

Olly Crawford Ellis - Drums, Vocals
James Harding - Guitar, Vocals
Joe Sampson - Bass
Matthew Phimmavanh - Guitar, Keys

Produced by Brian Feary and Best Bets.
Engineered and mastered by Brian Feary.
Recorded at DSF, Woolston.
All songs by Crawford Ellis, Harding, Phimmavanh and Sampson.
6, 8, 9 and 12 co-written by Luke Harding.
Artwork by Fresh OJ.
Photographs by Nick Robinson.
Some vocals and percussion done by everyone including Brian.

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about

Best Bets Rangiora, New Zealand

Best Bets are a power pop band from Aotearoa New Zealand. Formed by Olly Crawford Ellis and James Harding (Transistors), they released their first EP Life Under the Big Top in 2018, with James’ brother Luke and Matt Phimmavanh rounding out the lineup. Joe Sampson (Salad Boys, T54) joined afterwards. Their debut album On An Unhistoric Night is out 29 April via Melted Ice Cream and Meritorio.
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