<p><span><span>- When you think of musical genres associated with aboriginal Australians, pop punk is probably not top of your list. But Chasing Ghosts frontman <strong>Jimmy Kyle</strong> is hoping to change that. Jimmy is a Thungutti man, and the band's new EP <em>Homelands</em> contains not only aboriginal themes but aboriginal language.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The song <em>Summer</em> is a highlight, and it tells the story of a frontier massacre and the experience of going back to its unmarked location. "<em>There's no headstone, where's our lest we forget?</em>" asks the chorus.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Hometown Strangers In An Urban Dreaming</em> tackles aboriginal homelessness and dislocation, while <em>Dig</em> is less narrative but a call to scratch beneath the surface and discover the true history of this country.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The other tracks all have a storytelling style to them - <em>Busted Lung</em> about a young gay man choosing not to push for his assailants to go to prison; <em>Kids Raising Kids</em> a picture of a separated couple struggling to raise a daughter, and <em>Wear My Medals</em> about a veteran facing the effects of war.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The obvious musical comparison is <strong>The Smith Street Band</strong>, whose influence looms large over contemporary pop punk in this country. But Kyle's lyrical stories focus on the outer rather than the inner world. In doing that his songs are reminiscent of pub rock yarn spinners like <strong>Don Walker</strong> or <strong>Paul Kelly</strong>.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>These are Australian stories - written often about specific times and places but with universal themes of struggle, loss, justice and forgiveness. In sharing these tales <strong>Jimmy Kyle</strong> is following a tradition that runs through the rock musicians I have mentioned, to folk singers, bush balladeers, and back to the knowledge keepers of ancient oral traditions in this country. The genre may be slightly different, but tradition of telling our stories to understand the world survives like the old message stick passed from one generation to the next.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Andy Paine.</span></span></p>
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