Duvtons hail 'our very own idiot'

March 27, 2015
Issue 
Video: Our Very Own Idiot - The Duvtons. YouTube/duvtest.

Melbourne punk band The Duvtons have come out of a five-year hiatus to record a catchy new anti-Abbott song to hasten the fall of “our very own idiot”.

The song says that while PM Tony Abbott makes Australians look like “fuckwits”, at least we are now on overseas news with Crocodile Dundee. Green Left Weekly's Chris Peterson spoke to the band's singer, Merve Galer. The band will play a show at the Bendigo Hotel in Melbourne on April 2.

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Why do you think Abbott is an idiot? Is he worse than Bush?

Are morally contemptible attitudes towards asylum seekers enough to brand someone an idiot? I certainly think so.

But it’s more his “Bush-like” gaffes that gave me reason to call him such. Imagine if you met someone in the street that came up and told you: “Jesus knew it was not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia.”

You would walk briskly past and hope the idiot didn’t follow you home. As you would someone that says, as Bush did, that “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully [sic]”.

You certainly wouldn’t let said idiot be responsible for your country. Idiots in charge of tractors are dangerous; let alone countries.

How should artists respond to Abbott's attacks?

I don’t believe that a single song or painting or hideously disproportionate sculpture could ever overthrow a government. I just think that it is a more permanent way to express your views than having a fleeting conversation at a pub. The more permanent expressions of disgust aimed at this guy the better.

Can we expect more social commentary on the rest of the album?

I guess so. I tend to write what I know and what I know most is what annoys me.

Gay marriage not being permitted in Australia annoys me. The cartoonish Bond villain in charge of Russia annoys me. Religion, pretty much in general, annoys me.

Julia Morris annoys me … but I didn’t have a chance to write a song about her. Next album perhaps. But if being annoyed is social commentary then colour me a social commentator.

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