original music neil McGrath

Original Music Neil McGrath (Music For Pictures)

Music Co-Ordinators Rubber Records - David Vodicka - Karen Edwards

Kismet "Burnt By The Sound" (G. Capovski) Control From the Album "Damjan's War" (P) 1995 Paritor

The Avalanches "Rock City" (Seltmann/Chater/McQuilten/DiBlasi) PolyGram Music Publishing From the 7" "Rock City" (P) 1996 Trifekta Records

Bzark "Nothing" (Smallman/Hunt/Skinner) Control Original version of "Nothing" appears on the album The Welcome Storm" (P) 1998 Rubber Records/BMG

Cordrazine "Crazy" (H. Cowan) Rubber Music Publishing/Sony Music Publishing From the EP "Time To Leave" (P) 1997 Rubber Records

Hoss "The Goddess Has Time" (J. Silbersher) Polygram Music Publishing From the Album "Do You Leave Here Often" (P) 1998 Mongrel Records The Meanies "Ton Of Bricks" (Link McLennan) Moonraker Music From the Album "10% Weird" (P) 1996 Au Go Go

The Dumb Earth "I Closed My Eyes And A Truck Came Through The Window" (D. Creese) Sony/ATV Music Publishing From the Album "Walk The Earth" (P) 1997 Rubber Records

The Powder Monkeys "I Thank You" (The Powdermonkeys) Control From the EP "Straight Until Morning" (P) 1994 Dog Meat

Ricaine "Mainlanders" (Ricaine) Rubber Music Publishing/Sony Music Publishing From the Album "The Clarity of Distance" (P) 1997 Rubber Records/BMG Australia

Crow "A Broken Machine" (P. Fenton) Moo Chewns/Polygram Music From the Album "Play With Love" (P) 1998 rooArt/BMG Australia

Phillipa Nihill "Blue Sky" (P. Nihill) Control From the EP "Dead Sad" (P) 1996 Rubber Records

S:Bahn "New Song Number Two" (Dik/Buttery/Brenchley/Leadbeater) Noiseland/Shock From the EP "Stock Footage" (P) 1996 Shock Records

GBVG "Whitey Trickstar" (GBVG) Polygram Music From the Album "Whitey Trickstar" (P) 1997 Mainstream Recordings

Soundtrack released by Rubber Records rubber records logo

Lyrics:

The film begins with dialogue over black and credits:

"Yeah, this is an interview with detective Jane Joy Wilson, triple 168 dash 24B conducted at Police Internal Investigations headquarters in matters regarding Senior Detective Michael Brown and Detective Robert John Walsh".

We then hear from JJ Wilson, at first over black after a beep:

"I joined the service straight out of school …I was eighteen."

We then see JJ looking a little past camera, as she continues in CU:

"I always wanted to be a detective. Pit myself against the crooks. Outsmart 'em. Everything was so black and white. There was a right and a wrong, good and bad. I believed in the law. I believed in upholding the right. I thought the law was a good set of rules, and there could be justice for all. Well … (she does a beat and now looks straight at camera, as music comes in under) … I was young …"

Cut to a train crossing a bridge and a couple of constables who have found a floater in the river.

Detectives Chris Hill (Frank Magree) and James "Lamz" Fry (Peter Docker) arrive. "Lamz" says the bitch is about as ripe as a Queensland banana - about a week, he reckons - and says he's not getting dirty for a fuckin' derro, no way. Hill notes the tide's going out, and "Lamz" yells out to the constables that it looks like a false alarm. The detectives joke that in a few years the constables will develop a policeman's eye, practice makes perfect. One of the constables says he doesn't understand. "Lamz" tells him not to sweat it - it's easy to see how he could mistake that piece of plastic for a floater.

"Could happen to anyone mate," Hill adds. The constable laughs, disbelieving. Plastic? "Sir, with all due respect sir," as the other constable adds, "it's got a face."

Hill asks how long the blokes have been in the field. The first constable says three weeks, the second insists they know a body when they see one. "Lamz" asks Hill ('senior') if he's got plans for the night, and Hill says he was hoping for a smooth shift.

"Likewise Senior. 'Course, if we were to be on the end of a floater…" Hill: "Jesus, perish that thought detective …" "Lamz": "That'd make an absolute bastard of a shift. All the paperwork … the autopsy … fair to say we'd be absolutely pissed." Hill: "Wouldn't be forgettin' that in a hurry." "Lamz": "That's not the worst of it, Senior." Hill: "Poor constables on the end of a call like that, well, they'd have to get down in the drink, fish the bastard out, and we are talkin' messy …" (on the constables during this) "Lamz": "Floaters are what we call a fairy tale situation boys…grimm." Hill: "Anyway, if there was a floater in the river tonight, well, the tide would sooner or later take it over to South Melbourne …that'd be a Southbank problem, wouldn't it?" "Lamz" (with a sardonic smile): "Those pricks can do some work for a change!" Hill (turning to look at the constables): "So, what's it gunna be boys?"

The constables look at each other. The first constable nods to the other, the second says "okay sir, will that be all?"

Hill stares at him, the constables turn and leave. "Lamz" heads down closer to the water, telling Hill to grab a branch or stick or something. He tosses his cigarette into the river, to a music sting, then begins poking at the floater with a gum tree branch.

"Come on you fuck," he grunts as he tries to prise the floater loose, and the music begins to crank up.

"Now that's what I call creative police work," Hill says, as the camera tilts away off them into black, and the head credits begin, together with a song.

At first it's instrumental, then lyrics eventually start. It's "Burnt By the Sound" by Kismet:

Call for my Call for my dreams, this change Through your door, Through your door as I first set out Half of my Half of my dreams is change Through your door Through your door, it's like a storm

The song reverts to instrumental and then ends, with a cop scribbling on an action board, erasing an address, and saying "and that mongrel is that."

Tail credits:

The film ends with Det Jane 'JJ' Wilson (Belinda McClory) and Det Robert "Robbie" Walsh (John Brumpton pointing their guns at each other.

JJ is bleeding from where she's been bashed by Brown, before Robbie strangled him. Robbie tells her she owes him favours now, and tells her to put the gun down.

But JJ keeps pointing it, and he pulls out his own weapon, saying it's "just you and me Jane, just you and me." Sirens and car doors slamming off, as Robbie says "you haven't got the guts". Hard cut to black, and then the sound of a gun going off.

That's followed by a song, Whitey Trickstar, by GBVG. The version on the album is much longer, and there was a version available at time of writing on YouTube here.

These are the lyrics as heard and decipherable in the film: Hole, hole, stuck in this hole Slippin' on cats' piss And the joke is on me

I want to meet the new creator It's for make up, straight around my mind here Yeah I wanna play even And I wanna play fair I got the rising heart Man, up to here So you wear Prada It's so damn easy To go shishy far On the street

Did you like the show? It was all a joke … Some man, as if he cared about you (distorted) Ooh ay, he's gonna lose it Ooh ay, he's gonna lose it...

(heavily distorted, with birdlike sounds)

Spook, spook, life with a kook One of the lads now And the joke is on you You're sunk there, with a dick in your mouth I got two strong legs And a gun with ass

Look I wanna play even And I wanna play fair I got the rising heart Man, up to here If you don't like it It's so damn easy To go shishy from a Deadbeat Yeah I liked the show And the funny jokes So where's the party now, with you?

Cause I'm a whitey trickstar Whitey trickstar Whitey trickstar Whitey trickstar

A male voice and a high pitched voice begin to repeat distorted words over and over again. These sound like alternating "whitey" and "trickstar".

After a number of repeats, the music turns instrumental, with a strong beat, and begins a slow fade down and out over the final copyright notice.

CD Release:

A CD compile from the soundtrack was released by Rubber Records. There were dialogue tracks intermingled with the music tracks, indicated by inverted commas:

CD (ST) Rubber 74321552332 1999

01: Burnt By The Sound - Kismet 02: 'I Joined The Service' 03: Rock City - The Avalanches 04: Nothing Else - Bzark 05: 'So Where's The Party' 06: Crazy - Cororazine 07: The Goddess Has Time - Hoss 08: 'Jesus You Bastards Are The Limit' 09: Ton Of Bricks - The Meanies 10: I Closed My Eyes - The Dumb Earth 11: I Thank You - The Powder Monkeys 12: Mainlanders - Ricaine 13: 'Detective Is It True' 14: A Broken Machine - Crow 15: Blue Sky - Philippa Nihill 16: 'So Nothing Phases You?' 17: New Song Number Two - S:Bahn 18: Whitey Trickstar - GBVG

CD Review:

This site picked up a review of the CD, but unfortunately the name of the author and publication details disappeared long ago on the internet. It will be useless for an academic seeking a referenced quote; however, for what it's worth, this was one impression of the CD release:

Redball is supposedly one of the most confrontational Australian films for a long time, but not having seen it, I can’t pass such a judgement. However, I can tell you that from the trailers it looks kind of like Wildside, the excellent ABC cop drama. Let me put it this way – they both shit all over and bloody Water Rats. The soundtrack is as good as a super episode of Wildside, and I hope it’s not just a collection of disjointed songs put together for an extra marketing opportunity. I hope every one of these songs is used at some pertinent moment during Redball. It leads off all quirky, with Kismet’s “Burnt by the Sound”. Then, of course, there are the obligatory grabs of speech (there’s five during the course of the Redball soundtrack, and thirteen music tracks). We can all blame Pulp Fiction for that. Then however, comes the reason that, at my rough guess, many people will buy this CD. The original version (as on the 7”) of the Avalanches’ “Rock City” gets the stereo pumping, as does bZARK’s “Nothing Else”. As advertised on the front cover, the original version of Cordrazine’s masterful “Crazy” is on the soundtrack. And it’s a great track, but is it as good as Ricaine’s “Mainlanders”, s:bahn’s “New Song Number Two”, The Dumb Earth’s “I Closed My Eyes” or Crow’s “A Broken Machine”? All of those tracks are great for their own individual reasons. Hoss, the Meanies and the Powder Monkeys show why during the mid 1990’s they were the kings of underground indie rock, and Philippa Nihill’s sweet “Blue Sky” is just loverly. Two members of Underground Lovers appear as GBVG on “Whitey Trickstar”, showing their electronic bent. The only complaint that can be made against the Redball soundtrack is that it only really contains one rare track – the original version of “Rock City” by the Avalanches. If it contained more rarities, it would have been better off, but then again, it is a great example of mostly unheard of music from the 1990’s. A good start to a CD collection at any rate.

Composer Neil McGrath: McGrath supplied the underscore for the film, but also appeared in it briefly as Constable 10, and acted as the sound mixer. There was a short bio of McGrath here in relation to Bam Bam the movie: So excited to hit the point of mixing and designing the sound for Bam Bam. We are very privileged to be working with award winning Sound Designer, Neil McGrath. Neil is an AFI Award winning sound designer, audio producer and mixer based in Melbourne. Since joining Crawford Productions in his teens Neil has worked both here and in the UK and edited and mixed countless films, doco’s TV series and commercials as well as composing music for Network 10, Seven, Foxtel and the Discovery Channel. Neil has often had to design and build the studios he has worked in and is up to #9 at last count! A natural creative and Libran, Neil enjoys making things (which often involves breaking them first) and avoiding any small decisions for days. (Below: McGrath as he appears in the movie, and then McGrath at work, including a shot of him at work at Roar).