The Reels in the video for "After The News"
The tenor of daily news broadcasts hasn’t grown any more optimistic in the 44 years since Dubbo band The Reels gave us “After The News.” Released as the lead single from the band’s second album, Quasimodo’s Dream, the perky new wave song revolves around the question, “What will you do / After thе news?”
As the song’s writer and Reels frontperson Dave Mason saw it, some people would respond with screams and wails, while others would either “go to bed” or “scratch their heads.” Though, these grim forecasts are completely at odds with the song’s bouncing rhythms and infectious vocal melodies.
Quasimodo’s Dream has been retrospectively hailed as a classic Australian album (appearing at #34 in the book 100 Best Australian Albums), but “After The News” wasn’t a hit at the time of its release. This bothered Mason, who told The Sydney Morning Herald in 1983, “I got really pissed of (sic) about After The News. People were just not accepting what we were doing.”
While The Reels haven’t performed live in many years, Mason is still somewhat active: Chapter Music is set to reissue Mason’s soundtrack to the 1986 short film, Double X and the Unmentionable Underbelly Of His-story, on July 19. More info here.
The Reels - "After The News" (1980)
