'' Gala Mill '' is the third studio album by Australian band the Drones , which was released in September 2006 . Recorded in an abandoned mill in Tasmania , it was their last album to feature founding member Rui Pereira and the first to feature Mike Noga on drums . The music , which makes " an epic leap beyond garage rock " , adds influences from folk rock and contemporary folk music to their usual punk blues style . Gareth Liddiard 's lyrics for the album are centered more on Australia 's colonial and recent history , evident in tracks such as " Jezebel " , " Words From The Executioner To Alexander Pearce " and " Sixteen Straws " . The album received critical acclaim from sources both within and outside Australia , with much of the praise centered on the album 's dark musical style and Liddiard 's lyricism . It was also their first album to enter the top 100 of the ARIA Charts . Many of the album 's tracks , particularly " I Do n't Ever Want To Change " , " Jezebel " and " Sixteen Straws " , would go on to be concert staples on subsequent tours . The album was recorded in a mill on an isolated farm on Tasmania ’s east coast . Barking dogs and birdsong are heard between tracks , and the island ’s history is heavily referenced throughout the songs . Vocalist Gareth Liddiard described their choice , " We just wanted to go somewhere interesting , to steer clear of the boring old studio . Studios can feel like hospitals for sick bands . And acoustically , recording the album where we did played a huge part in how it ended up sounding . " Bassist Fiona Kitschin expanded , " The family who owns the farm and the mill have been there since the 1840s . It 's beautiful . There are all these orchards around it , a creek near there you can swim in ... and it 's meant to be haunted . A woman apparently comes upstairs into the bedroom and cries . Although , we never saw anything . It 'd probably be a better story if we had . " Liddiard declared , " That was a conscious thing . To make an Australian sounding record is something that 's been frowned upon over the years – it 's not cool . But cool is not cool , you know ? You should just be what you are , it 's sad watching Australians trying to be Americans and Americans trying to be English and the English trying to be Americans . " The opening track " Jezebel " , " the slow , roiling eight-minute opener ... coiled to bust loose at any moment " , deals with topics such as " the death of journalist Daniel Pearl in the Middle East , nuclear testing in the Australian homeland , and a massacre that is infamous in Aussie history " . The track has been described as a " roller coaster " and as " one part love song to nine parts apocalyptic nightmare " featuring allegorical lyrics . The track " Dog-Eared " , featuring slide guitar has been described as " Neil Young 's " Cortez the Killer " crossed with Nick Cave 's '' Boatman 's Call '' album " in which " the kind of love revealed ... is so vulnerable that it becomes abusive " . The " even slower " following track , " I 'm Here Now " deals with " drug addiction -- observing it , not participating in it . " Bernard Zuel writes that the track " brings to mind the more intense moments of the Triffids . " The song " Words from the Executioner to Alexander Pearce " , " the first of two epics that delve into the slaughterhouse that was Australia 's early history " references Alexander Pearce – a convict-bushranger who escaped Sarah Island 's penal settlement on Tasmania 's west coast with seven fellow convicts in 1822 . He was executed in July 1824 after a conviction of cannibalism during his escape attempts . In the song , " Liddiard inhabits the executioner 's mind for a discussion of guilt , empathy , experience , forgiveness , and jealousy . " " I Do n't Ever Want To Change " , the " fastest and jauntiest number " on the album featuring " mutant Chuck Berry leads and open-chorded riffs " , features lyrics that " tells the story of a depressed shopkeeper who burns his business down for the insurance money " in " trying to commune with nature . " " Work For Me " is the first ever Drones track to feature Fiona Kitschin on lead vocals . " I Looked Down the Line and I Wondered " takes its title from a song by Sister Rosetta Tharpe . " Are You Leaving For The Country " is a cover of a traditional song made popular by Karen Dalton . The album closes with " Sixteen Straws " . The first verse is lifted from the traditional song , " Moreton Bay " . According to the liner notes : " To avoid damnation by suicide , groups of catholic convicts would draw straws , the long and the short decided the deceased and his killer . " The song " carefully paints a scene in colonial Australia , backed by just the faint sound of guitars , a harmonica , and Gareth 's own spittle " . It has been called " The Drones ’ masterstroke ... the standout track of '' Gala Mill '' ... the story of men forced to kill each other to save themselves " with its story being compared to '' The Proposition ''
a massacre
Port Arthur massacre (Australia)
Gala Mill