Gonna take a senitimental journey

I'm sure everyone has their sentimental favourites. And by that I mean bands that they wouldn't normally be into these days, but remind them of happy, simpler or younger times. One such sentimental favourite for me is Motor Ace, a Melburnian quartet who was one of the more successful Australian bands of the early 2000's. Motor Ace was really the last commercial rock/Triple J-oriented band I’d have time for. For me they represent a specific time and place – I was a fish out of water doing my first year of TAFE, I’d started to go out more, I was making (and falling out with) new friends. Musically and culturally, they also represent a better, more pleasant time - all the would-be emos were still in primary school; The Used and My Chemical Romance were just beginning to rehearse in their basements; Jet and Wolfmother were playing to five people in small pubs; Behind Crimson Eyes and Kisschasy weren’t even concepts yet. Motor Ace were a respite from the ‘nu-metal’ nonsense that surrounded them (as much as I hated nu-metal back then, even that now seems more bearable than the current (screa)mo epidemic), and they seemed so out-of-step you could almost say they were refreshing.I guess Motor Ace's style would be lumped in with the 'post-grunge' tag. They were a rather average rock band who weren’t necessarily popular with the street press mafia or Melbourne indie rock glitterati. But oh, did they have some smashing tunes! Their first and best album "Five Star Laundry" (released in 2001) is in my opinion a much underappreciated collection of arena-bound anthems (such as “Hey Driver” and “American Shoes”) and gorgeously subdued mood pieces (see “Budge” and “Siamese”). I still play it a lot today, whereas I'm sure it's been collecting layers of dust in most other owners' CD collections for the last few years.It's kind of hard to believe now, but I even saw Motor Ace live in their heyday, twice. In hindsight, they weren't a great live band by any means, and always had terrible support acts - I would never consider seeing a band like Motor Ace these days. But I was 19 and my tastes were still evolving, so I could excuse myself from having daggy favourites. The second time I saw them, I snuck in as a representative of 'Inpress' magazine (in other words, I called the venue up and got my name on the door in exchange for a published review of the gig). Luckily, this gamble worked out for me. I even met the band's tour manager who in turn let me go backstage after the show, meet the band, and wish lead singer Patrick Robertson a happy birthday. It was such a memorable night, because I met one of my favourite bands - if not because of the show.Motor Ace peaked in 2002 with the so-so “Shoot This” album. I tend to skip half the tracks on that album, but the album’s singles “Carry On” (later featured in an ad for ‘The Australian’ newspaper) and “Keeping Secrets” are among the band’s finest moments. Such was my fandom, I bought that album the day it came out, along with Jimmy Eat World’s “Bleed American”. Even this was a considerable point in time, as it occurred around the beginning of my year-long tenure organising all-ages gigs at EV’s Youth Centre in Croydon.After two years in which Motor Ace were unavoidable, they then simply disappeared. There wasn’t a peep out of them for at least two-and-a-half years, apart from an album by guitarist Dave Ong’s side project Joni Lightning in 2004. I thought they’d quietly broken up, and this was assumed by many until word broke out that a new Motor Ace album would see the light of day in mid-2005. I was excited. I felt like I was 19 all over again. Although the resultant album “Animal” wasn’t the Motor Ace I’d come to expect (more acoustic guitars and atmosphere than rocking out), it seemed a step in the right direction. In fact, I adored it – it was one of my favourite albums of 2005. Many critics had come to appreciate it, but radio and the buying public did not, and the album was a flop (apparently it now sells in the JB Hi-Fi bins for $9.99). This was inevitable, as in the last three years much of Motor Ace’s casual audience would have moved on, and many of the band’s peers had either broken up, or suffered a similar slump in popularity (28 Days, anyone?). Motor Ace ceremoniously played their last ever show in Perth on New Years Eve 2005, and the members have since gone back to their individual lives, never to reunite again.I’m 24 now, and naturally I’m embarrassed by the stuff I was into even five years ago (I thought Dido was awesome, for shit’s sake!). Yet Motor Ace will continue to be a band that I’ll shamelessly hold dear to my heart. And I’ll always think of those naïve twilight years of adulthood, when I’d hide away in my room and blast songs from “Five Star Laundry” whenever I was in the mood or wanted an escape after a shitty day.Man, was it Ace!