The Palace Flophouse. Since March 2007. The trio, comprised of Tim Neilson (guitars/vocals), and the dual Chris' Hausler (bass) and Absell (drums), shared mutual friends and, when the grand ol' mistress Fate decreed, they united over a shared passion for Tom Waits, booze and blues music. Recently relocated from Brisbane, Absell bunked up with Hausler amongst the trendy bohemia of Fitzroy and together the pair spoke of forming a band, fingers itchy for their respective instrumental devices. Unbenownst to them, and within staggering distance, lived Neilson, a prodigious talent with a penchant for feathered hats. As stars may collide somewhere in a galaxy far away, so an instant chemistry was borne from the first rehearsal. The trio quickly developed a wealth of material consisting of songs written by all three of them (comparisons to the Beatles are welcome) as well as the songs of such luminaries as the Black Keys, Bill Withers, Bob Dylan, Cream and, of course, Tom Waits. The wide sonic slather of the three piece canvas allowed the boys space to explore and enhance their instrumental capabilities; Neilson with his wild solo flair, Hausler with his heavy neo-jazz construction, and Absell's sound barrier busting beat work. They were soon at a place most band's would require a year to even conceptualise. The band's first recording session proved, in all its ragged, recorded-and-mixed-in-five-hours glory, their immediate potential for crafting and reimaging emotive, exciting blues rock not only in a live setting, but amongst the sterile surrounds of the studio enviroment. Along with electrifying covers of the Black Keys' Leaving Trunk, Bob Dylan's Meet Me in the Morning and Junior Kimbrough's Have Mercy on Me, they stomped out self-defining renditions of Metallic Wonder and The End of Misery; the former a discordant, spine-yanking hunk of dirty blues with an ending reminsicent of a rocket launch; the latter an extended exploration of political and personal disambulation, complete with Led Zeppelin-esque guitar histrionics. With history as muse, the Palace Flophouse pursue. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Palace+Flophouse">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.