With the pant-wetting realisation that all of their adult fans have deserted them since "Machiavelli and the Four Seasons" went top ten, leaving them with only their new-found teenage following who are already beginning to regard the band as Bubble Yum with no flavour left, TISM have clearly panicked. Their response has been pitiable. In a pathetic attempt to connect with their already departing adolescent audience, TISM have desperately grasped out at the only song on the album which has anything remotely to do with the teenage experience, and released it as a single. But the message of "Greg! The Stop Sign!!" is one of complete despair, hopelessness and nihilism delivered with a cheery "missing you already!" McDonald's employee-of-the-month grin. Which guarantees that no teen will get it. Nor will anyone else.
Inspired by Melbourne's Transport Accident Commission TV commercials, which depict youths in chillingly realistic crash scenes, "Greg! The Stop Sign!!" recalls Doris Day signing "Que Sera Sera, Whatever will be will be", only it fills in the blank by suggesting that no matter how surprisingly you future turns out, you'll probably die a horrific death in a semi-trailer accident anyway.
When asked about the apparent incongruous juxtaposition of surf harmonies and jungle trance beats which appear in the song, TISM replied that the common feature of the two styles was that "we are incapable of playing them".
Further pressed about the techno leanings of the album as a whole, TISM continued:- "We noticed that every time people mentioned the word 'techno' they seemed to be faintly nauseated, as if we had passed wind in their presence. So we knew we were onto something." TISM member Les Miserables went on to elucidate a short parable on the meaning of TISM. "I recently went to a party where Neil Young was exceedingly popular. I managed to secrete myself near the stereo, whereupon I played the same Neil Young song to play once every five songs, then every three, then eventually over and over. It had played three times in a row before people stopped enjoying themselves and noticed, and the host discovered me hiding in the corner with the remote control buttons, got really annoyed and told me to fuck off. That moment where enjoyment sours into annoyance - that moment is TISM."
"Greg! The Stop Sign!!" comes with two previously unreleased tracks, "Strictly Loungeroom" and "There's More Men In Children Than Wisdom Knows", neither of which have much to do with teenagers.
"Greg! The Stop Sign!!" is the 3rd single from the album "Machiavelli and the Four Seasons", out through Shock Records.
