When you think about it, The Fauves have been local rock’s little Aussie battlers for a while now, but do you know how long they’ve actually been together? Well, babies that were born the year that they played their first show at the Mt Eliza Football Club are now driving automobiles on the road. Indeed, the band’s been with us for 18 years now and they’re marking the occasion with another full-length release next month. Nervous Flashlights will hit shelves in early July and is album number eight for the four-piece. When asked about what listeners can expect from the new batch of tunes, vocalist Andy Cox is as blatantly honest as ever.

“I don’t know… fuck… it’s just a Fauves album I guess,” he says. “I suppose it’s probably a little mellower than the last one – more along the lines of (2002’s) Footage Missing.”

There’s actually a single and video release leading up to the long-player’s launch, something that was sort of missing for their last, self-titled album. Hitting the wireless a week or two back, I’ll Work When I’m Dead is another classic slice of social commentary from The Fauves and a direct message to Mr Howard. The song stems from the idea that Australians should be working less and less, rather than harder and harder. Cox admits that one of the main reasons he starting playing in a band in the first place was so that he could perhaps work less. Almost two decades on it’s hard to know what the Fauves of 1988 would think of the group today, but in the end it’s all about comradeship.

“I don’t really think about it,” Andy says of the time that has passed. “It doesn’t mean anything really. I guess it’s sort of a fair achievement just to stay together that long. Beyond that though it’s just the fact that we continue to make music and time continues to accumulate. Given that we’ve never been a particularly successful band it’s probably even more of an achievement. There’s never been any financial reason to stay together. We’ve stuck together because we primarily all like each other and then we also really like making music. So yeah…”

In idle preparation for the album’s unveiling, the boys will be playing a quick set over the coming long weekend – something that hasn’t happened in a while.

“That’ll be the first time we’ve played this year,” he admits. “We haven’t even rehearsed yet – which usually spells disaster! Things tend to be a bit rough and ready when we haven’t played together for a while. I guess we’ll play a few new songs without labouring the point too much since the record isn’t even out yet. I already know how it feels to watch people standing there with their arms folded as you play on through new material. We’ll try and find a happy balance there.”

Once Nervous Flashlights is out and about though, Andy advises listeners to not really expect a full scale national tour.

“We’ll just do a few shows here and there,” he says simply. “I don’t think we’re going to be having a huge hit record on our hands or anything. It’s not like we’ll be mounting some huge assault on the public consciousness of Australia. We’ll just play a few shows and then just piss off again.”

Really though, in times when a band like Youth Group go from having a modest following one day to obtaining show sell-out superstardom the next after a certain song hits a television show, you never really know what could happen, right?

“One thing that I can say after doing this for 18 years is that you definitely get closer to knowing,” Cox laughs.

When a band embarks upon the eighth album in their career they’ve usually already done the best-of, or they’re at least thinking about it. The Fauves, as usual, are bucking trends (if you don’t count their 2003 overseas release Surf City Hearts, of course).

“People often ask us about it but it’s not something we’re interested in,” he explains. “As a consumer I’ve never enjoyed feeling the need to buy a best-of album from my favourite bands. I’d just prefer they did a fresh one instead. I guess that if someone told us that we’d sell 100,000 copies if we put a best-of out then we might get a little more into the idea, but I really don’t think it’d sell well. Plus it’s just such a step backwards. I’d prefer to keep making new music and not worry about it. I suppose our old label, Universal (who own the first four Fauves albums), could do it without our consent if they wanted, but I doubt they’re too interested either!”