THE TUNNEL

Fathoms Deep

thetunnelsf.com

A veteran of San Francisco’s avant-garde theater scene, hammy Tunnel frontman Jeff Wagner sings like a theme-park pirate or B-movie baddie. “I’m not of your world,” he warns on “King of the Impossible,” claiming instead to be from a “whole other underworld.” That underworld sounds suspiciously like Australia, as his sound echoes several of that continent’s most influential acts. The most obvious is the Birthday Party, but Nick Cave’s early Goth-punk outfit isn’t the only precedent for the Tunnel’s dark, theatrical rock. The trio’s swampy blues riffs will remind Aussie aficionados of ’80s greats the Scientists and Beasts of Bourbon, while Wagner’s vocals recall Midnight Oil leader Peter Garrett—a rocker-turned-politician who never made music this unabashedly fun.