ReeToxA‘s “Bottle” is the kind of track that makes you wanna turn the volume until your neighbours hate you. And honestly, they should be thanking you for the education.
The gravel-throated Jason McKee has done something that feels almost illegal in today’s cookie-cutter industry—he’s resurrected a thirty-year-old teenage anthem and made it sound like it was born yesterday. McKee wrote this beast back in 1995 when he was just fifteen, a kid from Frankston’s rough-and-tumble streets who knew even then that this one was special enough to save for a “second album.” Talk about patience.
He’s assembled a killer lineup that any rock outfit would kill for. Kit Riley‘s bass lines rumble through the track like thunder rolling across the Victorian plains. James Ryan? That madman took McKee’s original guitar ideas and transformed ’em into an explosion that’ll rattle your fillings loose. And with Peter Marin—yeah, that Peter Marin from 90s legends Jet—holding down the drum throne, you’ve got rhythm section that knows exactly how to drive a song home. Producer Simon Moro deserves a medal for walking that tightrope between preserving the vintage grime and polishing it up for modern ears.
Now, the story behind “Bottle” hits harder than a Marshall stack at full volume. McKee was on his second date with high school sweetheart Jody when her best mate Nicole called in a panic. Her parents had locked away her medication, and she couldn’t get to it. So these two teenagers did what mates do—they ran over to help. Simple as that. This was peak 90s Australia, when mental health was something you didn’t talk about, something brushed under the rug while struggling kids suffered in silence. McKee, Nicole, and Jody sat there plotting how they could all escape their rough home situations together. That’s real.
The track captures that teenage rebellion and mateship perfectly. It’s got this epic quality McKee calls “proportions” that makes it feel massive without losing its intimate core. There’s something beautiful about a thirty-year-old song finally getting the treatment it always deserved.
“Bottle” is a middle finger to the music industry’s disposable culture. A double album this early in a career? Unheard of. But ReeToxA doesn’t care about what’s “supposed” to happen. They’re too busy making noise.