Interviews

Suji Toko Interview

by Bec Bradstock

Members of band: Lydia Storey (v), Luke “Fergo” Ferguson (v/b), Cameron Spike-Porter (g), James “Jimmy T” Taylor (k) & Brendon Lees (d).
I had an interview with one of Lismore’s hottest new bands and runner up of the national band comp. Here’s what they had to say…

 
So how long have you guys been playing with each other?
Since the start of 2008.

And how would you define your music?
It’s a fusion of funk, R & B, soul and rock.

Who writes the originals and what are they about?
They’re about stuff….Different stuff….Mostly sex and drugs [laughs]. Fergo and Lydia do most of the writing.

When you’re writing these songs, do you have a plan for what sort of song it’s going to be?
Yes.

Where would your ideal gig be?
In space.

What sort of vibe do you try to create for your audience?
Space vibe! We want everyone to groove out to our hip-happening sound. Basically we want everyone to leave with an erection or like hard nipples… something erect!

What’s the funniest thing an audience member has ever shouted out to you?
B : Now play drums!
L : Play slayer!
F : (I was playing at bass at someone else’s gig) and someone shouted out “Who’s that song by?” (The singer said) “That’s one of mine….”(then the audience member said) “Aw… It was shit!”

If you were stuck on a desert island, what 3 items would you take?
B : A house, a boat and a car – so I can drive to my boat.

Where did you get the band name Sujitoko from?
From our trip to Japan at the paper crane festival in a sushi bar we went to. There was Sujitoko on the menu. It came to us in a dream aswell… David Bowie told us to wear an eye patch – the Labyrinth David Bowie – He said “wear the funky funky eye patch!” It kinda freaked us out. And then Fergo wore the eye patch and lost his depth perception. He kept falling off the stage and we took that as a sign from the sushi bar. We saw it on the menu. And that’s how we got the name Sujitoko.

What are your plans for the future?
F,J,B : Start our own sushi bar with a live stage then win the heavy weight karaoke comp to be on the iron chef and ready steady cook.

What sort of message do you want to put out to people?
F : [sings] We like funk music and we cannot lie, you other brothers can’t deny… We funk on the first date.
J : Eat. Sleep. Funk.

Were you happy with the outcome of your results at the national band comp?
New band. New tunes, four rehearsals. One win, one runner up. Pretty good! We’re awesome.
F : Now eat my tritone!

The Dark Alley Desert Belles Interview

by Aaron Green

The Dark Alley Desert Belles are a unique local band in Lismore. All members met attending the contemporary music course at SCU where they played together and gained a good working relationship that carried on into forming a band. The Desert Belles have a haunting sound and is a must see band to check out when in Lismore. I talked to the bass player from the band and managed to gather some great info about this fascinating band!

Let’s start with the background of the act, what’s your favourite type of music?
“The favourite type of music of the band collectively is very broad. Moira would be leaning towards more of a folk standing with influences such as Bright Eyes and Interpol etc. Alex is very much in the underground, experimental music scene drawing his influences from artists such as Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Bjork etc. Clinton is heavily influenced by hip hop and associated genres. He derives his solid time and playing from hip hop artists such as The Roots etc.”

Who did you grow up listening to and what are your influences?
“ I can only really speak from my own experiences but I grew up listening to what would now be termed as retro rock and roll. Bands such as led zeppelin, black Sabbath etc was the influence from my father. I also listened to a fair bit of pop music and in my teenage years I was very involved with nu-metal and hard rock.”

Sum up your life in 3 bands!
“Muse, The naked Paski’s, Radiohead (hahaha)”

What genre would you categorise your band in and why?
“I’d probably say emo-folk/easy listening”

What is the history and training of the band members?
“We’re all graduates of SCU contemporary music program. We’re all proficient on our instruments and bring a unique style to the music.”

How do the songs link with your specified genre?
“The songs link to the genres as they have that relaxed vibe to them as well as relatively simplest chord progressions so the real focus is on the lyrics and the story telling nature of the music.”

What style/statement do you think the band as a whole expresses to the public?
“I don’t think we have a unifying approach to our “public” but i believe we have a positive vibe and we enjoy what we’re doing.”

How important is ‘image’ to you in regards to the bands genre or sub-culture?
“With this band, not so much. It’s more about moz and the story telling.”

Do you have any performance tips and strategies for success in your specific genre’s scene?
“Be relaxed, don’t stress on stage because in this genre is based around each musician having freedom within the music. There aren’t specifically written lines, except for the main melody/chord progression, so if you relax you can create a smoother, more rounded sound.”

What is the band’s plans for the near future?
“Not sure. I think there might be  a movement away by a few members, so probably not a huge future.”

Give each of your band members a stereotyped label!
“Um, Moz = hippie, Alex = indie, Clinton = band slut, Me (Sam) = scene kid”

Now for the fully detailed and dirty incestual band development stories from wild after parties! GO!
“Hahaha....not too much, except for the time we were all dancing stoned and drunk to Hapless Andy for like 2 hours...Weird!”

SIAN Interview

by Aaron Green

Sum up your life in 3 bands!
Muse
Radiohead
George

What genre would you categorise your band in and why?
If you had to put a label on our music it would most probably be Epic Rock. We have a huge variety of songs that are each unique in their own way but a main theme that shows within our band is this big wall of sound with a huge variety of dynamics and different levels

What is the history/training of the band?
We have each studied our instruments for a number of years before coming to Southern Cross and we have worked in many different bands previously.

Who writes the songs?
The songs have mostly been written by Michael Filmer-Smith and Ryan Carrero with the occasional song written by Teagan Russel
Epic Rock is about telling it how it is and getting listeners to try and understand what we are feeling and relate it to them while giving a  

Where does the band shop for clothes, fashion, accessories etc?
We all fashion ourselves but within a gig situation the males usually wear a similar outfit being a white shirt and black pants while Teagan dresses in a nice dress of some description

What style/statement do you think the band as a whole expresses to the public?
We are ‘clean’ musicians with no real “out there” image to portray. Just your everyday people with a passion for making good music

How important is ‘image’ to you in regards to the bands genre/sub-culture?
It is relatively important for any band but we do not label ourselves or dress in any certain way

Do you have any performance tips and strategies for success in your specific genre’s scene?
Within our music there are a wide range of dynamics so it is important in the quite sections to still have the audience captivated

What is the band’s plans for the near future?
We are hoping that we will record some of our new material.

Does size matter?
if your talking about a stage size then definitely; its hard with a 4-piece on a small stage let alone any other sized band!
but no size does not matter.. in general

Give each of your band members a stereotyped label!
Michael: Wanna-be Indie kid
Teagan: typical 19 y.o. girl who likes to party
Ryan: serious wanna-be shred guitarist
Camryn: QLD beer-belly bloke

Now for the fully detailed and dirty incestual band development stories from wild after parties!
Teagan likes kissing boys, Michael likes to try and kiss girls, Ryan likes to watch girls kissing boys and Camryn is the drunk one in the corner not really noticing anything.

Nicky McGowan of PUSH Interview

by Andy Jans-Brown

 It was Friday night at The Gollan Hotel and the regular crowd shuffled in, there was a couple of older toothless men leaning next to me making love to their middies of beer.

The general atmosphere was loud and raucous as the guys from one of Lismore’s more successful covers bands, ‘PUSH’ were setting up.

I offered to buy singer Nicky McGowan a drink, whilst her boys set up their gear.

“I’ll just have a lemon squash thanks Andy.”

Was Nicky’s response.

“Beers for the band Brown.”

Chorused Dave Tweedy the guitarist for the outfit, and I made my way to the bar.

Nicky came to help me carry my shout. She was dressed in skimpy nylon bike shorts and a body hugging stretchy top which highlighted her cleavage. With her long hair and good looks, she was turning heads all around me.

“Look out!” One of the regulars announced, “Kylie Minogue is back!”

Nicky laughed along unthreatened by the attention.

“I guess you get a lot of that at these places?” I asked.

“Yeah it doesn’t bother me. No one will touch me with big Tweedy around.” She stated matter of factly.

“Oh so he is security as well as guitarist, as well as sound engineer and chart writer.” I continued.

“You forgot boyfriend and chauffer.” Nicky joked and we shared a knowing laugh.

“Doing covers you all do multiple roles. I book all the gigs and do all the managing side of things. So it all evens out in the end.” Nicky opened up.

“How many gigs a week do you guys do?”

“Well it depends…two…three…sometimes four. We’re busy. We’re well known now so we’re booked three months ahead of ourselves and we get weddings and corporate gigs and last minute phone calls when other bands cancel.”

“What is in your set list?”

“We try and play all the hits. All the songs these guys can sing along to as they get drunk. You know…Stevie Wonder…Kiss…Powderfinger…Matchbox twenty….’The Gambler’…Nirvana….all the obvious ones, oh and we like to keep it upbeat. You’ve got to feel your audience out. I can feel when I’ve got them and when I’ve lost them.”

“How long have you guys been together?”

“Well Push has been going for four years now. I just played solo before that.”

“What advice do you have for muso’s wanting to start a covers band?”

“Be professional. Dress well. Turn up and set up on time. Invest in a decent size P.A. They audience can be very loud and drown you out. You’ve got to get the music over the top of them. Confirm everything. Get a signed contract from the venues or at least an email confirming the time, date and your fee. Don’t get drunk. Be professional and you’ll always be welcome back.”

All of these questions took place as the band set up and enjoyed the beer I bought them but time went by pretty fast and Nicky was called to stage to start on time as she had proclaimed she would.

A typically rock sound with a tight pocket. The punters loved it. We all the songs. And the drunks did dance and mumbled verses and break out at chorus time for the sing a long.

“These guys are good!” I said to the bar lady.

“Yeah we always get them back.” She said. “Everyone is happy.”

And here was a hundred and fifty or so Lismorians letting off weekly steam and celebrating their shared moment in time, making new memories to old memories that were triggered through songs.

“I was made for loving you baby and you were made for loving me!”

Such was the spirit in The Gollan that night and the drunk haze made beauty in youthful wrinkles.

Louie from Stone The Crows Interview

by Andy Jans-Brown

 “G’day dude, come in!” was Louie’s introduction as I arrived at his Ballina Road Studio. He was dressed in his uniform tight black jeans and t-shirt, tattooed arms and his long curly hair back in a pony.

“Cup of Tea?” He asked as I walked in the door,

Louie all ready getting milk from the fridge and opening the biscuit tin.

“Sure.” I responded, taken back by the friendly and civil manner of this scary looking head banger in black leather boots, who’d look more at home at a bikers convention than in the biscuit aisle of the supermarket.

“We’ll go down to the control booth hey?” Louie said and I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement.

Once in Louie’s control booth I was overwhelmed by his extensive Vinyl collection.

“There must be thousands of albums here mate?”

I asked or was it a compliment.

“Yeah I know”, he said, “over five thousand, last time I counted. Sorry there’s not that much space, we’re renovating the office at the moment, so this room seems crowded.”

Instruments and musical equipment in such abundance here, one could easily mistakenly think we were in a music shop.

Louie is such a generous guy, I’d only have to point at a guitar or ask about a certain band and he’d have the album out and on, talking with passion about particular band members or the studio it was recorded in, or the year the instrument was made.

Louie has had a long career in music, spanning thirty years.

He went on to tell me all about the “Hey Day” of the Australian music scene, when pubs still paid original bands and Molly Meldrum had Countdown, Gudinski’s early Mushroom success and of course Albert’s publishing.

We sipped sweetened tea and dipped biscuits as we listened through some highlights from Louie’s extensive collection.

AC-DC, Stevie Wright, The Easybeats, Skyhooks, The Masters Apprentices, Russell Moris, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, Ted Mulry Gang and on to bands like Sherbert, Cold Chisel, The Divinyls, Dragon, Inxs, Rene Geyer, John Paul Young and Boom Crash Opera.

I discovered that Louie had supported most of these bands back in the day and that he longed for the Australian scene to get back on it’s feet again.

“Scrap the fucking pokies! Evil I tell you! They’ve destroyed the scene and Australian Idol!”

He rolled his eyes.

“What’s with that crap? Surely that’s not what we’ve got to offer is it? Where’s the rocking bands? The rebels? The people who refuse to do what they’re told? No I think our whole society has gone to the dogs. Sony music and the Majors, they’ve fucked everything. It’s all about the buck! Back in the day it was all about the music. How’s a band meant to get started these days?”

A moment of silenced followed as the gravity of the question pulled us down to earth.

We listened to some truly inspired recordings.

“Who were your early influences?” I asked him.

“Bay City Rollers.” He said with his tongue firmly in cheek, though he did have a copy of their music to play me.

And I laughed at the very camp outfits of these glam rockers.

“No”, he continued, “but seriously, my main influences were bands like Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Deep Purple, UFO, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Kiss.”

All of which we then sat and listened to.

“Another cuppa?” Louie asked.

It was an inspiring day and I learn’t a lot about the history of Australian Rock music and laughed as Louie shredded many a metal guitar lick on his treasured Les Paul.

Louie also played me some of his own recordings.

“Listen to the analogue”, he said, “Shit’s all over digital doesn’t it?”

And we agreed on many things and I left full of goodness, like I’d just visited nana’s.

A nice surprise to find such a sweet centre in such a rough exterior.

Deadlocks & Jazz
Matt Smith Interview

by Andy Jans-Brown

 A beautiful blue sky day out at Jiggi, just off the road from Lismore to Nimbin and I sit back and swig a Coopers Green from the stubby with up and coming Jazz legend Matt Smith.

Matt gives me a guitar lesson, explaining the role and function of the Lydian Dominant Mode, as he fingers some of the tastiest jazz licks I’ve heard for some time on his Epiphone hollow bodied electric.

Matt has dreadlocks in his hair, but clipped either side to give it a Mohawk feel, kind of punk meets Rastafarian. His sweet face and olive skin hint that the surfboard in the carport on the way in was his too.

He’s very relaxed and makes me feel genuinely comfortable.

“Ah it’s a good life isn’t it?” He says swigging back his Coopers.

“Yeah, and your career is well set too.” I added pointing to Matts productivity as a much sought after guitarist, playing gigs with Jim Kelly’s ‘Healin Feeling’, the Afrobeat, Dub fusion band, ‘The Strides’, ‘The Lisa Hunt Band’ and ‘Leigh Carriage’.

“Yeah I guess.” He adds with a shy reluctance.

“It’s good playing with different bands and exploring different styles, it keeps me interested.”

And you get a feeling that this young man requires a great deal of stimulus to keep him interested, being at the top of his field and a leader amongst his peers.

“I get to do all the Larry Carlton, Robben Ford stuff with Jim and explore more textural landscapey stuff with The Strides.”

I can tell there are many sides to Matt Smith and well notice the fusion in his style.

“I’m a bit of a sponge.” He adds. “I’ve just soaked up so many different influences during my degree and since graduating and I’m lucky I get the chance to express it all through different mediums.”

“You seem to embody a whole way life.” I tell him. “You’ve got a real optimism about you, an exciting energy. I get the feeling you bursting out of your skin with enthusiasm.”

“Gee, thanks mate.” Matt laughs.

“I love life.” He adds.

“Wouldn’t be dead for quids!” And again Matt gives a shy awkward though contented laugh, and we sit back in merriment enjoy the Spring Zephyr full of fragrant blessings and knock back a couple more Coopers.