Little Red- Dominic Byrne

NL: Why did you agree to play at That Festival?

Dominic: Umm. I don’t even know if I decided, it just kind of happened.

NL: Have you ever heard about it before?

Dominic: Nope. I didn’t even know. I was confused when people were saying that we were going to play ‘That Festival.’

NL: Yeah, it's a bit confusing. Your new album ‘Midnight Remember’ has moved from a raw sounding 60’s Garage Pop to a more modern, fuller sounding production. What bought on this change?

Dominic: Yeah. It’s definitely different to what it was on the first one. It changed because we were listening to a lot of different music man and I wanted to make something that had a more broader style and I was really into producing something that sounded fucking rich, like big.

NL: Yeah. Your old album ‘Listen to Little Red’ had a very raw and unadulterated sound whilst your new stuff sounds as though a lot more time and production elements have been chucked into it. I dig it.

Why do you play music? What does it mean to you?

Dominic: I hope to try and get a connection with the crowd you know, just have an experience together because if you have that it is really fucking great. That sort of feeling is ideal. It’s great when everyone walks away from it with a special shared experience. I think music does that much more than any other art form; it is really communal and really connects people. So yeah, that’s probably why.

NL: Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song? Do you have to be happy to write a love song? Is a song better when it happened to you? Like ‘its Alright.’ What is this song about and why did you write it?

Dominic: That song was………..feeling good you know? Just like anybody my moods change, so some of my songs are sad and some of them are happy and on that particular day I was in a really fucking good mood; there was nobody at home and I was just running around the house singing this song.

NL: Well man, you’ve definitely communicated your feelings that day because honestly, that is one of the happiest songs I have ever listened to and I just sometimes listen to it laying on my bed and it just brings a smile to my face. No shit.

Dominic: That’s awesome man, that’s absolutely what I want. That right there is seriously what music is about; trying to give someone else the emotion you were feeling when you wrote that song.

NL: Is your song ‘Coca Cola’ literally about Coca Cola?

Dominic: Well, we’ve got this highfalutin idea of what it is sort of about. I don’t know if it really comes across, but it is about love in a commercial era pretty much It’s not about drugs if that’s what you were thinking.

NL: (Laughs) No, I wasn't thinking about drugs. So you’re basically comparing Coca Cola and ice to a lovely girlfriend like in the lyrics, ‘the taste of her lips’?

Dominic: Yeah, but you could have used an Ipod or something like that. But I do like Coke; I fucking love it. (Laughs)

NL: (Laughs) Thanks for that mate, have a good show.

Glass Towers: Round Two

Round two it is. Drunk chicks. Debt. "Add me on facebook!" Metronomy and, "Who the hell is that fifth guy?"........ Enjoy.

NL: Cameron, why did you come to That Fest?

Cameron: Well, for a local festival there were really good bands and we had a lot of people coming.

NL: In your set there weren’t many people arrived yet. But hey, what about the vibe out there?

Cameron: Yeah there was a great atmosphere; we still try to play our best even when there’s no crowd and get our own atmosphere sort of thing.

NL: Sam, why did you come to That Fest?

Sam: Ummmm……. because I think we’re getting paid. (Sarcastic laugh)

NL: Only for the money mate?

Cameron: (Laughs) It’s a party!

Sam: Yeah! It’s a party!

NL: What’s your EP called and when can we expect it out?

Cameron: I think it’s called ‘How To Grow Up’. It’s five tracks and I think it should be out next March/ April.

NL: Where can we find it?

Cameron: In EVERY CD shop.

NL: Tell me about how you scored supporting Metronomy. How the fuck did this happen?

Cameron: We just recently started hooking up a deal with a booking agent. He kind of just rang us up when we were on the way home from a band practice last week and asked if we wanted to play with Metronomy and we just said “yeah!” I didn’t really know who they were at the time but our singer Ben was a really big fan. I’ve been into them ever since that (laughs).

NL: You just finished school not long ago. The world is open to do what you want to do. After your EP, what’s next?

Cameron: Get jobs, make money and move to the city I think.

Sam: I think we’re touring a bit in January/ February because we’ll have a single out by then. Then obviously tour when the EP comes out to support it.

NL: What does That Fest mean to you?

Cameron: Free booze, Party on, drunk chicks.

The interview is then hi-jacked by our sharing of memories of two specific ‘drunk chicks’ at the front of Glass Towers’ set shouting out “add me on Facebook” non-stop for the majority of their set with their high- pitched voices and annoying dance moves. Good times.

NL: (Trying to regain myself) What do you think of local festivals like this that feature up and coming bands?

Cameron: Great. Great. It’s a great place to party. It’s not sending kids to the streets, I mean, they can do naughty stuff here really. And it’s fun man. It’s music.

Sam: And there’s good bands playing here man. You Am I, Little Red!

Cameron: It’s not like it’s a locally shit thing. There’s a lot of great bands playing here today.

NL: I’m so psyched for Little Red and You Am I.

Cameron: Yeah same! I’m even psyched for Miami Horror and I don’t even like them that much.

Sam: We just saw the Space Invadas dudes.

Cameron: We saw the black dude with the massive dreads. He just had an Iphone listening to music just walking around not even taking any notice of anything. Just chilled as.

NL: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Cameron: Washed up rock stars recovering from a heroin addiction. (Laughs) No! I have no idea really. I don’t know where the future is going to take us.

NL: Do you expect anything big or are you just taking it as it comes?

Cameron: Yeah we just have to take everything we can I think. We’re not expecting anything we’re just making the most of what we have.

NL: Yeah, well you’ve definitely made the most of what you have lately; scoring shows with Metronomy, opening Splendour In The Grass 2009, making your way onto the festival scene. How do you do it?

Cameron: I don’t know. We seem to make people like us. (laughs)

Sam: I think because it’s just really fun, happy music to listen to man. There’s also a lot of luck in it.

Cameron: Parents aswell. We wouldn’t be where we are without our drummer’s (Daniel Muszynski) parents. They’ve driven us around and stayed with us in cities and everything. For example, we are in debt $1000 to Dan’s father, so they’ve been really supportive that way.

Tim, Glass Towers ’quiet ‘on the road synth player’ and 'the fifth Glass Tower' is then put in the limelight.

NL: What do you think of Glass Towers buddy?

Tim: Aren’t they the greatest band alive?

NL: Umm? Yeah. I think so man.

Tim: They put on a high-energy show every time which is fucking awesome!

NL: I saw you getting in there mate. I saw you singing every word.

Tim: I was screaming every word. I was like on of those girls saying “add me on Facebook.”

Sadly, this is where it ends in an uncontrollable fit of laughter at the hilarity of Tim’s impersonation of the two ‘drunk chicks’ down the front.

Fin.

Funkoars

NL: Why did you agree to playing at That Fest?

Sesta: We always like coming to this part of the country, it’s nice moosty weather. Yeah, we like taking our clothes off and getting moosty.

Hons: I need to pay my electricity next month.

NL: Just about the money mate?

Hons: No. Not at all. I just like coming out and getting hammered and just partying a bit. Sick of being in Adelaide so it’s good to get out every now and then.

Sesta: We’re not in Queensland are we?

NL: No, we’re just shy of the border mate.

Sesta: Thank fuck for that ay.

NL: Fuck QLD!

(Laughs)

Hons: You can’t actually say that because there’s a law against swearing in public. We found out about that the other week.

NL: What do you think about local festivals like this that are supporting the ‘little guys?’

Sesta: Anything that is supporting local music is good. I mean, shit we need to do something too I guess you know.

NL: Yeah, I mean everyone has to play their part and by you guys playing here, being a famous band are helping out the local music scene.

Sesta: Well. We’re not that big. We’re semi-big. We’ve got a bit of swing but it’s not stiff.

NL: You’re not touching the ground yet. (Laughs). So, have you heard about That Festival before?

Hons: Yeah. I looked it up on umm………(laughs)

Sesta: (Laughs, mocking Hons) ‘I looked it up once I heard of it.’ (Laughs)

(All in a slurry of laughter)

NL: Did you google it mate?

Hons: I did google it, yes. No, I’m pretty sure I binged it.

NL: What the fuck is Bing man?

Hons: Some Microsoft shit, I don’t know. (Laughs)

NL: Can you describe your live show for people who haven’t seen it yet?

Hons: It’s pretty chaotic. Just running around going mental. It’s really a live, live set. It sounds close to what the album is like but we have extra added shit in and stuff like that.

Sesta: Theres always the element of improvisation. We just sort of get up and do it and have a great time. If someone fucks up you just try to roll it and make it into something good.

NL: What’s next for Funkoars?

Sesta: We’re working on an album right now. We are just doing a few shows here and there, this is one of them, in between going balls deep in an album.

NL: When can we expect this album on the shelves?

Sesta: Next year, January, February, March?

Hons: (Sarcastically) April? May? June?

NL: Between January and December?

Sesta: Yeah. 2011ish. We don’t really know.

NL: Cheers for your time.

Dead Beat Band

NL: Why did you agree to playing at That Fest?

Mikey: It’s local and amazing. You’ve got all these local bands coming together and you get to play with all these other big, amazing bands. It’s a good good feeling.

NL: What do you think local festivals like this do to the community?

Mikey: I think it’s great, especially on the Gold Coast because theres so many different genres of music and no one’s really copying each other or anything like that, everyone’s got their own little flair and it’s really good.

NL: The Gold Coast music scene is starting to amp up, and go big with bands like The Dead Beat Band (you) and Jack’s Harlot fronting it. What do you think of this?

Mikey: Yeah I think it’s great. None of us knew how to play instruments and we just gotup there and played and everyone is thinking, ‘fuck, if they can do it anyone can do it.’ So it’s great (laughs)

NL: Cheers for that mate.

Mikey: No worries.

Calling All Cars

NL: Why did you agree to playing at That Festival?

Adam: It’s always good to see new festivals emerging and we back them 100% and have a ball at festivals.

Haydn: In five years time when it’s the new Big Day Out we can go, ‘we were there.’

NL: What does That Fest mean to you? How was your gig today?

Haydn: Yeah, it was good. The rain sucked but everyone stuck around and rocked out so it was still good.

NL: Do you support festivals like this that give rise to up and coming bands?

Haydn: Yeah definitely. It’s the same as the Big Day Out, they still have up and coming local bands every year.

Adam: Yeah it’s a good way to get a start because it’s kind of hard to just jump straight to a main stage.

NL: How did you get to the place you are at now?

Adam: We just sucked heaps of cock dude. Blew heaps of big wigs.

Haydn: You got to do what you got to do. There’s a Regurgitator song about that, ‘I sucked a lot of cock to get where I am.’

NL: Well, all the cock sucking has obviously paid off. Cheers for that boys.