Bridezilla Interview

My interview with Bridezilla recently ran in Sydney's Drum Media: FRONTWOMAN HOLIDAY CARMEN-SPARKS BITES HER FINGERNAILS AS SHE TALKS TO ROB TOWNSEND ABOUT THE RELEASE OF BRIDEZILLA’S HOTLY ANTICIPATED DEBUT EP

Anyone with their finger remotely near the pulse will have noticed the growing reputation of Sydney’s Bridezilla over the past year, during which time they’ve supported the likes of Midlake, Eskimo Joe and Youth Group and performed at The Playground Weekender and The Great Escape. Impressively, if you read back over the many live reviews they have received, you will struggle to find anything other than glowing reports of their enthralling performances. Superlatives battle each other for prominence in an attempt to describe the quintet’s unique sound, which, with guitars, drums, keys, sax and violin, comprises elements of indie, folk, jazz and blues. “I cut them out and stick them my scrapbook,” says vocalist Holiday Carmen-Sparks enthusiastically when I ask her about the band’s positive reviews.

Another thing you will always notice when reading about Bridezilla is an incessant interest in their age, or lack thereof. Perhaps this is understandable when you learn that, of the five, only drummer Josh and violinist Daisy are old enough to drink. Guitarist Pia is 17, while Holiday and saxophonist/keyboardist Millie are just 16. “It’s another aspect of us that people can latch onto but it doesn’t mean anything because, essentially, the music is what people are going to take back with them.” Indeed, the band oozes charisma and charm on stage, and their gigs are met with fervour from increasingly large and mesmerised crowds.

Fronted by Holiday and her sultry vocal, Bridezilla sound like the result of a strange love-affair between The Velvet Underground, The Dirty Three and Nancy Sinatra and, unsurprisingly, the band’s members have eclectic music collections. “I’ve got lots of country like Dolly Parton, and blues from my Grandpa,” the singer tells me. “Millie listens to heaps of jazz and also The Rolling Stones. Pia grew up with a lot of folk, Daisy listened to more classical music and Josh listens to the weirdest mixture of modern Australian music. Primarily Silverchair. I’ve never seen anyone take to a band in the way Josh has taken to Silverchair.”Like the other members of Bridezilla, the sparklingly intelligent, polite and amiable Holiday has a maturity way beyond her years. So, considering she was already rocking venues like Candy’s and The Annandale to their very foundations at the tender age of 15, does she feel she is missing out on a normal teenage life? “A little bit,” she admits. “But I was never part of it in the first place. I’ve never really been a party kid or whatever. It’s just not in my nature.”

Indeed, the gang of five have always been a step outside the circle, and they offer a pleasingly alternative aesthetic to the generic, skinny-jeaned bands that litter stages across the city. This leads me to ask Holiday if Bridezilla deliberately avoid being part of any recognised scene. “It didn’t start like that. I just wore whatever I’d been brought up wearing - whacked out funky shit. We wear whatever we feel comfortable in and what we feel good in.” It seems that the band have never had any aspirations of being cool – you’re more likely to find them in the local library than hanging with the In Crowd, which perhaps makes them cooler than most.

Fans will be delighted to learn that their eponymous EP, featuring standout track Brown Paper Bag and long-term live favourite Saint Francine, is about to hit the shops. “My fingernails have been bitten to their limit because this EP has been burning in my hands for a few weeks now.” Holiday divulges. “I’m incredibly proud of each little ditty and hope they find their place in some people’s hearts.”The debut release of their beautifully-crafted music also means that the band are set to return to the live scene following a sabbatical from touring which allowed Pia and Daisy to concentrate on their HSCs. There is immense excitement within the Bridezilla camp about getting back onstage and they are especially enthused about their appearance at Homebake - arguably their biggest gig to date. “I had a nightmare about Homebake last night,” Holiday chuckles. “But of course we’re looking forward to it with a great sense of awe and enamour. I simply cannot wait to be back in the game, dancing like wildfire and singing as if I were a runaway in the circus.”

So, with time on their side and talent in abundance, it is easy to imagine Bridezilla becoming Australia’s Next Big Thing. Looking ahead to their exciting future, Holiday says: “I just want people to like our music and for it to be really special to them. I want to play music for most of my life. It’s the only way for me to express myself properly.”

The return of John Sundry and The Speedos

The greatest band in the world, Alabama funkers John Sundry and The Speedos are returning to the place where it all began, Eastbourne, for another charity gig.The last time they played at TJs nightclub, they raised enough money to send two girls from Haiti to school, a privilege rarely afforded to females in the country. So, if you are in Sussex on the 19th December, then please go along and show your support, enjoy some insanely good funk and make the world a slightly better place. We, ahem, I mean, they will be very pleased to see you.

Carter USM at Brixton Academy

As I recently mentioned on this blog, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine are my favourite band of all time. Last Friday I went to Brixton Academy in London to see their final ever gig:It was always going to be an emotional night. Having been a devout follower of Carter USM since my teenage years, this final full-stop had been circled on my calendar for many months, yet it took arriving at Victoria station and seeing pockets of punters in an array of Carter T-shirts for it to dawn on me that this really was the end. From that moment onwards, the evening was an odd mixture of feelings that skipped between the mortal sense of all good things inevitably coming to an end and a joyous journey down the streets of reminiscence. As I travelled the tube, I noticed that the Carter fans dotted around were older, more sensibly dressed, yet visibly excited at this one final hurrah. Having to push past a posse of touts at Brixton tube station reminded me of a bygone era, but it was arriving at Brixton Academy that really felt like a step back in time: the sold-out sign, the large queue snaking down the road, the flurry of activity at the doors.

This was where it all began for me, in 1993, as a wide-eyed teenager on Carter’s Post Historic Monsters Tour, and so it seemed a fitting place for it to conclude. I took a deep breath and stepped into the auditorium. Here was where the story ended.

As I stood on the exact patch of carpet from where I had first seen my favourite band all those years ago, I bumped into someone I know from my current hometown of Sydney, and it instantly became clear just how much effort people had made to be here for Carter’s swansong. Because of that, the mood at Brixton was buoyant and celebratory and, at 8.30pm, as the band’s hand-picked mix of tunes belted out over the PA, there was a mass singalong to The Wonderstuff. By 8.45, people were crowd-surfing to The Fratellis. It was obvious that this was going to be one hell of a party.On the dot of nine, Jimbob and Fruitbat bounced onto stage. Jim looked typically focused and handsome; Fruity cheerful and trim. They were welcomed by a full-house that greeted them with an appreciation which bordered on hero-worship. Some of the crowd had followed the duo’s solo careers closely, others hadn’t bought a record since 1992. Regardless, everyone was here tonight to pay tribute to a band that mean a great deal to them. Before the first song had even begun, the stranger next to me had one arm round me and the other high above his head. It was that kind of night.

The set was long and, while not a comprehensive anthology of Carter’s lifespan, was a crowd-pleasing collection of old classics. Opening, of course, with Surfin’ USM, and ripping through tracks from their acclaimed first two albums, 101 Damnations and 30 Something, the band kept the tempo high in the early part of the set, and were even brazen enough to throw away their two biggest hits, The Only Living Boy in New Cross and After The Watershed back-to-back fairly early on. These songs were met with the delirious fervour.

It was loud. Holy fuck, it was so bowel-shakingly loud that my ears are still ringing two days on. The critic in me would perhaps suggest that the sheer volume drowned out some of the subtleties that make Carter’s tracks so special and, at times, they would have benefited from being turned down from eleven. Ultimately though, this mattered not a jot, as everyone in the room sang along to every word anyway. This was less a gig, more a raucous singalong amongst five thousand friends reunited.Highlights included a belting version of The Music That Nobody Likes, an atmosphere-drenched rendition of A Prince in a Pauper’s Grave, the powerful Bloodsport For All and the fitting paean to the underdog, The Impossible Dream. Elsewhere there was a charmingly shambolic version of their first ever single, A Sheltered Life, delicious covers of This is How it Feels and Rent and a typically epic delivery of A Perfect Day To Drop The Bomb.

There were some glaring omissions though, most notably the earth-shatteringly disappointing decision not to play their standout song, Falling on a Bruise. Equally, there was no Midnight on the Murder Mile, arguably Carter’s most underrated track, and, Glam Rock Cops aside, nothing from later than 1993 (in other words, the songs with real drums). However, with just two hours of stage-time and nine years’ back-catalogue, there were always going to be a few casualties, and therefore we had to do without the aforementioned classics, as well as Let’s Get Tattoos, Alternative Alf Garnett and, disappointingly, Re-educating Rita.

The songs Carter did belt out though, and there are too many to recount, were delivered with vigour and energy. Jimbob’s acoustic solo work has really given his voice impressive dexterity, and his former angery and bile-ridden vocal was often replaced by a slightly softer approach. Between songs an affable Jim joked with the crowd, while Fruitbat smiled throughout. They were clearly having a wonderful night and, as the evening drew on, their dreamy gazes into the crowd noticeably grew in length, as they drank it all in for one last time. Equally, individuals in the audience yelled and clapped and jumped and danced with abandon. To my left a man sang every word to every song with his eyes closed, as though he were imagining an earlier time. To my right, a gaggle of men and women linked arms and danced in a circle, like they were at the best wedding reception ever. I repeatedly found myself simply gawping around the venue, mesmerised by the sea of faces that were lost in the moment. It was such a warm feeling, to be amongst so many people that shared a love for my favourite band. Thousands of misfits, united for one last time.Encoring with an exceptional version of Sheriff Fatman which had the crowd turning cartwheels, Carter fittingly said their final farewell with G.I. Blues. Arms were raised, lungs were opened and tears were shed before the house lights came up and, sadly, it was time to go back to our lives. As I meandered to the tube station past a gang of wide-boys selling knock-off T-shirts, it felt as though a piece of me had been laid to rest in the Brixton Academy. Heavens knows how Jimbob and Fruitbat must have felt.

And so, on November 2nd 2007, the rather strange rollercoaster ride that was Carter The Unstoppable Machine finally stopped. “Tell your kids,” Jimbob said as he held his bottle of wine aloft and exited the stage.

Carter will continue to live in our stereos, our memories and our hearts, and this was a perfect way to say goodbye and to draw a line under a chapter of our history that none of us will ever forget. Goodnight Fruitbat, goodnight Jimbob. Thanks for the memories.

Bridezilla - Brown Paper Bag

Even if you are only an occasional visitor to my blog, you will know how highly I regard Sydney's Bridezilla. The teenage quintet's debut EP comes out soon:Having caused a stir on the Sydney live scene over the past year or so, Bridezilla have been off the radar for a few months while some of the band concentrated on their HSCs. During this enforced break the band have signed to Ivy League Records and are set for their first ever release later this month. Here is the video clip from the single to be taken from the EP, Brown Paper Bag:

Micah P Hinson - Micah P Hinson and the Opera Circuit

MICAH P. HINSON
Micah P. Hinson and the Opera Circuit

With the second album from critically acclaimed Texan songwriter Micah P Hinson comes a tale of woe. Having spent the recording of his debut addicted to prescription drugs, he kicked the habit only to seriously injure his back and find himself dosed-up, in pain and housebound for the recording of Micah P. Hinson and the Opera Circuit. The result though is an intimate, heart-felt and genuine slice of Americana.

The beauty of Hinson’s sound lies in that incredible vocal, which doesn’t seem as though it should belong to a 24-year-old. It is sometimes warm, occasionally cracked and sorrowful, while much of the time it is so gruff that one wonders if he isn’t actually the secret lovechild of Tom Waits.

Comparisons to Waits go beyond that voice though. Waits’ influence is clear in the jaunty Diggin’ a Grave, whereas closing track Don’t Leave Me Now! familiarly juxtaposes ivory tickling with a rougher-than-sandpaper vocal.

Elsewhere, the album weaves its way through styles and genres. Gentle country ballad Drift Off To Sleep is as touching and tender a song as you will hear this year, while You’re Only Lonely is a brooding rock monster.

As a songwriter that makes the ugly seem intensely beautiful, Hinson falls into the same bracket as Bright Eyes, and with two outstanding albums recorded through a fuzz of prescription drugs and illness, one wonders just what level of magnificence he will reach when firing on all cylinders.