Feature: Katey's Aussie Bands 101 - Lesson 1
Being the resident Aussie, I thought I’d teach our new (and existing) fan base a little about Aussie bands, seeing a majority of you appear to be from Europe and the UK. After all, I don’t want you to miss out on the unique culture and talent that we have over here!
Each edition I will be introducing you to two bands – they could be ‘Classics’ (an old/gone/split band), ‘Faves’ (current/popular bands), or ‘Newbie’ (up and coming and/or unsigned bands). I’ll try to mix it up every issue. Let’s go!
Classics: The Angels
Faces: Killing Heidi
Classic Aussie Rock: The Angels
The Angels are an Australian music icon. Now called The Original Angels (due to the fact that another band stole their name, and they also have a different lead singer), The Angels started in Adelaide back in 1975 as The Keystone Angels and got their big break by touring with the infamous AC/DC. They released their landmark album, Face to Face in 1978, after which their popularity exploded throughout Australia. That same year they did sell-out shows and stadium tours with Meatloaf and David Bowie. Their next two albums, No Exit and Dark Room hit the USA, UK and Europe in the early 80’s, becoming instant successes. In the US they opened for none other than The Kinks.
For most Aussies, The Angels will always be second to none when it came to classic live pub rock. Among their many hits are: Take a Long Line, Shadow Boxer, No Secrets, Face the Day, Let the Night Roll On, Dogs are Talking, and the legendary hit, Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?
Official website: The Angels
A (Personal) Fave: Killing Heidi
Singer Ella Hooper and her guitar-playing older brother Jessie grew up in the small Violet Town (population approximately 2000), a good day's drive from both Melbourne and Sydney. They spent their influential years listening to their drama and music teacher parents' record collections (Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell). The local radio offered few meaningful alternatives. As adolescence set in the national government-run youth network, Triple J had arrived in the area, exposing Ella and Jessie Hooper to a world of new sounds. Jessie discovered Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. Ella gravitated towards Hole and Veruca Salt. American Thighs was the first CD she bought.
Brother and sister started jamming at home, and in 1996, the pair played an acoustic gig on the city lawns at the Violet Town arts festival. Ella was 13, Jessie 15. Their performance, including two songs Ella had written, made an impression on a local studio owner who offered the Hoopers free studio time. With school friends acting as rhythm section, they recorded those originals and submitted the results in a Triple J-sponsored competition seeking to unearth new talent. They won their section.
With their song Kettle gaining national (non-commercial) Triple J airplay, Ella and Jessie juggled with attending school and beginning to play serious gigs. Producer Paul Kosky was inspired by hearing the song on the radio to check out the group at an outdoor festival. Working on records by Clouds, Kate Ceberano, and Crowded House (Woodface), Kosky had become frustrated with watching the music leave his studio and disappear in the hands of record companies. He wanted to find an act to manage as well as produce. He decided on Killing Heidi.
The first mainstream single didn't appear until August of 1999. By then the experienced rhythm section of Adam Pedretti on drums and Warren Jenkin on bass had been installed, months had been spent developing the music in the studio, and the band had been signed to Roadshow Music, an independent Australian label. That first single, Weir (a tale of life after high school), was still charting nationally three months later when the second single, Mascara (about self-image), leapfrogged it into the national number one position, which it held four weeks. The debut album Reflector entered the chart at number one and went double platinum in Australia.
Their second album, Present, couldn't have been more anticipated. After all, it followed one of the most successful debut efforts in Australian music history. It was released almost four years after the Hooper kids from Violet Town were unearthed by Triple J, and shows that the band and their music were growing older, wiser and tougher.
This album was as much a celebration of versatility as it was maturity. The stripped back ballad 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 lets the weeping picking of Jesse's guitar, the delicateness of the vocals and the space inspired soundscapes do all the talking. There's even an infectious gospel sounding rollick called SWEEET, which lyrically addresses the issue of Aboriginal Rights. "Singing about political issues is not something we usually do - we wanted to make sure that it was fun and positive", says Ella. More light relief comes in the form of the deliciously melodic Heaven Sent and Take it - Ella's lyrical sequel to Mascara. “That song is kind of me looking back at my school days with much more affection than I was able to when I was there. It's kind of ‘you don't really appreciate some things until they're over’.”
With their latest smash single I Am (which was featured in the movie, Spiderman 2), Killing Heidi gave us just a tasty tease of what was about to come - and that's this enormous and explosive slab of rock simply entitled Killing Heidi, the band's brilliant third studio album. Recorded with John Travis (Kid Rock, Sugar Ray, Monster Magnet, No Doubt) and mixed over two months in LA with Travis and the genius Chris Lord-Alge (Pink, Green Day, Hole), Ella Hooper said the band's new mandate to ‘keep things simple’ has not only provided new found unity amongst the four members and a lot of musical clarity, but has them experiencing a new-found confidence in themselves. “More then ever before, this record is about us just being ourselves,” she said.
Take Calm Down, the follow-up single to I Am. “It's about a big arss crush”, says Hooper. Musically, the track embodies the band's grittier, more stripped back approach to rocking out with its pummelling drum beats, thundering bass riff and spotless guitar work but still manages to pulsate with immediate pop melody. Vocally, Hooper swings from sexually charged to ruthlessly powerful on the stand out track Not For Me. “I didn't want to be afraid to just tell it like is on this album”, she says. With snarling lyrics like ‘Said I'd be nothing without you, now I see it was all just about you, never be what you wanted me to be, now I see that you're nothing without me’, you know she isn't lying.
On the eve of the release of their latest album, Killing Heidi had never been more comfortable in their own skin. “We're not often completely happy with anything we do”, says Hooper, “but we are so proud of this album and for the first time in a long time, we feel it truly reflects who we really are.”
Official website: Killing Heidi