Bachelor Girl: In The Zak.

Bachelor Girl play the Festival Of Beers on September 13.

“We’re in Sydney at the moment,” explains James Roche, one half of Melbourne based duo Bachelor Girl. “Tania was a speaker at a Marie Claire what women want forum last night, which will be on Channel 10 on Tuesday. Natasha Stott Despoja was one of the speakers. It was Natasha’s first time out in public. She was a big hero for everyone there, because all the people in the Audience were women, obviously.”

Did you get to play a set or anything like that?

“We did one song. Tania spoke, and I just got wiggled on for three minutes and five seconds. I was just the accessory.”

I’m Just A Girl (not to be mistaken for the similarly titled No Doubt track), the first single from the band’s second release Dysfunctional is the track that found them making said TV appearance. From James’ perspective it’s perfect segue into the new album for those familiar with their first record Waiting For The Day.

“It’s really a core kind of piece for us. It deals with things we tend to deal with, like gender differences, and makes a point in a kind of humorous and sarcastic way. More so than just a ‘hey baby, come boff me’ kind of thing. We had it remixed by some folks over in Los Angeles by some folks called The Matrix, and when it came back it just sounded fantastic. So we made it the first single.”

Waiting For The Day came out back in 1998. Why so long between releases?

“We didn’t really have that second record phobia in that’s traditional in rock ‘n’ roll circles. We didn’t really have trouble, it was agonising, because you put your foot in the wet cement with the first record, and then you don’t want to let yourself or the fans down with the second record.”

Was it much of a case of not wanting to put out something that didn’t meet the standards you set with your first release.

‘Exactly that, and we figured it didn’t matter how long it took, because we don’t feel the people who buy our records are necessarily going to be straight out looking for the next bug thing in six months. If you’re going for the ten year olds, you’ve got to be pumping them out quickly, and you’ve only got about a two-year career span. Bachelor Girl I don’t think has that problem with our audience. We thought as long as we come out with a good record, we’d be fine.”

While waiting for this call to be connected, I got an earful of a piano muzak version of Whitney Houston’s Greatest Love Of All as hold music. We begin to discuss the merits of Muzak, after all, you’ve not really make it until you’ve got Acker Bilk pumping out a bland clarinet rendition of something you’ve previously put your heart and soul into.

“I’m just waiting for the day I can hear one of our songs in an elevator,” James enthuses. “I actually heard our last record being played in a supermarket. I had an experience recently in New Orleans where I heard The Girl From Ipanema in an elevator. I don’t know if you’ve seen the Blues Brothers, but it’s the archetypal example of muzak, and there’s a scene where they’ve been chased into the IRS building by thousands of police, and they get in the lift and you hear it playing in contrast to the pandemonium outside. Anyway, I got in the lift and it was playing so I just did a little dance to myself. It was a fantastic moment.”