Floyd Vincent & The Childbrides: Peru Are You?

Floyd Vincent & The Childbrides play Seagulls on Thursday, The Healer on Friday, the Beach Hotel in Bryon Bay on Saturday and the Noosa Bowls Club on Sunday.

Since the release of their Last Exit Motel album it seems Floyd Vincent & The Childbrides have been in a perpetual touring cycle. Their gypsy influenced style seemed to have more than rubbed off on the bands lifestyle. This weekend once again finds them stomping the boards, an experience to be savoured if you’ve not yet caught a show.

“We don’t tour non stop any more,” Floyd explains. “We try and do two or three weeks in a row, have a break for a couple of months, and then try for another two or three weeks in a row. It kind of creates the illusion that we’re always on the road, but it’s not really that way.”

“It was that way for about five years, but I went to South America about a year ago and had a revelation that maybe I shouldn’t do so much touring.”

After almost twelve years working as a musician, taking the pace of touring back a notch seems more than earned. For Floyd Vincent & The Childbrides, the frantic pace of touring is more than just the result of an epiphany of sorts.

“It was just a holiday. I went to Bolivia, Peru, Chile and Brazil. I had a record deal at the time so I went and check out the record company offices where they had them. Did the Inca trail. It was a lot of fun. I think it just the first time in years that I had actually stopped. I though, this is good, perhaps I shouldn’t do the same thing all the time. I think it’s better for the guys in the band as well.”

Other members of the band are also involved in different musical projects.

“They play in other acts. Joe, our drummer, plays with Wendy Matthews. Both he and Lindsay, our Keyboard player, play with Dave Mason from The Reels. Joe also play with Billy Thorpe, so it gives them the opportunity to do these gigs and work on other projects, and I can chill out and write some more music. If I’m on the road, I find I get fragments of things done, but I don’t actually write any songs.”

Did you pick up some local influence in South America?

“Unfortunately I didn’t see a lot of great music while I was there. It was just that folk style thing you see on TV with the pan pipes and acoustic guitar. You hear the same songs from every act,” he laughs. “It was more about extracting the maximum amount of tourist dollars.”