Spaghetti ConfettiSpaghetti Confetti are a children’s band for the whole family, built off a foundation of punk rock and ska. They’ve just released their debut album Ready Spaghetti Go, which arrives as a dazzling mix of rock, acoustic, and a unique ukulele-meets-punk rock sound.
Spaghetti Confetti formed in 2022 from the ashes of Sydney ska punk band, Chris Duke And The Royals. The band is led by lyricist, composer and school teacher, Christopher Duker, known as Ceeds to friends and on stage.
In total Spaghetti Confetti is composed of five parents across three families, including Ceeds’ partner. Three of the five members of Chris Duke And The Royals are now in Spaghetti Confetti and this ska punk influence bleeds through each song.
“A music publication a long time ago, when they were reviewing our debut album for Chris Duke And The Royals, they said, ‘it's lots of fun and these guys are really energetic, but it's just so childish,’ Ceeds laughs.
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“At the time, I was so offended and now I've looked back and gone, ‘I should have just realised that they just found my audience.’ A few people online recently comment that it's virtually just the same vibe, same style [as Chris Duke] but just less innuendo and no swearing.”
Spaghetti Confetti mirrors a similar path that Christian Jacobs – of ska superheroes, The Aquabats! – took to create the kids TV show Yo Gabba Gabba!. What is it that makes ska such a good fit for kid’s music?
“Ska brings out the inner child in everyone, right?” Ceeds muses. “It just drops all pretence of what's cool. I think that's what's great about ska.
“There's no pressure to be cool. When you're playing, when you're a daggy dad, it's like, perfect; you're not trying to be cool anyway.”
After originally starting as a duo with his bandmate and drummer Yods, Ceeds expanded Spaghetti Confetti into a family affair after a pivotal moment when his daughter refused to come into a music shop with him.
“I was taking her to the music shop to buy guitar strings, she was in the car, and we went to go inside and she's like, ‘Oh, Dad, what am I gonna do?’” he remembers. “And I said, ‘What do you mean? We'll just go in and get the strings?’ She said, ‘Oh, I'm not allowed in the music shop. I'm a girl.’ I went, ‘What are you talking about? She's like, ‘No, girls aren't in bands, Dad.’”
“At that stage my son was writing some songs and getting up on stage with us… and she's like, ‘Girls are not in your band. Me and Mum, we're not in the band.’ I was like, ‘Okay, this has to change.’
“We changed our line-up and got the ladies involved,” he explains. “It's really important that we did that, but also it meant that we went back and re-recorded a whole bunch of the songs. We were almost finished with the album and then we went and scrapped it and went and redid a whole bunch of things or added a lot of layers.”
Chris Duke And The Royals naturally faded as everyone’s life got more serious with careers and families. Spaghetti Confetti faced similar challenges. Ready Spaghetti Go is four years in the making but not due to a lack of ideas.
It all depended on how the parents could juggle their home life and band duties. Through these four years there’s been constant waves of momentum.
“I thought being the best dad would be like, cut all music out; just be there for my son 100%. Just be fully devoted to my child,” Ceeds remembers.
“But I realised that music is such a big part of my life, and especially live music, that's where my passion is. Playing live music is great for my mental health. I can stay up and play a gig and stay out late and then come home and only get a few hours sleep, but I'll be a way better dad than if I had not played the gig and had a solid eight hours.
“It's just good for my soul and I'm a better person when I'm playing live music.”
Since his son was born, Ceeds would always sing to him and write songs with him. It has been a constant part of their relationship. His son now occasionally performs live with Spaghetti Confetti and even came up with a few of the songs on the album.
One song in particular was inspired by a Bluey episode about a ‘doodad’.
“The incredible thing with kids when they write music is they don't know any of the rules, they don't know how a song's supposed to sound,” he explains. “They don't know the idea of imagery, or anything! They just say whatever they think.
“So because they don't have that filter, they just come up with the best ideas. I love it. So, Give Your Dad A Doodad was my son and that was just a line [he] came up with. We're just driving in the car one day, and he's like, ‘Dad, I got a song idea.’ I was like, ‘Yeah? Hit me.’ And he's like, ‘Give Your Dad A Doodad! Let's go!’” He just sang that line about 30 times, and I was like ‘That line is so funny.’”
Ceeds shares that music changed his life and turned him from an incredibly anxious kid into someone who found his people and got to travel the world. He hopes other children can find a similar comfort in it.
“I just want to inspire kids to start a band, when they're four years old, six years old, eight years old and get them started early,” he explains. “Imagine what kind of songs my son's gonna be writing if he gets his 10,000 hours out before he's 12 years old.”
At this rate, we could see a Spaghetti Confetti consisting of three generations, Ceeds, his son and his grandson.
Spaghetti Confetti’s debut album, Ready Spaghetti Go, is available everywhere now.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
