A Good Cuppa

Rather than trying to search for a new spin on old clichés to describe her style, Kelly Breuer has instead borrowed a compliment paid by a fan to communicate the idea that she is music's answer to a cup of tea. “I've been told a few times,” says the bubbly 22-year-old of the unique praise. “Someone came up to me one night and said, 'That's just like a real good cup of tea that is'. I thought, I really like tea, so I hope it's a good thing!”

Despite having just released her debut EP Smile, It's Free in August, Breuer has already gained a steady following through performances at Adelaide festivals, several east coast and regional tours and a strong pick up rate from community radio via the national AMRAP radio service for independent artists.

Breuer believes it's largely due to her tendency to always look on the bright side of life, personally and musically. “I think that's just me as a person; I'm always trying to find the positives, I think, to things. We find in Adelaide there's a massive folk scene happening, but there's so many really down and depressed songs and because of that people aren't producing great music because they're so stuck in this angry song with so many lyrics trying to explain what they want, and it kind of loses the form of the song.

“And so you kind of go to all these little folk showcase things, which are everywhere and then, you know, there's guy after guy after guy after girl after guy just being all depressing. It's like, you've got a great voice, why not just make people happy for once? …There's certainly a place for all that depressing folk but after seeing so much of it I was like, 'Nup – gotta do something a bit more upbeat',” she laughs, explaining that one of the EP tracks even tackles the usually dark topic of mortality. “I've got a lot of friends at the moment that are quite terminally ill, and it was about just, you know, it's a bit shit that they're sick, but we'll have a drink for them anyway…”

Drawing inspiration from the free hugs campaign started by a Sydney man and taken to the world by Australian band Sick Puppies, Breuer hit the streets to spread her happy vibes and capture a video clip for the EP's title track. “We went into Rundle Mall with this dumb [Smile, It's Free] sign and it was a really quiet day and it was hilarious because we were on one side of the mall with this sign filming, and then one of these God-preachers [was on] the other side and he's got all these kind of signs like God will save your soul… So people were looking at us…trying to dodge it all in the middle!” she laughs.

“I'm a bit of a dork and I've always liked this idea that a smile can be contagious. I got a postcard once, and on the front it had like hundreds of people smiling and on the back it said: 'I bet you're smiling now and you've just passed it onto someone that you don't realise is watching you.' I then kind of looked around and there were all these people smiling. I thought, isn't that a nice kind of idea that you can smile at someone and pass that smile around the world without realising?”

Kellie Breuer will play the following shows:

Saturday 15 September - The Music Kafe, Brisbane, QLD
Sunday 16 September - Tempo Hotel, Brisbane QLD
Thursday 20 September - Sol Bar, Maroochydore QLD
Friday 21 September - Bangalow Hotel, Bangalow NSW
Saturday 22 September - The Loft, Gold Coast QLD
Wednesday 26 September - Lass O'Gowrie Hotel, Newcastle NSW
Saturday 29 September - Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly NSW
Wednesday 3 October - Front Gallery and Cafe, Canberra ACT
Thursday 4 October - Great Britain Hotel, Richmond VIC
Friday 5 October - The Red Till, Anglesea VIC
Saturday 6 October - Port Macquarie Hotel, Portland VIC