Features / Music

The last thing you want to do is ask what he thinks of the “drill‘n’bass” tag journalists and musos applied to him in his career’s formative days. “It’s just more static, window dressing, polishing, waffling, missing the point,” he dismisses. “Fundamentally, why the fuck would anyone concern themselves with that boring shit if they were able to thrive and enjoy making music themselves? But why??

I think the appeal I suppose is that it’s fairly fresh. I’ve heard a few people say there’s not too much else like us in Perth at the moment.

“It was like I was hatching an ostrich egg. I’ve got turtle metabolism, but we finally got it out there.

“In a way no one has a 100 per cent original sound because everyone is influenced from some other music. But instead of copying music you like, take ideas, be influenced by it and turn it into your own thing.”

Little Alex won a scholarship to the Durham Cathedral Choir School in North East England (its former pupils include Rowan “Mr Bean” Atkinson and Tony Blair!).

“We didn’t actually mind being lumped in with all of those acts back in the old days. We’re all on Modular and, when you’re signed to Modular, you’re very much a part of a family – so it’s not that surprising that people lump us in with those acts."

“Why go and see a band reproduce a record note for note. Pointless right?”

Describing their style as “porno, folk, country, cabaret music”, The Good Ship are certainly not ones to take themselves too seriously, though don’t call them irreverent.

Rice is Nice Records held a party over the weekend. Because we love to party, we were there in the thick of the action.

"‘Holy shit, look what that band did’. They took something that was stagnant and totally reinvented it."

"What would Area 7 do when this is all finished and you’re not popular anymore?"

Melbourne Youth Orchestra’s members Tim Hannah and James Williams aren’t your stereotypical classical musicians. They speak to Aleksia Barron about moonlighting in local bands ahead of MYO’s Berlioz’s Requiem.