“I didn't really know what to expect,” Browne ponders of the reaction to the album. “There isn't really a lot of music around at the moment like what we're doing and we didn't really have a lynchpin to base it on – we just made the music because we love it and it was a brilliant surprise that it did so well.”
Apart from the obvious '60s influence, Browne and her gang draw from a lot of contemporary sources, something that will possibly come to the fore in future releases.
“We kind of pull from a great field of different influences, because there's so many of us as well – everybody's got a different background and relationship with musical influence,” Browne continues. “We listen to a lot of early rhythm and blues, lots of the big divas like Etta James and Ruth Brown and Esther Phillips, old blues stuff. Then a bit of jangly Tom Waits-y stuff, plus some more contemporary r'n'b like Cee Lo [Green] and Erykah Badu and a lot of hip hop like Outkast – we're working on a new album at the moment and that will bring forward a lot of the contemporary vibe, which is mixed in there with our old influences.”
Despite the band's strong live presence, Browne always intended the Bangin' Rackettes to be a studio project as well.
“Recording was always on the cards, sure,” she tells. “With the process of recording Baby Caught The Bus, everything that we do is so big – big sound, big hair, big band – so we just wanted to translate that to a recording as well, so you can take that hugeness into your living room or your bedroom, or to a massive party with DJs playing or whatever. So we always wanted to record, even though the live show is super-important to us.
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“But above all the aim was definitely to put on a show. I think the idea was to bring something to people that they can participate in and I guess feel the show as much as listen to it – obviously the music's super-important, but I love a good show and I think that people really appreciate when performers put a lot of effort into what they're doing, so we try to make it a big 'kapow'.”
One need only spy the new film clip for Love Letter – shot in the spectacularly creepy Old Geelong Gaol – to see how this gang can bring the party to pretty much any locale.
“It was great,” Browne recalls of the shoot. “We did it in one 12- or 13-hour day – crammed it all in – and we had lots of great friends and people who gave their time and energy. There were amazing dancers and crew – we went down to this crazy, creepy jail and wanted to bring that whole Purple Rain Prince goes to prison, '50s and '80s fashion, John Waters-esque visual and it worked really well. It was very intense. The last shoot of the day we were totally in hysterics at ourselves – we really went to a crazy place.”
