Stephen Dorrington On Mixing Theatre, Family, A Choir & Gold Paint With Rock'N'Roll

Tradesman-cum-actor-cum-musician Stephen Dorrington is gearing up to launch his new EP 1987 at New Globe Theatre on 24 February, accompanied by a bunch of local bands, back-up singers, dancers and even a choir! To top it off? It's his 30th birthday!

"It's one of those things where I'm like, 'Oh, I want to do that. And that… and that,'" he jokes. "It's been an interesting sorta progression of things... Probably the launch itself has been six months of planning. It's ridiculous how much goes into it and even now someone will come up with something or I've gotta redo that or change the format of that and it's like, where am I gonna find time?!" he gasps in mock horror.

"In Angus I found a guitarist that matches me perfectly. I don't even have to say anything to him, he just knows, and that's really rare."

"Originally I did a gig with my drummer and he's like, 'Let's just bring in a whole band'. Angus and Allen came on board and in Angus I found a guitarist that matches me perfectly. I don't even have to say anything to him, he just knows, and that's really rare. I've played with a lot of people and I've never been able to find anything close to that. And he's very very quiet so it kind of balances me out!" jokes Dorrington.

Also joining them on stage will be Dorrington's "sister, who I have a duo with, and the other singer Lauren I've played opposite with in theatre shows," he tells. "The two of them together is very interesting — my sister loves to improvise and Lauren is very organised but they work well balancing each other. I don't think I particularly fit into a niche of any kind, and that's quite difficult when you're starting out because naturally you wanna fit in with everyone. But when you realise you don't fit in, your strength can be that you're versatile and dynamic."

"The opening number Thespian is an ode to the time I spent doing theatre... I got to a point with theatre where I felt like a big fish in a small pond a little bit. I got nominated for Best Actor at the Gold Coast [Area] Theatre Awards — I didn't win, but just getting that nomination I'm like, 'Yep, done that, now I'm satisfied,'" he explains. "I wrote it to try and win a competition and I came fifth — my girlfriend at the time abused the judges. Like, 'Noooo'," he wails. "One of them being Dennis Knight who toured with Johnny O'Keefe back in the day. And she's abusing him and I'm there going, 'Don't, just don't'."

His press shots adhere to his colourful character — literally — depicting Dorrington covered in gold paint. "I went to the paint shop and I'm like, 'I need the truest gold you have in an acrylic. So they're like, 'What are you painting?' and I'm like, 'I'm gonna pour it over my head'. They looked and me and my expression hadn't changed and they're like, 'Oh, you're not joking!' The photo shoot itself — I loved everything except for the fact that the paint was really cold and it was the middle of winter, not that we get winter in Brisbane, but I sat there for four hours shivering with paint absolutely everywhere!"