Taste Test: Karina Utomo

FIRST ALBUM I BOUGHT WITH MY OWN MONEY WAS…
I can't remember if it was Gun N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction or Use Your Illusion, but whatever it was, it was the wrong one. I sat through both sides of the tape to listen to the song that I wanted and it wasn't even on it. I think I was in Year One and I got it from this cassette store called Aquarius in Jakarta. Growing up in Indonesia, we didn't get the variety you'd get if you went to a record store in Australia in terms of the selection. It was either really massive bands or big Indonesian pop bands. 

ALBUM I'M LOVING RIGHT NOW IS…
This year's been exciting already because there are lots of bands that I really, really like that have released new albums. I've been a long-time fan of John Reis and Rick Froberg, who were in Hot Snakes. One of John's side projects, called The Night Marchers, have a released a new album Allez Allez and it's pretty cool.

MY FAVOURITE PARTY ALBUM IS…
If it's a crap party and I want everybody to leave then Daughters' Hell Songs is always a good one. Otherwise I really love '90s party hits, so anything with The Real McCoy Another Night on it. That song is genius: back-to-back hooks. For me, though, it doesn't have to be a particular album, I'm more about '90s party mixes.

MY FAVOURITE COMEDOWN ALBUM IS…
I haven't really “come down” for a long time, but it used to be Cat Power. It was like a, “oh man, this girl's really depressed. I'm glad I'm not,” kind of vibe.

FIRST GIG I EVER ATTENDED WAS…
It was the Big Day Out in 2002. I grew up in Canberra and there weren't many all-ages shows apart from those at the Woden Youth Centre. For whatever reason I wasn't interested in hanging out there, so the first gig I went to was the Big Day Out. I think the first band I saw was Amen at 11am. There were maybe ten people watching and they all looked really angry. But Amen were good from what I remember.

WEIRDEST GIG EXPERIENCE I'VE EVER HAD…
Young And Restless played a show in Brisbane and the promoters were big fans of the band. We'd never dealt with promoters that were so enthusiastic and accommodating, it was like they had done research on us and watched or read interviews to get an insight into the band. They picked up on little things and made sure we were taken care of. They asked our manager at the time what I liked to drink before a show and for some reason he said Jager, because it's like cough medicine and soothes the throat or whatever. So they gave us a lot of alcohol and a lot of Jager. After the show we went to a party. I remember thinking that I had drunk a lot, maybe too much and as soon as I got out of the cab I vomited in the bushes. I got to the party and vomited in a saucepan and vomited in the toilet, until I sat down at a table with a bunch of people that I'd never met before and felt another vomit coming on. I grabbed the closest thing that was empty, that just happened to be a pint glass and did this perfect vomit into it, with head and everything. It looked like a dark ale, like a Mountain Goat. I put it down and as soon as I did I felt a tap on my shoulder, which meant it was time to go home. It was my manager and so I did, I went home. The next day I saw my brother, who was in the band, and he just looked at me and said, “You'll never guess what happened last night.” I tried to remember what the last thing I did was and all I remembered was putting that glass down. What had happened was after I left the party everyone continued drinking until all their booze ran out. It was dark and there was that one suspicious glass on the table with all the other empty glasses. The promoter, that ironically gave us all that alcohol that made me vomit, came in and picked it up and said, “You are all a bunch of sissies,” and skolled it, the entire pint. His face turned to pale and he disappeared for the rest of the night. He drank a pint of my vomit!

THE BIGGEST NON-MUSICAL INFLUENCES ON ME HAVE BEEN…
Probably age; I'm a bit older now. In my 20s I became a bit more in touch with history and the history of Indonesia and how that has shaped how the country is now. I guess that's a big influence on me because a lot of really fucked events happened. It's frustrating getting more of an insight into that because throughout my teens, we went to a public school and the history was rewritten to cover up this whole dark side of Indonesian history and politics. It happens everywhere, so that's an influence but that's a little bit serious. I think life is pretty easy here and everything has an influence on you.

THE COOLEST PERSON I EVER MET…
Damian Coward. He's our drummer. He ran Building Records for years. When he was in Canberra for a few days [he] got his girlfriend to express post him some weed. I didn't even know you could do that, but he's constantly proving that anything is possible.

THE BIGGEST CELEBRITY CRUSH I'VE EVER HAD IS...
I don't read TV Hits anymore. Back then I would have said Jonathan Taylor Thomas, JTT or something like that. This is a crazy question. Beyonce? Selma Blair?

IF I COULD HANG OUT IN ANY TIME AND PLACE IN HISTORY IT'D BE…
I'd go back to the '90s in Canberra and I would stock up on snap pants, those Adidas snap pants. I would also give myself a heads up that nu-metal is coming, so not to waste my time. I'd also like to go back and tell myself not to call my band Young & Restless.

IF I WASN'T MAKING MUSIC I'D BE…
I'd be a doctor. I think music has been a bit of a distraction and I think my parents still think that.

Interview by Brendan Hitchens

High Tension will be playing the following dates:

Friday 8 March - Old Bar, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 9 March - Blackwire Records, Sydney NSW
Monday 11 March - Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne VIC