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RAVE meets Brisbane/LA power pop quartet ASTRALALIENS, back from the US for two months.
RAVE: What’s the scene in LA like for a young Australian band?
JAKE FEHRES: Eye opening. You are in the middle of it all. Playing the famous nightclubs on the Sunset Strip, having celebrities come to your shows, recording in the same studios as Metallica, Rage Against the Machine and Blink 182, it’s surreal. I highly recommend it to any young Aussie band wanting to make it internationally. You have to do it.
R: Being "Australia’s Hottest New Band" in LA, how would you recommend artists go about trying to make it there?
ERIC SLATER: Market, market, market, promote, promote, promote. Never neglect the music and the art form, and always work on refining the act, but make promotion a #1 priority.
R: I hear you guys incorporate Karate into you stage show. How did that come about, and what in particular do you do?
MABLO FEHRES: In the band’s early stages, before Jake and I met Eric and Chaz, we included a lot of mysticism, postures, and various katas, or karate forms, into the stage presentation as part of a larger concept. We adapted the moves to fit in time with the music so it ends up looking like a dance, and some of that naturally carried over into the live show as the band changed and evolved.
R: Similarly, where does didgeridoo come into things? It doesn’t have much of a history in pop music.
MF: Exactly, and that’s one of the reasons we brought it in, plus it gives the band another little touch of Australiana and yet another edge to our individuality. I play didg in several songs live and have featured it on some our recordings. The crowd loves it!
R: Episode 3 of AstralAliens TV seems a little misleading, or should we believe that you chanced upon scores of excited fans one night in Fortitude Valley, after being OS for a year?
ES: Though the clip may predispose some viewers to interpret the episode’s events chronologically, AA TV is more or less a weekly summary of our goings-on during that particular week, which may include fan interaction at performances, etc., edited and compiled into a short exposition, focusing on keeping our fans informed and more importantly, entertained. At no point did we intend to suggest that we "chanced" upon all of these fans during one night out in the Valley, after a year away. [For the record, the Episode is titled Night On The Town and Eric says at the beginning "...come along with us, and see what we get into, tonight!"]
R: Winning the "Best Radio-Friendly Band" title at the finals of Triple M’s Rockstar competition seems a dubious honour. Or is it?
JF: It’s a band comp. They have all kinds of obscure categories, and they just happened to fit us into that one. We were happy to be selected for something, most bands weren’t.
ASTRALALIENS play Club 299, Saturday May 23, from 10pm. Entry is $10. www.myspace.com/astralaliens
1. Written by Kate, on 26-05-2009 23:15
Awesome show at Club 299 last weekend. Go the AstralAliens! |
2. Written by Billy the Bastard, on 15-06-2009 17:00
Seen the greats and you guys will be up there with them, rock on!!! |
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