Brisbane talents performing Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Bob Dylan songs in pirate costumes? An intrigued DENIS SEMCHENKO speaks to a Murder Ballads participant – acoustic songstress ELEANOR ANGEL.

Hear ye Brisbanites! Murder Ballads: Chapter One, an all-singing, all-playing, all-costumed extravaganza cometh to the Judith Wright Centre in Fortitude Valley this Saturday 10th of October (insert big, booming voice and bell chime here)! ... Erm, I’m going to save the town crier-related business for my other story. On the phone to Rave, Brisbane-based acoustic circle darling Eleanor Angel is keen to talk about the event promising a fair number of cult song renditions as well as appropriately-themed originals – but she wouldn’t reveal all about it.

“I think it was an idea between John [Meyer, The Good Ship], Deb Suckling and a couple other people,” she says. “They decided it would be fun to write some songs about murder and mayhem [laughs].”

So what numbers will the fair-haired songstress be lending her vocals to? “We’re doing a couple songs – one of them’s called … um …” Eleanor hesitates. “I’ve learned all the lyrics, but I don’t remember the titles – this is really embarrassing!”

In order to fend off the “you’re-expanding-your-phone-bill” awkward silence, I revert the topic to a locally notorious, pirate outfit-clad collective that has played a pivotal role in putting the Murder Ballads together – the merry ol’ Good Ship, who are by all accounts absolutely raucous in a live setting (not forgetting to mention the signature eye patches, tri-cone hats and shoulder-perched parrots). Arr!

“John is a singer-songwriter and he’s actually in a serious band as well, but he told me he was missing being in a pirate band, so I was pretty excited about mixing with them – I asked him if I could be the ship cat, and this silly idea came to fruition,” she laughs. “They’re really awesome and funny – you better come to the show!”

An established artist in her own right with a second album on the way (a follow-up to 2008’s lovely Rain On The Street), Eleanor’s bell-toned vocals and fingerpicked nylon-string guitar are steadily resonating outside Brisbane – especially in the beautiful Sunshine Coast hinterland.

“I’ve been to places like Maleny and I’ve done a couple nights in Melbourne with Emma Dean, which was really cool,” she says. “I love playing in Maleny – the audience are awesome, the organisers are really lovely and I just like the whole concept of The Upfront Club in that it’s a community-run venue co-owned by a hundred different people and apparently they’ve got a 100-year lease. It’s one of those venues that are completely dedicated to music and everyone who goes there, they pay attention to the music; my music works better in the sort of quiet venues where people are paying attention, so it’s always great up there.”

Having virtually travelled one hundred kilometres up the coast, I speed back to Brissy with a question on Eleanor’s progress rate for her sophomore full-length.

“It’s finished – it’s all been done apart from the printing and I was going to launch it at [the recent Sunday afternoon gig at] The Powerhouse, but I’ve decided do postpone it because the mixing wasn’t quite finished,” she shoots back. “I’m really excited but it looks like I’m going to wait until next year to launch it because everything’s dead in November-December, so I’ll probably have to wait until February. I might do a gig with the Pioneers Of Flight before Christmas … we’ll see what happens”

MURDER BALLADS: CHAPTER ONE featuring ELEANOR ANGEL, The Good Ship, Mexico City, Roz Pappalardo And The Wayward Gentlemen and Edward Guglielmino takes place at The Judith Wright Centre from 6.30pm on Saturday Oct 10, tickets are available from $22-28.

Comments (3)

1. Written by John Meyer, on 06-10-2009 13:15 Elly flying the Good Ship flag in style, if a little forgetful! For those interested, we're doing Country Death Song by Violent Femmes, the Rake Song by Decemberists, and I Used to Love Her by Guns N Roses. Plus some originals. Gonna be a massive night

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