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 “I get teased by Sid and Ted. They reckon that when I was younger, instead of going out surfing or something I’d hang around home with my family and sing The Sound Of Music soundtrack.” MICHAEL FITZGERALD, drummer for THE VASCO ERA, explains to JODY MACGREGOR what it’s like in a band with two brothers.
Their typical gig begins like this: singer/guitarist Sid O’Neil walks onto stage, alone, with only his guitar and rooster’s hair, and launches into a cover of the Elvis classic I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You. His bluesy howl of a voice builds in intensity until he hits that chorus and when he does it doesn’t get back up again. People start flocking to the stage as bassist Ted O’Neil and drummer Michael Fitzgerald join him to create the blustering behemoth that is The Vasco Era. It’s a powerful opener that’s helped them win over audiences while supporting the likes of Gomez, The Violent Femmes, You Am I and The Black Keys, so I’m a little surprised to find out that Fitzgerald is a Beatles man. “Yeah, I’m a Beatles fan, big time. Love ‘em,” he says. Bless. The band have just released their debut album, Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside, produced by Jeff Saltzman, who engineered The Black Keys’ album Set You Free. “He reassured us and kept us understanding that there was time to do it,” Fitzgerald says of their working relationship. “We just need to think about what we have to play first rather than going in and trying some shit idea, coming out, saying, ‘That sounds shit,’ then going in and trying another one.” The album’s title is named for the theme song of the local football club in Apollo Bay, where the band grew up and formed. It wasn’t a choice without controversy. “My dad hates it. He thinks it sounds like we’re rich snobs from Brighton or something saying, ‘We do like to live beside the seaside,’” he says in an impression of a posh accent. His dad does like the album, he adds, he just thinks they could have come up with a better name if they’d, you know, tried. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed the two other band members share a surname. That’s because they’re brothers. Like all brothers they don’t always get along, though fights are usually over and forgotten about in 30 seconds, Fitzgerald says. A memorable exception came while they were on tour, driving between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, and an aggrieved Sid decided to kick Ted in the head. “I was in the backseat, couldn’t do anything. Then Ted starts punching him and the car’s swaying from side to side and I couldn’t do fucking anything. It was over a mobile phone.” He can laugh about it now, but admits that at the time it was pretty scary. There was much less danger on the set of the promo they filmed for the album, available on YouTube of course, which features Fitzgerald in an impressive chase scene involving clowns. “I’m pretty amazing, aren’t I?” he laughs, before admitting that he was only allowed to perform one of his own stunts. Now that they’re valuable assets, actual rock stars, nobody wants them getting into dangerous situations. We should probably keep the head-kicking while driving bit between you and me. The Vasco Era play the Sound Lounge (Currumbin) on Thursday June 14, the Sol Bar (Coolum) Friday 15th, the Zoo on Saturday 16th, and the Great Northern (Byron Bay) Sunday 17th. Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside is out now through Universal.
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