You may remember girl/boy/guitar/drums duo The Vignettes from the Sydney indie circuit a couple of years ago. The noisy garage two piece were quite a buzz band at the time, and then one day the emails stopped coming through and then I was being spammed about some band called Bang Bang Rock n Roll, so I decided it was time to check in with guitarist Joel and find out what all of the spam was about.
Music Feeds: You’ve gone from a duo with your last band, to a trio, was there anything in particular that made you guys want to be a 3 piece? What are the benefits and downfalls that come with that?
Bang Bang Rock n Roll: We’d reached a point with our duo (The Vignettes) where we felt stagnant, and we were sick to death of being compared to the white stripes. We’d just done everything we could creatively as a 2 piece and wanted to try something new, and we were both completely enamored of Jess so we felt bringing her in was the right thing to do. The only pitfall of being a 3 piece is keeping us organized and together and on time for shows.
MF: How did you guys get the band together?
BBRR: Jess (the newest member and frontwoman/guitarist) was a long term friend of ours, and a huge supporter of The Vignettes (Katie and I’s old band). She was really good at motivating us and pushing us to try new things. I saw her sing for a covers show one night, and her voice and her stage presence just blew us away, and realised we had to put something together. We went out heaps and partied just about every night as we tried to court her into joining up, then we wrote some new songs with her specifically in mind and got her to drop by, and everything just clicked.
MF: What’s the best gig you’ve played to date so far and why?
BBRR: The best was probably our first show, the Tropodelica NYE house party in Newtown. Playing in a backyard with 2 other awesome bands (The Summervilles and Melbourne band YIS) and just partying was one of the best nights we’ve ever had! Some other rad shows were playing a packed out OAF gallery room and a huge night at world bar which we’ll be visiting again for our single launch on June 10.
MF: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you before?
BBRR: Party indie garage sex rock! Like an alcoholic rainbow pig… or something. We’ve been described as a cross between DFA 1979 and The Dead Weather, so we’ll use that.
MF: How far off are we from hearing an EP from you guys?
BBRR: We’re hoping to get an EP done by the end of June. We’ve got a bunch of tracks ready for consumption so get ready!
MF: Any plans for touring in the coming months?
BBRR: We’re heading down to Melbourne on July 7th and 9th for shows at Yah Yahs and The Pony respectively, which will be amazing. So much partying to be had! We’re always playing in Sydney since it’s our hometown, and hopefully we’ll head up to Bris later in the year too. We’ve also been invited to play an all ages show with The Vasco Era and Redcoats in rural victoria later in the year which will be heaps of fun. All ages gigs are boss.
MF: What kind of bands did you listen to growing up and how do you think it effected your sound?
BBRR: All of us were Nu-metal bandits! (laughs) My dad surrounded me with 70’s punk growing up, things like the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks, Richard Hell, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Johnny Thunders, so much awesome stuff. That’s definitely influenced our song writing. Just simple, catchy hooks with heaps of attitude. I wouldn’t define us as punk, but there’s definitely that energy to it. The garage rock revival of the early 2000’s like The Strokes, The Kills, The White Stripes, The Libertines and The Hives plays a huge influence on us as well.
MF: What are best and worst things about being a band from Sydney?
BBRR: The best thing is that it’s a major city so there are venues, radio stations, and magazines all close by to help get the word out about new bands. The worst thing is there are a lot of bands trying to get there name out so it’s hard to get heard.
Bang Bang Rock n Roll are playing at MUM, World Bar on Friday 10th June.
