What’s the band name and what do you ‘do’ in the band? The band is called Picket Palace, named after our house where we rehearse, record and occasionally put on shows. Between the two of us we write all the lyrics and sing all the songs, and bicker constantly on stage.
What do you reckon people will say you sound like? The two we get most often are Eddy Current Suppression Ring and “Parquet Courts with Australian accents” but there are a few different sounds spread across the set too; one song is just a blatant Lou Reed ripoff.
What do you love about making music? It’s just the most fun in the world. Making something that you’re proud of, playing it with your mates and seeing other people enjoy it is a pretty special feeling.
What do you hate about the music industry? There are too many good bands (and way too many shit ones), so the scene is so saturated that heaps of really uniquely talented people struggle to penetrate and get the audience they deserve. On that note, we want to quickly and shamelessly plug our mates in Splendidid and Mount Defiance, who are just too ridiculously good to be getting as little credit as they are.
If you could travel back in time and show one of your musical heroes your stuff, who would it be and why? Should probably go back and just apologise to Lou Reed for basically stealing one of his songs, hey? We called the song ‘Velvet Undergrad’ as a tribute, but he’s still probably owed an apology. Would also tell him not to do that stupid Metallica album. And not to beat women. Actually he was kind of a prick, apology withdrawn.
If you could assassinate one person or band from popular music, who would it and why? Swamp. Our bass player Justin sings lead in Swamp, so if we kill them we’ll have him all to ourselves, which is handy because he’s comfortably the most musically gifted member of the band. Also starting a showbiz beef will be good publicity. While we’re at it, let’s also beef our friend and neighbour Dave of David Ritchie and the Neighbours, because he fired us from his band when it became apparent we were too busy/lazy to be of any use to him.
What can a punter expect from your live show? Our drummer Jules cracking the shits at the drum kit falling apart, interspersed with repeated requests for more foldback. Also a disproportionate number of songs about football.
What’ve you got to sell CD-wise? We’ve got two singles we recorded at home out on Spotify, Bandcamp etc. There’s also a video for our last single ‘Pull Your Head In’, featuring footage from a show we put on in our house, the Picket Palace, that got completely out of hand.
Who’s the gig with? We’ll be supported first by our adorable little friends from The Kuek Family Reunion and second by Moon Rooney, who have only played 2 gigs, but Sarah is quite a remarkable songwriter and we strongly recommend checking them out.
Anything else to add? BYO percussion. Also vote YES, obviously.
