Hey, who are we speaking with and what’s your role in Papa G & The Starcats?
Hey, my name is Giorgio and I’m Papa G, the guitarist and bandleader for the Starcats.
You’re celebrating your third anniversary with a month long residency at The Toff in Town. What can soul enthusiasts expect from your live performance?
They can expect an electrifying performance. We have a new set that’ll blow your mind and make you want to get up and boogie all night long.
Word on the street is that you guys formed after a drunken experience at band camp. Care to elaborate?
We all studied jazz performance together at Monash University, and it’s compulsory to attend jazz camp. It’s a stereotypical uni student camp, just with a whole lot more music. We all got rather smashed, and eight of ten members of the band got together and started jamming some James Brown, and thus the Starcats was born.
On April 2 you released two brand new singles, Figure You Out and Manipulation. Can you describe these to us?
These two tracks mash together gritty ’70s funk, old-school soul and ’80s yacht rock in a way that sounds ever so smooth while caressing your soul and making you want to boogie. We’re really proud of them.
How has your sound transformed since the release of your debut EP, Smooth Lovin’?
I think our sound is a lot more refined, and we’re definitely a lot tighter, too. We also had a lot of help from Jake Mason of Cookin’ On 3 Burners, who produced, mixed and mastered the singles.
