“It’s all entertainment in the end,” says Nelli Scarlet, “And we work hard to engage our audience and to play with them and to them, not play at them. If people don’t go for my voice but love my shoes, bam! We’ve given them something to enjoy.” Nelli is a self-styled rock and roll sex kitten and lead singer for The Scarlets, a local four piece with eyes on a long-term music career. The band came together just over two years ago when Nelli and guitarist Nick Ivka (ex-Brutal Pancho/Tough Luck) decided to join forces and inject a little charisma into the Melbourne music scene.
“One day I was hanging at a jam session with him and a few other guys that just made my skin crawl… he had these killer riffs that were just turning to stock garbage and I finally really felt what he was trying to do musically and said, ‘That’s it, we need to start a band.’”
They recruited drummer Lizzie Dynon and later Pete Davies on lead guitar, and set about crafting a sound in the vein of Scandinavian and German punk rock – big riffs, slapping tom beats, and Nelli out front, doused in red lipstick, giving the mangy pub rock boys her best come-fuck-me pout.
After early practice sessions involving awkward microphone technique and rough Nirvana covers, The Scarlets found their groove, pulled together a respectable set list and faced their first live crowd – a mere 600 curious folk who turned out to see what Nick was up to post-Brutal Pancho.
“Our drummer had smashed up her ankle the week before on a jumping castle of all things and hobbled onto the stage in crutches, and still did really well,” Nelli remembers.
They spent their next year playing hard and amassing a rabid fan base, which came out in force to help the band launch their debut EP (Blow Your House Down, 2010) at the Ding Dong Lounge.
“We were backstage getting ready and it just got louder and louder, we came out onstage and were shocked, it was packed. We could only spot maybe ten people we knew, and we just couldn’t believe it,” Nelli enthuses, saying you can’t rely on your friends to be a rent-a-crowd. “I have some of my closest friends I’ve known for years who’ve still never been to a Scarlets show, and you just can’t take it personally. No-one has to like your music.”
The Scarlets aren’t in the business of begging favours, either. Over the last couple of years, the band has built a loyal following by leaving everything behind on stage.
“We don’t go out and party after shows, we go the fuck to bed. We all work so hard that we’re just wrecked beyond words after a show. We amass bruises galore across our bodies. I’ve seen welts the size of tennis balls on Lizzie’s leg from pedals smashing into her repeatedly. Nick’s needed stitches after ripping the strings off his bass and having a coil lodge itself into his finger. There’s footage of me singing until I collapse on 38 degree nights, falling in to the drum kit, concussing myself, the works. We do whatever it takes to put on a good show.”
Nelli in particular is all about the live performance, skills honed in musical theatre, girls choir and cabaret, reinterpreted with a dirty rock edge for the sticky carpet crowd.
“We want people to have fun…we look at other acts like The Hives for this. You might not like their music, but their energy and audience interaction is just fucking hilarious. The way that guy parades around the stage with his tongue so firmly in his cheek, being an A-grade douche bag, just to make people laugh, I think it’s awesome…I do whatever I can to make the audience feel a part of the show and like they can relate. If that means taking the piss out of myself, then I do!”
Her image, a kind of rockabilly punk in pink heels and leather, is clearly a crucialpiece of The Scarlets’ live act. Nelli is all feral gloss and B-52 glamour, shaking her hips and showing her pins as she struts around, bellowing into the microphone. The Scarlets’ lead singer is self-possessed and ready to rumble, and heartily encourages other women to be the same. In fact the title track from the band’s new EP, Bombshell, is an ode to girls who aren’t afraid to strut their stuff.
“I’d struggled with poor self-image for a long time and only just finally realised that it’s okay to be the way you are,” Nelli explains, “Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that. Every time I’d looked at a woman and just thought ‘god damn’, she was a total bombshell – lips, tits, hips, the works.”
By day, Nelli works as a photographer, so she’s accustomed to watching girls assess their own looks.
“Women have this bizarre idea of what ‘sexy’ is…I see women every day picking awful photos of themselves because that’s the one where they look the skinniest. I can’t even understand myself why I tried to force my body to be what it’s not meant to be. I have this great Oscar Wilde quote I love, ‘Be yourself, because everybody else is already taken.’ I guess that’s what I’m trying to get across with Bombshell – you’re fantastic just the way you are.”
The Scarlets launch Bombshell at The Hi-Fi Bar on Saturday August 13. The EP will be available on iTunes and in selected stores nationally that day.
