The Vaudeville Smash will strut their stuff at The Corner Hotel this Saturday night, with more than a few tricks up their sleeve. “Accompanying us for most of it will be the VSO (Vaudeville Smash Orchestra), which is made up of some of Australia’s best classical musos. Strings and a pumping live band is a match made in heaven if done right,” Lucchesi muses. “We’ve also organised for this genius, mad-professor-lighting-guy called Taylor Hyslop to do weird and wonderful things with colours and projections. He’s currently touring with Gotye and knows is stuff! It’s The Corner, and it’ll be packed and everyone’s gonna go crazy!”
The show is in celebration of the band’s new release, a double A-side titled Breezy Summer Hits. According to Lucchesi, the band’s endeavours at present mark a departure from their previous efforts. “The two new songs definitely sound quite a bit different to the older recordings,” he affirms. “We were going for a more contemporary feel, rather than staying true to the albums we were influenced by. They’re the first of a new batch of songs we’ve been writing to be recorded. I think they sound amazing and you can see and hear how we’re evolving as a band.”
Until now, The Vaudeville Smash have been inextricably tied to an apparent nouveau yacht rock approach. To the casual listener, the sub-genre might well prove an elusive concept. Fortunately, Lucchesi is here to bring us up to speed. “Yacht Rock is a term for the smooth west coast sound that came out of America in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Bands like Hall & Oates, The Doobie Brothers, Toto and Kenny Loggins, to name a few. If you ever saw the ‘soft rock’ collection you could buy on late night infomercials, you’d know what I mean,” he explains.
“While we’re influenced by a lot of different types of music, yacht rock is the music that gets us going the most and takes up most space on our iPods,” Lucchesi continues. “For a lot of people it’s kitsch and amusing but at its core it’s music with incredible melodies and harmonies, made by incredible musicians, when music wasn’t primarily about fashion – although the fashion was pretty rad! We’ve tried to add our own unique twist on it; I just hope we’re doing it justice!”
Furthermore, as far as influences go, Lucchesi identifies one album in particular that had a profound impact on his career. “I can safely say that hearing Thriller as a whole album for the first time changed my life,” he reveals. “I’d heard most of the songs at some point, and I was a Michael Jackson fan like everyone else as a kid, but I clearly remember being at a party as a teen, slightly drunk, and listening to this intricate tapestry Quincy Jones had woven with his Midas fingers. I remember thinking man, this music is so good and they’re all hits. THEY’RE ALL HITS!”
The Vaudeville Smash pits Lucchesi alongside his actual siblings. Fortunately, despite obvious fears of sibling rivalry and various spats, the brotherly dynamic rarely breeds conflict. “We’re alright actually. It used to be worse a few years ago; we’ve learned to control our face punching urges. Fun fact: all three brothers live together.”
The Vaudeville Smash have been in pursuit of their own unique success in their burgeoning career, with formidable results. Already the band have made a splash in the States, appearing at the renowned SXSW festival. Declaring the trip a success, Lucchesi reflects upon the opportunity fondly. “The experience was absolutely incredible and the Americans absolutely loved it. Yacht rock is American music and we do it in our own little Australian way; the Americans love little Australian ways,” he explains. “Road trippin’ around the US with your buddies is about as fun as it gets. We got to play with and meet some amazing American and, also, Australian bands. We bonded and are now all siblings. A band of brothers!”
It seems the band will be in each other’s pockets indefinitely, with plans for a debut album coming to fruition. “We’ve definitely got enough songs for it. I reckon early next year if everything goes to plan,” Lucchesi says of the album’s release. “We’ve been together for almost two years so I guess it’s time. We want it to be epic.
