Though they only made their debut in July at a packed Corner Hotel show full of excited fans, the band is featuring on the lineup of the inaugural Tribute Mania show, another of Tyrrell’s productions, a huge night of music at the Palais Theatre, featuring five of the best tribute acts in the world.
“I’ve been thinking for about 15 years now, wouldn’t it be great to have the top tributes to the top bands together. You get 50 of the biggest hits in music on the one night,” Tyrrell says.
Headlined by worldwide super act, Bjorn Again, alongside The Spicy Girls, the night will feature the cream of the tribute act crop, with The Australian Queen Tribute Show, tributing the Freddie Mercury Queen, not the Elizabeth kind, The Beatnix, a Beatles tribute band which claims to be the first tribute act ever, and Elton Jack, an Elton John tribute who got his start through Red Faces on Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
“Every band’s playing for 40 minutes. Imagine choosing the best ten ABBA songs, the best ten Beatles songs. There’s been arguments in each band to figure out which songs to do. Only the best songs will be in the set. So you’re getting the real gold hits of each act on one night, and that’s why there’s so much excitement.”
Ginger – brought to life by Melbourne musician Ally McNaughton – is one fifth of The Spicy Girls. Her thick, british accent airily floats along as she laughs and describes the band’s recent formation, and already fast ascent to the public spotlight.
“There’s a lot of space for originals, but there’s also a lot of space to relive all the old fabulous tunes. Reliving the ‘80s or ‘90s or all these different genres is something that people don’t often get to do in a live show, so bringing it back to the people is something exciting for us to do,” she says.
“I love the girls so much, they’re an absolute riot. We’ve got very diverse personalities, from very different places, but when we get together it’s like a beautiful marriage between five lovely women. We’re very lucky that our personalities and voices work so well together. We are the Spicy Girls, we live and breathe it. It’s become part of us.”
Tyrrell sighs as he explains that tribute acts are not as easy to put together as some think. A lot of work goes into making an act shine.
“A lot of people think you can just put on a wig and bam, off you go. But you can’t be successful if you don’t have premium performers, singers and high production values.
“Overseas, Australia’s known as the birthplace of tribute bands, largely because of Bjorn Again. Tribute bands can put on shows that can rival major touring bands. Lady Gaga’s tour manager was blown away by how good Bjorn Again are, everyone who sees it for the first time says they didn’t expect it to be this good.”
BY CLAIRE VARLEY
