Band on the Rise
It’s rock and raw.
It’s rock that roars.
It’s rock and it’s really loud.
And it’s all good old fashioned, gritty, garage based rock and bloody roll.
Well, good old fashioned gritty spare bedroom based rock.
Where an Echuca bedroom, with a lot of DIY and a Temu-based budget, is being converted, acoustic panel by acoustic panel, into a recording studio.
Whether that budget extends to absorbers (which soak up sound waves, so they do not bounce back into the room); diffusers (which scatter said sound waves in many directions to keep the room sounding alive) and bass traps (thicker panels set in corners to catch low, muddy frequencies) remains to be seen.
But to complete the job SIDE-PIECE – Telia Rorke, Cooper Naylor, Jamie McInnes and Zac Keele – need to get more gigs and more paydays to get the DIY done.
Not that the band is struggling for attention (just ask the neighbours) having already headlined Rochester’s Sip and Sounds and done several shows between the river and Bendigo.
And they now have Melbourne on the horizon as they continue to work on their own songs to mix and match with their covers.
Coming together barely eight months ago from an amalgam of other bands, SIDE-PIECE are using their developing studio to get their own groove.
“We’ve already started putting down some tracks and are looking at producing a few singles for Spotify and then will think about an LP on vinyl,” drummer Zac Keele explains.
“But that means building our own bank of songs and that’s where the studio comes in,” he says.
None of the band has any formal training, songs start with some riffs from guitarist and lead singer Jamie McInnes and guitarist Cooper Naylor, and everyone contributes to the end product.
Telia was playing piano, until her brother got a guitar. Hooked, she got a bass and has never looked back. Zac had no choice but to smack the skins because that’s what dad did. Jamie was a bit trapped like Zac, his dad was a guitarist and, from the age of six, so was he. Cooper was something of a prepubescent problem child – he wagged school and missed the day to pick your electives and got stuck in music class by default.
That’s how you build a rock and roll band, but how do you get them together?
Turns out Zac and Jamie had been thinking about it – both their current bands were in a state of flux and one lazy afternoon at the Echuca races they decided to give it a go.
Hence the name.
Jamie was sticking with his Bendigo based band Loudify and the new band became a SIDE-PIECE for him.
Loudify is a bunch of oldies but goodies, Jamie is about 15 years younger than the next youngest so seems a much better fit with a DIY gang of 20-somethings.
None of that matters, however, when he counts them in for a quick run through.
That’s when the music becomes magical, when they get their instruments to speak that language all of their own and the relentless pounding of the drums pulls them altogether.
Jamie’s voice is a serious weapon. No lessons, ever, but when he leans into the microphone he transforms.
In their compact studio the sound is coming back at him from everywhere, but his vocals cut through and irresistibly command your attention.
And hardly what you expect from a big, burly bloke in battered jeans and socks, but where he sings the band follows and they gel almost immediately – just warming up.
But there’s more to getting a band on the road than a few good riffs. A band needs a roadie as well, a bit of management doesn’t go astray and someone needs to set up the sound checks and keep all the technology in tune with the, well, with the tunes.
For now the band multitask a lot of that, one dad is a dab hand with the iPad and sound systems, and a few mums and siblings have that groupie feel about them (think Almost Famous one quipped).
No question the sound is still coming, but their covers are already very tight and SIDE-PIECE is only going to get better with every performance.
Try not to miss the next one.
If you do, find them at https://www.facebook.com/people/SIDE-PIECE-BAND/61578533137207/ so you know what’s going on.
