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THE VAUDEVILLE SMASH HIT
Howzat! thought it was going to be a quiet Friday night.
A mate suggested we check out a new band at Roxanne in the
city. We arrive about half-an-hour before they're due on.
It's a big venue and not many people are there. "This is
not going to be good," we think. But then, as the band hits
the stage, a couple of hundred people miraculously appear.
They seemingly know all the words and they proceed to sing
along. You can't help but move. The gig is an event. The
Vaudeville Smash are a great live band.
"You guys just make me happy," one punter told singer Marc
Lucchesi, "you're an antidote for the daily grind." While
another fan revealed: "The child in my stomach was conceived
to your music."
The Vaudeville Smash say they took the name from an Italian
children's karaoke machine that was around in the late '80s.
And they have a great description for their sound: Nouveau
Yacht Rock. "Yacht Rock is a term for the smooth West Coast
sound that came out of America in the late '70s and early
'80s," Marc explains. "Acts 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 know what I mean. While we're influenced
by a lot of different types of music, this period is what
gets us going the most; it's music with incredible melodies
and harmonies, and, in many cases, an amazing groove, made
by incredible musicians. The nouveau part is just a fancy
way of saying we're new."
Like the Bee Gees, INXS, Kings of Leon and Hanson, The Vaudeville
Smash is a band featuring three brothers. Marc, Dan and
Luca Lucchesi's dad sang Italian and Spanish folk songs
and dug The Beatles. And their mum's dad was the conductor
of the Adelaide Latvian men's choir and taught the kids
classical piano. Marc's first album purchase was Paul Simon's
Graceland ("I only really wanted You Can Call Me Al") and
his first big concert was James Brown at the Adelaide Entertainment
Centre. "It was also the night I lost my virginity," he
reveals. "Pretty good if you ask me."
Are the Lucchesi brothers volatile, like the Gallaghers,
or more mild-mannered, like the Farriss brothers? "We've
done things that would make the Gallaghers look like schoolyard
freaks," Marc laughs, "but we've learnt to become more Farriss-like
over the years. You sort of have to, especially considering
that we now all live together. There's no brawl like a brawl
between brothers. The good thing is, five minutes later
you're friends again. We have actually had a couple of very
heated arguments on stage. I think the punters think it's
part of the show - at least I hope they do."
As the guys put the finishing touches to their debut album
with producer Tim Johnston, they've released a single called
Roller Disco. And before they head to Austin for SXSW, they're
playing this Sunday at the St Kilda Festival, and Saturday,
February 19 at the Toff.
The Vaudeville Smash show a great sense of humour in their
music and on Twitter. December 12: "Amazing gig in Byron
Bay last night. Timmis broke hearts, Luca broke balls, Nic
broke his guitar and Dan broke chairs by simply sitting
on them." January 1: "Happy new year from everybody's favourite
band. Our new year's resolution is to get Dan to stop eating."
January 9: "Great show at the Toff last night. Crowd went
a little bit nuts. Timmis got man of the match. Percy found
true love. Dan is still too fat."
BIG BEN
Is there anything Ben Lee can't do? He's now the Paul Shaffer-like
music man on the Tom Hanks-produced internet show The 3
Minute Talk Show With Barry Sobel. You can check it out
at www.lstudio.com.
NATURAL D. SASTER!
Why did D. Rogers call his new album Natural Disasters?
Since he settled on that title, the nation has been rocked
by floods, fires and cyclones. And then, as Dave launched
the album last Friday, many punters were left stranded,
battling the Melbourne deluge. As Howzat! tried to head
to the Northcote Social Club, one friend pondered: "Why
didn't he call the album 'Sunny Nights & Good Times'?" And
Dave joked that he was going to call his next album "Perfect
Album Launch Weather".
CHART WATCH
Drapht leaps into the Top 20.
Who's That Girl GUY SEBASTIAN (number 10)
Rapunzel DRAPHT (16)
Friday To Sunday JUSTICE CREW (20)
Big Jet Plane ANGUS & JULIA STONE (23)
Rock It LITTLE RED (25)
Saturday Night JESSICA MAUBOY (26)
Fall At Your Feet BOY & BEAR (37)
Angus & Julia Stone close in on triple platinum.
Down The Way ANGUS & JULIA STONE (number seven)
Twenty Ten GUY SEBASTIAN (eight)
Altiyan Childs ALTIYAN CHILDS (11)
Birds Of Tokyo BIRDS OF TOKYO (13)
Gilgamesh GYPSY & THE CAT (14)
We Are Born SIA (17)
Running On Air BLISS N ESO (24)
He Will Have His Way VARIOUS (26)
Get Closer KEITH URBAN (29)
Immersion PENDULUM (30)
I Believe You Liar WASHINGTON (31)
Midnight Remember LITTLE RED (37)
HOWZAT! PLAYLIST
Roller Disco THE VAUDEVILLE SMASH
Biggest Bitch FIONA LEE MAYNARD
Buyer's Remorse D. ROGERS
Mark The Day LAURA
Downlow WAGONS
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