Reviewed and written by Candice Wyatt
 

Skipping Girl Vinegar has released their second album, Keep Calm Carry the Monkey, following Sift the Noise, which landed them on Australia’s iTunes single of the week chart with their hit single, “One Chance.”

The five-piece band from Melbourne breaks the stereotype with three women musicians, none of which sing on the album, and their music is just as unique as their band’s composition. 

Keep Calm Carry the Monkey has a strong start with three of the first four songs being potential hits.  “Chasing the Sun” is a definite road trip song that you can’t help singing along too.  Following the upbeat song is “You Can,” a mellow acoustic song about pulling through challenges with the help of love.  Don’t stop listening though, because the later songs in the album are just as good.  The variety of the album has a song to suit any mood.

The banjo, which was heard throughout the single, “One Chance,” is again the cornerstone of their distinctive sound and is heard throughout many of the songs in the new album.

The band’s newest single, “Here She Comes,” carries an old-school sound that would fit flawlessly in a musical film such as Grease.

The band uses narrative lyrics and a wide range of themes that range from struggles to break out and make something of yourself to appreciation for the mundane things in life, to getting “wasted” and experiencing love. 

The album does a good job of leaving the lyrics open to the interpretation of the listener, and the lead singer uses creative pauses to take lyrics that would seemingly never flow and artistically crafts them into beautifully flowing songs.

The band has yet to find its focus and identity it seems, but this is good becauseKeep Calm Carry the Monkey will have a wide appeal to listeners of every genre.  When the banjo comes in on a few of the songs you get a folk feel, whereas others feel like a typical alternative-acoustic song.

Skipping Girl Vinegar has released a solid album that will assure they will not be a band of the past.

Drawings by Ari Chand

Interviewed and written by James Brown

Boy & Bear (pictured left) are an indie-folk quintet from Sydney. Coming together in late 2009, they have received high praise for their music and live performances, and the five-set are on a wave of respect and admiration that they most definitely deserve; Dave, Jake, Tim, Killian and Jon are musicians of the truest kind. On Wednesday 11th May, drummer and co-vocalist, Tim (pictured right), took some time to chat with the Opus.

Boy & Bear are starting their tour of Australia soon and I asked what kind of preparation had been done. “We’ve based a lot of it on new material; there’s a lot of different styles mixed,” said Tim, following it up by revealing “a lot of the preparation happened in Nashville, where we’ve just finished recording for our album”. On the album, Tim said “It went really well. We’ve recorded 14 tracks, but we’re not sure just yet how many will make the final cut for the album”. The album, their first, is slated for release later this year.

The band was in the United States for SXSW (South-by-South-West), an annual music/film/technology festival held in Austin, Texas. I asked about their appearance at the multi-faceted festival, to which Tim said “it was really exciting, really great. It was very busy there; the crowds and especially the room. We were stoked about it”.

Boy & Bear are unique in that each member of the band is a singer/songwriter in their own right. With regards to this, I asked how it affects their writing and creative process. “Dave will generally bring the idea, but sometimes someone else will, then there’s usually a lot of back and forth amongst all five of us. There’s definitely no ego involved. With five creative minds working together, it works really well”, said Tim. “A few days are usually spent on the basics of a song, sometimes a couple of weeks, then we’ll come back to it together and make changes. It’s a lot of fun writing with the guys”.

The single, ‘Rabbit Song’, off their EP was definitely a stand out track of 2010, receiving wide airplay and reaching #45 in Triple J’s Hottest 100. Equally as stand out was its music video, which received acclaim for being highly inventive (at least, I give it acclaim for being highly inventive). With the video’s storyline being a semi-literal appropriation of the song’s lyrics, I asked about the process and ideas behind the video. “It was based on an anti-establishment theme.” said Tim; evidence by the protagonist getting ready for work, only to then don tribal headgear made of neckties and using the ink from ball-point pens as war paint. Tim then told us “I was overseas during the shoot, but the rest of the boys were in Sydney, and they loved all of it, they had such a great day. The costumes were great. They also got people from other bands to come along and be the extras; everyone had a great day”.

With Tim, Dave and Killian all being alumna of Macquarie University, I wanted to know if music careers were in the cards for them before, during, or after the completion of their Bachelor of Music. “I always wanted to play music for a living, but I guess Macquarie’s where I really started to believe that I could do it,” Tim revealed. He continued by saying “[our] studies in music there, music business, etc, sort of gave [us] a framework of how to get started. It was a massive thing for us”. And although all the band members were musicians independent of each other before Boy & Bear, I thought it was great to see tertiary education getting credit for having a hand in something great, because let’s face it, Boy & Bear are something great.

Boy & Bear supported Laura Marling when she toured Britain in 2010, and when she brought her tour to Australia later in the year, Tim was a member of her stage band. I asked Tim what it was like touring with such a successful artist of such a young age, with Laura having only turned 20 at the time of the tour. “She wouldn’t mind me saying this,” Tim qualified, “but she’s a 40-year-old woman inside a 20-year-old woman’s body. She’s very mature. One of the loveliest people you’ll ever meet; very much a lady”. Tim continued his praise of Laura, “She’s been one of my favourites to tour with. She was really accommodating, and very generous. Really easy to work with; a breeze to be honest.”

In January this year, Tim opened for Sufjan Stevens at the Tivoli in Brisbane, then at the State Theatre in Melbourne. Both shows were extremely well received, and not just for Sufjan, but for Tim as well. Immediately after the performances, fans rushed Tim’s Facebook page with messages of congratulations and praise. Cementing this positive reception was an extremely thorough review by the Melbourne-based publication And Pluck Your Strings, telling of how Tim’s performance “completely justified his surprise selection as support act”. The review also spoke of how the audience was “extremely appreciative” and gave “deserved cheering”. Not only were Tim’s musical talents cheered, so were his stage skills, with the Melbourne reviewer mentioning “the quick-witted banter of a musician who seemed like a genuinely kind man”. And after our interview with him, it’s a statement I’d definitely second.

On supporting Sufjan, I asked Tim about his feelings regarding the experience, to which Tim offered “We all have a couple of ‘fan moments’ in our lives, and to me, that was definitely one of them”. “I’m such a big fan of Sufjan,” Tim said, “and the show was unbelievable. I was definitely fortunate to get that one; I had a great feeling of satisfaction; I loved it”.

Tim was also nice enough to give us a little insight to his personality. When posed the choice of Nintendo 64 or PlayStation, he quickly responded “Oh, Nintendo 64! GoldenEye 007, mate!” and to a preference for pirates or ninjas, he responded equally as quick with “Ninjas, for sure! Last Samurai!”. Then, when asked for his favourite book, Tim chose “Any Human Heart” by William Boyd. He followed this by revealing that it was actually Laura Marling’s mother, Judy, who put him onto the book. Tim then qualified the recommendation by saying of Judy that “she’s one of the loveliest ladies in the world too”. And with a daughter like Laura, Tim, I’m definitely inclined to believe you!

Boy & Bear are performing at Bar On The Hill on Tuesday 31st May. Tickets can be purchased on campus.
For all other Boy & Bear information, head to -
http://www.triplejunearthed.com/BoyandBear
http://www.myspace.com/boyandbearmusic

Submitted by Matilda Hunt