Charmian, Jack, Brendan and Julien equal Hello Vera. After forming about a year ago they have played a handful of gigs in and around Sydney, managing to bamboozle a number of critics with their clearly unique yet unmistakeable Pop sound.
What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start? Jack remembers performing Bach Minuets for sunday afternoon recitals at my Aunties Place. Charmian remembers enjoying singing a song at Pre-School called Beautiful. Julien and Brendan don’t have memories.
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What and where was the first gig you went to? A band called Valid at Oxley High School in Tammworth, it definitely wasn’t. Sorry Valid. (Charmian)
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why? The red CD out of the “Best Of Frank Sinatra” it swings a lot harder than the white one and everyone up at home knows it and curses my name when they come to play some Franky. (Jack)
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now? There is a mix labeled Autumn Music which Charmians bro made for us. It is the best thing ever. It has got things like Nick Drake, Wendy Carlos, Henry Mancini, Bacharach, David Byrne, Prince, Billy Joel and The Cafe Penguin Orchestra. We pump this in the car. iPods are to fiddily.
How do you find new music? Usually via word of mouth from close trusted sources. Otherwise, endless hours on youtube.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you? Charms makes bubbling noises.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have (attractions/food/bars etc)? Perhaps a massive free street festival. Declare a public holiday and close down all the roads in and around Sydney. Themed suburbs with delicious street food and cost price bars. An equal representation of music from all corners of the globe. Definitely heaps of eastern european folk music, definitely heaps of african folk music, definitely heaps of latin american folk music and definitely lots all the good music we haven’t listed (Plus everybody off that Autumn Mix!) .Why not go out to a idyllic wide open space one thousand kilometres from where we spend our day to day lives? Because this is where we live and we need this music being played in and around our communities cause that is what music is for.
When you’re Rolling Stones Big, what are you going to request on your rider: don’t be shy. We want specifics! Jack will get a foot tickler, Charmian will have a personal yoga instructor, Brendan will have the worlds biggest flatscreen playing Footy and Jules will have his own private doom booth. ( Doom booth= loud doom sludge and all the things needed to get legit with this.)
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why? Iva Davies. Why?-Electric Blue.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for? Housework, in particular dishwashing.
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them? FBi Social @ the Kings Cross Hotel on the 11th of May. We will be launching our new EP Pigeons which you will get free on entry. If for some reason you don’t come you will be able to download it from a link on our FB page very soon after that.
www.facebook.com/helloveramusic
