THE WHEELERS OF OZ
wITH
SAM EASTCOTT AND ALEX HALSEY
How did the members of The Wheelers Of Oz align themselves?
Sam: Alex and I met when we were really young. Maybe when we were about 5 or 6. I grew up in Busselton; Alex would come down visiting uncles and aunties and one of them happened to be my Mum’s best buddy.
Alex: We started playing music a few years ago. We would cram into my bedroom and make heaps of noise at my parents house. We were pretty lucky that they were happy to have us there and my Dad was always keen to join in on the jams! As for the rest of the guys, Tom has been with us from the start and we have been lucky enough to abduct Steve and Glenn who also play in Mt Mountain, Angus from The Durongs and Big Jordan Zupanovich from The Spunloves.
Sam: ‘Zookeeper!!’
Who are the bands you all listen to or draw inspiration from?
Alex: I listen to BJM, The Velvet Underground, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, psychedelic and folk music but I don’t restrict myself to this, I like a lot of different types of music.
Sam: The list is endless! Inspiration comes from all kinds of places, whether it’s a certain band, a film soundtrack, a situation or whatever. I guess it’s all about what gets things firing upstairs.
The debut album was received very well with full house at The Bird, I heard it literally every time I tuned in to RTRFM that week and a bunch of international media blogs reviewing it. How are you guys feeling about that whole body of work finally being put out for people to take home and listen to?
Alex: I’m glad that people can finally listen to the music that we have created. We put a lot of time into it.
Sam: Yeah the launch night was a buzz, The Bird is always heaps of fun. We were super humble to have RTRFM feature the album during the week before the release. It’s nice to have a solid backbone of local support getting the music out into the unknown.
What advice would you give to a band releasing their first album or EP?
Sam: I’m not sure how much advice we have to give but I’d say just lay it down and get it out there! You learn by getting things done, so do it and then make another one.
Alex: If you decide to mix your own album, expect to get sick of every song by then end of it.
The band started off with quite a different lineup, is the current gang where you want to keep it?
Sam: It’s no good, everyone is being replaced as we speak…
Alex: Yeah, I think Sam wants to fire me :S
What is the inspiration behind the visuals that I see projected onto the band when you play live?
Sam: Well film’s potential to manipulate the viewer’s thoughts and feelings has always interested me. Back in mid 1890’s the Lumiére brothers made a film named L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (Arrival of the Mail Train). It was fifty seconds long and consisted of one single shot of a train travelling from a distance and arriving at a station. The shot was filmed from the platform, nice and close to where the train would come chugging in. Can you guess what the crowd’s reaction was at the first screening of the film in Paris? They all freaked out! They were so overwhelmed with the moving picture of a huge train coming towards them that they screamed and ran to the back of the cinema. This was an early indication of the impact that film would have upon people. Certain colours flick on different light bulbs in peoples heads. There is a little thing called ‘Synesthesia’. It’s when one type of stimulation evokes the sense of another, for example, my approach to synesthesia is that the hearing of a sound (or song) produces the visualistion of a certain colour within our visuals. It’s all just a different version of the music really. Everyone’s creative ideas come from the same place, it’s just a matter of how different people take hold of that source and in what form they choose to share it. So when it comes to our live show, we run visuals that emphasise our sound and stimulate the crowds vision in a more thought provoking way rather than just watching the band snapping strings or something like that haha.
Alex: What Sam said.
The parties thrown at the old Southport houses were pretty epic, would you rather play one of those sweet barn shows to all our friends or at a venue full of people you don't know?
Sam: There’s a time for either one! I guess playing to a full venue to total strangers would mean that the music is getting out there so Ill go with option B.
Alex: The Southport parties were heaps of fun but the clean ups weren’t worth it. We want as may different people to hear the music as possible so a room full of people we don’t know sounds great!
Which bands in Perth are doin' it good at the moment?
Sam: There are heaps of Perth bands doin’ it good! A few of them are The Chlorines, Dougal’s Casino and Mt Mountain.
Alex: There’s too many to name but regular standouts for me would be Spaceman Antics, The Spunloves, Mudlark and Dream Rimmy.
Are there any upcoming releases for The Wheelers Of Oz?
Sam: Expect something early next year.
Alex: We have been writing a bunch of new songs and we’ll be playing a few of them at The Corner Gallery show!
Sam: Alex and I met when we were really young. Maybe when we were about 5 or 6. I grew up in Busselton; Alex would come down visiting uncles and aunties and one of them happened to be my Mum’s best buddy.
Alex: We started playing music a few years ago. We would cram into my bedroom and make heaps of noise at my parents house. We were pretty lucky that they were happy to have us there and my Dad was always keen to join in on the jams! As for the rest of the guys, Tom has been with us from the start and we have been lucky enough to abduct Steve and Glenn who also play in Mt Mountain, Angus from The Durongs and Big Jordan Zupanovich from The Spunloves.
Sam: ‘Zookeeper!!’
Who are the bands you all listen to or draw inspiration from?
Alex: I listen to BJM, The Velvet Underground, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, psychedelic and folk music but I don’t restrict myself to this, I like a lot of different types of music.
Sam: The list is endless! Inspiration comes from all kinds of places, whether it’s a certain band, a film soundtrack, a situation or whatever. I guess it’s all about what gets things firing upstairs.
The debut album was received very well with full house at The Bird, I heard it literally every time I tuned in to RTRFM that week and a bunch of international media blogs reviewing it. How are you guys feeling about that whole body of work finally being put out for people to take home and listen to?
Alex: I’m glad that people can finally listen to the music that we have created. We put a lot of time into it.
Sam: Yeah the launch night was a buzz, The Bird is always heaps of fun. We were super humble to have RTRFM feature the album during the week before the release. It’s nice to have a solid backbone of local support getting the music out into the unknown.
What advice would you give to a band releasing their first album or EP?
Sam: I’m not sure how much advice we have to give but I’d say just lay it down and get it out there! You learn by getting things done, so do it and then make another one.
Alex: If you decide to mix your own album, expect to get sick of every song by then end of it.
The band started off with quite a different lineup, is the current gang where you want to keep it?
Sam: It’s no good, everyone is being replaced as we speak…
Alex: Yeah, I think Sam wants to fire me :S
What is the inspiration behind the visuals that I see projected onto the band when you play live?
Sam: Well film’s potential to manipulate the viewer’s thoughts and feelings has always interested me. Back in mid 1890’s the Lumiére brothers made a film named L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (Arrival of the Mail Train). It was fifty seconds long and consisted of one single shot of a train travelling from a distance and arriving at a station. The shot was filmed from the platform, nice and close to where the train would come chugging in. Can you guess what the crowd’s reaction was at the first screening of the film in Paris? They all freaked out! They were so overwhelmed with the moving picture of a huge train coming towards them that they screamed and ran to the back of the cinema. This was an early indication of the impact that film would have upon people. Certain colours flick on different light bulbs in peoples heads. There is a little thing called ‘Synesthesia’. It’s when one type of stimulation evokes the sense of another, for example, my approach to synesthesia is that the hearing of a sound (or song) produces the visualistion of a certain colour within our visuals. It’s all just a different version of the music really. Everyone’s creative ideas come from the same place, it’s just a matter of how different people take hold of that source and in what form they choose to share it. So when it comes to our live show, we run visuals that emphasise our sound and stimulate the crowds vision in a more thought provoking way rather than just watching the band snapping strings or something like that haha.
Alex: What Sam said.
The parties thrown at the old Southport houses were pretty epic, would you rather play one of those sweet barn shows to all our friends or at a venue full of people you don't know?
Sam: There’s a time for either one! I guess playing to a full venue to total strangers would mean that the music is getting out there so Ill go with option B.
Alex: The Southport parties were heaps of fun but the clean ups weren’t worth it. We want as may different people to hear the music as possible so a room full of people we don’t know sounds great!
Which bands in Perth are doin' it good at the moment?
Sam: There are heaps of Perth bands doin’ it good! A few of them are The Chlorines, Dougal’s Casino and Mt Mountain.
Alex: There’s too many to name but regular standouts for me would be Spaceman Antics, The Spunloves, Mudlark and Dream Rimmy.
Are there any upcoming releases for The Wheelers Of Oz?
Sam: Expect something early next year.
Alex: We have been writing a bunch of new songs and we’ll be playing a few of them at The Corner Gallery show!
