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Band/Artist name:
Sally Street
Sally Street
Where did your band name come from?
I made it up. No not really, believe it or not, it’s my real name!
I made it up. No not really, believe it or not, it’s my real name!
Who’s in the band? What’s your musical background? When did you start playing?
The recording of Scorpion Maid features:
The recording of Scorpion Maid features:
Sally Street (vocals)
Gerard Masters (piano, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion)
James Muller (acoustic and electric guitar)
Phil Stack (bass)
Ian Cooper (strings)
Ian Mussington (drums and percussion)
Adrian Cunningham and Andy Bickers on sax
I have been really humbled to be able to play with these musical geniuses, and also numerous other immensely talented musicians whom I have been gigging with during the past 4 years. (I don’t always play with the same line-up).
I grew up in a crazy coastal shack on a main street in the northern beaches where my father was a professional jazz bassist and I studied jazz singing with Steve Clisby, Kerrie Biddell, Joy Yates, opera singing as a kid and I play classical piano. I completed AMEB piano to 8th grade level and taught piano for many years (while I was studying law - I was a senior associate in a top tier law firm. Crazy part was, all I ever wanted to do that whole time was sing. So one day four years ago I decided I couldn’t be serious for one day longer, it was time to hang up the briefcase, pull out the hotpants and SING!!) My sister used to always play pop and rock at home, so there was jazz going in one room in the house and pop in the other. I used to dance around with oranges stuck down my top pretending to be Olivia Newton John one day and Ella Fitzgerald the next. I love all types of music
How did you meet and when did you get together?
I stalked the boys in my band until they panicked and gave in.
Has your music evolved since you first began playing together?
The Scorpion Maid album containing original pop is certainly very different to my first two albums of jazz standards!
What is your creative process?
What is your creative process?
Most of the lyrics on the album were inspired by my own life shenanigans, bedroom antics and the cavortings of a bevy of my girlfriends who are just priceless inspiration for songwriting subject matter! I write the lyrics and make up the melody and record it at home and then e-mail it to Gerard Masters who records the music under my vocals with piano, bass, drums and guitar, all of which he plays himself and records in his home studio. We then send the demo off to the band, Gerard writes out a chord chart, and oila! We have a new pop hit to play! Woo hoo! Magic!
I then go into the studio, get nude and record it.
How would you describe your music to people?
Pop hits with wicked lyrics about life! Some of the songs from The Scorpion Maid are a little bit Lilly Allenish, although a French journalist Pascal Kober, I met when I was performing at the Tangier Jazz Festival in Morocco said the track “Tighter Than Onion Rings” sounded like “Mick Jagger’s little sister”. That becomes a tad ‘twicky’ then cos Lily Allen doesn’t sound anything like Mick Jagger. So, I’m a bit stuck for describing it! My music is a mosaic of everything that seeps in my ears and heart I guess
What messages does your music convey?
That people matter first and life is FUN! However, the songs don’t all have a common theme. Alpha Male is about being single at home on a Friday night waiting for the perfect guy to bust in the door, “We’re All Many Parts of One” is about everyone on the globe being interconnected with each other, “Take Me Home Tonight” – well that’s about shagging an ex, “Facebook Freak” is about Tracy the Facebook chick who accidentally posted to the world on Facebook that (although engaged) she had a one night stand and then she couldn’t work out how to unpost the post! Crumbling Castle is about a crumbling marriage, “Tighter Than Onion Rings” is about a stingy girlfriend who is tighter than a baboon’s bottom (but I love her to death anyway! I’ll never tell her the song is about her! *giggle* I think my girlfriends are all paranoid now it’s about them!....<grin>), “Love Is Like a Bindi-Eye” is about, um, well I’ve been known to swing over the fence and play ping pong with the other team: after all, they’re far less hairy (preferably) and a hell of allot prettier!! I’m still in love with Angelina Jolie.
Who are your musical influences?
Who are your musical influences?
The Wiggles. Some bloke played me a song called “The One Eyed One Horned Purple People Eater” on a date once too. I just couldn’t kiss him after that. I retracted outta that car like a turtle head on fire.
No, just kidding. EVERYTHING and EVERYONE!
How do you sell your music?
How do you sell your music?
Gigs, festivals, internet.
www.sallystreet.com
www.sallystreet.com
itunes – search “Sally Street”
What live performance experience have you had?
What live performance experience have you had?
I was the opening act at the 10th Tangier Jazz Festival in Morocco in 2009 (I played with a bunch of gorgeous French guys from Marseilles, France), and also at the Sydney Multicultural Festival in 2010, I was a headline act at the Venetian Casino in Macau in 2008 for 7 weeks, the Newcastle Jazz Festival and the Kings Cross Festival. I have been singing professionally on the Sydney club circuit for 4 years performing at venues such as The Basement, Slide, The Vanguard, Star City Casino, Castle Hill RSL, Opera Bar, The Hilton Hotel’s Marble Bar, The Piano Room, private functions, interstate in Melbourne and at the Gold Coast Jazz and Blues Club etc.
I also prance around film and TV sets as an actress - you’ve probably seen me this month on the Max Music Channel dancing down Central Station to ‘Like A Virgin’ in their Bring Back the 80s campaign, or on Nude by Nature’s “Wrinkle Venom” ad on Foxtel.
Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you have a set play list?
Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you have a set play list?
I try to change the songs around to keep it fresh.
Do you ever play covers?
Yep. I’m so thrilled to be playing original songs, but the reality is, people also love to hear a few covers!
What has been your biggest highlight as a musician?
What has been your biggest highlight as a musician?
Recording and performing my own original material and seeing it make people happy!! 5 of the 12 tracks from The Scorpion Maid were shortlisted in the Australian Songwriting Competition and community radio have been giving it a spin which is exciting!
What’s the most interesting thing that’s ever happened to your band?
Morphing out of the jazz scene across into the pop scene to splash around! The music industry police think that’s a crime. You’re supposed to just stay in one box so people don’t get “genre confused” about you. But I don’t give a damn about social norms and what box I’m supposed to fit into.
What has been your biggest challenge as a band?
Getting my music heard overseas and reaching out from community radio (who are wonderfully supportive to Australian artists for which I’m really grateful!) across to commercial radio in Australia.
EMI Greece are releasing one of my tracks “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” from my second album on a compilation in Greece this year which is a huge compliment. I’d like to have more of our music released across the globe.
What are your long-term goals as a musician?
To always remember that every single musical sound you make matters. Every single sound!!! Every word you sing means something. Every word!!! And always to have FUN and bring joy to others through music.
Do you have any tips?
If you ‘aint’ having fun, you ‘aint’ doin’ it right!!!
Where can we hear your tunes online?
Where can we hear your tunes online?
Website:
www.sallystreet.com
Itunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/the-scorpion-maid/id405012432?ign-mpt=uo%3D4%2522
(or simply search Sally Street in iTunes)
(or simply search Sally Street in iTunes)
Youtube:
Interview by Austep Music, January 2011
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