Interview by Chris Dornan
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Just about to play at The Brisbane Powerhouse from Wednesday November 30th – Saturday December 3rd 2011, The Kransky Sisters with the musical ensemble Topology. We caught up with “Mourne” the eldest of the three sisters from rural Esk, Queensland. In Character, we didn’t know what to expect from the oldest and most outspoken of the comedic musical trio.
LifeMusicMedia: Going to The Brisbane Powerhouse to see “THE KRANSKY SISTERS AND TOPOLOGY… A MUSICAL ENCOUNTER” what can we expect to see and hear from the famous sisters from Esk, Queensland? |
Mourne Kransky : Heavens, well you know it’s quite interesting, we’re playing with this lovely orchestra the Topology and they’re playing with us in our music and it sounds quite interesting. It’s certainly enhanced by the musical excellence of Topology and certainly an interesting musical combination. Oh heavens, I haven’t really thought about how to quantify it. I suppose, well, just know that Rob from Topology actually fell off his bicycle in the front of our house and came in with his double base. He fell in a ditch. He came in and put a couple of band-aids on his knee and we had a lovely cup of tea and he started playing with Dawn. You see, Dawn’s a tuba player, he started playing some duets in our lounge room and it went from there you see,then we sort of joined in and we ended up playing some songs and he asked us to play in the concert and he very much enjoyed our food we had there and we are going to Holland together as well. I made him some boiled potatoes and mince, and he said he had never had anything like it before, yes I think it’s really the food the reason they’d like to go on tour with us ,because I always make nice food and I’m going to make them some white stew for them when they come to The Powerhouse.
LifeMusicMedia: In your stage show, Topology have recruited Dawn as their tuba player because their base player Robert Davidson had an accident, has any other musical act in the past ever tried to recruit one of The Kransky Sisters?
Mourne Kransky: Well of course Ava, our other sister, ended up disappearing because she worked with the Hornbell Military Marching band …she no longer works with us anymore, haven’t seen her for quite some time. Usually we get a gravy stained letter saying the chops were good at the Military base. It’s a very interesting tour. It’s not very often we play, do play, with anyone else. Rob’s a very nice man, of course there’s Bernard and John and Christa and Therese, they are all very nice people.
LifeMusicMedia: How is life on the road when you’re all traveling all over the Australia and overseas, do all three sisters get along or is there a lot of sibling rivalry?
Mourne Kransky: Sometimes Dawn annoys, she is so often spilling drinks in the back. At least she’s quiet, that’s all I can say you know. She has a place at Mrs. Elermore’s Laundry so we don’t have too many problems with her but on the road it can be quite annoying. She tends to count things with her fingers and that makes the glass dirty on the windows and I’m always chastising her for it. And last time she brought in an infestation of ants in the back seat of the Morris because she dropped some milkshake, we had to get the backseat taken out.
LifeMusicMedia: Do you have a Favorite musical group you may have heard through the wireless lately? Do you plan on singing their songs?
Mourne Kransky: Ah! Yes we have got quite a lot of favorites. We like ABBA ,and… heavens…. late ones, let me see, what have we been doing… heavens… all sorts, let me see… MC he’s good… MC Hammer… yes he’s good.
LifeMusicMedia: Have you and your sisters ever performed in front of any famous people in the audience? Did you meet them backstage after the show?
Mourne Kransky: Chrissy Amphlett invited us to play with her once and said she’d like to come and join us in the concert. Yes.. Well, actually at our show in Edinburgh we were very excited, where we won an award you see there and along with the award we met Gabriel Byrne the actor and he said he’d like to come see us at the show, so he turned up in his pink socks! And he was very nice… yes I would have liked to have spent some more time with him but my sister’s were there. Ohh I forgot to tell you, Eve once played with Paul Kelly on stage as well in Adelaide.
LifeMusicMedia: Unlike your music, your fashion sense hasn’t changed over the years, do you plan on doing some shopping while you’re in Brisbane?
Mourne Kransky: Ah yes, the fashions, do you like our fashions? Oh heavens, that’s a good idea. That is a good idea isn’t it? Perhaps we want to go and find calotsals or something. It’s so hot isn’t it? You need some long shorts or something in this weather. You have got to be modest don’t you? We like to wear nice clothes and modest clothes, you know, we have got to be seen in front of a lot of people. There is all sorts of nice things around. I was having a nice peek into David Jones the other day and saw a nice leopard skin long caftan that’s taken my eye. Yes, I don’t know whether all three of us would wear it on stage, it might be a bit Lary.
LifeMusicMedia: The present Government is against same sex marriage, do you agree with Julia Gillard’s view that marriage should only be between a man and a woman?
Mourne Kransky: Oh what is that?
LifeMusicMedia: Well, rather than courting a man and a women, two men will court each other I guess?
Mourne Kransky: Oh heavens, Oh I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. Will they be sleeping in the same bed as well? They should sleep in bed with a hot water bottle like we do. We have two single beds divided by a shared duchess. I guess when two people spend a long time together and they like each other very much, what’s the difference I suppose.
LifeMusicMedia: This interview will be presented on LifeMusicMedia on the internet. Do you use the Internet or do you still only use the wireless as your connection to the outside world?
Mourne Kransky: Yes …I don’t but Mrs. Boyle our neighbour has one. It’s the big typewriter with the screen. She has one, might have to have a look at it. I will look into this same sex marriage thing. It sounds interesting but, I mean, there are too many rules and regulations in the world isn’t there? This whole thing shouldn’t mince with anyone else’s business. What you feel is everybody’s business when you’re pretty on the outside. It’s nobody’s business what you feel on the inside.
LifeMusicMedia: Now Maude, I’m going to ask you what we call the “LifeMusicMedia Rapid Fire Questions” one word answers please, so we can hopefully see a different side of Mourne Kransky.
Favorite place to visit?
I would like to go to St. Petersburg in Russia.
Favorite Drink?
It’s Definitely Sherry and Lemonade
Favorite Singer?
My favorite singer is Michael Jackson.
Favorite Animal?
Oh heavens wait a minute …..Sloth
Favorite topping to put on toast?
I like Hundreds and Thousands
One thing that Mourne Kransky can’t live without?
Umm….my porridge.
Do you prefer a Kransky sausage or a Bratwurst sausage?
Oh heavens! That’s a difficult question. What do I say to that? Let me think. I don’t mind either sausage as long as there’s gravy on it, as that is the fancy dress at the restaurant.
Favorite Book?
Gone With The Wind
Favorite Hobby?
Oh let me see …Hopping.
Favorite Musical Instrument?
The Pot, the Kitchen Pot.
Favorite Sister or Family member?
Oh dear, EVE.
LifeMusicMedia: Whats next for The Kransky Sisters once the shows are complete in Brisbane?
Mourne Kransky: We are going to Holland with Topology and then doing our own brand new show as well after Topology. So we are doing two and a half months in Holland in January.
LifeMusicMedia: In closing, do you have any parting words for all the fans of The Kransky Sisters?
Mourne Kransky: We are going to Portugal as well, sorry I forgot about that. We just want to very much thank everyone who has come to our concerts and who write to us very nice letters and send us nice things because after all without them we wouldn’t have a job. We wouldn’t be able to go and play our songs for them and we just like to thank everyone for being such nice people, very nice and lovely if we don’t try to be funny, people laugh, but we don’t mind at all.
Interview by Chris Dornan
Catch The Kransky Sisters with Topology in “A Musical Encounter” at The Brisbane Powerhouse from Wednesday November 30th – Saturday December 3rd 2011