Interview: Brodie Ann-Wright of Felinedown – uncharTED Live
Author: Denis Semchenko

[Photo: Mark Greenmantle]

Q: How did Felinedown’s involvement in uncharTED begin? Brodie-Ann: Firstly, we uploaded some songs and that’s how it started – I think we made it into the Top 30 just after putting our songs up, and we were a really new band, so we were very excited. Also, when they were looking for bands for Live & Local, we were really keen to be involved and play among other really good local acts in front of a fresh audience – people who’ve never seen us play before. Q: How did Felinedown meet and form? B-A: I had a few songs written with my writing partner Kit [Sivyer, Felinedown’s ex-bassist], and before that I was in theatre and burlesque. We got Glen [Gattenhof], the guitarist,

on board – he’s a songwriter as well and he really liked our tracks – and we just said “Look, we think other people might like them and we’ve been getting good feedback on the tracks we’ve recorded, so let’s try and fill out a live lineup”, advertised for a drummer and soon met Ash [Town]. Having gained a solid foundation in Ash, we started playing gigs, but Kit, who’s a filmmaker, eventually had to retreat from the lineup, and we had to find a bass player. Zac [Gould] is the cherry on the cup at the moment – I feel that our live shows have really balanced out and he’s a really good bass player, so the live band is now solid. We are currently thinking – that’s a top secret at the moment (laughs)! – about taking a keyboardist on board; as Felinedown, we never play anything that isn’t very polished and didn’t play a show without weeks of rehearsing, so we’re going to be in rehearsal with the new keyboardist. At the moment, the jams feel amazing and we’re very excited about having a bigger sound by the end of the year.

Q: I’ve noticed you guys are playing the Emergenza semi-finals at The Hi-Fi later this month and then the Top Floor in October – what’s next?

B-A: I’m not sure! We’re definitely playing shows until mid-November, and then it’s kind of open: there’ll be a few special shows but nothing’s locked in yet for the actual Christmas and New Year’s. Still, we’re excited to be all together and are looking forward to celebrating Christmas and NY’s as a band. October will also be pretty special to us – it’s our one-year anniversary as a band, so we are only babies – and we’re booking the Top Floor for the celebratory show as well as doing a digital re-release of our [self-titled] EP on the same night. There’ll be some new merchandise and goodies that I can’t talk about yet, so I’m pretty excited about that and we’re very focused on the October gig.

Q: Speaking of your recent Coolangatta Hotel show with Grand Atlantic for uncharTED, how did that one go?

B-A: Really good – the actual stage, the sound and the whole set-up there were amazing! Grand Atlantic played first and they were just… great, I really dig them amd I cannot wait to see them again soon. The crowd was pretty varied, but mostly young and enthusiastic; the main issue with The Cooly is people have to make an effort to drive down there and decide whether to drink or not drink (laughs) because it’s a bit far away from everywhere, but the people who have never previously heard of us or seen us live stayed for the show, which was awesome. We’re definitely looking forward to playing at Coolangatta again as well as doing more shows down the coast.

Related:
Live Review: The Kill Scene, Feline Down, Twist Oliver Twist @ The Globe – 11th April, 2009
www.myspace.com/felinedown
www.uncharted.com.au