The Shiny Brights are a fantastic example of independent success. Since forming in late 2007 they have released a single, Electric Tigerland, mastered by Oscar Gaoana, which scored them an invite to the CMJ Music Marathon in New York. They’ve supported outstanding acts such as The Wombats and The Vines and in 2008 they won a slew of band competitions which threw them into the national spotlight. Not too shabby for a band that has only released one EP.
Their new EP is titled Too Many Chiefs and will be released in the coming months. We caught up with Alex “Rego” Rajkowski, The Shiny Brights’ Polish powerhouse, to discuss a bunch of random crap that has little or nothing to do with their music. That is the MusicFeeds way.
With four vocalists in the band it must be difficult to decide who sings what. Given the multicultural mix, two Poles and a Kraut, it’s easy to imagine differences in the band spilling over into an international conflagration.
“This is a dilemma and a hurdle that we face every week at rehearsal. We recently employed Dicko from Australian Idol to decide who goes to the gig with the microphone in their hand. The ‘losers’ then get to sing back up. There was a period when our German lead singer Wolfgang was really into power metal and leather pants. Not being the biggest power metal fans we tried to resist his change in direction. Venting his frustration he rocked up to band practice, his marching entourage behind him, and tried to steer us in another direction. Luckily we had some friends over the road to help us.”
The boys are based in Adelaide, city of churches. That moniker can be a turn-off to some of our militant atheist friends, but, according to Alex, Adelaide is a lovely place with a super awesome musical vibrancy.
“Adelaide is a great place to be based, the music scene here is great. There are a lot of great bands coming through the Adelaide scene right now. I think one problem is that bands from Adelaide often get a stigma attached to them just because they are from Adelaide. The scene here is super supportive. There is no hierarchy amongst the bands, everyone is happy to do shows together. Look out for Adelaide bands like The Touch, Special Patrol and the newly formed Jay Walker and the Pedestrians.”
Hitting the UK tomorrow, they will be heading straight back to our shores for the JD Set tour, with You Am I headlining.
“Touring with one of Australia’s most respected bands is really going to be amazing. The knowledge and experience in that band is incredible. Tomorrow we fly to Perth to play at the WAMI Festival and then we’ve got one day of rest before heading to the UK to play at The Great Escape festival in Brighton and then we go straight into the JD Set. After that we’ll be getting ready to release our new EP ‘Too Many Chiefs’ which will involve lots of touring and losing our day jobs! Album wise? You’ll have to wait and see…”
Wait we will. Find The Shiny Brights on the JD Set tour. We guarantee your enjoyment.
