Awesome foursome The Shakeys unleash their EP, White Lightning, at The Rocket Room this Friday, April 11, with support from Battle Axe Howlers (Vic), Scalphunter, The Lungs and The Reptilians, plus DJs Kill and Holly Doll. We caught up with singer and guitarist, Claire Hodgson, ahead of their looming Japanese tour.
Where did The Shakeys spring from?
For ages our bass player, Jess, and I had joked about starting a band and all the crazy antics we’d get up to if we did. One thing led to another and before we knew it we had our first show lined-up, fittingly in a garage at a punk house party! The rest as they say, is history…
What’s your sound?
We’re straight-up punk ‘n’ roll, so bands like The Stooges, MC5, The Saints, The Victims, plus Memphis garage bands like the River City Tanlines and The Reatards we really dig on. We’ve also been compared with Blondie and The Runaways quite a bit, which is a huge compliment ‘cause we love the hell out of both of those bands.
Where did you record the EP?
We recorded upstairs at The Astor in Mount Lawley with Mitch McDonald from The Love Junkies. We were actually the first band to record in the space with Mitch and were stoked to discover that it actually used to be an old grindhouse theatre.
Tell us of this trip to Japan!
Yes! We’re playing six shows over there in cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe and Yokohama, with some of the hippest Japanese garage bands around. The garage scene is really supportive over there so it’s been incredibly easy. The main challenge I see happening will be negotiating the Tokyo subways hungover with all our gear (I’m not looking forward to that!), but the rest should be pretty smooth sailing methinks.
What’s the music scene like in Japan?
Really different to here! The venues are super-small, like for example YaYa’s would be a big local venue over there. You can smoke inside (but you can’t on the street) and there are no bouncers, maximum venue capacities, or lockouts. Venues basically let as many people in and open to as late as they feel like so people just drink all night. It would be heaven except for the fact that the venues charge huge hire fees, so the bands make stuff-all when they play. That’s something we’ve got over Tokyo at least!
