Heat #8 Big Splash Winner
Answered by Mitch Boag (baritone sax player).
How did you feel about your set last Tuesday night?
We felt pretty good about our set to be honest. We have been working together in this lineup for over two years now, and have been gigging frequently. We have only just recently come back from being on tour in the Northern Territory for two weeks where we were fortunate enough to work with several Indigenous communities and performed at the Katherine Junk Arts Festival. We are all really comfortable with each other and our music as a result, so when it comes time to perform everyone pulls together and we become the Junkadelic experience.
What acts caught your ear/eye?
When we were told who was in our heat we knew we were up against very stiff competition. Amani Consort are a great group, and several of the band members are friends of ours. Mambo Chic bring a very different flavour with their music, featuring some rich world music influences. And of course Shameem is an amazing performer with a fantastic band, and some really great compositions. We were really happy just to share the stage with such inspiring WA musicians, so winning the heat featuring those guys was a great honour.
Who else in the Big Splash semis are you keen to get a look at?
At this stage of the competition all of the bands are going to be amazing, but I think the band we are most keen on seeing is Old Blood. Their heavy blues influence shares a similar history to the New Orleans brass bands that we draw our inspiration from.
What are your plans, at this stage, for the rest of 2014?
Well we are actually quite booked up for the rest of 2014! We have several regional trips planned to Geraldton, Port Hedland, Yalgoo and the South West region. Aside from the music, Junkadelic has a pretty heavy educational aspect to our work. We regularly work with schools and local community groups running workshops on instrument making, puppet making, sculpturing, and music and dance workshops. We are hoping to continue this work into 2015, and are seriously looking at taking the group over to the Eastern States to play and do workshops at several festivals. If we win The Big Splash competition we are hoping we can put the prize money towards taking the group to New Orleans to record and work with some of the brass bands we look up to.
The Big Splash continues with the second semi-final this Saturday, August 2, at the Rosemount Hotel with Pat Chow, Old Blood, Hideous Sun Demon, Junkadelic and a wild card entry from heats 5-8. The first two placegetters will join Dream Rimmy and Kitchen People in the Grand Final at The Bakery on Saturday, August 9.
