Legs Electric launch their debut EP this Saturday, May 17, at the Rosemount Hotel with help from The Floors, Hailmary and Maverick. BOB GORDON reports.
There are a couple great bands in Legs Electric’s rear view mirror, and a lot of experience therein. When the band formed in 2012, there was a special kinda vision.
“We have all grown up listening to the classics, stuff like the Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, Kiss, Thin Lizzy, The Cult, Whitesnake, Grand Funk Railroad, the Who, Neil Young, all those great bands from the ‘70s and ‘80s,” says drummer, Kylie Soanes. “We all had riffs floating about that weren’t really suited to our other bands at the time, and we wanted an outlet for our own songs. And so, Legs Electric were formed.”
It seems the band met that vision since then and in fact have gone beyond and/or beside it.
“We love the songs we have written and the good thing about this band is that we all have our own style of writing and creative ideas,” Soanes says. “For our EP we definitely feel that we reached our initial vision – but there are plenty of more great songs to come.
“Last year we supported international bands including The Bellrays, Blues Pills from Sweden and Kadavar from Germany, and no one knew what we really sounded like unless they caught us at an earlier show. It was fantastic to be given this opportunity to showcase our band just from pure word of mouth. The fact that we were able to play these shows with such great international bands, and the great local bands we played with, it definitely far exceeded what we had in mind for our first year of shows.”
Given the EP showcases a band in the midst of its evolution, there were a few points to consider when it came to track choice.
“We collaborate and work on all songs as a band, and for the first time we all had such an impact in putting our own creative spin into each song. We picked the five on the EP because they represent how we started as a band.
“Illicit Love is the first song we ever wrote on Laura (McCormack, lead guitar) and my lounge-room floor. Trigger is our epic number, Ama (Quinsee, vocalist) brought to the table and it took around six months to finish.
“Black Magic, She’s Like A Saint and Temporary Road round out the EP; it definitely gives you a taste of each of our personalities and the variety of influences that have shaped our original sound.”
It’s obvious onstage how much all four members of Legs Electric absolutely love playing live. It’s all-consuming…
“We are always excited to play no matter how big or small the crowd,” Soanes enthuses. “We don’t like to muck around, as you will see on Saturday night from the first snare hit and guitar pluck, we don’t stop. It’s maximum rock’n’roll ‘til the end of the show!
“We are a funny band because like most ladies you tend to find us five minutes before a show huddled in the bathroom, Laura and I kicking and jumping around the room warming up, Ama singing really high warm up vocals, and Abby (Soanes, bass) making sure her red lipstick is on and rearranging songs on the set list.
“When it’s show time we always walk on stage together, I don’t know why we just do. On stage it’s just about having fun and whether or not Laura will try to jump on the biggest speaker she can find while playing guitar! We love it and feed off the crowd, especially when everyone else is having fun as well.”
Lots of work has led to the release of Legs Electric’s debut EP, but in true rock’n’roll fashion, it just begins again from here.
“We want the EP to reach as many people as possible, and most of all we hope you all like it,” Soanes says. “We are planning an East Coast tour in September to promote our EP in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane; and at this stage and we hope to be back in the studio soon to continue recording more tracks and then it’s off to America next year.”
