With the release of their debut, absurdist comedy phenomenon Aunty Donna have made available some pretty sweet merch – for the low price of $20,000, Broden Kelly will be your dad for a day.
“We're money-hungry and we're willing to put ourselves out of our comfort zone, not for creative gain, not for career gain but just to make some cold, hard cash,” Broden says.
“So I'd love to put this out to the scenestr audience: if there is anyone out there who wants to pay $20,000 – and it needs to be upfront, we're not doing payment programmes or any of that – I will wake you up, get you pancakes for breakfast, we'll go to Luna Park, we will have fish & chips for tea and you get to have your choice of any toy from a What's New store.”
It's a memory that will last a lifetime, just like the childhood trauma caused by absent fathers.
“I'm a dad who is literally only there for a day and at the end of the night – someone suggested, and I think it's a good idea – I don't ever say goodbye, I just say I'm going to get some cigarettes and then I never come back.
“That's $20,000 well-spent and I think your audience will agree. There are down-payments on homes, there's getting a new car but you're not going to get the same experience from those as you are from a once-in-a-lifetime experience of giving me $20,000 to walk around with you for a day.”
Aunty Donna released their debut album 'The Album' in April and will be taking the accompanying live show on a national tour through October and November, along with Michelle Brasier and a live band for a full-on rock and roll comedy extravaganza.
“It's a big rock show with our friends,” Broden says.
“Michelle's an incredible singer, we've got a live band but we also sat down and wrote a show based on all of our favourite rock shows and we built a comedy show around that. So it will have all the songs from the album and it will also be us f...ing with the form of doing a music show.
“We went to Splendour In The Grass last year and took lots of notes on funny things that the musicians were doing. For example, we love at rock shows when the lead singer of some cool rock band goes: 'who wants to go get me a pint of beer from the bar?' So halfway through the show I think we're going to go 'who wants to go get us a jug of raspberry fizzy and a couple of glasses?'”
The upcoming tour is also a chance for Aunty Donna fans to show off their own musical chops, with the group offering a support slot in each city to whoever does the best cover of one of their songs.
“We thought it'd be a fun idea to see how involved we can get our supporters in different cities,” Broden says.
“We're getting people to cover one of our songs, chuck it online and then we'll pick a band for every show we do. We'll pay them for the gig and it will be cool to meet fans and some cool musicians.”
'The Album' is available now.
Aunty Donna Australia Tour 2018
Wed 3 Oct – Karova Lounge (Ballarat)4-5 Oct – Factory Theatre (Sydney)
Sat 6 Oct – ANU (Canberra)
11-12 Oct – The Zoo (Brisbane)
13-14 Oct – The Republic (Hobart)
18-19 Oct – Fowler's Live (Adelaide)
20 Oct – Rosemount Hotel (Perth)
2-3 Nov – Max Watt's (Melbourne)
