In the quiet town of Esk in rural south east Queensland there live a huddle of strange sisters, who – in between soundproofing with egg cartons, knitting knee rugs for Robbie Williams, and hanging cane toad skins out to dry – travel the country performing their musical shows.
Alike seeing a witch’s coven at band practice, Mourne, Eve and their mostly mute half-sister Dawn are a combination of strange behavior, sheltered outlooks, superbly droll comic dialogue and charming tune. With their kitchen pot, toilet brush, keyboard, musical saw, tuba, guitar and dueling tambourines, these three oddball spinsters present offbeat covers from Nana Mouskouri and Eurythmics to Talking Heads, The Bee Gees and a little AC/DC.
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Growing up listening to their mother’s favorite wireless, Mourne Kransky – the eldest of the sisters – reminiscences on The Kransky Sisters life and career so far.
On their music…
“We grew up in Esk, Eve and I were the first and we used to play music. Our father used to have a saw that he used to make cabinets with and he gave that to Eve when she was five and she also had a violin bow and she started playing the saw when she was young and we always had the radio on when we were young. Our mother liked the wireless you see, and we used to play along to it.
“A neighbor, Mr. Burnson, he used to play an old guitar and he gave that to me and Dawn when she came along – her father isn’t the same father as Eve and I, her father was the reason our father left – her father paid for her to attend TAFE in Wagga and she learned the Tuba there. Dawn is privileged because she had a musical education and Eve and I had to teach ourselves the music.”
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On Topology…
“It’s going to be a real treat to work with [Topology] again. It’s very nice, and they are very nice people you know. Robert Davidson is a real gentleman, so is John Babbage and Bernard, even though he can be a bit outlandish at times, he’s a very nice man. Him and Dawn get on very well chatting.
“Last time we were doing something together, we toured through Holland. That was so nice to be able to go to an exotic country and play with Topology and go off and have cups of tea and dinners with them as well.
“It’s going to be very good going to the big smoke again. And last time we were there at the Powerhouse with Topology we drove our car onto the stage to park, but we’re not in the big one this time, we’re in the small one, the Visy theatre. So we can’t get the car in, so I guess we’ll have to pay for parking.”
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On other musicians in Esk…
“Oh well there’s Rodney Jakobson, he plays the spoons, he busks outside the butchers sometimes. And of course when we go to the CWA sometimes we get the cake baking site and there’s a lady there, she’s a yodeler and her friend likes to play the dual harp and nose whistle.”
On teaching others music…
“Well Dawn has. Dawn lives over in Mrs. Evermore’s house in the laundry over the back fence, she doesn’t live at our place. She used to, but the tuba was noisy and also redback spiders infested her room and also the kitchen fridge, and the floorboard rotted her bed. So she teaches tuba there in the laundry. They play along to the sound of the dryer when it’s going.
“Sometimes it’s loud. But we put egg cartons up so it doesn’t bother us. I used to work at the egg farm and I used to collect them so we had enough to line the whole house. It saves on wallpaper and paint.”
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On their side jobs…
“Dawn is still a trolley librarian… [Eve] did have a job for two days down at Glenda’s Fashion House. She wanted to work the checkout, but the problem was she didn’t discern between the colours of the money and gave away too many $100 notes instead of a fiver. So we’re up to about $650 we have to pay back and I’m taking it out of Dawn’s money ‘cause it was her that encouraged Eve to get the job.
“[I’m] doing housework when I’m at home, and of course designing some new instruments out of the kitchenware and, this one’s a secret, but I’m knitting a knee rug for Robbie Williams. He just had a baby you know.”
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On growing up…
“Going to the caravan park in Esk for our holiday’s, that was always nice. It was very nice sitting there, enjoying the ducks in the pond. Of course going to watch ‘Black Beauty’, that was one film we were allowed to watch. And one day our mother took us to the Brisbane show, the Exhibition show and we saw some over-sized chickens. I loved the smell of their feathers. They’ve got a puffy smell. It’s very comforting to put your face alongside the chicken’s beak and have a whiff.”
On traveling together…
“We certainly do have a lovely time together, of course Eve and I do. Dawns sits in the back and doesn’t say a word, but sometimes spills milkshakes down the back of the chair which isn’t very nice. But we get on alright, it’s not too bad. Dawn sleeps outside with the instruments. If it rains we put an annex up over the car… Sometimes when it breaks down she pushes the car for us as well. So long as she does her job, all is well.”
On German sausages…
“Did you know they named a sausage after us? Interesting isn’t it? Some butcher must have come to the show. [We tried them] when we were out west, touring once at Springshore and a lady gave us a tray of Krasnky sausages and they had cheese in them. Someone had injected some cheese into the sausage by mistake I guess.”
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On the TV Topology gifted them…
“Well, they took it away so we’re ordering one… It belonged to Bernard Hoey, one of the musicians, the viola player, he wanted it back to watch games on.
“We like all sorts [of TV shows]. I like those hospital shows with embarrassing bodies and things. I’m thinking I might go and show them a few spots I’ve got, on ‘Embarrassing Bodies’. I’ve got a hair growing out of a spot. Also I like ‘Deal Or No Deal’. That’s nice, people win a lot of money on those things, it would be nice to be able to win some money. We’re still saving for a twin tub instead of a copper boiler.
“We’re going to apply… On ‘Deal Or No Deal’ they just pick boxes, that’s easier than the questions and answers. I don’t know the answers to those big questions, but the boxes you pick, that’s good. We’ve got a strategy – we’ll throw the numbers into a bucket and then we wave some of Mrs. Winks llama hair over the top. It’s a magic llama you see. It’s been lost 60 times and is always found and comes home, every time. It’s sort of a homing llama, I thought well it might also be good luck as far as picking the boxes.”
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The Kransky Sisters perform with Topology at Brisbane Powerhouse’s ‘Wonderland’ festival, 5-13 December.
