Sweet, disco-groove jams and energetic-funk tunes... welcome to the world of Electrik Lemonade.
For the last four years, the Gold Coast's Electrik Lemonade have been hustling their funk all across south east Queensland, playing both coasts regularly as well as getting national coverage on Channel 7’s ‘Weekend Sunrise’. “That was good fun,” Barney Trub, the band’s MC, says about the experience.
“We went up for the Airlie Street Festival and we were out drinking the night before and got pretty drunk, it was the day before we played at Street Festival and we weren’t playing until the arvo. Then Jake got a call at 7.30 or 8 o'clock from Sunrise and they asked us to be at Sunrise on the beach the next morning.
“It just happened out of the blue, we were wasted by the time we got the call so we just kept drinking,” he says smiling, implying the awesome time they would have had being hung-over on commercial television the next day.
“We all managed to get up and drag our gear down to the beach and they set us up; it was so much fun, all the drunk adrenaline kind of pushed us straight through that hangover period.”
In the four years the group has been playing they have released two EPs — they have also played ‘The 7pm Project’, a Byron Brewery New Year’s Eve gig and – wait for it – Nimbin MardiGrass. And what makes this electric concoction even tastier than lemonade is the current line-up has only been together half the time of their existence. “There was only five of them and I used to go around and watch their gigs all the time,” Barney says.
“I just went down to the shows and got drunk, I was that loud, drunk dude dancing at the front, I was going to their shows, rocking out in the front row and at the same time writing some hip hop stuff of my own. Eventually I wrote a song with them called 'Route To Hip Hop' and then started playing shows with them and writing more songs together and now we are here.”
It has been in those last couple of years that Electrik Lemonade has been making moves from the underground. But since Barney joined the band, he makes it obvious which show he liked best. “MardiGrass would have to be the favourite just because everyone has lost their inabilities,” he says grinning.
“It's awesome, it's all free love and everyone is always in high spirits; it was just good, especially relaxing with the band. Sometimes when you play the Gold Coast people are a bit more aware of their image, but at Nimbin people don't care, man. If they want to dance they will just dance.”
The next gig the group have in their sights is the Crossbows Marathon — a four-hour show this Saturday (18th Oct) that’s part of a week-long music festival presented by the Queensland Conservatorium. “This is the first time that Crossbows has come around,” Barney says, though they have played The Seed Project (at the Conservatorium) on multiple occasions.
“With this gig we are aiming to punch out our best songs and really open people's eyes. I think we are getting to a point where we are going to start giving anyone who doesn't dance their money back. Because it's just impossible; people can't help but swing their hips whenever they see us. Every time we play at South Bank we always get a big turnout. We will be playing three songs off the new album that no one has heard before.”
Crossbows could be one of the last times you could get your dose of Electrik Lemonade for the year. They are releasing a single in November from their debut album, planned for release early next year, so get your dose of electricity now.
Electrik Lemonade will be joined by Con Artists with Kristen Berardi, Brodie Graham Band, Toby Wren Trio, Umkancho and Dr. Offig. Miss Random – aka Eva Lunde at the Crossbows Marathon, which is part of the Crossbows Music Festival, at the Queensland Conservatorium on Saturday 18th October.
