Broken Hill-born vocalist Kylie Auldist is taking her music back to the disco and boogie genres she loved as a teenager.
The solo artist, and vocalist of the ARIA Award-nominated band The Bamboos, has primarily made funk and soul music, but has enjoyed dabbling in other genres.
She explains the disco-style direction her new record (due for a mid 2016 release) has taken. “It's the type of music I used to listen to when I was 15.
“I wanted to get back to my roots I guess, because I've done three solo albums and I'd being saying to Lance Ferguson [Bamboos frontman] that I wanted to do this style for a long time.
"On the 'Still Life' album I did a song called 'Changes' and that had a disco element, and that sort of got me in the mood. I love the '70s disco and '80s-boogie feel. Madonna and Prince and all that crazy pop stuff I used to love as well when I was a kid.
“Graeme Pogson [Bamboos/ Kylie's drummer] is really good at that stuff, he really knows his music from that era and he has little drum machines that create the sound.”
Kylie's work with Melbourne organ trio Cookin' On 3 Burners produced the song 'This Girl', which hit #1 on the UK iTunes R&B chart. She talks about another collaboration she recently had with the group. “I've just finished recording with them actually. I wrote a song with Jake Mason [Cookin' On 3 Burners] for the 'Women Of Soul' album (Melbourne soul series) called 'More Than A Mouthful'.
"We just re-worked that a little bit just because we really liked the song, and it was the first song we've ever done together. I've written another song called 'One Of The Ones' with the whole band.”
Kylie released her first three albums with UK-based label Tru Thoughts, and although she is no longer part of the Tru Thoughts family, she still has fond memories of her time in the UK and touring Europe. “We really loved Barcelona. Pretty much Madrid and Barcelona were my favourite places on tour.
“Obviously England because I got a record deal from there, which I'm unfortunately not on anymore, but I got to see friends. When touring you don't tend to see much in a van. You think you're going to pass through all the little towns but you bypass all the towns, so it's just big, grey roads really. But when we travelled into Marseille I remember it being beautiful because we finally came off the freeway into real France.”
Next month Kylie will be part of the musical bill at Blenheim Music And Camping Festival, situated at Clare Valley, South Australia. “I'm totally looking forward to it, I've never been to [BlenheimFest],” Kylie enthuses.
“I love going over to South Australia, that's where all the nice wines come from and I love my wines. Audiences in Adelaide and South Australia are very attentive, and they really like their music. I've always found Adelaide people are very up for coming out to see live music, and I love that.”
Written by Liam Steers
Kylie's new single, 'Family Tree', is out today, 26 February.
Kylie Auldist Tour Dates
Sat 19 Mar - Brunswick Music Festival @ Howlers (Melbourne)Fri 25 Mar - BlenheimFest (Clare Valley, SA)
Sat 21 May - Blues On Broadbeach with The Bamboos (Gold Coast)
