Get ready for Rackett, an all-girl, pop-punk outfit from Sydney who are equal parts Spice Girls and Black Sabbath.
Rebecca Callander is the vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Rackett and explains how the spirit of the band originated with the 'girl power' movement of the mid-'90s largely initiated by the Spice Girls.
“I think the foundations of the band were laid in 1997 or somewhere around there when the Spice Girls were at the peak of their success,” Rebecca says.
“The concept of having a girl club as one aspect of our lives still remains.”
“That really ignited this concept of having a part of myself to combat my insecurities and self-doubt when it comes to meeting and integrating with the opposite sex.
"Especially at a very young age like that, you start to form some doubts about yourself and I think the Spice Girls [brought] a message of female empowerment.”
Years later and Rebecca has found kindred spirits in her bandmates: Kat Ayala on lead guitar, Ally Gaven on bass and Astrid Holz on drums.
“We didn't know each other and we all went to schools in different states, but all the girls that are in the band were doing the same thing.
“We were choreographing, re-enacting, dressing up as the Spice Girls and we actually collided 15 years later.
"The concept of having a girl club as one aspect of our lives still remains, so it was a matter of all being musicians on the scene at the right time and having that previous desire to want to be in a gang.”
Rackett are also the winners of the inaugural Rockin' The Puburbs grant presented by APRA AMCOS in conjunction with the Australian Hotels Association NSW.
Part of their $15,000 prize is a pub tour of New South Wales that Bec says will give them exposure to the people responsible for booking shows at venues around the state. “First and foremost we get to perform in front of a thousand hotel industry personnel,” she says.
“Relationships are built through pubs taking a risk on you and never having seen you live. This is a great chance for us to get directly in front of what you would say is a customer, because if they don't book us we don't have a living.
"To get directly in front of the people responsible for making these decisions is a very good opportunity.”
Formed in 2016, the band have progressed in leaps and bounds in a short amount of time. In September this year they released their debut EP 'Ready Or Not', which quickly gained recognition on a national scale.
“We've had a fantastic response from the public and from radio stations and we've had to re-order our limited-edition stock three times on tour, which is a really great sign,” Rebecca says.
“The amount of people we see and the percentage who come to buy our EP, buy our t-shirts and support us is, from my experience in other bands, quite special. It helps us to keep going.”
'Ready Or Not' is available now. Rackett play the Hotter Than Hell tour (Grinspoon in Adelaide and Eskimo Joe in Ipswich) at Coopers Alehouse (Adelaide) 3 February and Racehorse Hotel (Ipswich) 10 February. Rackett also play a Sydney show at Hideaway Bar 15 December as well as OzFest (Gold Coast) 27 January.
