Melbourne band Smoke Stack Rhino are currently on the road touring the east coast; they end the tour with several NSW performances early next month.
The band's music is mix of funk, rock and blues with a creative, fun and quirky attitude. Their latest album, ‘Love And Other Monsters’, features the song 'Screwdriver Girls'.
Drummer for the band, Jeremy Berg says they really wanted an Australian vibe for the song. “The guitar riffs were inspired by the banjo guitar, so we [envisioned] not hillbilly as such, but let’s try and go in that direction with a hook,” Jeremy says.
“We found a place outside of Warburton in Victoria, which is a school camp and in their big mess hall outside they had a stage there… We rang them and asked if we could use that venue and they said ‘yes, by all means’.”
Smoke Stack Rhino spent a day on the dusty, old dancefloor. As well as being slightly patriotic in the clip, the band also showcased their humorous side with an impromptu introduction to the song.
One of the boys starts off the clip playing an out-of-tune piano. He finishes and stands up to take a bow, only to find his audience are not in the slightest bit interested; one patron has even fallen asleep with a durry in their hand.
“That was added on the day, that wasn’t scripted or anything, not that we have scripts for our clips. But yeah, it was cool,” Jeremy says.
“You can’t script anything that’s quality, fun times like that and whatever came out at the end of the day is what came out; people are happy with it and you enjoy it so that’s good, that’s the main thing you know.”
The band are currently prepping for their next film clip (for Jeremy’s favourite song 'Mrs. Foley’s Baby Boy'). The band are a bit battered and bruised. “The clip is set in a wrestling ring because it’s a song about Mick Foley the wrestler,” Jeremy says.
“We’ve teamed up with PCW wrestling company in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne and we’ve completed our two days of training to learn wrestling moves. That was fun I’ll tell ya; painful and fun at the same time.”
The guys have organised two professional wrestlers to battle the band while the crew film. But they aren't giving too much away. “It’ll be great fun; I’m really looking forward to it,” Jeremy says.
The band's guitarist, Ash King, first had the name Smoke Stack in mind for the group, but they had to make it more original due to a number of potential conflicts. “We needed to add something on the end, but we weren’t sure what.
"There’s a lot of bands in the blues scene with animal names in them so we thought we’d just add rhino to it,” Jeremy says, “And so it was born.”
– written by Emily Oswin
Smoke Stack Rhino Tour Dates
Sat 25 Mar – Transit Bar (Canberra)Fri 31 Mar – Pistol Pete’s Bar and Grill (Geelong)
Wed 5 Apr – Hideaway Bar (Sydney)
Thu 6 Apr – Coast Hotel (Central Coast)
Fri 7 Apr – Bald Faced Stag (Sydney)
Sat 8 Apr – Frankie’s Pizza (Sydney)
