Happy Sparks-tember! It's September, and the most exciting month for fans of the American cult duo made up of the Mael brothers, songwriter Ron and singer Russell.
"I think it's the third year of it," says Russell. "It was actually a fan who started it up. They decided they would do something like this and just have every day of the month be a different album of ours."Fans post whatever they wanted from that specific album on that day. It's really cool just to see what people come up with, even just illustrations of the album covers or of us."
On the day we speak, fans are celebrating the band's tenth album, 1981's 'Whomp That Sucker', and the brothers are impressed with the creativity on display. "There's a really cool one that was just today," Russell says.
"'Where's My Girl?' is the song, so they've taken three or four of our album covers and got rid of the female in each. It's really well done. For the new album, 'The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte', they've gotten rid of the girl crying in her latte, so it's just Ron and I on the cover. It's really clever and really well done."
Ron, however, enjoyed a fan's celebration of their history with producer Tony Visconti, who has worked with David Bowie, T. Rex, and Sparks.
"They had the album artwork with Russell as Marc Bolan as he appears on one of the T. Rex covers, and they had me as Bowie – which I'm flattered that somebody thinks I'm close to looking like that – with the pose that Bowie is doing on ['Heroes']."
Since beginning their musical partnership in 1966, Sparks have grown a devoted cult following. However, Australian fans have been left lacking since their only visit Down Under in 2001 (fun fact: the Mael brothers have seen The Beatles perform live more times than they've visited Australia).
However, that changes this year with Sparks making their long-awaited return this coming October. "We played a couple of very small shows, one in Sydney and one in Melbourne," Ron says. "It's been a long time but we're happy it's at this point where we're kind of at an upswing."
Over the course of their career, Sparks has reached some dazzling highs: hit songs, film offers, and working with the likes of Giorgio Moroder, Franz Ferdinand, and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's.
However, that hasn't always led to the commercial success they've worked so hard to achieve. "[Our fans are] almost resentful of any kind of commercial success because it would mean being beyond this small, special club," laughs Ron.
"But that kind of feeling has been there from the very beginning, and we really cherish that because for some people there's something very special about what we're doing and how it makes them feel."
Recently, the band have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, beginning in 2021 with the release of director Edgar Wright's career-spanning documentary on the duo, 'The Sparks Brothers'.
That same year, the brothers wrote the screenplay and music for the musical film 'Annette', starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. The band's dalliance with the film world was so successful they have a new film in the works, titled 'X-Crucior'.
"We've finished the screenplay and it's a musical again, and all the dialogue for it is sung," Russell says. "We're really happy with the results so far. Now we're just out there with the film company trying to do the next step of hopefully locking in a director soonish."
Just a few months ago, the band released their 25th album (27th if you count the 'Annette' soundtrack and their collaboration with Franz Ferdinand 'FFS' in 2015), 'The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte'.
The album is another strong addition to their vast catalogue – enough to get actress Cate Blanchett to dance in their video for the album's title track (a performance she repeated at this year's Glastonbury Festival).
"Coming up with something fresh again – and when you have more and more albums – the task becomes more challenging to see how you can push things and hopefully not repeating yourself at all," Russell says, "and knowing that more people than ever than in the past would be hearing the new album because of this new resurgence for the band, I think that helps motivate you to try something that is striking in a way that won't leave people without an opinion."
Sparks' current tour has seen them perform in some of the biggest venues of their career, including the Hollywood Bowl and London's Royal Albert Hall. Their Australian tour will see them perform at Sydney Opera House, as well as Adelaide's Harvest Rock Festival.
"We're also excited to be able to play a festival in Australia," Ron says. "We like combining our shows with festivals because we're preaching to the converted with our own shows, but with festivals you're reaching people who aren't necessarily coming there to see you.
"It's a fun challenge for us to be able to play for those people and hopefully convert them to the cause."
Harvest Rock II takes place at Rymill and King Rodney Parks (Adelaide) 28-29 October.
Harvest Rock 2023 Line-up
Babe RainbowBad//Dreems
Baker Boy
Beck (Australian exclusive)
Bernard Fanning (last Australia show for 2023)
Bright Eyes
Built To Spill
Charlie Collins
Chet Faker
Chromeo
Flight Facilities (Decades DJ set)
Floodlights
Jade Bird
Jamiroquai (Australian exclusive)
Julia Jacklin
Ladyhawke
Nile Rodgers & Chic
Ocean Alley
Paul Kelly
Sam Barber
Santigold
Sparks
Surprise Chef
Tash Sultana
The Lemon Twigs
The Rolling Stone Revue
Thelma Plum
Vera Blue
Warpaint
Sparks 2023 Tour Dates
Thu 26 Oct - Palais Theatre (Melbourne)Sun 29 Oct - Harvest Rock (Adelaide)
Tue 31 Oct - Sydney Opera House
Thu 2 Nov - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)
