The Little Lord Street Band are the reigning WAMAwards Best Country Act, winners of 2018 WAM Song of the Year (Country) and are once more are nominated for Best Country Act at next month's WAMAwards.
Based around the songwriting partnership of Natasha Shanks and James Rogers, the five-piece also features acclaimed alt. country and indie-pop singer-songwriters Belle Harvey and Michael Savage.
Theirs is an organically and unabashedly diverse sound, combining classic electric guitar riffery, four-part male/ female harmonies, and thoughtful life-lived lyrics. It all makes for a raucous, electric live show.
We catch-up with Natasha for a quick chat.
First things first, you have been nominated for a WAMAward for Best Country Act. How do you all feel about that?
Incredibly honoured (again) and stoked to be sharing the nom with Ralway Bell, Belle Harvey and Delilah Rose. All great friends and hard-working musos in the industry. The nom is great recognition and encouragement to keep going.
You were nominated last year as well; how important is it to the band to receive such industry recognition?
Hard work is hard work and validation sometimes helps encourage to keep creating and performing. That sounds so clinical, but when you work your butt off training for a sporting event/ race and you place and get a medal, it's validating.
Same with this nomination, I guess, even though we don't create music for the medals or awards, it's all value adding in writing grants and getting gigs across Australia. Plus it's the encouragement and support from WAM you get to share with family and friends when throwing down the words: Best Country Nominees.
Back in September, you showcased at BIGSOUND in Brisbane. How did you find that?
It blew our minds and humbled us. There are so many young bands in Australia, and especially in WA, creating and performing at a level that inspires and leaves you in awe.
We had a HUGE time, networking and promoting our showcases and then backing it up with one of our best performances. We had fun, ran around like crazy-ass people, learned a lot and met some really influential people and musicians.
What did you think about the event in general?
It's crazy when you think we were all there attempting to do the same thing (network, perform), so it was a unique experience being in the company of 400+ bands working hard to represent and meet all these delegates and make 'that' impression.
[It] felt like the Music Olympics a bit. We made a few, great connections and genuine fans, and put the band's name out there in lieu of what comes next for us in 2019-2020. Naturally, we were all burnt out. Honoured to have had the experience and can't wait to see how this experience plays out in our strategy in the coming years.
Do you find the reception at gigs different in somewhere like Brisbane or Melbourne, for example, where you are less well known?
Brisbane was BIG. There were so many people around [Fortitude] Valley, all the venues were kitted out and pumping. Every showcase we went to was well attended and the crowds/ audience were receptive and supportive of the acts.
Yeah, Brisbane is on the map. We were definitely blown away by the atmosphere of all the venues and in such a small area, it was a vibe and a time. AND THE KEBABS and the Vietnamese - oh my lord.
Yeah, Brisbane and Melbourne are totally two different scenes; there's a young, supportive energy in Brisbane and in Melbourne - each venue has a type of audience and following/ music genre-related feel to it, in our experience.
And you have an east-coast tour as well coming up in October-November. That's pretty exciting. How are you feeling about it?
Itchy; need to get back out there playing shows on the road. Touring is where it's at. 2018 is the touring year and we found we got into flow, so it'll be great to get back out there and put some solid time on these stages in NSW an VIC again.
Some new venues in the mix too and can't wait to follow up with some fans we made last tour and also the BIGSOUND networks and connections and start promoting the album for 2019, plus we have new material we've been working on, so super excited to be playing new and old songs.
2018 has not been a bad year for the band. Is there anything else you want to try to squeeze in?
Ha! Yep: grant writing, album recording and another mini regional tour. Why not! GO large or GO home - am I right?! No rest for the wicked as they say, plus we love writing and performing so naturally we love recording and touring.
What about plans for 2019? You mentioned to scenestr in August that you might want to start recording by the end of this year.
Yep, we are hitting the studio in December with Dan Carroll at Rada (legend) to record our first album.
The album is pretty much written; it's now just working out what songs make the cut. Jimmy is a songwriting machine, so he's still writing a gazillion songs, to my five or six songs. It's more a case of what we can demo and get to the band in time for pre-production in November to make the recording session in December, or sometimes even a freshie in the studio will get a guernsey - that's part of the magic and fun.
You’ve played a fair few gigs by now. What is it about live gigs that you enjoy?
The music… Live performance is all about being in the moment with your music and your audience, so it's pure fun.
You work your butt off to get to the stage to play, especially being self-managed. By the time you get to the stage to perform you are so charged, you get to do what you love - the energy usually spills over into excitable babble and banter followed by a huge performance… I just babbled didn't I?
What was the genesis of The Little Lord Street Band?
I am the genesis - I am the boss. Ha! Nah, we were jamming together at Lord Street in Mt Lawley and Jimmy and I came up with 'The Little Lord Street Band' after an assertive request to get a 'proper' name to put on the green room door supporting The Whitlams way back.
We were two people, then three with our first drummer Alex Brown (ex Lord St roomy), then Michael Savage (bass player) wanted in when we met at Tatana's keg party; we temporarily swapped drummers which become permanent to Alex Megaw (Volcanics) as AB was super busy saving the world one blood donation at a time, and Belle Harvey (mango / harmonica) fan girl'd the band till she became the latest member to join.
Thus the LLSB is an amalgamation of roomies, lovers, musical mates and friends. That sounds so naff, but it's true.
The WAMAwards (Perth) take place 1 November.
The Little Lord Street Band Tour Dates
Thu 25 Oct - Gods Kitchen (Melbourne)Fri 26 Oct - Baha (Rye)
Sat 27 Oct - Rezza House Concert (Melbourne)
Sun 28 Oct - Red Lion Brewery (Kilmore)
Thu 1 Nov - Slyfox (Sydney)
Fri 2 Nov - Flow Bar (Old Bar)
Sat 3 Nov - Servo Food Truck (Wollongong)
Wed 7 Nov - The Retreat Hotel (Melbourne)
Thu 8 Nov - Pistol Pete's (Geelong)
Sat 18 Nov - Otherside Brewing
Fri 30 Nov - The Basso Hotel (Perth) - Savanah & The Strays EP launch
Sat 1 Dec - Fremantle Folk Festival
Fri 14 Dec - Indi Bar (Perth)
Sat 15 Dec - Clancys Fish Pub (Fremantle)
Sun 16 Dec - Settlers Tavern (Margaret River)
Fri 21 Dec - Geraldton Hotel
Sat 22 Dec - Finns (Kalbarri)
Sun 23 Dec - Geraldton Hotel
