Put a dynamic, soul-loving frontwoman like Lizzie Mack together with a beloved children's entertainer like Murray Cook and you get irrepressible groove train, The Soul Movers.
The Soul Movers have progressed in leap and bounds over the past year, making their way from popular local band to veritable supergroup since bringing former Red Wiggle Murray Cook into the fold in 2015.“We're entertainers in the old-fashioned sense in a way, because our main concern and goal is to give people just the best show trajectory that you can,” vocalist Lizzie says, who formed the group in 2008 with Radio Birdman's Deniz Tek.
“We're really proud of what we've achieved in the past two years because we've tried and tested it over so many shows now that we've got it down to a pretty good mix of herbs and spices,” she laughs.
The Soul Movers specialise in creating music with a distinct '60s soul groove and pop flair – think high-energy guitar riffs, rocking organs, roof-raising vocals and enough dance moves to keep any old-school Wiggles fans satisfied.
“We use some of the elements that I employed in my previous band,” Murray laughs, “and we really love it when the crowd gets into it.
“We've got a couple of songs where we get them to get involved, and one of them is a gospel song called 'Lift Me Up' where we get them to sing-along with us and I go out into the audience to stir them up a bit.
“It's fun for me and they tend to enjoy it too, so it is a fun show. There's a lot of light and shade – there's the fun stuff and then a few dark songs but mostly I think we really connect with people, which is great for us.”
Both Murray and Lizzie are leaning into Murray's past life as one of Australia's most revered children's entertainers, even writing some songs for the contingent of 20-somethings who grew up loving Murray and The Wiggles, and now turn up at The Soul Movers gigs to see what he's playing at now. “We call them the 'OG Wigs Kids',” Lizzie laughs.
“They come because they want to see Murray – they miss him, they love him, hashtag muzzlove – and they'll come and they'll be adoring and want to join in. We actually did 'Shake It Loose' for them, so there were dances they could do and they got it immediately.
“The best thing that we hear though is that they love the show; they come to see Muzz and they leave going 'holy sh.t, you killed it!'. That's the thing we hear more than anything, so we couldn't be happier that our terrible plan worked.”
'Shake It Loose' and 'Lift Me Up' have been taken from The Soul Movers third studio album 'Bona Fide', which was released at the beginning of the year and is the follow-up to their 2017 album 'Testify'. “There's a lot of variety on there, a lot of different music, and we're really proud of it,” Lizzie says of 'Bona Fide'.
“That's why we've been playing live so much. We want to get it out there.”
When it comes to playing live, many an artist will say the most honest audiences fall into two categories not dissimilar to one another: kids and drunk adults.
As a man who has walked in both worlds, Murray concurs with the theory. “Yes!” he exclaims through a burst of laughter when the idea is proposed.
“In The Wiggles of course, the kids are very honest, they can be brutal sometimes; if they're not digging it they just walk away.” Lizzie, also laughing, adds: “They're drunk on red creaming soda too.”
In the end though, Murray and Lizzie say that whether they're playing to kids or drunk adults, the result is almost always the same: they get up, dance and go away happy – and occasionally someone wets themselves. “That's right,” Murray says.
“Kids don't have inhibitions because they haven't learnt them yet and adults lose their inhibitions after having a few drinks, so there's definitely some similarities.”
The Soul Movers - WA cover Dec 2019
As The Soul Movers close the chapter on 2019, Lizzie and Murray are looking toward their busy 2020 schedule, which has them appearing at a number of festivals around the country, including a return to one of their favourites, Nannup Music Festival in Western Australia.
“This is our second one [Nannup Music Festival], the first time I think we were there in 2017,” Lizzie says.
“We are super excited about heading back to the town hall and we have shows on Saturday and the Sunday night. We're also doing a show at Freo.Social, and maybe one before that at The Sewing Room, so we're cramming in as much Perth contact as we can. It's looking to be a pretty awesome year.
“We have an awesome female drummer coming on next year with us called Lozz Benson and she's got that rocking soul sound that we've been chasing for years now. So we're going to have one of the best line-ups we'll ever have and we're already halfway towards a new album, so we'll be testing new songs out on the Perth kids as well.”
Murray adds: “Nannup is such a wonderful festival, we had such a great time when we were last there. The vibe of the town is amazing, music everywhere, and Phaedra [Watts] who organises and runs the festival is an old friend of Lizzie's. There's a real family atmosphere, so we're looking forward to it.”
The Soul Movers 2020 Tour Dates
Sun 22 Dec - Paddo RSL (Sydney)Fri 10 Jan - Elvis Festival (Parkes, NSW)
Fri 24 Jan - SS&A Albury (Albury, NSW)
Sat 1 Feb - The Vanguard (Sydney)
Fri 28 Feb - Freo.Social (Fremantle)
29 Feb-1 Mar - Nannup Music Festival (WA)
24-26 Apr - The Gum Ball (Hunter Valley)
