The Bamboos are establishing a name for themselves as one of the hottest tickets in town.
So much so that the Melbourne-based nine-piece were nominated for not just one, but three ARIA Awards in 2012. But group guitarist and songwriter, Lance Ferguson, enthuses their nomination for Best Australian Live Act was most rewarding.
“It was amazing for us because we've been making records for a very long time,” Lance says. “[But] it was especially nice to get the Best Australian Live Act' nomination because we've worked so hard on that side of the band. “It felt nice that we'd finally been noticed by the music industry at large, and even though we didn't walk away with anything, it definitely felt like a big win in a lot of ways in that we're now on the radar in the music industry.”
However, rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in Australian music is second nature for Lance. Try collaborating with Megan Washington, Daniel Merriweather and a host of other guests on your latest album; then, try rounding up the star-studded cast to perform the album in its entirety. Did someone say logistical nightmare?
“The Medicine Man album [is] really guest heavy ... so I always knew it was going to be a challenge to take that album out live because to round up all of those people was going to be nigh on impossible.
“But we did two sold out shows at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne and we were able to get every guest who performed on that album on those nights – except Aloe Blacc as he's based in the US. I think those two nights … were the highlight of my year.”
Writing Medicine Man also marked yet another milestone for The Bamboos: a collaboration with Tim Rogers – best known as the vocalist and guitarist of You Am I – or as Lance puts it, teaming up with “living Australian rock & roll history”.
“I actually wrote 'I Got Burned' myself and I wrote the chords, the melody and the lyrics, and when I originally gave it to Tim, I said, 'look, here's the song I've written … but it's liquid in that you can mould it to whatever you like'. “He came back to me straight away and said, 'love it, everything's right and everything fits with me'. For me as a songwriter, it meant a lot that someone such as Tim Rogers came back to me and said my song sounded great and we'd [play] it the way it is.”
Tim tells a similar story. “I ... trust Lance and I'm real inspired by what he's done,” he says. “I've got a healthy ego, but I know I haven't really done much original. So when a guy like Lance plays me a demo, I follow it and wanna learn from him. He knocked back a [couple of] instrumental ideas I had and [you] know what? He was, potentially, right.”
Reminiscent of '60s Chicago soul music, the falsetto harmonies on 'I Got Burned' might have you second guessing whether Tim's pipes are actually behind the microphone. But don't worry. Plenty of experienced Australian DJs were baffled, too.
“When they were taking 'I Got Burned' [to] radio, one of the strategies was to not tell anyone who the vocalist was,” Lance explains. “But I was thinking that maybe we should highlight the fact it's Tim because of his profile and everything.
“But [that] was the strategy we went with, and the thing was [only] 1 out of 40 [commercial radio DJs] picked that it was Tim Rogers – you know, him singing in falsetto, and people aren't really used to hearing him sing that way.”
“[It didn't] surprise me,” Tim responds. “Commercial radio has never taken my voice to its comely bosom which suits me just fine. Having a radio 'hit' means you have to play the bloody thing for the rest of your life. Who wants that?”
The success of the collaboration has paved the way for the appropriately titled national tour, The Rock 'N' Roll Medicine Show. And while the two initially met at the 2011 Big Day Out – where Tim had the unlikely task of making fruit platters for those performing – Lance reveals the idea to commence a tour together didn't spark until the Medicine Man album show at the Corner Hotel.
“He got up live with us [at] that show at the Corner Hotel and did 'I Got Burned' and a Rolling Stones cover called 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking', and he absolutely smashed them out of the stadium with his performance. After that I was like, 'maybe we could go further with it?' And Tim was definitely enthusiastic about it as well.”
The Rock 'N' Roll Medicine Show sounds like the kind of tour that comes once in a lifetime. Not only will The Bamboos and Tim perform 'I Got Burned', but also You Am I tracks “arranged Bamboos style”, and a variety of hand-picked covers. And if that doesn't have you sold, throw in a couple of new originals The Bamboos and Tim have been busy concocting over the past few months.
“This will be an entertaining show,” declares Lance, “not only for the crowd, but also for us as a band because … it always invigorates the band when you get to play a whole bunch of new material after you've been playing your same set of songs for six months to a year.
“[And] playing with Tim Rogers is going to be like trying to catch a tiger by the tail, but I like that; in fact, I love that. So as much as we rehearse the stuff I've been talking about … there's still going to be an element of danger and unpredictability that he brings to the table.”
Tim Rogers & The Bamboos Shows:
Sat Feb 23 — Perth FestivalThu Feb 28 — QPAC (Brisbane)
Fri Mar 01 — Melbourne Zoo Twilights
Sat Mar 02 — Leongatha Memorial Hall (Leongatha)
Thu Mar 07 — Hi-Fi Bar (Sydney)
Fri Mar 08 — Cambridge Hotel (Newcastle)
Sat Mar 09 — Unibar (Wollongong)
Sun Mar 10 — Womadelaide (Adelaide)
All tickets are on sale now.
