Monday 17 May 2010

Conversational | Bridezilla

by Ashlea Maher, 16 May 2010...

Bridezilla’s fragile indie folk/pop may not be your thing, but this Australian quintet certainly have an alluring appeal as the new breed of cool. After a chat with frontwoman Holiday Sidewinder, Ashlea Maher is feeling very old...


Boy meets girl and falls in love. Girl marries boy and they live happily ever after.

It’s the typical fairytale love story, but fresh-faced Sydney indie band Bridezilla are out to prove such lovesick dreams can indeed come true.

Bridezilla, if need be, can be classified as avante, classical, indie, folk pop, likened to everything from Dirty Three’s instrumental explorations, to Cat Power’s country-noir and PJ Harvey’s darkened outsider pop. Coming from an unashamed and kooky left field with a diverse musical make-up, Bridezilla are lead guitarist and vocalist Holiday Sidewinder, guitarist Pia May, saxophonist and keyboardist Millie Hill, violinist Daily Tulley and drummer Josh Bush.

Given they’re young, cute, hip and popular as well as musically gifted, it’s little wonder their whimsical melodies are sweeping the US and Australia off their feet and they are one of the most talked about bands at this weekend's The Great Escape in Brighton.

Since forming in 2005 during high school, Bridezilla have come a long way.

After releasing their first EP, Bridezilla have supported big names and international bands including Wilco, The Drones and Cold War Kids, have played at Australia’s inaugural All Tomorrow’s Parties and have played in New York, at the personal invivtation of Nick Cave and The Flaming Lips, all before releasing  their debut album The First Dance last November.

Despite receiving considerable backlash, deeming their success to be less about their talent and more about their connections (Sidewinder is the daughter of actor/singer Loene Carmen), they have come a long way for a group public school students.

Sparing time for a quick chat in Brighton (in between updating her Facebook status and posting tweets all directly after a long haul flight which landed at 5am that morning) frontwoman Holiday Sidewinder seems to maintain all the elements of an energetic youth.

In the UK for The Great Escape and a whirlwind tour with 10 dates, Sidewinder says the prospect of wooing the uber hip UK scene “is like a dream”. Maybe such whimsical statements are the product of jetlag and lack of sustenance, or maybe Bridezilla has a date with destiny.

“We’re really excited, a little overwhelmed. Actually, I think I’m going to faint,” Sidewinder says.

“It was a long flight... The food was bad. What is it with the powdered egg? Why does everything have to be powdered? They could just as easily give us a piece of fruit.”

“I’m working on stay up power.”

With no specific plans to charm the UK, Bridezilla’s cool and careless vibe is already turning heads in the indie media.

“We had no idea we were doing this until about seven weeks ago. It’s like jumping in the deep end,” Sidewinder says.

“But it seems like it could be a good market for our out-of-the-box music here.”

“It’s a bit hard to build a substantial fanbase in Australia. We have a small and disperse nation, so touring is hard in that respect,” she says, “But here you can travel easily and play lots of shows.”

Prepare to fall in love.



Bridezilla play: at The Aussie BBQ @ Cargo May 16, Rough Trade East May 18, w/Mother Mother @ The Windmill May 19, Hannah's Bar, Liverpool May 20, Stag and Dagger Festival May 22 and w/Stereo @ Bis, Glasgow.

The First Dance is available through Rough Trade.

No comments:

Post a Comment