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ON THE COUCH WITH: Adalita

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: Hey Adalita. How are you?

Adalita: : Good. You?

Access All Areas.net.au: I'm not too bad. You recently contributed to the Suburban Mayhem soundtrack. What was it that attracted you to this project?
Adalita: : Mick Harvey (laughs). Paul Goldman (laughs). I was a big fan of Paul's last movie, 'Australian Rules'. I heard that he was making this great new film and thought it would be great. I then got a call from Norman at Icon Pictures and was asked to contribute to the soundtrack. When I heard that Mick was involved, I was automatically in. I was like "Oh My God!" The song that Mick had chosen was really cool. Paul was there as well and he just pushed us to do our best. He really wanted the best for the film. It was great to do it. It was something new. It all went really quickly as well. It went from recording the song to filming the video and attending the premiere of the movie. I also got to play at the after party.

Access All Areas.net.au: How does being solo compare to being with Magic Dirt?
Adalita: : It's not a solo project (laughs). I've collaborated with other people before, like Bodyjar, so it wasn't such an alien thing to do. Dean (from Magic Dirt) also played Bass when we recorded it, so it wasn't such a big departure. It was just a great movie and a great opportunity. Dean and I were freaking out in the studio anyway. We were around such legends (laughs).

Access All Areas.net.au: For the soundtrack, you worked with Mick Harvey (right hand man to Nick Cave and member of the Bad Seeds). What was that like?
Adalita: : Amazing. I was like "Its Mick Harvey" (laughs). It's weird, because we met Tex Perkins about 4 years ago and we really hit it off. Now we're really good friends, but back then it was still new. One week, Tex was staying at Micks house and he invited us over. We were like just excited about being in his house (laughs). So when Mick and I started work on the soundtrack, I was just like "I was in your house!" It's just great to know his history and everything. It was wonderful.

Access All Areas.net.au: What's currently playing on your iPod?
Adalita: : A band called The Stems. Listening to a lot of that recently. I have heaps on my iPod. Some Mazzy Star and Rocky Ericsson. I love a bit of Rocky (laughs). There's just a lot of older stuff. Oh and Interpol. They're not really old, but I love them.

Access All Areas.net.au: Did you see them when they toured last year?
Adalita: : Oh I did. I was in heaven. It was awesome.

Access All Areas.net.au: Would you like to do more solo work?
Adalita: : Well if it happens, it happens. I've written a lot of stuff that wouldn’t suit Magic Dirt, but the band's pretty busy at the moment and I'm just loving it. One day if I got my shit together, then who knows. Right now though, there's no plan for a side project.

Access All Areas.net.au: After contributing to a movie soundtrack, would you ever star in a movie?
Adalita: : I already have. It's a short film by Glendin Ivin. It's called 'The Desert' and it’s actually nominated at the AFI's. Glendin did some of our clips before, like 'Pace It', and this film is basically a short film version of our music video, 'I Love The Rain'. It's really deep.

Access All Areas.net.au: Are there any dream collaborations that you would like to do, whether it is a producer or artist?
Adalita: : We'll just have to wait and see what comes along (laughs). I would love to work with Neil Young. That would be amazing. I'd also like to work with Kurt Cobain, just cause that would be so much fun. That’s really it for now.

Access All Areas.net.au: What do you think of the current music scene?
Adalita: : I'm not really the person to ask. I only really talk to my friends and peers about music. I don't even listen to that much music. I just like to stay out of the press as much as I can. Reading the papers can really fuck with your head, so I don't do it anymore. There are some great Australian bands though. I'm really excited about some of the upcoming Aussie bands like Bit By Bats and Wolf and Cub. Even some of the older Aussie bands are still great. I just want to hear some crazy stuff. Everything is very exciting at the moment.

Access All Areas.net.au: What does the future hold for both Adalita and Magic Dirt?
Adalita: : Well Magic Dirt are now independent, so that's a massive change. We've never been our own label before and there are a lot of changes. We just recorded an E.P. that we're going to give away at our gigs next month. A few smaller record stores might sell them, but they will be mainly sold at gigs. We're then going to record a mini album and see where that takes us. The immediate future for Magic Dirt is just really busy. There's no time to breathe or think or have fun, but I love it. We are having so much fun at the moment. It's incredible. I'm loving the new phase that the band is going through. The music is a lot darker and heavier. It is awesome fun.

Access All Areas.net.au: Thanks for chatting with us today Adalita.
Adalita: : No worries Simon. My pleasure. Have a good one.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

The Soundtrack to new Australian indie flick, Suburban Mayhem, features a mostly Australian cast, including new vocal performances by Magic Dirt's Adalita (with her first proper solo recording endeavour under her own name), and a score composed and produced by Aussie legend, Mick Harvey (The Bad Seeds)...

The musical centre piece and emotional heart of this tale of suburban chaos is also the opening theme of the film and single from the album, the thunderous "Double Dare".

The Hoyt Axton classic gets revamped, fully juiced up, slashed and burnt by Magic Dirt's Adalita in a scorching vocal tour de force. The accompanying video clip is currently on the tube and causing a ruckus with its reasonably raunchy and very rock'n'roll performance from Adalita, howling like a banshee from the backseat of a speeding Chrysler Charger, with the film's lead actress Emily Barclay along for the ride! The video is also a bonus CD Rom component of the commercially released CD single.

The track is one of two new performances from Adalita, the second her rocking cover of "Sex Beat", which she stomps through with a suitably punky angst.

Both tracks are produced by Mick Harvey (Nick Cave's right hand man, arranger and longtime member of The Bad Seeds) and feature a stellar line up of Australian musicians including Spencer P. Jones (guitar), Roland S. Howard (guitar), Mick Harvey (organ), Dean Turner (bass) and Peter Jones (drums).

The remaining songs on the soundtrack album are a fantastic musical backdrop to the chaotic events of the film. As an album, they present a tight set of head nodding, attitude filled rock songs. With a mostly Australian make up, and also a mostly Female led vocal line up, the cohesiveness of the album shines through with a fist in the air glory. This is a car tape aimed at suburban mayhem!

The score, composed, arranged and produced by Mick Harvey, one Australia's most respected and versatile producer/writers, features some excellent atmospheric cues from the film. Mostly short but essential pieces for the plot's development, they feature predominantly solo piano, treated guitars and varied percussion.

www.suburbanmayhem.com

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

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Your most memorable Festival moment or experience?
Playing in Norway at Hove festival was great. We were on boats all day People seemed to know us a lot more than they should and we played before the fleet foxes.

Favourite Artist you’ve seen at a Music Festival?
Fleet Foxes. Passion Pit.

What’s your ideal Festival line-up?
The Mystery Jets. The xx. Friendly Fires. Radiohead.

What are your tips for attending Music Festivals?
Make friends with someone in a band so you can get back to where things are free and relatively speaking; comfortable.