Super Massive
Time Out Sydney could hardly have missed this band: after all, their mass is enormous - indeed, some might say "super"...
By Andrew P Street
Who are they? The band was built out of the ashes of The Bryan Ferrysexual Experience, a Machine Gun Fellatio side-project created by drummer/synth whiz Glenn Abbott. Malina Hamilton-Smith joined up as dancer/occasional singer and when Abbott's other bands split in 2005 they recruited Marc Malouf (guitar) and Tak Tanimoto (bass) to become Super Massive.
Who's giving them props? Musicoz did: the country's largest independent music awards declared them Best Alternative Artist at the 2007 event, which has led to their distribution deal with MGM as well as some festival berths - not to mention the Global Night Shift Concert To End Child Slavery. "It involved concerts in seven cities simultaneously. We played in a national line-up that included Evermore, The Hampdens and TZU," Hamilton-Smith explains.
What do they sound like? Hamilton-Smith describes it as covering all bases "from the cinematic sounds of Henry Mancini to the melodic style of Burt Bacharach, the riff driven rock of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, the playfulness of Basement Jaxx and Daft Punk, the theatricality of Alice Cooper and David Bowie, the hint of darkness of Depeche Mode, with the grooviness of Nile Rodgers."
So "eighties" would kinda sum it up? Sort of: they definitely like their synth pop. "We appreciate the songwriting of the 80s. Synths were a new frontier back then, just starting to creep into the mainstream. It really was like hearing new music. Glenn loved the Australian artists of that time, like Models, Machinations and Dropbears. I was pretty turned on in some rather formative years by the late 80s dance/house music like Black Box, Salt & Pepa and the KLF, but I really fell more in love with the trip hop and French electro of the 90s."
That photo suggests they're into the visual side of things too. "Absolutely. We try to express the music visually, whether that's, say with a band shot, or at a song level, to bring extra meaning to the delivery of a song with a particular costume. I sometimes go through three to four costumes in one 45 minute set. It's not so much a strip, more a change-on-set. We sometimes wear stuff on stage that's a little weird or a little out-there. It's a fine line, but we kind of like to see that in a band."
Where can I hear them? They're launching their self-titled EP at Candys Apartment on Friday 11 July, along with Christa Hughes & Leonie Cohen and Hunter Lloyd. There's even a dirty hotel night for two on offer as a door prize, so get there early.