Hey! Lily and Michael here from Second Hand Heart, we’re a Melbourne-based alternative indie pop band orginally from Ballarat. We like sunshine, colour and long hair. For the record we do like beards too, Michael recently posted a clip of him shaving his beard on ‘The Beards’ band facebook, that didn’t go down to well with The Beards… He reposted another clip titled ‘Reabeard – the reappearance of the beard’ at their request (the same clip but in reverse) which went much much better, we know this is the part where we tell you about our music and about what we’re doing and yadayada but we feel we need to set the record straight. we heart beards – Check out the clip here!
What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?
Lily – Playing a really out of tune, ancient upright piano at my primary school concert in a tiny little community hall outside of Ballarat. I went to a tiny primary school near Ballarat with about 15 kids. The piano was missing keys and the stage creaked and groaned when you walked across it.
Michael Jackson was my inspiration to start writing songs, I was totally obsessed with him and used to cry in primary school when people joked about him.
Tell us about the origin on the band’s name Second Hand Heart…
Lily – The band formed in Ballarat about 6 years ago. Jess and I had been jamming since we were 15 and the band started when John and I met at a TAFE music course at Ballarat Uni.
Is the writing process started by Jess or a group effort?
Michael – Usually Jess will bring the beginnings of a song to rehearsal (chords, melody, some of the lyrics) and from there we pick it apart, brainstorm to come up with the form, maybe mess with the rhythms and piece it all together. We’d like to experiment with the writing process in the future – maybe start with a single riff or drum pattern and see where that takes us. The great thing about our writing at the moment is that nobody holds the steering wheel too tight so anyone in the band is free to lead the songs in a new direction.
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
Michael – Thankfully my dad had some good taste in music back in his hippy days. I didn’t really know what he had, but when I saw a pile of a few hundred vinyl on his wardrobe shelf I jumped up on the bed, pulled them all down and dusted them off. Amongst them was Pink Floyd’s Dark Side, The Beatles – Abbey Road, The Doors – Waiting For The Sun, and Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced. As if I wasn’t going to nick them, roll up a spliff and relive my father’s youth. That would be criminal.
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
Lily – Major Lazer, Radiohead King of Limbs and Matt Corby’s EP A Song…
Your music has been likened to a rather broad range of artists from Seeker Lover Keeper to Radiohead, how would you describe your own music?
Michael – Surely that’s the hardest question any artist or musician has to answer, so I’ll try my best to avoid it and answer it precisely in metaphorical talk.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
Lily – I like to find a space backstage to be alone and think about why I’m there playing the gig, about the songs and what they mean and get in the right frame of mind to perform. I also like to shake my arms around in all directions and pretend to be a monkey.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?
Michael – I’d have a tram festival in Melbourne, where any local band is invited to play a set of tunes for the duration of the tram route (so long as all band members have a valid ticket). We’d let in whatever the tram’s capacity is (around 100) but the good thing is that people can get off at anytime so someone else can get on. Attractions would include all the classic icons of Melbourne – Luna Park, Flinders St Station steps, the unfinished Melbourne eye.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with?
Lily – Katie Noonan, she has the most amazing voice and musical ability and her creativity is something I’d love to tap into.
Your video for your current single ‘Trouble’ launched recently, a lot of bands choose to do performance based clips, yours has a story line, tell us about the concept behind it?
Lily – I’m sure we’ll do a performance based clip but we all liked the idea of having a story line to the clip. We had big grand ideas at the beginning about different locations and complex ideas but in the end settled on a fairly simple concept that our director Cesar came up with that we loved, it’s kind of about how when your in love things aren’t always as they seem, and how objects and gifts take on different meanings.
You’re next show is for the video launch at The Empress on the 8th September, what else do you have in store for the rest of 2012?
Lily – we’re recording our next EP at the moment and we’ll be working on getting another single out by towards the end of the year.
