I’m George Sheppard, one of the songwriters, vocalist and pianist for Brisbane’s 6-piece alternative pop band, Sheppard. My 2 sisters are in the band with me, so it’s a bit of a family affair, hence the name. We’ve just completed our first world tour, which had us playing festivals in South Africa, UK and USA, and we’re about to play our first show ever in Melbourne this Thursday. After that we embark on our first tour of India in November for OZFest. We’re all super excited to say the least.
What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?
My earliest memory of performing was dancing around the house at my 7th birthday party to the Lion King’s “Hakuna Matata”. It was my favourite song at the time, and I decided it would be a fantastic idea to put on a show for the rest of my party guests and dance around the house mouthing the words dressed up like a lion. It went down a treat – everyone applauded at the end and I think that moment helped inspire me to become a performer, but looking back I’m sure they must have been sympathy claps… It wasn’t the most convincing lion costume, and I would’ve looked like an absolute Looney Toon!
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What and where was the first gig you went to?
Hahaha… Ok! Ok! I’ll tell you! Please just leave my rider be… He has nothing to do with this!!
The first gig I can remember attending was Jamiroquai when I was 15. I bought the tickets fair and square, but Mum said I was way too young to be going out to a concert. I just HAD to go, so in the end I just told her I was staying at my friend’s place, my friend said he was staying at my place, and we went to the concert and had a blast! The one hole in the genius plan – at the end of the night we realised we had no place to go back to…
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
I’ve never stolen ANY records from my — OK! I’ll tell you! Just don’t hurt the rider!
I grew up in Papua New Guinea, and when time came to start high school, I was shipped away to boarding school in Brisbane. I was red raw at my parents for sending me away, so as punishment I took with me my Dad’s favourite record in my suitcase – Harry Belafonte’s Greatest Hits. Turns out Dad was extremely proud of me for taking it. He figured it meant I had great musical taste, and took it upon himself to buy every Belafonte record for my next birthday… I’m actually a huge Harry Belafonte fan now. Talk about a plan backfiring!
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
Coldplay are always on heavy rotation for me, Black Keys’ “El Camino” has definitely had a serious work out, but the new Muse album has been perking my ears up lately. They have tried every style of Rock, and its great to see a band consistently reinventing themselves. It’s a really entertaining album, and sounds great. A new Australian band I’ve been listening to is Jinja Safari. They’ve got their own special brand of Indie Pop and its been said they’re Australia’s answer to Vampire Weekend. They’re one of the bands we get to tour with to India, and I’m pretty excited to meet them!
How do you find new music?
I usually go through music blogs, or I just see what I can uncover on iTunes. I’ll pick an artist I like, then I let Genius do the rest. Or I’ll just keep on clicking “Artists you may like” until I find another gem. There’s a massive catalogue of great music on iTunes that I’ve never heard, and I’m always finding something new.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
I don’t tend to do a lot of talking or walking around. I just need to sit still and be with my thoughts with a warm cup of tea and Manuka Honey. I need to mentally build up and conserve my energy, like a battery sitting on it’s charger, until just before we go on, where I’ll have one last spoonful of Manuka Honey, and then BOOM!!!! GO TIME!!!!
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?
Well the best festivals I’ve been to are the festivals where music is only a part of it.
I would call my imaginary festival…. “Jungle Jam!”, and I would hold “Jungle Jam!” in the middle of a clearing surrounded by tropical rainforest, and it would be Jungle themed. The bill would have to include plenty of Percussion groups such as Weapons of Sound. It would also have to include Coldplay, Foster the People, Jungle Giants (Obviously), Paul Simon (I can dream right?), The entire cast of The Lion King’s Broadway musical (Still dreaming), Jinja Safari, and of course, Sheppard!
As I mentioned earlier, it wouldn’t be all about the music. There would be a monkey temple, where people can go to feed and play with monkeys. There would be a lagoon with a waterfall that people could (safely) jump from. Water slides through the jungle would be a must. There would definitely be a Jungle Club that served exotic cocktails and drinks, and a costume shop where people could get their faces painted and could dress up like animals or tribes people. There would be fresh fruit stalls, juice bars, and all different kinds of food from all over the world. As for how many people I would let in, I would probably cap it at 15,000 as I wouldn’t want people to feel cramped. They would have the space to lie about in the grass, and have room to dance as crazy as they wanted. Jungle Jam! Lets make it happen!
When you’re Rolling Stones Big, what are you going to request on your rider: don’t be shy. We want specifics!
Hahaha… This will be fun. Well I’m not into drugs, so it would have to be other cool stuff that everyone can enjoy like Mario Kart in everyone’s dressing room, or a baby grand piano so we can have a jam after the show. Cookies and Cream ice cream is a must, and a massage would be great before the show. Oh and I love juice, so a large assortment of exotic fresh juice is essential. J
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
Well, as odd a pairing as it might be, I’d have to say Gotye. Not just because of his recent success with THAT song, but because I feel he always comes out with something interesting and different, and his production always seems to be first class. He seems like he’d be a really creative person to collaborate with, and I’ve been a fan of his for many years, so it would be great to work with him someday.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
Hahaha… It’s funny you should ask, because we’ve been approached to have some of our songs featured in a US horror film called “Old 37” due out next year. I never would have guessed our music would be perfect for a horror film, but life always has a way of surprising you. We get to fly to New York and appear in the film also, so it’s quite exciting for us!
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them? [Feel include links, dates, album titles etc.]
Well we have our debut EP currently out on iTunes – (http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/sheppard-ep/id552671596), which we have been touring through the USA, UK and South Africa.
As I mentioned earlier, we’ll be playing in Melbourne at the Ding Dong lounge this Thursday evening at 8pm, so if you want to come have some fun with us, don’t be shy, come say hi!
If you want to stay up to date with Sheppard news, you can:
a) like our Facebook page – facebook.com/sheppardband
b) follow us on twitter – @wearesheppard
c) visit our website – wearesheppard.com
Thanks for reading!
