Hi, Sticky Fingers here. Have you ever heard of the parsnip griller? Probably not, hahaha! It was a famous piece of Mexican cooking equipment marketed to those who enjoy parsnips and other delectable varieties from the nightshade family. In the late 70s, due to massive success in Mexico, it was brought to Australia, (both these countries have always been the best grillers in the southern and northern hemisphere). Have you heard of it? Most likely not! That’s because it didn’t do well, because Aussies stopped producing large quantities of parsnips when they found out it wasn’t all that delicious on its own, sometime in the early 50s.
Anyway, the Mexican company went broke, and the parsnip griller became less common in households, but it did spawn a famous saying “Que equino parsnipto in gurada?”, which translates to ‘Who knows if the parsnips will grow?’
Who knows what life holds for Sticky Fingers? We know how to party in Australia, and at the moment that’s good enough for us. In any event we’re a mixed bag of vegetables: Beaks mixes German and Brazilian to good effect, I’m a kind of Irish-something and Diz and Hollywood tip their hat to NZ. And style wise you might say that’s who we are as well. “Rudeboy” is a common term used in Jamaica. In the 1960s it was also used for juvenile delinquents and criminals in Jamaica, and has since been used in other contexts and that pretty much sums us up. A reviewer once said we had “choice vocal chops.” I like that.
What have we got coming up? Well, we just did about thirty dates on our national tour with a whole lot of clickety clacking along the way. We’re probably just gonna head home now.
What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?
Hmmm. Joe Strummer. I mean, I perform when I’m nervous and I don’t think people will like the real person inside me. I think unless you’re an old wise man or woman, you probably do this. It’s okay; like a diamond, you slowly let your real persona shine forth and you realise people actually don’t mind who you are. This is how the band has also developed as well, since we are coming into our own sound, and people seem to like it. We are inspired by those artists who don’t care who they are; they do it because they are, and people like them for that.
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What and where was the first gig you went to?
My dad’s band 50 Million Beers. I was around 5 years of age. I used to be Batman and the guys let me smash the drums in between sets. I’m a little bit taller now but not much has changed really; there’s times I still think I’m Batman. Diz thinks he’s the Itch-e (or Scratch-e), or the Silver Surfer, and Hollywood definitely is the lazy Power Ranger. Beaker is his own superhero; he’s something people actually aspire to. He’s even had his pic painted up on the side wall of the Annandale.
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
Stole Bob Dylan, sold it for cash dollars at Cash Converters and bought a train ticket. Thought I’d learn more about Dylan doing that than listening to him moan about the most beautiful of things.
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
A spinning 1 tonne iron weight, in the shape of a giant butterfly. Ruined my fucking iPod and costs heaps to move with removalists. On my other devices I’ve got the Clash, Toots & The Maytals, Neil Young, Linton Kwessi Johnson, The Shins, and Underlights.
How do you find new music?
Keep my ears open. I work in a live music venue in Sydney called the Annandale. That joint definitely helps shed light on awesome up and comers such as Underlights and Lyall Moloney. They’re the real deal.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
Sometimes we put our heads together and do a big “OOHHHMMMMM”. It’s not very spiritual because we don’t give it much deep thought, but it sounds good and does have a camaraderie effect. Or something.
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?
It’d have to be held somewhere sweet. And I think I’d call it the Gold In The Mine festival. Such a great name, Gold In The Mine. And it’d probably be pretty similar to a rude boy version of Woodstock. But smaller. Lets say 1200 people. With two stages. One big and one small. Does this remind you of something? It’s starting to remind me of something. And with more local bands on. So yeah, a small psychedelic, rude boy, local band oriented Woodstock called Gold In The Mine. Or maybe Gold In The Mind. Nothing like Woodstock really, but you get the idea.
When you’re Rolling Stones Big, what are you going to request on your rider: don’t be shy. We want specifics!
Nothing excessive, maybe heaps of cans of beans and corns so that we can give them to the poor people in the neighbourhood. Also the body parts from wild bears that we will feed to the rabid dogs that are also on the rider. Don’t know what we’re going to do with them when we’ve fed them. Maybe also the right bits and pieces to make a pillow fort for exclusive use of the band.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
Taras Hrubyj-Piper. He’s just really fucking good at writing songs and he’s quite humble about it as well. You probably don’t know him, but let’s be honest, he wears a mask and we’re not even sure he knows himself! (Taras wrote this – I adapted it). Other people: well there’s a heap, some alive and some not so alive, I really don’t know where to start so we’ll stick with Taras’s answer. It’s true he’s a good songwriter.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
A western drive by thriller, with an M Night Shamalayan twist. There has to be some sort of oasis in the desert thought because of the tropical aspect. Also will have to add chilli powder spurters into each theatre which go off at specific times to sting and burn the patrons, just like what happens when we play live (our hygiene isn’t always what it could be). But you know, my mum still comes along (dad’s busy playing in his band).
When can we see you play, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
Gee, you just missed our momentous Australian tour, but our future tour dates will be up on our blogspot, and our website, and Facebook too.
We’ve had 2 EPs both of them with a sickly sexual twist, if you’re thinking about it, (and we were). One was called Extended Play and the other Happy Endings (this one is ironically a limited edition). Our manager wanted to call the album, when we do it, Fully Extended. I don’t get it, so we’re not calling it that.
You can get the releases everywhere, they’re out thru MGM and we have a bandcamp site.
