Rachel Parkinson
is a young
She spoke to David McMillan
on
D: Rachel is described on her
website, and I love this, as a “crazy chicken sex dog freak” ….welcome to the studios of 88.3 Southern FM. I know you’ve
been in before and have appeared on Amanda Hugg’s
program ‘Flying Solo’
R: Thanks David…yes…yes…she likes
me a lot
D: I’ve heard you on that program
and it sounds good
R: That’s
cos I take over
D: Well I doubt I can really
do an interview of the quality of Amanda
R: (laughs a lot)…yeah she’s a very
funny interview...er
D: So you’ve been working as
a singer/songwriter around the traps for a while now…
R: Yes…
I was a drummer before that
D: a multi-instumentalist ?
R: Yeah,
but I decided that playing in bands really sucks cos
you have to deal with other people. So I had to go solo, but there’s not
much of a market for solo drummers, so I had to learn to sing and write
and play guitar so I did that and started playing, and now I’ve put a band
together.
D: So you’ve gone from not wanting
to work with a lot of people to working with a lot of people.
R: Exactly…
but now I’m the front person…I’m the star!
D: You’ve got control now
R: I have
and it’s really fun. It’s really fun being the front person cos you get to do all the talking, and everyone else
just has to follow you.
D: And there’s
not many drummers that have been able to do that…
R: There’s
a few, but not many. They tend to stick to the skins.
D: So you decided to get out
and write songs and play guitar. Had you played guitar already or did you
have to learn it from scratch?
R: Well
I’d always had a guitar but I’d never really learnt it. It was something
I, you know, knew a few chords and just sort of mucked around, played other
peoples songs and stuff. So yeah I had to pretty much really learn from scratch.
D: So it wasn’t like you’d grown
up as a teenage girl sitting in your bedroom feeling maudlin, and writing
songs ?
R: No,
I wrote a few songs on the recorder when I was young…they were pretty awful.
But I pretty much played drums until about 5 years ago, no even prob’ly less, played drums until about 3 years ago.
Now I just play drums every now and then. They’re always set up but guitar’s
my instrument of choice now.
D: I guess it’s a hell of a
lot easier going into a gig just carrying a guitar.
R: Ooh
yeah, oh yeah. I don’t know why I didn’t do it 15 years ago
D: Gotta
be a big plus
R: It is,
it is, it’s so easy, you don’t have to worry about double parking out the
front of the gig, you just go and park down the
street and carry your guitar in… so easy! Oh yeah…I will never do that ever
again.
D: So are you playing around
a fair bit ? Getting gigs here and there?
R: Yeah,
getting a few gigs…mainly on radio being interviewed …no…
D: That’s alright but the pay
is terrible
R: Well
that’s right but I get to go and meet new people and it’s quite fun doing
radio. Maybe I should be a radio presenter…
D: Why not
R: yeah,
can I, can I um….nothing… Yeah doing a few gigs. Did a gig on Saturday night
with the band, it was the first show with the band which went quite well
actually. I was quite pleased with it. It was better than all the rehearsals
we’d done, so that was good. And they seemed to like us, so that’s another
bonus
D: Perhaps having an audience
in front of you is the key
R: Perhaps,
yes. Well I’ve always been a believer in getting out and actually doing
the gig rather than getting 100% perfect at home and then doing the gigs.
If you get out and start doing it it’s the only way to get better
D: I think seeing music live
is the way to go , and there’s this big issue
in
R: Exactly,
or going to a nightclub where there’s just boof
boof boof boof boof. Seeing a live
band it’s great…seeing live music.
D: And I think that the performers
feed off the audience and vice versa
R: Definitely
D: So it gets that kind of magic
doesn’t it
R: Definitely,
definitely
D: So it was a good gig. Tell
me a little bit about your band, who’ve you got in the band?
R: I’ve
got this drummer called John, he’s a fantastic drummer…love
his work. He’s playing in a band at the moment called ‘Kathematics’. And he’s almost related to me I guess,
he’s my boyfriend’s sister’s brother’s… No. He’s my boyfriend’s sister’s
boyfriend’s brother.
D: Oh okay
R: So it’s
a bit incestuous
D: Sort of six degrees of separation
R: Yeah
something like that. But he’s really good and
he’s a great person too. Then I’ve got a bass player called Damien who did
his first show in 14 years on Saturday night, hadn’t done a show since the
eighties, so that was a bit daunting for him I think, but he played quite
well. He plays really nice bass. And I’ve got a guitarist called Bill. He’s
from Cranbourne. Bill from Cranny and I’m singing
and playing guitar obviously.
D: Okay. So you’ve been working
as a singer/songwriter and up and performing just with your guitar. The transition
from that to having a band behind you must make quite a difference.
R: Huge.
Completely different. I’m playing completely
different things in every song. I’m playing electric guitar too, so none
of this folky strumming up and down. It’s like ‘Raarrgh’ power
chords…
D: So you’re rocking out…
R: Yeah
it’s a bit more of a ‘rock’ thing. When I’m solo it’s a bit more girlie folk,
when I’m rock, you know, I’ve got pants on, got the foot up on the foldback wedge, you know, it’s a bit rocky
D: That’s interesting cos a couple of weeks ago I chatted to Tess McKenna…she’s had about 3 or 4 albums out and
on her most recent album, she’d been doing this kinda
acoustic alt.country sort of stuff and she
just got sick of doing it and just wanted to get up on stage with an electric
guitar and just rock out.
R: Well
that’s exactly how I’m feeling. I’m just really enjoying the ‘rock’ you
know and that rraargh rrarrgh
big intro’s big choruses and kind of a bit quieter in the verses. And it’s
good having three other people cos I don’t actually
have to play all the time. I can like, play a few notes in the intro, have
a rest during the verse, just sing a bit
D: Go and have a cuppa tea
R: Exactly…
play a few notes in the chorus…it’s great!
D: So have you got the other
guys in the band doing any harmonies with you?
R: Not
yet but I’m working on it. I’m working on them. They need to sing. Everyone
can sing and I just… like, lots of people don’t think they can sing, but
everyone can sing.
D: Well we’ve all got our own
instrument haven’t we, which is perhaps our voice.
R: Well
exactly, and I never used to be able to sing and I …when I was a drummer
years ago I wasn’t allowed to sing cos I was
just awful. I was awful. I was awful. But then I decided I wanted to be a
singer so I just sang, and sang all the time. People need to do it more often.
More singing in the world. Have more singing and
it would create more happiness and less wars.
D: Speaking of more singing
and less war, do you want to play a song for us?
Rachel plays the song ‘Dirty’
which has some cheeky lyrics about spanking (excuse the pun).
D: Now, your material,
where do you come up with it?
R: I steal
most of it. Plagiarism I think it’s called.
D: I think it’s a valid art
form.
R: Yeah
well definitely… just a little bit from there, a word from that song, a
word from that song, a chord from that song and a word from that Billboard.
It all adds up.
D: It’s a Post Modernist construction.
R: Something
like that yeah.
D: Do you have particular sorts
of things you like to write about?
R: Sex
mainly. All different things. My most recent song
is caslled ‘Queen and I’. It’s about finding
out that your boyfriend’s got a boyfriend. And that was just inspired by
‘The Bill’. It was inspired by the couple on The Bill that just got married
and she discovers he’s been slepping with that
other guy. It’s digusting now The Bill. It used
to be a good Cop Show and now it’s just all about…rooting.
D: Soap Opera
R: It is, it is. But that insired me to write that song. What else do
I write about? I wrote a song about George W Bush, called ‘Pack Yourself
Away’, just anything. Sometimes I’ll sit down and write a song just about
‘garbage’ . But people don’t really have to analyse my songs.
D: I guess not, so long as it
doesn’t come out sounding like ‘garbage’.
R: I’ve
got a song and the lyric is “I’ve smelt the fish man, and played the game
of what we like”. And I don’t know what that means. That doesn’t mean anything.
D: Could be interpreted in a
number of ways
R: You
can interpret whatever you like, you might think I’m just a crazy woman
but I’m not. Or just a little bit but not too much.
D: Well you have to be a little
bit crazy I reckon.
D: Now, you’ve
put it all together with a little EP called ‘Chunky’
R: I have.
It’s very chunky. Because I’m such a skinny runt, somethings
gotta be chunky.
D: Like the chips or something.
I’m just trying to work out what it is on the cover. Could be chips…
R: It’s just squiggly lines
D: Lovely graphic
image.
R: And
a really ugly picture of me on the back
D: Well I like
the colour of your skin on that.
R: Thankyou
D: Comes with a fridge magnet
and everything
R: It does, a fridge magnet. With me
on it.
D: And five tracks
on the CD , all written by you and performed by
you , and you recorded it in February this year. So where is this going to
be available Rachel, where can people get their hands on it?
R: Well
you can come to a gig and you can buy it from me. Or you can go to www.cdonline.com.au or
you can go to my website and there’s a link www.rachelparkinson.tk
D: It’s a good website. It’s
fun to have a look at.
R: It’s
very good. Everyone go there now and leave me messages. Rude ones, preferably.
D: It’s not X rated but you can
leave rude messages of course.
R: And
I’ve got a TV Show. Channel 31 Friday nights
D: Tell me about it.
R: It’s,
it’s really bad, no, it’s really fun actually I’m the host of the show,
and I’ve got a couple of co-hosts who help me out a bit, some don’t help
me out so much but others help me out a bit. And we interview comedians,
a bit of a chat at the start then you see a comedian doing a bit of stand
up, then we interview the comedian.
D: Has that generated a bit
of interest in your music as well? Do you perform on the show yourself.
R: No I
don’t. I’m Rachel Parkinson the co-host of The Comic Box.
D: I reckon you should.
R: I don’t
think they would let me. Maybe I will one day.
D: Who makes the rules on these
things?
R: The
producer does. I’m not allowed to do anything. I have to follow the rules.
There’s so many rules. There are certain words
I’m not allowed to say either.
D: Yeah we have those restrictions
too.
R: Like
syphillis, I’m not allowed to say that on air,
they reckon I say it too much. I’m not allowed to say fantastic either,
cos I say it all the time.
D: Well I get in trouble for
saying ‘absolutely’
R: Absolutely
D: Well that’s fantastic
R: But
watch it, Friday nights
We then discussed Rachel’s forthcoming gigs and went out with Rachel playing
‘Tongue Tied’