Thursday, December 15, 2005

Country release

Warrnambool Standard 15th Dec. 2005 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard  2005.  All rights reserved

 IT’S been seven years in the making but Warrnambool country line-up Lost In Suburbia finally has a solid product to show for its work. The band has been playing together for nine years and spent seven years working on the debut album, to be launched on Sunday night. Vocalist and drummer Rohan Keert said it was only pressure from those who attended their gigs which motivated them to produce it. ‘‘And we didn’t want to get 10 years down the track and not have a product to show for what we’d done,’’ he said. ‘‘We play for pure enjoyment so the record’s a byproduct.’’ The 17-track album features the group’s own interpretations of some country music covers as well as originals. There are also some performances from Shane, Damian and Marcia Howard, John Hudson, Trina Brown and Lyn Eales. Lost In Suburbia is a mishmash of experienced country musicians which began with an idea from bass guitarist Peter Bird in 1996. Hepulled together likeminded musicians Keert (drums, vocals), Murray McDowall (pedal steel), Wendy Goyen (vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion), Trevor McKenzie (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars) and Michael Schack (acoustic guitar, lap steel and vocals). ‘‘We’ve all come from different bands. Over the years people have done different projects. We’ve all been brought together by Pete Bird to be a bit of a country super band,’’ Keert said. ‘‘Pete wanted to play country again with the best possible line-up. The core of the band came from Nevada which was a bit of a seminal country band in the 70s.’’ Keert said now their appetite for producing albums had been whet, it wouldn’t be long before they released their next one. ‘‘Our next album will probably be live because that’s our strength and we’re going to write some more stuff. We’re going to start work on that straight away although it might take a year or two to come