Warrnambool band the Extreme Sprinklers
A SPRINKLER operates best when put under pressure and the Extreme Sprinklers are no exception. Work, children, commitments to other bands and the expectations raised by being voted best musical act in the south-west all add to the pressure on a group that is less than a year old. Now there’s the stress of launching the debut EP, Jamaica. The band had its genesis about 18 months ago as a recording project for guitarist Matt Neal and singer Jade McLaren. When it came time to play live, prolific south-west musos Matt Hewson (bass) and Harry Fahey (drums) completed the chemistry. “Hewy teaches music, Jade studies music, I write about music and Harry teaches people how to hit drums,” Neal laughed at the obligatory drummer joke. “We were looking for a bass player and a drummer so we could play it live. We’re good mates with them and they’re great players so it’s become a real band.” Only two months after playing its first gig, the band won the inaugural Seanchai Unplugged competition. Two months later it was named best musical act in the south-west at the 2004 Warrnambool Associated Music Industry awards. “It was a popular vote thing so it’s not like we mustered up heaps of fans to write in or whatever,” Neal said self-consciously. “We felt like the new upstart punks. “It made us work even harder because we realise that we had something we had to live up to. “It probably put more pressure on us more than anything. “This band’s been all about pressure because we’re all so busy with various other things like work and Hewy’s got kids and all the other side projects that everything’s a mad scramble to get there. “On Saturday when we launch this, we’ve been trying to get as many originals together as we can. We’ve all got s . . . loads written but playing them is a-whole-nother matter.” The band members’ experience is complemented by the passion of a naturally talented singer. “Jade, because it’s his first band, has got the drive and the passion and the excitement of being in the first band and that inspires the rest of us to be excited about it,” Neal said. “Me and Hewy and Harry are more experienced, more realistic, more jaded about stuff that’s gone before.” So far Neal and McLaren have driven the songwriting “out of necessity”, he said. “I put on the cover composed by me and Jade and arranged by the Extreme Sprinklers because I think that’s really important . . . The songs are nothing without the stuff that Harry and Hewy bring because they’re both phenomenal players.’’ The Extreme Sprinklers have 11 shows in Warrnambool and Hamilton during the next 11 weeks and are planning to play in Melbourne by the end of the year. The band will put down a track on South West TAFE’s Music Industry Skills course album later in the year and is tossing up between recording an album or more EPs sooner rather than later. Gonz will open the show at the Royal Hotel, Warrnambool at 10pm on Saturday.
CD review of "JAMAICA" by Extreme Sprinklers.
NO band can be all things to all people, but Warrnambool’s Extreme Sprinklers come close. The quartet’s new EP Jamaica touches on reggae, pop and hip hop with flourishes referencing all sorts of musical styles. Some of the lyrics have a mischievous bent without being lightweight and the band pays tremendous attention to musical detail without getting stuffy or self indulgent. Singer Jade McLaren’s voice covers an equally diverse range of styles as he emotes like Tears for Fears’ Roland Orzabal or throws in a Michael Jackson-style vibrato. Not content to build a song around single pop hook, each diverse track could be cannibalised for the seed three or four more songs. At first listen the title track seems tongue-in-cheek, but deeper down makes a strong statement about racial stereotyping. Frostbite Frida evokes the pain love gone wrong and St Elmo’s Fire builds a bleak atmosphere with gripping bass rumble and a ween- guitar line building the tension. Ironically, the disc’s throwaway novelty song, Lappers, shows remarkable depth of production hip hop beats and even Missy Elliott-inspired backmasking. — CHRIS RODDA
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