It's not always just about ping pong, you see?
How well can Mr Alderson handle the five youngsters from down under? Outnumbered and mildly shy, he sits in the corner, being surrounded by 'the kids' who he'll have discovered later aren't really kids. They are hardly fresh-faced in the music scene either. Meet the young generation grown-ups of today, Operator Please!
Discussing music is never less than the very adrenaline in our veins, but hand on heart there are few bands that are such a pleasure to chat with as Australia’s Operator Please. Granted that’s because all too many musicians are an over-earnest mix of clichés, insecurities, obliviousness and curiously-acquired revelations that they are rock’s answer to the Dalai Lama – rather like journalists actually.
But the fact that Operator Please’s five band members seem not to have contracted such vices from their peers is especially remarkable, given how quickly their frame of reference has shifted from entering a Gold Coast school competition to commanding a huge global fan-base and extensively touring. In fact, such is their popularity that current tour-partnering bands have even taken to writing in toothpaste on their own bus windows “We love Operator Please!” (Although Amandah Wilkinson (guitar / vocals) concedes there may be an alternative explanation for that last phenomenon…)
Contrary to what people may suppose, however, their success is anything but the simple story of an industry discovery that launched instant stars. It is a common misconception that Operator Please somehow appeared from nowhere earlier this year with a ready-made Australian and European hit single "Just a Song About Ping Pong". Far from it; the early days preceding the record’s release involved a lot of hard work and a willingness to play just about any venue and alongside any style of band.
“We annoyed the shit out of everyone to get a show,” says Amandah. “We’ve played with death metal bands, hardcore bands, acoustic performers. We emailed people asking for shows just for the sake of playing them. We were doing everything DIY.”
“We didn’t want to have to wait for someone to help us out,” says bassist Ashley McConnell. They describe the barrage of relentless and undaunted self-promotion undertaken, such as making posters and spending days walking round the city posting them up – frequently only to find them ripped down soon afterwards.
Says Amandah: “We did all the usual things like handing out flyers, but we did quirky stuff too like leaving little ugly retarded pictures of us in random places such as bus stops. The first picture was of our faces squished up against glass and our mouths hanging open. It was so people would say ‘Wow that’s really ugly. What is it?’”
Neither was their home turf the most convenient place to begin. “It’s a screamo punk kind of scene that just has a couple of all-ages venues with shit PAs and shit facilities,” she says. “The Chophouse is really the only decent venue on the Gold Coast, but the Hard Rock Café and the Coolangatta Hotel also do gigs.”
In other words the area hardly has the renown for music of which Brisbane or Sydney can boast – nor does it show much signs of obtaining it.
“On the Gold Coast we don’t have street press or anything that makes anybody aware that any bands are from the Gold Coast - unless you really stick yourself out there,” says Amandah. “In time if people take care and musicians start supporting each other 100% then it has the potential to grow. But if people just do it for themselves constantly then I don’t see [the scene] getting off the ground.”
However, Operator Please acknowledge that there were other local bands, such as The Presidents Bush, who helped them get gigs and inspired them to keep going. Another big local influence was Flamingo Crash from Brisbane, whom Operator Please would end up playing a couple of shows with. Amandah describes Flamingo Crash as “still one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen”.
Adds keyboardist Sarah Gardiner: “It’s really hard for us now, because we respect them so much we could never ask them to support us. We don’t feel they could ever be below us on the running order.”
They explain that the decision to record first EP On the Prowl came about just as part of their attempts to promote themselves and secure gigs. Independently produced, the tracks were in fact recorded at drummer Tim Commandeur’s father’s studio, with Amandah persuading her sister to do the artwork. The band then obtained a PO box and sold copies through MySpace.
They had little idea how significant a step this would prove to be. By the time of second release, Cement Cement, their songs were obtaining valuable airtime from local radio stations.
“We began to get a lot of indie radio play behind us,” says Amandah. “Before Triple J picked us up we had stations like 4ZzZ FM and Triple R radio in Melbourne and people in Adelaide. Lots of community stations helped us out and we were really so thankful for that.”
From there the ball was really rolling and led within months to a record label-sponsored showcase in New York and subsequent signing to Virgin/EMI Records for Australia and Brille Records in the UK. It was a surreal experience.
“For me it just didn’t even sink in at the time,” says Ashley. “It was like oh we’re going to New York … one of those things that happen and you don’t properly realise it. That still happens actually and it’s like the eye of the storm thing. You don’t know at all what you’re doing and it takes other people to point it out, to say hey do you realise you’re doing this?!”
Now on the verge of their new album’s release and in the midst of touring this brings up an interesting question; have there been moments along the way, through all the recording and travelling since, where the extent of all that’s happened fully hits home?
Says violinist Taylor Henderson: “I get those moments at really weird times, like just sitting in the car or something when there’s a chance to reflect, and then it occurs to me, Wow I should be in school or something like that.”
Adds Sarah: “For me it’s when I walk into store and see my face and I think, hang on what’s going on here! Taylor’s friend was saying she saw Taylor in a store and started talking to her – only to realise it was a TV. It’s kind of weird.”
Another thought is that with this all happening for them at such a young age and requiring so much time away from home, how have their parents taken the turn of events? Here Amandah’s reply reveals a great deal about the origins of Operator Please’s resolute drive and seeming fearlessness.
“My parents have complete trust in me, they really do,” she says. “I never got told what to do or how to do anything. I got total freedom. All they said to me was if you fuck up then it’s your fault and if you fuck up then you’ve got to get yourself out of it.
“A lot of my friends when they were younger didn’t have the same freedom that I had and I didn’t know how to react to that. I’d be like, what do you mean you’re not allowed to go out?! I didn’t understand. And now that they’ve turned 18 and they’ve finally got all this freedom they’ve kind of screwed themselves over by just being completely reckless. And I’m just standing back thinking wow thanks mum and dad.”
It’s evident that Amandah’s natural and well-adjusted confidence and determination runs through the whole band – something that has fed into the recording of their soon-to-be-released new album.
“We’ve had the chance to make it exactly what we want,” says Sarah.
“We like to do as much as we can,” continues Ashley. “Not because we don’t trust other people but because we know we’ll do it the way we want to. You hear a lot of horror stories about other young bands and how they get screwed over and pushed around. They end up making big mistakes and it doesn’t sound like what it’s supposed to. We were really lucky to make an album and do the shows that we wanted to do. It’s a good representation.”
“And we’re really lucky that the people we’re working with are so brilliant and yet they let us help out and always feel involved,” adds Taylor.
Amandah sums up with a fitting analogy: “We have creative control, kind of like how my parents were – everyone has suggestions but there’s never been anything forced on us. That’s a really good feeling. It’s a whole other level.”
Amazingly they still find opportunities to work on the album while on the road. Says Ashley: “It’s the finishing touches we’ve done on the road. We had a lot of recording time. It’s the things like mixing, mastering, artwork, that kind of stuf. But we don’t care how much work it takes because it’s our album.”
“Everything about you is in your first album,” says Amandah. “I think that we can honestly say that we’re happy with it, because it’s totally us. There’s no other way to describe it.”
Says Ashley: “It’s definitely like parenthood of a first child; they won’t let them out of their sight… they love them so much.”
“By contrast 'Ping Pong' was, to be honest, thrown together – but it launched us,” says Amandah. “So although we might be sick of it now – and it’s not the representation of our album to come – it’s undeniable, it’s our song, a milestone, it’s what we were at that point in time. We’d be stupid to turn our back on it.”
She reveals however, that there has been a recent and important turning point in the band’s sound. “It was after we wrote ‘Get What You Want’,” she says. “That was the point in time when we felt we’ve really found us. The album is definitely a dirtier darker sound. We have had two years to develop and use our instrumentation more.”
Experimentation has also brought about a more varied, richer sound, she says. “We’ve never restricted ourselves to one type of sound. The songs are the songs and that’s what they are. We’re learning about each other.”
Not knowing each other in the very beginning meant it’s been a process of discovery, agrees Taylor. “But if I tried to do this with my friends back home it wouldn’t work,” she says. “I think the fact we are so different means we just mesh.”
“The experience has been great though because we’ve not only made new friends in different parts of the world but we’ve also found out who are real friends are back home, the ones that even if you haven’t seen them every day they contact you and you can start up a conversation like it’s only yesterday.”
Amandah: “And also being away from home you learn to appreciate it a lot more. We’ve had to learn to take care of ourselves a bit better.”
The funniest irony by way of conclusion?
Amandah: “I love it when people write on our MySpace ‘Come to Australia, they’d really like you here!’”
Words: Alderson
Illustration: Helen Coldwell