Listed by Happy as one of seven bands you love but should never Google, Melbourne’s 10-man band explosion Sex on Toast have returned with their characmatic single Oh Loretta! This is the first installment of the two-part Rough/Ready EP series. Tomatrax caught up with Angus Leslie, the bandleader, for an irreverant discussion about the band!
How did the band form?
At a calisthenics class for over 50s, many many years ago. Somehow we stuck in and noticed we all enjoyed working out to the same Kim Wilde song you know, the BeeGees cover, If I Can’t Have You? It really moved us. Not just our bodies, but emotionally also.
Where did the name Sex on Toast come from?
hell.
As a 10 piece, is it hard for everyone to work together?
It’s very peaceful usually but sometimes we start to fight, and kick and slap each other. We end up bleeding and biting each other’s faces in the pit. We try and keep all fights in the pit, but there’s no telling whether they’ll break out in the tour van or onstage. It’s a savage kill or be killed environment, and if 9 decide to gang up on one, it’s not pretty.
You’ve been working on your Rough/Ready EP series, where did you get the idea for a series of EPs rather than another album?
The idea was to highlight two different sides to Sex on Toast & try and keep each EP stylistically concise. Since all the material we had ready for something new neatly fell into two distinct categories, it made perfect sense!
How will the two EPs compare with each other?
Ready, which comes out first boasts more live instrumentation and playing (we tracked a lot of the basic tracks completely live!) and has a sound we call ‘ricky’. This showcases sounds like pianos (real and any electric emulation), deadened 70’s drum sounds, electric bass, vibraphone and big horns!
The material is light and breezy and sounds like the color white. Rough will be more harder-edged and synthetic, using a more early to mid 80’s palette like drum machines, moog, and hard rock guitar. It has a sound we can ‘tonay’. It features big beats and is probably the more funk-styled of the two. It sounds like the color black with neon red…
What made you pick Oh Loretta as the first single of the upcoming EP?
People always ask us when that song is coming out… We thought it might be time to release it as a single!
Is Oh Loretta based on anyone in particular?
Yes, in all honesty that song was written for Loretta Wilde (no relation to Kim Wilde) from the bands Mangelwurzel and Jaala. Words cannot even describe her power as a human being, however we will say that she was raised by 12 wizards in the mossy dew of a moat.
You’ll be launching your single at the Toff in Town, what can fans expect from your show?
Well, we haven’t been playing with the full line-up for quite some months, so expect a well-oiled machine! Also except some surprises…
There are always surprises at a Sex on Toast show… Nick Piestch may be available too… You can interpret that how you will…
Also we will have the Loretta 7 inch for sale (yes, a 45!) which we need to sell in order to pay off a debt that could cost us our lives.
Please help us.
Your live performances are quite well choreographed, is it hard to make the performances work?
Sure, it takes a lot of rehearsal but if you wanna sound good, look good, smell good and/or feel good that’s just what you gotta do!
Do you ever listen to your own music?
Yes, in the mixing and recording process it’s hard not to, although we’ve thought of doing an album with industrial strength earplugs in our ears for the whole process, so none of us can hear the results until the very end and see what happens. We feel this could be a cutting edge project. We also listen to live recordings to make sure we aren’t sucking live.That’s important I think!
What other music do you listen to?
Lately? Faith No More, Kim Wilde, Ornette Coleman (RIP), the Cows, Roger Troutman, Alpine.
What do you plan on doing once you’ve released the next two EPs?
Figuring out what to do next… Touring… Writing scathing reviews of local supermarkets on reddit….
OH LORETTA! SINGLE LAUNCH SHOWS
19th June 2015 | Good God Small Club | Sydney
w/ Venusians, Afro-Party Kings and The Liberators
20th June 2015 | The Toff | Melbourne
w/ The Cactus Channel and Peter Bibby
Check out Sex on toast’s Facebook page to find out more!