Welcome to this week’s Musical Musings.
Bachelor Girl
The pop duo known as Bachelor Girl were one of the biggest acts on the Australian music scene in 1998, with their Top 5 debut single Buses and Trains and their ARIA Award winning debut album, Waiting for the Day. Tania Doko and James Roche went their separate ways in 2004 to pursue other musical paths as writers and producers for artists in Sweden and the UK. Having regrouped in recent years, the duo began working on new material. And this month their comeback is official, with the release of their brand-new single, Calling Out Your Name.
“We’ve actually been working together again since 2017; writing songs and recording, and a few gigs prior to the mega shutdown that COVID brought,” James explained to me last week.
“We had a hiatus for over a decade while we each lived in different countries, I in the UK, and Tania in Sweden.
“Now that the live scene is open again and we both live in Australia, it’s a good time to perform and release the material we’ve been working on.”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the duo’s debut album; how do they look back on it?
“Thankfully, we are actually really proud of it,” Tania said.
“The production still stands up as good work, the lyrics are still impactful, and the playing and musicality remain enjoyable.
“Of course, we are really grateful for that record as it got Bachelor Girl going in Australia and internationally in a fabulous way for a debut act.”
The whirlwind success the duo experienced taught the pair a valuable lesson, which has held them in good stead ever since.
“For me the key lesson was to take notice of what’s happening in the moment — to pay attention to it and cherish it,” James said.
“So much of that time in the late nineties and early noughties I was so focused on ‘what next’ — whether that be the next tour, the next song, the next recording or whatever — that I didn’t really experience the success to the full.
“How I used that lesson later was to make sure I’ve been present to having young kids — they don’t stay young for long!”
For Tania, living and working in Sweden very much influenced the way the duo write and record music today.
“The Swedes like to stay ‘on message’ with a song — to avoid unnecessary distractions from the core of the song — and they get to the point quickly and stay on it throughout,” she said.
“It is a good lesson for not being self-indulgent with writing and recording; remember the audience!
“It is also a necessary adaptation for the modern era, where listeners’ attention spans are being trained to be shorter.”
James also revealed that Bachelor Girl have a busy year ahead.
“Apart from some additional gigs and music releases (and a large tour later in the year which we can’t mention yet) Tania will be releasing some solo material this year — Bachelor Girl fans keep an eye out for that!” he said.
Behind the song: All Right Now (1970) – Free
The group’s bassist and co-songwriter of the song, Andy Fraser — who was 18 at the time — sadly passed away in 2015, but in the early 2000s I interviewed him and he shared with me how the now classic song came into being.
“We were doing a college gig in Durham, England on a rainy Tuesday. And we got lost on the way, which probably put us in a foul mood,” Andy said.
“We arrived to find about 20 people completely gone on Mandrax, the drug of choice at that time.
“They were oblivious to us, which usually didn't matter as we could happily play for ourselves, but this night we sucked.
“In the band room afterwards, because of our mood, there was horrible silence where a pin dropping could provoke an outburst.
“Finally, I started singing All Right Now like ‘come on guys, it’s not the end of the world’ and it broke the gloom, everyone joined in, and we lived to see another day.
“The chords were my impression of [The Who’s] Pete Townshend, and Paul Rodgers later thought of the verse lyrics while waiting to be picked up for another gig from a flat in Holborn where he lived at the time.”
Music news
Legendary ’70s English hit makers Paper Lace, who stormed the Australian charts in 1974 with their classic hits Billy Don’t Be A Hero and The Night Chicago Died are returning to our shores in May for an Australian tour.
In the wake of the huge success of recent music biopics such as Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) and Rocketman (Elton John), in the works are also biopics of the Bee Gees and heavy metal titan Ozzy Osbourne.
Fun fact
Did you know Hunters & Collectors frontman Mark Seymour was born in Benalla? He lived there until he was 16 years old, when his family moved to Melbourne where later in 1981, he would go on to form his now iconic Australian outfit.
Readers can send feedback, suggestions, share their stories etc to: MusicalMusings@mmg.com.au
Until next time, keep rockin’.