Private Function To Bring The Party To Froth & Fury Fest
‘It sucks going on record saying this because I’d like to think that we did, but no, I don’t think we ever did (get a reply from Russell Crowe). He’s played Melbourne a couple of times with his other band as well and we’ve been like, oh fuck, should we just rock up and try and get in with Russ? But nah! Russ if you’re reading this, come on man, hit me up.’
Welcome to the weird, wonderful and wacky world that is Australian punk rockers Private Function as introduced by drummer Aidan McDonald. Be it tweeting Russell Crowe to appear on the album or releasing an album vinyl full of piss, there is few limits to the bands humour. How else can you explain Gwenyth Paltrow’s vagina on the cover of their album?
‘We were like, oh, scratch and sniff would be awesome. Chris Penny (vocalist) just went, oh, what about Gwyneth Paltrow’s Vagina? The idea behind it was to make something that was almost unobtainable, because I think the candles (Ms. Paltrow released her own scented candles of her vagina), they go for thousands of dollars or something. At the end of the day, it gives the fans something very special, unique and very rare. Which is the idea that we always do whenever we release an album. The piss record, previous to that we did another record where we pressed bags of speed or cocaine, I can’t remember which drug it was, but bags of miscellaneous white powder into records. The idea is it’s always of a special variation. There’s only a hundred of ’em or something. We gave our fans the opportunity to smell Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina and listen to our record. I think everyone was pretty happy by it. There was a hundred percent satisfaction.’
A hundred percent satisfaction is what the band strives for underneath the humorous, tongue in cheek satire of the band’s lyrics. This year alone has seen the band support Green Day, tour extensively around the country, and are currently midway through a second huge European run. Froth & Fury Festival looms on the horizon too when they eventually come back home while they also presented the iconic Australian TV show ‘Rage’ this year too.
‘Years ago we pranked our audience and we told ’em there was a secret tape that Rage had that they’d never release. It made everyone start sending them messages going, release the tape, release the tape! We said that it was too graphic for tv, and this is when we were a bit smaller and we didn’t have as many fans, and out of nowhere Rage actually hit us up and were like, ‘we can’t stop getting fricking messages from your fans. Do you actually want to do one?’ We’ve done it twice, which is kind of a beautiful thing too. We did a really small version of it, which is just like a morning show where they told us that we couldn’t really play any explicit clips. I remember them saying it has to be something your nana would watch. So to be able to do it again properly for an entire night was kind of a dream come true. We wanted to play just the most ridiculous things we could think of and some violent clips, some funny clips. We wanted it to be R-rated and we finally got to experience that.’
Since the band formed, they have released four albums and two EPs with a couple of nifty re-releases in there too. That commitment to dropping something new every year is entirely their own fault.
‘Chris is really good at always being on top of their social media game. We’ve got Lauren Hester and myself as video makers so we can produce things. We all can’t sit still, it’s one of those things where we all have to keep something going at all times. Years ago, we said we’d try and release an album every year, and I think that may have burnt our butts and got us moving. We definitely have a bit to follow through.’
Let’s talk about the music. Australian punk music is riding quite the high at the moment and the bands support slot with Green Day and the mammoth European run currently residing in France, show that the band’s music transcends borders. Pranksters or not, they are talented, creative artists.
‘We’re serious in the fact that we try really hard. We’ve all been musicians our lives and we do take the music side of things very seriously. We do have quite a strong ambition to take this as far as we can. But in terms of the lyrical content and stuff, a lot of that’s Chris and he has a million ideas, so many ideas we’ll be able to do this for the rest of our lives! A lot of it is just tongue in cheek and we love taking the piss. I think a lot of bands can sometimes get a bit lost in how serious they take music. I think music is inherently hilarious. It’s just a funny thing to do, even being in a room with a bunch of mates playing music and you all click onto the same thing at the same time. If you can make each other laugh, you’re having fun. That’s been our ethos since day one is have fun.’
Their current European run displayed the bands ability to not only deal with adversity, but also how their music transcends. The key though, it is all done with humour and the Aussie way of just getting on with it.
‘The very first show of this tour, it got rained out, which was the whole point we came here. This festival is in Spain as well. In the middle of the desert, so you wouldn’t expect it. We were in Benidorm, an amazing town, it’s got this weird old Vegas vibe to it. We got to the venue and it was literally raining inside. It was just downpouring and inside the venue was puddles everywhere. The stage was wet and they were all freaking out and they’re like, no, we’re going to figure it out. They moved the stage from this one room that’s flooded to another room, and now that room’s flooding and we’re going to try and figure it out again. We all went to dinner and then we got the call just being like, nah, it’s not happening. I went to bed and watched ‘Hook.’ It was great! The rest of the band all went out to karaoke instead!’
Guitarist Lauren missed the first leg in Spain however has joined in time for France and the UK. Touring Europe with a language barrier can be difficult however Aidan thinks the band have got the key, a key that Froth & Fury fans can expect to see in abundance.
‘Sometimes it is a bit of fun translating a bit of a theatrics in our show. Chris is really good at kind riling up any crowd and the rest of us are good at keeping the energy going. Honestly, it’s really strange. I feel like right now in the world, people are a bit drunk on Australian punk. You can expect silliness, you can expect Hard Rock, you can expect maybe some nudity, you can expect explicit lyrics! Fuck me, it’s a fucking good show. I mean, straight up. You can expect some entertainment. At the end of the day, if you want to have a smile on your face and you want to listen to some good heavy hitting punk rock, then we’ll be there for you. I’m there for you!’
Interview By Iain McCallum
Catch Privation Function playing Froth & Fury Festival in Adelaide and Perth. Tickets on sale HERE…
