They say the second album is always the hardest. It’s something to do with the expectant rush of eclipsing the debut, of producing something equally as astounding. After all, no-one ever wants to end up just a one hit wonder… do they?
It’s fair to say that Battle of Bands winner Operator Please ran the risk of being one hit wonders. After all, their incredibly infectious chart topping song about ping pong, aptly titled Just A Song About Ping Pong, had all the trademarks of being one blazing flash in the pan. People didn’t really expect to hear much more from this Queensland five piece.
Until now, that is.
Two years after their first release, Yes Yes Vindictive, they’re back, and the former high school students have graduated into a darker, more sophisticated sound. Their sophomore release, Gloves, is a swaggering stomp through the ’80s, all infectious grooves and incredibly catchy hooks.
‘It’s not a take two of our first record,’ said band member Ashley McConnell. ‘It’s definitely different. But I guess it’s different in a way that as with our last record we just wrote what we were feeling at the time, it’s a documentation of where we were during that period of time. It just happened that this one was very different.
‘Personally I love older music and Amandah (Wilkinson) our singer does most of the writing and because we’re self produced a lot of our taste has seeped in to what we’ve created. She’s obsessed with Prince and I love Janet Jackson and we both love Eurhythmics so I guess it kind of unintentionally seeped into it.’
It’s that mention of autonomy that is perhaps most surprising. Unlike other pop bands on the market, Operator Please retain a huge amount of self-control over the final product, having the final say on production, artistic vision and the like.
‘That’s something we’ve always said since the beginning: we wouldn’t want to do it as much if we didn’t have the control because if we’re not putting out something that’s reflective of our personality and what we really want to do on a record or in a photo shoot there’s not as much incentive for us to keep going. What’s the point of us doing it if someone else is feeding you everything you have to do?’
But what adds to Operator Please version 2.0 is not just the fantastic tunes or the stylish makeover but the fact that McConnell has come out. Yes, one of the Operator Please boys is gay, and with this new revelation comes the hope of a wider fan base. So was McConnell coming out a strategic move?
‘It’s more the first chance I’ve had to talk about it. I’ve never had difficulty, like, ever and everyone in the music industry knows flat out. My managers, my agents, all the other bands: like, everyone knows. I guess it’s just the first time a magazine has printed it because I guess it’s the first time the subject has been broached.
‘I’m one bit of five people so personal stuff like that doesn’t come up very often. I don’t mind talking about it. It’s nothing to be ashamed of at all and some of my favourite artists in the music industry are gay icons like Mariah Carey and stuff. So you know, hopefully that’s a kind of label we can get for our band and maybe get some more awesome fans because we all know the gay scene are the taste makers.’
Australia is by and large a hetero performative society, which means basically that in order to fit in, it’s sometimes safer to man it up. It’s the bloke culture and supposed mateship that gets ingrained into every aspect of masculinity, whether it’s actually relevant or not.
That makes going against the grain a brave thing to do, irrespective of your industry. If you’re in the public eye, and you’re a guy, and you come out… well, you potentially run the risk of copping a bit of flak. More and more though, you’ll possibly even cop a bit of a slap on the back.
‘I’m 21 now and I came out when I was 17 to my family. I guess it is (brave) but I think more people need to do it. There’s no point hiding behind all the community stuff. It’s an industry accepting of that. Look at how popular George Michael is.
‘Obviously there’s going to be dickheads and fucking bogans that don’t understand it but in the music industry everyone is supportive of one another within the community of music people. Another artist isn’t going to come up to you and give you shit about it because it’s a creative industry and creative industries are always supportive of everyone.’
It should come as no surprise that the super stylish McConnell loves his fashion. Favourite international labels include Viktor & Rolf, Raf Simons, Karl Lagerfeld, Valentino ‘before he retired’ and Rodarte. Locally, Friedrich Gray – for whom McConnell has modelled – and Romance Was Born, whose ‘artistic vision is unparalleled in Australia’.
So… McConnell’s patented Operator Please fashion predictions for the coming season?
‘I think trousers, blazers and low cut singlets with blazers. I think a high t-shirt line with a blazer is too TV presenter from early 2000. Oh… and I think gloves could be in again.’
Naturally…
Gloves is out now through EMI. Operator Please play Astor Theatre on Friday June 18, with tickets available now. Win a copy of Gloves by visiting our Giveaway section online. www.www.outinperth.com
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
