‘We really like to bring back some of the showmanship from the Shindig era in the 60s so you can expect high glamour, highly choreographed, costumes… it’s quite dazzling, you could expect anything from booty shaking to hands-up-in-the-air kind of gospel style songs’, said Clairy Browne.
Sultry songstress and lead singer of her band, Browne and her beautiful backup singers The Bangin’ Rackettes claim to give her audience a heck of a show saying she ‘completely owns everything about the set’ and ‘entangles the room in her enormously powerful vocal range’.
The nine-piece band has been touring since 2009 and has made something of a name for themselves with their unique shows and a rather large gay following.
‘I would describe our music as a mixture of different influences like old school R&B, mid 50s to mid 60s, ska, doo-wop, northern soul and a bit from the contemporary,’ said Browne.
Browne has always had a love for old rhythm and blues music particularly from the great divas like Etta James and Ruth Brown.
‘Since I was a teenager I would go to record stores and picked out my favourites and sat around and listened to them and sang along and cried,’ recalled Browne.
‘Music is just really in my veins so I just got a group of friends together who all have the same vision and created the band.’
The band takes it in turns to write its own songs.
‘It’s really nice to work in a group creatively and share;and I just get a lot of joy from it, it’s really great to interact with the audience and get a response from people when you’re doing what you love,’ said Browne.
‘We hang out, we’re all really close. We’re all old friends and we’re all connected in weird, random ways but we spend a lot of time together because we rehearse a lot.
‘It’s pretty much like living with a big family, you know? We fight and squabble but we get stuff done,’ laughed Browne.
The band just finished recording their album Baby Caught the Bus which is going to be released in November, with limited edition vinyl copies.
‘The house where we rehearse at has a wild record collection; we’re always flipping through them and we just thought it would be a really nice memento,’ explained Browne.
Clairy Browne and The Bangin’ Rackettes will be playing in Perth at Devilles Pad, October 28.
Vanessa Manivannen
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