Are Pandas Electric?

Rip It Up, Issue 91, 1 February 1985, Page 14

Are Pandas Electric?

STEVE SPENCER

The Electric Pandas now there's a name to conjure with. But who dey, you ask? Don’t be too suprised that you haven’t heard of them before, they're an on-the-way-up Sydney band but one which has made the fairly unusual decision to tour to these

shores. They play Auckland's new live venue Stringfellows March 1 and 2.

Lead singer/songwriter/band leader Lin Buckfield admits such an early jaunt away from the Australian touring scene is a little unusual: "But it's nice to do something different. We had the opportunity and it looked like it would work out, so we did it.”

The Electric Pandas have been mainly playing the big RSL clubs, often ones far away from the city centres. Buckfield admits that urban nightclubs might have been a more logical kind of venue for the band's music but she says she’s been enjoying the enthusiasm of the RSL crowds. In fact, it was that kind of spirit which prompted her to pack her bags at 18 years of age and travel from her home in England to Australia to begin a musical career:

“I was just finding England a completely depressing place it really doesn't have much going for it at the moment. The whole thing of everybody apologising for what they were just made me sick. I found a much more positive attitude in Australia."

And yet in this part of the world there's still the hangover of colonialism which makes bands aim for England as their big step forward.

"Yeah. I really can't understand that, there's not the need for it. But then again I think it mainly tends to be sort of esoteric type bands who want to go over. They want to go over to England and starve for two

years because they think they should."

Which fairly well establishes which camp of Australian music Lin has herself in. So is it possible to be successful internationally and stay Australian based?

"I think so. I think there are a lot of good things happening in Australia and New Zealand.”

Although she had only begun playing guitar a little more than a year before she left, the English daughter of a “soldier of fortune" had together a functioning, successful live band (“we've never been a 'studio band’, we'd played the songs live ") that was good enough to win the interest of Aussie name producer Charles Fisher.

“I'd had him recommended to me as a producer who was good at getting good results with bands doing their first single," Buckfield explains. “And I was certainly impressed with the sounds he got." Since the first single Big Girls' there's been an EP featuring Let's

Gamble’ and work on an album, again with Fisher. Buckfield writes all the music and lyrics before bringing them to the band. Combined with the job of being group spokesman and leader and, as a female singer, being expected to provide some kind of visual focus, must add up to some pressure on her?

“It can sometimes, especially if the band isn’t,working well. Those things can really add up if there isn’t any support from the band. But it’s not too difficult at the moment.”

Which brings us to the matter of the band’s new lineup. Buckfield and drummer Phil Campbell kicked out the other members of the band shortly before Christmas:

“There comes a time I think when people grow up and I think you realise you want different things. So after the old lineup broke up I went back to England for a holiday then came back and discussed it with Phil and we started getting calls from musicians.”

Eventually Greg Freeman (bass) and lead guitarist Craig Wachholz joined the band and the resulting lineup is the one which will play here. Was there any temptation to drop the band concept and try and make a go of it as a solo artist? "Not really. Being in a good band is one of the best things there is. And I think it makes it a lot harder trying to do it on your own. There are a lot more pressures and things to do with that at the moment."

After the gigs here, the band returns to Sydney to complete the album, which is apparently a move on from the fairly lightweight dancepop stuff of the singles:

“I think the album material is a natural progression. It's not a sudden change in direction I don’t think you can really do that but it’s a definite progression."

So what do the Electric Pandas hold for local audiences? It would seem a chance to have a peer into the stuff of the Sydney club circuit, see what’s going on there. But with a name like Electric Pandas, who knows 9 Wait and see.