Getting to Know… Kathleen Turner Overdrive | Interview 🎤

In the 297^th Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from Queensland punk rock band, Kathleen Turner Overdrive.

“Ithink that one of the things that defines us is that we aren’t easily defined or categorizable,” 🎙️ Mark says his band, 🎙️ Kathleen Turner Overdrive. He adds, “We have a strong punk rock ethos, but we don’t feel constricted by playing to the genre’s expectations of itself or people‘s expectations of how we should sound within that genre.” Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on KTO: the genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Kathleen Turner Overdrive: Interview No. 297!

Starting things off, for those who may not be familiar with Kathleen Turner Overdrive, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎙️ Lizzard: We love a tune that lets the audience get involved, so most of our choruses encourage this. Whether it’s chanting ‘redrum’ in 🎵 “Stalker”, singing praises to all the femmes in 🎵 “Wonder Woman”, or letting off some steam with a few ‘F you(s)’ in 🎵 “I’m Not Changing”, we reckon that most punters find themselves getting into it at gigs.

🎙️ Mark: I think that one of the things that defines us is that we aren’t easily defined or categorizable! We have a strong punk rock ethos, but we don’t feel constricted by playing to the genre’s expectations of itself or people‘s expectations of how we should sound within that genre. I think individually and collectively we understand and appreciate that music can be very tribal, and people identify very much with their “tribe“ but there’s a risk with that in limiting your experience of music as art and as an artist in your expression of it places limitations on how you express yourself as a punk rock artist.

🎙️ Adz: In my opinion, the fact that we span a couple of generations as members and have lived through different eras of society and been brought up with different types of music and music scenes helps make a tasty eclectic style band.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Kathleen Turner Overdrive form and what were some of the goals or visions you had = early on?

🎙️ Lizzard:  Early on, we just wanted to play, have a good time, get paid in beers, and not do too much work. Lol!  With the release of our EP, 💿 Autosomal, in March though, we’ve enjoyed getting out and promoting it. Now we are actually starting to set some goals around touring and future recording.

🎙️ Mark: I don’t know about juicy back stories but in terms of how we formed, it is an interesting story. Lizzie and I used to play in a band called Mahitabel’s Kittens with a drummer and dear friend Mel. When that band ended, we continued with a project called Kathleen Turner Overdrive with Mel and continued to play indie covers. The name came about as a play on words between the actress Kathleen Turner and the band Bachman Turner Overdrive. That was the early 90s and it also died a natural death. We reconnected with Mel in the tweens and resurrected the name and the focus on indie covers. Mel found that with other commitments and living interstate travel was difficult. Adz, who is naturally a bass player, jumped on the drums for a while but Dan filled the breach with a fast, heavy drumming style and Aidan jumped back on bass, with his unique style – think Maiden-meets-Chilis via lunch with Les Claypool. They’re both fucking great musos and lock in beautifully with each other.

🎙️ Adz: Getting music onto the internet and out in the world was an early goal, travelling for gigs touring further and further is also a long-running goal.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎙️ Lizzard: I think we are all really digging being part of a music community. Thanks to Facebook, our reach has extended to other states and even internationally. As a result, we’ve got shows lined up with bands from other states and there’s talk of joining Canadian band ‘Master Nate and the Reprobates’ for part of their tour next year.  We may even head to Costa Rica with them. I guess you could say that our goals are cautiously shifting from ‘local’ to ‘global’.

🎙️ Mark: We are all pretty happy with the way it’s gone and some of the great gigs that it’s generated and will continue to generate. For me, the goal would be to keep writing songs that everyone really likes and having a play or as punters connect with at some level. The other thing that I have really loved is how we have connected with some really awesome musicians that we have come to call friends and that has really been a beautiful thing.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎙️ Lizzard:  The women who came before me and the women around me are some of my biggest musical influences. Debbie Harry, Chrissy Amphlett, Poly Styrene, Lita Ford, Agnetha and Anni-Frid, Toyah Wilcox, Chrissy Hinds. Bands like ‘The Clash’, ‘The Buzzcocks’, ‘Midnight Oil’, ‘INXS’, have all influenced me.

🎙️ Mark: Man, I always answer this differently.  Old school punk and metal as influences stylistically, but a ton of stuff across genres and times. The late 80s to mid 90s grunge with its uncomfortably corralled stable of wild brumbies that often had more in common with other genres than with each other except of course that they shook up the dance, soft rock, and hair metal dominated charts. The American college radio indie rock scene – REM, Camper Van Beethoven, 10000 Maniacs, Australian indie music throughout the 80s and 90s was insanely good, and still is. Sunny boys were a big influence on my songwriting.

🎙️ Adz: Rammstein, RHCP, Primus, Rush, name a bassist and I’ve probably tried to play like em, haha!

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎙️ Lizzard: We have played a lot of gigs with terrible stage sound…i.e., no foldback. At one gig we played, for the entire set, I was desperately looking at Mark’s fingers as he played guitar, or inching towards the drums, trying to figure out exactly where we were in each of the songs.

🎙️ Mark: Ahem…, Dan. Who wants to tell the Bodega Bar story? Advice for anyone doing a gig that is a single launch – don’t drink all day and then do six shots just before you go on stage!

🎙️ Adz: Took the power out of half the stage from a classic vibrating beer glass incident. 

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

🎙️ Lizzard: As a lover of all things horror, 🎵 “Stalker” is my favourite song to perform. To this point, we only have it recorded as a demo, so I was stoked during pre-production when our music producer, Steve James, recently chose it to record (in October). ‘Stalker’ reflects on the 80’s romance phenomenon of being a teen going on dates, often to the cinema or drive-in, to watch movies about teens going on dates…and being slain.

🎙️ Mark: I think we’re all pretty stoked with the six-track EP,  💿 Autosomal, and especially (at least for me anyway) the first single, 🎵 “Unseen”. I love it is a simple punk rock song with a catchy riff, a nice breakdown in the middle, and a human story, and like all songs on the EP, the brilliant production by 🎛️ Adam Merker at Anderzdebeerz Studios in Brisbane And 🎛️ Jack Shirley at Atomic Grden studios in Anaheim. And we shot fucking rad video for it with Kyle Kyel and Scout Cook-Long from NoOne Network also in Brisbane.

🎙️ Adz: Probably one of our up-and-comings, 🎵 “Robot Girl”, mainly ‘cause I’ve managed to work in some maiden style triplets into a song finally!

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

🎙️ Lizzard: Last year I discovered that I wasn’t an only child. I have four half-brothers!! So, I would say that my secret talent is sleuthing.

🎙️ Mark: We all have hidden talents……🤫🤐

Closing things out, what is Kathleen Turner Overdrive currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎙️ Lizzard: Whoops!  I have already let the cat out of the bag. We are stoked to be working with Steve James (look him up!) and can’t wait to see what we come up with under his guidance, in the studio. Follow us on Facebook, so you can pre-save when that time comes. Four new tunes are a-coming!!

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

Follow…Kathleen Turner Overdrive: Website • Instagram • Facebook • Spotify • YouTube • iTunes • Soundcloud • Bandcamp • Tidal • iHeart Radio

Getting to Know… Kathleen Turner Overdrive: Interview No. 297 [📷: Alfred Derks from Pixabay, Brent Faulkner, Darkmoon_Art from Pixabay, Kathleen Turner Overdrive, The Musical Hype]