Wollongong Rockers Roll Out Unique Sound

Illawarra Mercury

Friday November 30, 2007

By JODIE MINUS

WHILE most South Coast bands are churning out rock, punk and blues, five-piece band The Rockers are creating dark and magical soundscapes.

A cymbal clangs, a woman wails and guitars carry the songs through. It's music more at home in the 1970s New York underground than sunny Wollongong.

Guitarist Ryan Moores attributes the band's unique sound to an interest in outer space and cites influences such as early 1990s Wollongong band Tumbleweed and surf-punk off-shoot Pink Fits.

"With all the songs, we'll all have a go at writing them," Moores said.

"All kinds of things inspire us. We have written about space, we like to experiment."

Tomorrow the band will launch its first self-titled CD with a free gig at Music Farmers Record Bar in Crown Lane, Wollongong, at 2pm. The CD was recorded over the past year at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music, where the band members first met in 2004.

That year guitarists Moores and Scott Miller, vocalist Leanne Falkner and percussionists David Berry and Nick Motillo had signed up for a Pathways to Music program offered by the conservatorium and Wollongong City Council.

The five found they had more than a love of music in common - all have disabilities ranging from hearing impairments to learning difficulties and intellectual disabilities.

Encouraged by music therapist Ann Lehmann - who is now their manager - the band was granted $400 from Accessible Arts to pay for the pressing and promotion material of the CD.

Tomorrow's CD launch marks the lead-up to International Day of People with a Disability on Monday.

But for The Rockers disabilities are insignificant.

"It's all about the music," said Moores.

© 2007 Illawarra Mercury

Back to News Index | Back to Home