For those who don’t already know, Western Australia Occupies an area of approximately 2.5 million km2 it has a population just over 1.7 million, most of whom live in Perth. Yet it’s fair to say that W.A contributes more than its fair share of bands to the Australian Music scene theses days. The Waifs, Sleepy Jackson, Eskimo Joe, End of Fashion, Jebediah and countless others, all hail from the great western state as does Little Birdy.

Made up of Kate Steel, (Lead Vocals & Guitar) Simon Leach, (Guitar) Scott O’Donoghue (BASS Backing Vocals) and Matt Chequer (Drums), Little Birdy are back in the studio and recording again. They first popped up in 2002 with a self-titled EP and since then have toured Australia several times and released a follow up “This is a Love Song EP”. It became the most requested song on Triple J.

Now the guys are back in the studio putting together the follow up album to their debut “Big Big Love”.

Can you tell us about your new album? Who is playing on it? Where was/is it recorded?
At the moment we are demo’ing in a little loft studio out in the bush, we are up to 10 new songs but are aiming for 20 by late Feb. to start recording in late march. The new songs sound darker but more dancier, a strange combo. We are shopping around for producers at the moment probably an international one. We work every weekday recording and producing ourselves until we are happy. Then we move onto a new song, this is the part of being in a band that I enjoy the most.

So the song writing is a group effort?
Actually the songwriting is mainly Katy sometimes myself, and we will bring in a fairly completed song to the band. Then the whole band will work on the song until we're all happy with the outcome. The songs usually are completely different when finished than when they were brought in.

Rolling Stone pinned you guys as a band to watch, has that put a bit of pressure on you guys in the studio putting together your “follow up” Album?
Traditionally a second album is more difficult than the first, just because you have less time to write new songs whereas the first album most bands had a lifetime before to write it. In our case we were in the limelight when we had only been together a few months so we've basically written the first album on the road, so the second album is actually easier for us. The only pressure we feel is the pressure on ourselves to try and create music fresh and exciting to our ears.

What’s fresh and exciting to your ears at the moment?
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl, The Black Keys - Rubber Factory, QOTSA - RatedR, John Legend - Get Lifted, Kanye West - College Dropout.

Do you remember the first album you bought?
Yes, it was Iron Maiden - Live After Death.  It was when CDs first came out! Before that though I listened all the time to my parent's record collection which included Black Sabbath – Masters of Reality, Deep Purple - Machine Head, Jimi Hendrix - Electric Lady Land, Led Zep #1 and Sly and the Family Stone.

What do you do to relax?
My other passion apart from music is Hot Rods and Custom Cars so in my time off I work on my cars. I have 2 Aussie cars a 1959 FB Holden Station/sedan and a 1964 XL Falcon. Currently I am restoring the Falcon to a real granddad looking car including a 'nodding dog' and a old mans hat on the parcel shelf! The funny thing about this car is its got a big motor in it but it looks totally like an old mans car... freaks people out beating them off the traffic lights or flying down the freeway! The FB is going to be a mild Custom with heaps of 50s/60s era accessories, e.g. A 60's car TV, a bamboo roof rack, a 60's caravan, whitewalls dumped to the ground, wheels spats, Venetians, 60's tacho etc. The list is very long, I’ve been spending a lot of time on eBay!

What was the best gig you’ve been to?
Radiohead at the Sydney Entertainment Centre - we went to watch half way thru recording the BBL album with our producer Paul McKercher. It was like watching the sunset it was just beautiful.

Best gig you have played?
The best gig we ever played was on our last tour it was at the HiFi Bar in Melbourne. It was packed and we all played really well and the crowd was so loud! It was one gig we all had the best time.

What is your favorite venue to play?
I love playing venues where the capacity is about 1000 people like the Metro in Sydney or the Corner and HiFi in Melbourne. The crowd still makes a lot of noise and you can see the expressions on their faces.

If you could be in any other band than little Birdy, which would it be?
A Perth band called One Horse Town I used to play with them. They are one of my favourite bands. I have total respect for these guys.

Actually there are a lot of great bands that hail from the West, Why do you think WA's music scene is so vibrant?
Yeah well… The lifestyle is so simple and easy here if you wanna make it that way. You don’t need to spend all of your day earning money to pay the rent, work part time and still pursue your goals! There's also the fact that we as a music scene in Perth are very supportive of each other, don’t get me wrong there is a friendly rivalry, competition does lead to higher quality. Also there's time here to grow as a band by the time 'labels' over-east have your demo. Which wasn't actually the case with LB but it does happen that way with a lot of other successful bands from WA, we were snapped up pretty much a month after starting the band we were touring and still getting to know each other!?

Who are your musical influences?
George Harrison - The Beatles, Ian Paice (drums) - Deep Purple, Blackalicious, The Neptunes, Josh Homme - Kyuss, Tom Morello - Rage Against The Machine, Elvis Presley, SPAIN and Katy Steele, Matt Chequer, 'Barney' O'Donoghue - Little Birdy

Why the guitar for you?
When I was about 10 I got an acoustic guitar for Xmas, basically instead of playing it I stared at it because I thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world! The first advice I remember my Dad giving me as a kid was "when tuning up a guitar always tune UP to the note NOT down' that advice has stayed with me it always crosses my mind when I’m tuning up on stage in front of 1000s of people. I stopped trying to learn guitar when I was about 13. In middle high school I learnt drums (still play - I played 1 song on the Big Big Love album!), then moved to Perth, I learnt bass and played with the Eskimo Joe boys in an earlier band. After that I wanted to do mellow music so I started teaching myself guitar again - but I wanted to play it a little differently - I tried to create sounds with my guitar that sounded like a keyboard, Portishead were a big influence in this goal. A few bands later Katy approached me about playing some of her songs because I didn’t play a guitar like a 'normal' guitarist. I really don’t have any technicality to my playing its just creating the sounds and melodies in my head rather than learning Lesson #32 in the 'How to be a Wanky Guitarist' book!

Any up & coming shows for Little Birdy?
We’re playing Xmas Eve at the Rosemount Hotel North Perth, and the were Playing the Falls Festival for New Years - not gigging really due to working on next album, so keep an eye out on our web site.

Favorite food?
Italian

Favorite drink?
Cup of Tea

Single, married, or just dating?
Basically married been with the same girl for nearly 7 years - she's my inspiration.

Favorite movie?
Mad Max 1 & 2

Who is you arch nemeses?
'Original' bands who sound like Tribute bands!

If you’re life was being made into a movie, who would play the lead role and what song would best suit the soundtrack?
Mark Walberg or Colin Farrell because then my girlfriend will watch it. The song would be Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder because I would want it to be a positive movie with car chases and beautiful women

If you could raise the dead, whom would you bring back & why?
Probably Jimi Hendrix because unlike a lot of Muso's that have died he died in his prime I feel that he still had a lot to offer. I feel that if Lennon my second choice had lived any longer he would of turned into an Eric Clapton or Paul McCartney, a watered down version of himself. Which would personally be disappointing. Hendrix was still an untapped resource for inspiration and Lennon is still a close second.

What is your most prized possession?
My Qantas bag I received when I was 6yo moving from UK to OZ. My parents dressed us up in matching Adidas tracksuits so they wouldn’t lose us at the airport - we looked like the Royal Tennenbaums!!!

Give us the motto that you live by?
'You make your own luck'