The Surly Mermaids

Full names
Ben Smith and Sarah (Sez) Wilks are neighbours and founding members of Melbourne duo, The Surly Mermaids.

Where did The Surly Mermaids meet?
We first met at a taco-off put on by a mutual friend.  A taco-off is cracker of a cook up where you eat as many tacos as you can in one go.  Most people there were vegetarian, so the mix had mashed kidney beans instead of mince.  Ben won – he downed eight tacos.  That’s a lot of bean for one boy.  Fortunately we didn’t play music together for some time, so there was a cooling off period, if you get the drift.

Musical history of band members
The Surly Mermaids formed in 2005 to play live at a joint house party.  Before we became musical share-house neighbours, we managed our own four-to-the-floor indie bands.  Ben played electric guitar for ‘Paper Plastic’ while studying computer science and electronics, and produced hip hop beats on the side.  I song-wrote my way through a BA out front of a mob called ‘Bite The Wax Tadpole’.   We come at music from different angles.  We have a kind of complementary skill set that seems to work…lyrics versus laptop, beats versus builds, rhythm versus melody.  We’re both control freaks, but we get to control different aspects of the music, so there’s not been any fisty cuffs.  Yet.

The Surly Mermaids’ sound
The Surly Mermaids make upbeat folktronica, with an emphasis on crafted songs and warm, analogue tones.  Our music is made in-house with whatever we can get our hands on.  So I guess it celebrates the instinct and intimacy of our localness.

Main instruments used
Roland Juno 106 synthesiser, electric guitar, electronic beats, bleeps and bloops, a rainbow glockenspiel and miscellaneous percussion.

Sounds like? Influences?
Influences: Bjork, Moloko, Thom Yorke, Interpol, Fleetwood Mac, Cut Copy.

Where have The Surly Mermaids played?
We debuted in December 2005 at The Spanish Club.  Since then we’ve played regularly around inner Melbourne – The Rob Roy, The Tote, The Brunswick Hotel and The Empress are regular haunts.  We recently launched our debut EP, “Things to Keep & Things Spare”, at The Empress.  People from all pockets of our lives rambled in to keep us company, it was a super night.

Name of EP
“Things To Keep & Things Spare”

Describe the EP
The EP articulates a process of rediscovery, and refining.  Each track is a snapshot of a moment in life, a little skeleton of some truth or another explored and fleshed out in song.  The record has four tracks.  The content is about looking the past in the eye, about reconnecting with and reconsidering adolescence as part of an ongoing effort to realise the present.  Trying out different vintage synth sounds and the odd computer game melody helped play into these times, and doing the EP’s art in pastels and marker sealed the package.

Describe the recording process
We recorded in a Thornbury share-house with the talented Mr Jake Uljans.  He practises excellence in both sound engineering and espresso making.  In between takes in the lounge room we were entertained by the housemate’s Persian puss, Lily, and the odd bit of vermin.  A mate once joked that the only species left alive after a nuclear holocaust would be cockroaches and Cher.  We found things in the microwave to support that theory.  But really, these elements only added to the EP’s home-grown vibe, and we’re very pleased with the result.

Where do you find your inspiration when writing?
For me, music is a way of expressing life observed.  So jolts of inspiration can come from absolutely anywhere.  The ridiculous, the everyday.  Someone jingling through the streets of Carlton at midnight with chimes on their bike, or the way porridge makes cauldron sounds if you don’t stir it.  Memories of being on a farm and finding a goat with a bucket stuck on its head.  Something a friend has said.  Increasingly, anything incongruous.

What makes The Surly Mermaids different from other bands?
We can make music underwater.

Describe your on stage performance
Each gig is a surprise, so you’ll have to come check it out for yourselves!  I‘m generally quite clumsy, so you’ll probably laugh, and most likely you’ll shake your booty, too.  Sometimes there’s oversized picture books on stage, sometimes there’s bourbon.  And we like to have special guest stars join us, especially hot ones.  You can apply online at www.myspace.com/surlymermaids.

What’s next for The Surly Mermaids?
In the short term, projecting our EP into as many ears as possible!  You can preview and review some tracks at www.triplejunearthed.com/thesurlymermaids, and drop us a line (sez@surlymermaids.com) to order a copy.  Over summer we plan to start writing stacks of new songs for the album. 

*Please note that The Surly Mermaids have added an extra member to their band for live performances, bass player John Maclennan.